“Is this yours?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice bike.”

This a lot of the typical conversation at Bike Night, held every Tuesday at Old Chicago, 1610 S. Kellogg Ave.

“A couple of the managers [of Old Chicago] that own bikes thought it would be a good idea to get a different crowd on Tuesday night,” said Lisa Blunk, service manager at Old Chicago.

Bike Night is held every Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. until Aug. 20.

Alex Millen, director and sales consultant for Wilson Cadillac, Toyota and Scion, 2212 S. Duff Ave., has always wanted a bike night in Ames.

“I wanted to give them somewhere to go in Ames,” Millen said.

The idea for the night all started with a couple of sponsors. Old Chicago, Wilson Cadillac, Toyota and Scion and Miller Lite all sponsor the event.

The turnout has been very good, Millen said.

“We increase the number of bikes we have every week,” Millen said. “I’ll bet by the end of the summer we’ll have 100 bikes.”

Surprisingly, with all this success, no money was spent on advertising, Millen said.

“It’s all been word of mouth,” Millen said.

Beer and burger specials are served throughout the evening.

“We keep it pretty low key,” Millen said.

At the end of the night, Millen and Old Chicago have a raffle for all the bikers.

T-shirts, oil changes and gasoline all are given away.

“We wanted to give the bikers a reason to come out,” Millen said.

The bikers also vote on who has the best bike. The person who wins gets a bucket of motorcycle supplies.

Millen said the night was a complete success.

“I would’ve had 10 bikes here and called it a success,” Millen said.

Joe Wright and Gary Lafayette, both of Ames, came out for their first times. Both of them go to bike nights in Des Moines. It was different for them just riding a short distance.

“The ride is the fun for me,” Wright said.

The mix of different people and styles was the highlight for Lafayette.

“The best thing about this is there are the same number of sport bikes as there are Harleys,” Lafayette said.

The ISU Motorcycle Club has turned Bike Night into its weekly meeting. Aaron Dowdell, the president of the ISU Motorcycle Club and senior in mechanical engineering, said it just worked out that their meetings were on the same night.

Dowdell is a huge bike enthusiast. He uses his motorcycle as his primary mode of transportation.

“I ride all the time,” Dowdell said. “From the first thaw until about the last thaw.”

Biking is definitely one of Dowdell’s biggest hobbies.

“It’s where all my hard earned military money went,” he said.

The Motorcycle Club is always looking for new members and are looking to expand from a sports bike image to encompass all bikes, said Dowdell.

The club also accepts non-ISU members.

Dowdell comes out Tuesday not only for the meeting, but also for the social atmosphere. He likes that many different people come with different tastes.

“Having a mix of bikes is good,” Dowdell said.

Randy Ruark, of Madrid, had a custom paint job on his motorcycle with a “Lord of the Rings” theme.

Ruark said he has always enjoyed the “Lord of the Rings” story since he was a child.

“I grew up with ‘The Hobbit’ and the rest of the stories,” Ruark said.

Part of the decision with the custom art was the revival of the story with the movies. It makes the art more recognizable, Ruark said.

“It helps me relive my childhood,” Ruark said.

The work on the art took from February to approximately the end of May to complete.

“If you want something that will make you so happy you can’t stand it, you’ve got to wait for it,” Ruark said. “Fortunately, in Iowa, you can do that.”

Just below the handlebars rests the quote, “There and back again, a hobbit biker’s tale – Bilbo Baggins.”

“It’s what we do,” Ruark said. “We go there and come back again. I couldn’t have asked for a better quote to steal.”

Despite the eye-catching appearance of the bike, Ruark didn’t get the custom art for contests.

“It’s something I’ve always want to do,” Ruark said. “It’s about sharing it.”