There are a ton of things that bring riders back to the Hot Bike Tour every year. The build-off bikes, the ride-in bike show, the bands, the vendors, riding with the builders and editors—hell, even riding with the LongRiders themselves is a huge motivator for a lot of us. Whatever it is that lures all of us out there, year after year the Hot Bike Tour is an amazing time riding with some amazing people and always in a beautiful location.

This year the party kicked off at Smoky Mountain H-D in Maryville, Tennessee, where people came from all over to see some incredible bands and partake in the first round of voting for the Street Chopper, Baggers, and Hot Bike Invitational Build-Offs. Some of the builders were a little late arriving, which meant less time for voters to see their bike in the lineup and less votes in the ballot box.

The next morning we headed from SM H-D to our destination for the next two days: Johnson City, Tennesee. The way each rider got there was up to them. You could blast the highway or head out through one of the many gorgeous roads along the way.

There are 12 routes known throughout the Johnson City area as The Southern Dozen, which were one of the huge motivating factors for choosing this spot as the location for this year’s Hot Bike Tour. So while it wasn’t moving around quite as much as it did the last few years, the people who attended were still able to take off and ride through some beautiful country.

At the end of the the day, Johnson City’s downtown area was an incredible host for our party and bike show. Tons of folks from the town rode, drove, hiked, or biked out to see what we were doing and we got a huge variety of ride-in bike participants for that part of the show.

We’re not sure if it’s going to stay like this in one location or go back to gypsy-style like before, but follow along to find out! Thanks again to everyone who came out to ride with us and we hope to see you all next year!