We Have A Winner!

John Bretz—a Cycle World subscriber from Rockford, Indiana, who owns a couple of "slow and comfortable" Harleys—decided to buy five raffle tickets online after reading about the CW/Ride for Kids custom Honda in the pages of our magazine. Turned out to be the best $20 he ever spent, as this owner of a small farm was just picked as the lucky winner of this wildly colorful Honda CBR1000RR built by Gregg's Customs of New Hampshire.

And while Bretz gets to take home this beautifully painted bike with its custom, single-sided swingarm, Performance Machine wheels and LeoVince GP exhaust, the real winner here is the Ride for Kids organization, which has been supporting the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation for nearly 30 years. This year alone, the CW/Ride for Kids raffle raised $67,845.

That’s an outstanding 56 percent more than last year’s contest and second only to that fetched by the cool Roland Sands bike of 2009. For the record, a total of $725,577 has been raised since 2001.

To all who participated, give yourself a hearty pat on the back. You really have helped make a difference in the lives of the far-too-many kids afflicted with a brain tumor. To those who didn't participate, well, consider this a gentle reminder to pitch in next year. As John Bretz proved, the Cycle World/Ride for Kids raffle can be a true "win-win" proposition.