08/27/2026
BIKE OF THE NIGHT
Straight in from taking home some hardware at Sturgis, this bike showed up at Blackjacks on Tuesday night.
And man, did it show up.
After waiting out the seemingly never-ending crowd surrounding it, and letting the sun hang it's hat a little lower, we finally got a few minutes alone with this jaw-dropping build.
Bike of the Night wasn't a difficult decision.
The owner, Jesse, built it and had a familiar face around Blackjacks do some engraving work on it. His name is Michael Angelo for those unaware. And as humble as he was about the whole thing, the bike had just earned 1st Place in the Garage Built Show - Best Big Twin and 3rd Place in the Rat's Hole Radical Class at Sturgis.
Spend a few minutes looking at it and you understand why.
A throaty Big Twin. Neighbour-hatin' short pipes. Single-sided swingarm. A meaty kickstarter. And enough style to stop people in their tracks before you even start noticing the finer details.
The paint. The engraving. The metalwork. The little decisions that don't reveal themselves until you've already been staring at it for ten minutes.
We love it. So did everybody else.
That's the thing about motorcycles.
Bike Night at Blackjacks has been kicking around for somewhere around 15 years now. We've seen thousands of bikes come through that parking lot.
And somehow, every once in a while, one still makes you feel like a kid again.
Maybe it was a little toy motorcycle you carried around until the wheels fell off.
Maybe it was watching some movie hero escape certain death on two wheels.
Maybe it was the first time your uncle let you pull back the throttle on an old 50cc Honda and, for a few seconds, you heard the call of the wild.
Whatever it was, somewhere along the way, we all got bitten by the same bug.
The machines are part of it.
The freedom is part of it.
But so are the people who build them, ride them, gather around them and keep finding new reasons to stare at motorcycles in parking lots long after we should've all grown out of it.
We're glad we never did.
Thanks for rolling in, Jesse.
And thanks for making a bunch of us feel like kids again.
Edmonton Toy Run sponsored the night and kept the 50/50 going while the sun beat down on the pavement and Ziff played tunes to keep the atmosphere cool.
Another Bike Night in the books.
See you fine folk at the next one.
