Fairfield-Echo

As the bikes kept arriving on a warm April evening, Bud Bell cruised into the parking lot at Quaker Steak and Lube for his first "Bike Night" of the season. He left the same parking lot in September 2006 the winner of the bike he rode this evening.

"I won this 2006 Harley Sportster here in their annual bike giveaway," he said. "I come over a couple of times a month, and you get one entry each time you come. I guess I probably entered six or eight tickets that year. When they called my name, out of about 10,000 entries, I nearly had a heart attack. I ran so fast to the microphone, and then nearly broke my leg trying to jump over the wall to get there."

Bell was joined by a few hundred other bikes and riders to celebrate the warm spring night and the return of the riding season. While there were plenty of Harleys sporting shiny paint and tons of gleaming chrome, sport bikes were also on hand, along with Honda Gold Wings and others.

Dan Mendenhall of Beavercreek used the evening to debut his restored 1969 Triumph Bonneville. "I spent the whole winter working on it, a total frame-up restoration," Mendenhall said. The British beauty has metallic green paint with gold and black striping and brightly polished metal and chrome. "I put 750 cylinders on it, so it's pretty quick, and it rides real nice," Mendenhall added. "But I didn't want to ride it very far tonight; I'm just sort of checking it out."

Mendenhall is also a frequent visitor to the Thursday night event. "I've got four Triumphs, a Kawasaki and a Harley, so I can ride different bikes all the time," he said.

The Bike Night will be held every Thursday at Quaker Steak and Lube, 3725 Presidential Drive in Beavercreek. There will be live music from 6 to 10 p.m. each evening, and again this year, there will be a drawing for a 2008 Harley-Davidson on Sept. 11.