The Desert Doubles Down

Arizona Bike Week

Motorcycle enthusiasts return to WestWorld for five days of full-throttle entertainment.

Widespread rumbles, revs, and burnt rubber will fill the WestWorld grounds when tens of thousands of motorcycle buffs and spectators emerge for Arizona Bike Week. A premier biking event for nearly 30 years, ABW returns April 8-12, with new entertainment alongside returning fan favorites.

“As a promoter, what makes Arizona Bike Week special is the balance,” Kristina Shaffer explains. “During the day, you’re immersed in motorcycle culture, demo rides, builders, racing, charity rides, and the vendor community. By night, the rally transforms into a full concert experience. It becomes more than an event; it feels like a temporary city built around the culture. It’s the ultimate biker vacation.”

A Cultural Gathering

ABW expanded its entertainment lineup this year with more high-power entertainment, including the Arena Wars Fighting Series, where MMA fighters battle for the championship belt, and Slide School at the HellRacer Dome, where ABW guests can register for a professional bike riding training session with Johnny Lewis.

Yet the mainstay entertainment is here to stay. Daytime demo rides, stunt shows, and racing bring in strong crowds of all ages, while evening concerts in the RockYard summon music lovers with heavy-hitting headliners. For 2026, special guests Znora, Drop Diezel, Christopher Shayne, and Stereo Rex will heat up the main stage for featured acts Black Stone Cherry, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Cody Jinks, and Ted Nugent.

The bike shows are unquestionably at the heart of ABW. Several bigwig bike builders will be on-site for ABW 2026, including Rick Fairless of Strokers Dallas, Arizona’s Joe Norkin and Jason Nance of Raw Customs, and Armondo “Mondo” Porras of Denver’s Choppers, who is widely known as the “Godfather of Choppers.”

Norkin sees motorcycles as an extension of the rider — it’s their ego, their identity, their connection to the world — so there’s a lot of blood, sweat, and tears going into a build. He compares today’s bike shows to chariot competitions during the Roman Empire. “Man decorated his chariot. He decorated his horses. It’s always been done, since the beginning of man — that competition,” he says. “Custom motorcycles, custom cars, that’s the ego side.” Meaning, the best-looking horse and the best-looking chariot won the prize and bragging rights, much like today’s bike show winners.

Ladies get a lot of love at ABW. In fact, female attendance and participation have grown significantly over the years, according to Shaffer. And with increased interest comes increased representation, including the Iron Goddess All Female Motorcycle Show and ABW’s newest addition, Women’s Vicla Showcase, celebrating Spanish pride, creativity, and craftsmanship in the women’s biking community.

“Iron Goddess creates a platform where women are recognized not just for their bikes, but for the journeys that brought them there,” says Iron Goddess Motorcycle Show Executive Director Bunnie Geer. “What began as one show has grown into a thriving community rooted in empowerment, connection, and the undeniable presence of women in the motorcycle world.”

Each year, ABW hits the road to raise funds for a variety of causes with its charity bike rides. “Charity rides have always been a foundational aspect of Arizona Bike Week, reinforcing the community and philanthropic spirit of the motorcycle world,” Shaffer explains. “Beyond fundraising, these rides create meaningful shared experiences and remind attendees that the rally is about connection, purpose, community, and giving back.”

WestWorld offers on-site camping options, so guests can soak up every electrifying moment. “Camping also helps foster community, convenience, and a stronger sense of belonging throughout the week,” Shaffer says. “‘Camping neighborhoods’ have formed. People who have met at the event from different states request their same campsites each year and plan their week-long stay via email and group chats.”

Year after year, riders return to ABW at WestWorld for the craftsmanship and camaraderie. It’s a community crafted by chrome and kinship, and an experience that stays with you long after the dirt, dust, and ringing of the ears settle into memories of open roads, roaring engines, and whispers from the desert calling you back for more.

Cave Creek Bike Week

Blending biker culture and small-town revelry into one unforgettable rally.

Since its 1998 launch, Cave Creek Bike Week has grown increasingly popular among motorcycle enthusiasts, vendors, and casual fans of great moments, music, and mild mischief-making.

“The thing grows leaps and bounds every year — 20 to 30% every year,” says Mark Bradshaw, owner of The Hideaway Grill and Cave Creek Roadhouse, and the boss behind CCBW. “It takes all year to plan, even now. This is something that’s grown over the last 30 years into what it is today. It’s known to be second to Sturgis, as far as fun rallies, good times and bikes and people and talent, if you will, with the builders and everything else.”

What started with just under 30,000 attendees now brings in nearly 100,000 bike culture fans and talent from around the globe. CCBW, a free annual event held at The Hideaway, Roadhouse, and select offshoot locations, offers a community vibe, summoning guests to ride in, grab a beverage, and soak up the high-octane festivities and fuel. It’s 10 days of music, bike shows, and vendors daily, with traveling bartenders hyping up the crowd and unforgettable ride tours throughout the week.

CCBW 2026 will kick into gear on April 2 with a kickoff bash, igniting 10 days of incredible engines, entertainment, and high-desert high jinks through April 12. Each day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., attendees will have their share of contests, bull riding, and live entertainment, including hard rock band Buckcherry storming the stage on April 11. Additionally, attendees can enter to win a ravishing 2023 Harley-Davidson Low Rider, which will go home with the winner on April 12.

Hog Heaven

Long before the streets are overrun with CCBW motor junkies, custom bike builders focus on their newest bike show projects, beautifying bland machines with frame modifications and accessories, and upgrading parts to improve performance and efficiency. “Arizona has always had the most bike builders compared to any other state, so the competition is fierce. Everybody’s always stepping up their game,” says legendary Arizona bike builder John Shope.

This year, world-renowned bike builder Paul Yaffe will present a modified 2006 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy for CCBW’s Friends Throwdown on April 7 in Cottonwood, Arizona. Every year, a new Friends Throwdown motorcycle theme is determined, and “Springer,” a fork-like suspension system popularized around 1940, won the honor for 2026, meaning each entry needs a Springer to qualify to enter.

“I decided to take a bike and put a Springer on it — get a long Springer, chop the frame up, stretch it, change the geometry of it, and make it a full custom,” Yaffe explains. At press time, the bike’s gold-flame paint job had just been completed, and reassembly was underway.

After the Springer Friends Throwdown crowns its winner, the event guests and participants will ride down to Cave Creek to join in on the revelries, where Yaffe’s custom Hog will be displayed at his booth and given away to a lucky bike lover.

“Cave Creek is a unique, badass town,” Shope says. “Cave Creek Bike Week is organized by local Cave Creek business owners. It’s free for guests to attend, unlike most major bike rallies.”

The Hideaway and Roadhouse also serve as pre-tour riding hubs, a favorite CCBW feature. “Every day we have a ride,” Bradshaw explains. “It might be to Globe, it might be to Route 66, it might be up Yarnell Hill, it might be to Prescott, it might be down to Tombstone.” In the vast Arizona desert landscape, the options are endless.

The Hideaway’s slogan, “There are no strangers here, just friends you haven’t met yet,” stretches beyond its confines into CCBW, the Cave Creek community, and beyond. “I guarantee a good time,” Bradshaw says. “You come once, you’ll tell your friends, and come back time and time again.”

Watch and Win

Paul Yaffe’s “Chopper on the Cheap” YouTube series guides viewers through his bike-building process, from inception to completion and unveiling. Enter the contest to win his Springer bike by following the channel at youtube.com/paulyaffeoriginals.