Bikers rumble in Durham for 10th annual event

Aug. 31, 2014 @ 05:17 PM

DURHAM —

Motorcyclists drove up and down 9th Street in Durham’s Brightleaf District on Sunday afternoon, and enthusiasts milled outside Dain’s Place with beers in hand, talking about their love of the machines to both old friends and new. So went the conclusion to Ton Up NC’s 10th annual Bull City Rumble.

It started 13 years ago with a passion shared by three men. Co-founder and president Marcus Rogers got together with two fellow motorcycle lovers to start the bike-dedicated nonprofit Ton Up NC.
Rogers said they decided to start a group when they realized there was no place that specialized in vintage motorcycle repairs.
“We like to be together, we like to work on the bikes together and we like to help each other,” he said.
The nonprofit contributes to AHRMA, the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association, to ensure that AHRMA has funds to organize and put on vintage motorcycle races around the country.
The group has since grown to seven members who all ride, repair and race vintage motorcycles, but the feat they pull off yearly is much bigger than that. The nonprofit hosts what is advertised as “North Carolina’s largest vintage motorcycle, scooter and café racer event” over Labor Day weekend. Rogers said turnout this year was in the thousands, drawing people from Texas, Pittsburgh and California, and even international visitors from Italy and Brazil.
The event, which started on Friday, featured group rides, social events and a bike show open to the public. After being held in Raleigh as the Raleigh Rumble, the Bull City Rumble has been in Durham for the past five, which Rogers said is a purposeful decision.
“We love Durham,” he said, comparing the city’s “strong do-it-yourself culture” to repairing bikes by hand.
He said the group also appreciated how Durham’s culture focused on embracing differences.
“We’re not your typical motorcycle group because we have an affinity for obsolete technology,” Rogers said.
Durham’s history also pairs nicely with historic biking culture, Rogers added.
He picked up a Bull City Rumble poster, pointing to the iconic Lucky Strike tower in the background. The city, just like the bikes, has been “lovingly restored,” he said.
“Things that are old do not need to be thrown away,” Rogers said, adding that more appreciation should be shown for things that were built to last.
The event, which started in a small parking lot, now closes down Main Street for the bike show. Rogers attributes some of the growth to word of mouth.
“The folks that come out to the Rumble, they’re great people. They’re fantastic people,” he said. “And then they tell more fantastic people to come out.”
Even some locals were new to the action. Hillsborough resident Jason Buchanan, who grew up in Chapel Hill, came out to the Rumble for the first time this year.
“I’ve been a motorcycle freak since I was 3,” he said. “It always fascinated me. It’s a passion that’s never left me.”
Buchanan said there has been a recent resurgence in the popularity of 70s-era motorcycles because of their widespread availability, their affordable pricing and their mechanical simplicity.
He agreed with Rogers; the people who came out to the Rumble weren’t “stereotypical bikers.” He said that the people he met over the weekend were from various skill levels and career paths.
“They’re just an eclectic, intelligent group of people,” he said, adding that the social component of biking has become increasingly more important to him.
Buchanan, who attends one to two motorcycle events every year, was impressed by the inclusiveness of this event.
“They don’t ostracize anybody,” he said. “If you own a motorcycle, you’ll fit in with this group.”
The feeling that Buchanan came away with was Ton UP NC’s goal all along. “We really want people to share in it,” Rogers said. “We don’t want to be exclusive.”

Bikers rumble in Durham for 10th annual event