Wicked Wrench Motorcycle Company’s Grand Opening Celebration Article & Pictures By Wally Wersching The Wicked Wrench Motorcycle Company has been alive for about a year. It started in a small shop in Chesnee and is now in a state-of-the-art facility in Spartanburg. Almost at once, they realized that the small Chesnee shop was too small so they looked for another location. They found an excellent location near I85 and Rt 221 – on the interstate frontage road at 50 Fairview Church Road in Spartanburg, SC. There was a very large building, and a huge parking area around the building. After many hours of hard work, the facility started to look like a motorcycle dealership with the showroom in front, and the service shop in the rear. On Saturday April 16th, they held their Grand Opening celebration. Travis and his crew worked hard to pull it together. They hired a couple bands: “Mojo and Max” played from noon til 2:00PM, and “The Piedmont Boys” played from 2:30PM til 5:00PM. There was a food truck dishing out tasty meals, and a “Bouncy House’ for the kids. They had room enough for many vendors and swap-meet tents in the parking area. To top it off, they raffled off a beautiful black 2006 Harley-Davidson Softail motorcycle at 5:00PM – after you followed the entrance instructions on Facebook (no purchase necessary). In other words, they were giving away a Harley for free!! When I awoke Saturday morning, it was raining. The weatherman said that it would pass by noon. For once, he was right. The rain stopped in the morning, and it was sunny and warm by the afternoon – perfect for the Grand Opening party. I arrived at about 2pm and was guided to the back of the parking lot to park “Miss Vickie” with all the other bikes. It was very crowded but there appeared to be some organization in all the chaos. I walked around the parking lot – looking at all the miscellaneous parts for sale. I recognized all of them as parts for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I looked at every display, and they didn’t have any parts to fit on “Miss Vickie” – a Victory motorcycle. I stopped at the Spartanburg Regional Hospice Ride tent to get a flyer. I’ve been on the ride a few times, and it was always fun. This year, it’s on August 27th at the Spartanburg Shrine Club. 30
I walked all the way around the parking lot to the front of the building - to the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA) Legends chapter tent to talk with Bud and Ken. Bud was busy signing up a new member, so I talked with Ken for a while. He brought two of his classic Harleys to display. Then, I walked into the dealership to find Travis. He was there making sure that everything went as planned. I gave him a couple magazines, and he hammed it up when I took his picture.
I walked back outside. The picnic tables on the side to the building were full of people eating and listening to the band. They sounded pretty good! I didn’t stay to see who won the motorcycle, but I did see the video on Facebook. The young man who won was Ben Padgett. He was so excited that he couldn’t say much when he went on stage. All he could do was hug Travis a few times. I’m sure that he’ll spend a lot of fun-filled miles on that Harley.
Ken's Bikes
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Bike Winner Ken
