Turns out there is yet another Sturgis show on TV, Travel Channels “Sturgis Raw”. This show follows the typical “Sturgis behind the scenes” format, similar to Full Throttle Saloon. This show spends time at the largest bar in town “One Eyed Jacks” and at the Buffalo Chip outside of town for its saloon time.
Where Sturgis Raw differs from most other Sturgis shows is that it also follows the Sturgis Police Department for a cop’s point of view of the rally. The view of the rally through from the cop’s eyes, I found, is really interesting. A quick review of what I have seen, so far, with the Sturgis PD on the show include:
Motorcycle DUI arrest (not sure how he was even riding!)
Emergency call to a hotel about a guest with a gun
Rousting people “under the bridge” for drinking and drugs
Responding to and helping a guy who was stabbed seven times.
Of course there are girls, girls, and girls, on the show. An interesting spin on the girl theme was a bit about a body paint artist hired to make a girl to blend into a custom bike. His work on her turned out well and she looked like part of the bike.
They have also covered a couple of bike shows that were judged by editors of major motorcycle magazines (American Iron, Iron Horse and a few others that I forget). There were some cool bikes that were judged but the same bikes seemed to appear in each of the shows. Not sure if that was the case or just how they edited the video.
Apparently there are at least seven episodes of Sturgis Raw with names like “Midweek Mayhem, Throttle Up and Chrome & Glory. I have watched the first three and have set my DVR to record the rest. I was surprised to notice some café and sport bikes in the mix here and throughout the show, but you had look fast to see them. Over all I have enjoyed the show and give it five stars, primarily due to the unique aspect of the filming of the police effort.