Friday, September 18, 2015

DK Has An All New Limited Edition General Lee Bicycle For 2016!


Our friend Jesse at DK Bicycles shared with me their newest General Lee bike.  Going back to its high end roots, the 2016 DK General Lee will be extremely limited.


Jesse, who has a great Dukes name, sent me the following information.

"Here are some photos from the day at the trails, obviously in the woods jumping is where the GL belongs! Back in 1998 the first General Lee frame was made in the USA, a high end frame only. Since then the General has been made for almost every budget. From USA made frame, to high end complete then down to an entry level bike and everywhere in between. At one point (2006) we made a run of GL's in 12", 16", 20", and 24". 



"Now for 2016 the GL is back at the top. Built around a full 4130 Chromoly frame with a "MID" bottom bracket (sealed bearings press right into the frame), Integrated Headtube (sealed bearings fit right into the machined headtube, no need for cups), tapered tubing to reduce weight, and a custom Star brake bridge. The 8.75" DK bars and fork are also full 4130, and matched with our new Chamberlain hi rise Top Load stem. 



"The drive train is highlighted with the aftermarket DK Social crank, one of the strongest cranks on the market. Sealed hubs with clean female style bolts, and a 25/9 gear ratio. The seat is a Wise "Denim" TriPod style with a Wise Tri Pod post, clean and simple. Frame weight is right around 4.5lbs and the complete bike weighs in at 24lbs. 



"Numbers are very limited. Anyone interested should contact their local DK dealer or bike shop. "



Thanks Jesse.  This bike is beautiful.  It deserves a place in anyone's collection and also deserves to be out there tearing up the trails and hitting those jumps.

It sure is great that such an important and revered bicycle in its genre was inspired by our favorite flying orange car.  The General Lee and the DK General Lee share a deep respect that transcends hobbies.

Jesse also shared this ad for the DK General Lee from 1999.  Very cool to look back at the bike's early days.


Thanks again to Jesse and DK for reaching out and sharing their newest creation.  Contact the bike shops quick. This one won't last.


My DK General Lee
Chris Dunlap's restored DK General Lee
My DK General Lee stickers

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Enos Strate - Sonny Shroyer at Cooter's in the Country


I love that I can get to Cooter's  " In The Country" in only a few hours.  Sonny Shroyer was there recently and I decided to head on down.


When I got there Ben and Sonny both had a long line for autographs and pictures.  It happened to be right around Ben and Sonny's birthday so they had a celebration planned.


Now that is a good looking cake.


Shortly after I got there, Ben and Sonny took a quick break from signing and had a little birthday fun.

The crowd sang to them and really had a fun time.


There were so many 01s on that cake.



After we sang, Alma cut the cake and served it to everyone there.  Aren't they the greatest?



Sonny is one of the nicest people I've ever met.  He spent so much time with each person there.


This fella brought his brand new Hellcat Challenger to get inspected by Hazzard County's finest mechanic.


Sperryville is basically a modern-day Hazzard County.



Since I was there for the Grand Opening in May, they've added a few more collectibles to the displays.  I just love the Dukes bedroom!  When we were setting up in the spring, we didn't have all the pieces for the tent.  I'm glad to see Richie was able to get it up.


These stand-ups were made by CMT back in 2005.  I saw them in their offices when I was there for the big contest fiasco.  I asked if I could ever have any but they told me they were all spoken for.  I'm glad they went to a good home at Cooter's.






There is so much great Dukes of Hazzard stuff to look at at the newest Dukes museum.  Even though I placed most of these items where they are, I still found myself lovingly staring at them all.


There is a nice selection of Golden and Silver Era Dukes of Hazzard merchandise for sale at the store. There are a few hard to find items like Mego figures and the Corgi car and figure set.  It's worth looking into to strengthen your Dukes Collection.



Daisy's Dairy Bar has all kinds of great Daisy Duke memorabilia and all kinds of great ice cream treats.  I recommend the chocolate milkshake, but Sonny was partial to the strawberry sundae.  You can't go wrong.


Since I was there last, Miss Alma's Kitchen has got up and running.  The hamburgers are a big hit, and the BBQ sandwiches are very popular.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner is served at Cooter's.


One of my jobs while I was there was taking pictures for Sonny.  This fella photobombed about half of them.  Me and Richie were talking about doing some improvements to make him more Cooterfied. Keep and eye out for those.  And I just invented a new word.


I met a whole bunch of great people while at Cooter's.  Every time I go to a Dukes event, I get to meet fellow Dukes fans.  It's as much fun as hanging with the Dukes.  Sabrina and Clifford were a lot of fun to talk to.  Sabrina is a police officer and had a few things to say about Enos's uniform.  I think there might have even been some hand-cuffing going on.


They brought along the new DVD box set to have Sonny autograph.  It was the first time he'd seen it.

I got really excited when I saw they had opened it, because I hadn't seen what the inside looked like. Mine is still sealed.  All of the seasons are in individual boxes.  They are standard plastic multi-disc cases as opposed to the fold-out cardboard boxes the seasons originally came in.  Clifford and Sabrina wisely replaced "the Beginning" with the reunion double movie set.  I'm not sure why the reunions weren't included in the box set.


After the event, I got to spend some time with Sonny and his wife Paula.  I think I've said it every time I've written about Sonny, but he really is an incredibly nice man.  He is always smiling and makes everyone around him smile.  I brought my 8 inch Enos figure from Series 2 of Figure Toy Company's great Dukes of Hazzard line.  Sonny really enjoyed seeing it.


I had him sign my figure card.  He was surprised the picture on the card was a shot of him not smiling.


After we had dinner from Miss Alma's Kitchen, we walked around the store and museum with Sonny. We enjoyed seeing all the new and classic items.


Miss Alma sure puts on a heck of an event, as always.  We are all glad Sonny came down for a visit.



I love Cooter's in the Country!


I had a really great time at Cooter's with Sonny, Paula, Ben and Alma.  Being able to drive down to Cooter's in a few hours is so much fun.  I'm sure I'll be heading down there a few more times this year.  I can't wait for the next event!