Friday 13th

Port Dover, Ontario. Friday 13th

Over 20 years ago a few guys decided to make meeting at Port Dover Ontario, on Friday the 13th’s, a ritual. It caught on. Now, 20 years later, like hordes of migrating birds, tens of thousands of bikers find their way to “Dover”, this year it included my wife and I.

Port Dover Ontario, Canada, a small fishing village of 5000 people on the shore of Lake Erie, gets bombarded with bikers, whether they like it or not, every Friday the 13th. Even in the winter they show up. Port Dover is about an hours ride from where I live.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

I took lots of pictures of the action, its worth the look….

The crowds….

It is hard to overstate how many bikes there were here! The current guesses are in the area of 100,000 bikes, and after walking around for the day I think that number is close. Every square inch of the town had a bike on it. Every street was lined with bikes, the larger streets had 4 rows of bikes on them. And a sea of leather clad bikers.

I’m the one in the leather jacket…..
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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

The crowds of bikes went on….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

and on….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

and on…

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

Every side street, as far as could be seen, there were bikes parked.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

One of the roads into town, lined with bikes for miles.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

The town is shut down, police are stationed on all the roads into town turning back cars, only bikes and locals with cars are allowed in. There are shuttle busses that will drive people into town from satellite parking lots outside of town.

The ride in was interesting, even in Kitchener you could see the bikes gathering at donut shops and gas stations. As we rode down the highways started to fill up with bikes, all heading the same direction. By the time we arrive in Simcoe, about 10 miles from Port Dover, the entire town was crawling with bikes, thousands of them, all heading down the highway to Dover. Quite a sight to see.

The Bikes

There certainly were lots of unique bikes there, more than anyone could photograph, but I got some shots on the ones I thought were pretty cool. It was difficult to get a decent picture of the bikes, as soon as you back up a bit to get the shot, someone walks in front of the camera! So a few are missing some of the bikes….

See, as soon as I stepped back to get a picture of this contraption, this big pole stepped in front of my camera….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

Some very impressive bikes present.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

This was an impressive bike, a very nicely done paint job on it. It looked to me like something the Liberal government “sponsored”. If you are a Canadian, you will know what I’m talking about…..

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

the same bike showed up in this painting.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

They certainly don’t make them like they used do. Thank god.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

This one has a sidecar for a wheelchair to roll up on, very well done.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

Here was a piece of work. The engine is a Chevy 350, 367HP. I think he uses it to pull the boat up to the cottage….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

This was my favorite one. I asked the owner about it, but he just referred me to the tank.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

Another car with 2 wheels.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

I liked this one, of course. It is a dead ringer to mine….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

The people

You don’t have 100,000 bikers show up and not get a few colorful characters….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

After walking all day I thought of trading places with him.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

There were bands playing everywhere. These guys set up in the car wash parking lot. They were a blues band, and very good. The little kid on the right could really play a mean geetar!

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

My pretty wife….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

well, at least he wasn’t cold.

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

If you look closely, the passenger is carrying a tank on his/her back feeding something into the bike. I can only imagine what is in the tank. Talk about good friend, I don’t think I would volunteer to carry a small explosive on my back, on the back of a bike!

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

I really don’t know what to say about this guy, other than “please put some pants on!”

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

and because these guys were here….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

these guys were following….

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

Overall, it was a lot of fun! Lots of bikes and as you can see, “interesting” people. We left around 2:30 in the afternoon, and that proved to be about a half hour too late. We got caught in a very heavy, and COLD, rainfall on the way back. Took quite a few hours to warm up once we got back home. It was sunny and warm all day, until the ride back. I ended up with the goofiest sunburn on my face.

Tim

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Image copyright 2005 Tim Warris

Posted by: | 05-14-2005 | 01:05 PM
Posted in: Uncategorized

7 Comments

  1. Hey… now I can put a face or bike with guy that’s built jigs for me so that I can hand lay turnouts for my layout. Interesting pics there Tim.

    Comment by Chris Zygmont — 5/17/2005 @ 8:07 pm

  2. Missed the 13th this year due to stuff I cant control– grateful for the picts

    Comment by TOM BEELER — 5/29/2005 @ 11:56 am

  3. So what is wrong that nice old Sunbeam (the green bike that they don’t build anymore), it would make a nice stable mate for my 1956 rigid frame Triumph.

    Comment by Mike — 5/29/2005 @ 6:31 pm

  4. Excellent photos and commentary. Thank you! I was there, saw some of the bikes you saw, but a real bonus was that guy with the fur coat. Heading back into Toronto I saw “something”. At first I thought it was one of those almost transparent $5 ladies rain coats on the guy because it shimered in the distance – but by the silouette the rider clearly had horns on! As I approached I realized it was a fur coat. Wow. And now you’ve captured a photo so I can say see, it was real.

    Comment by Nancy Irwin — 5/30/2005 @ 4:29 am

  5. My husband and I heard about Port Dover from a Biker in SC last year- We are riding up from Maryland for the July 13th event. Spending a few days at the Falls then staying in Simcoe.

    Comment by Allison & Craig — 4/14/2007 @ 12:27 pm

  6. Thanks for sharing and posting the pix from Port Stanley.

    The first time I visited Port Stanley was on a Sunday in April of 1986. Not a motor-bike in sight.
    The next time was on a Sunday in April of 2003. There were many motor-bikes about then; as in the first, there were folks enjoying the beautiful weather.

    For train fans – visit the ship museum, and walk the old railway ROW.

    Comment by geo1ee — 4/16/2007 @ 1:35 pm

  7. Hi TIM and VITA, how are things going . some nice pics. Hope all is well for you both. cod ad windy and of course riny here in glasgow. take cae .Pat

    Comment by patricia neary — 3/27/2009 @ 7:54 am

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