Chronicals of lost time in Chopper land: Working on the '76 Ironhead

Breeze 

Every now and then.. life gets so busy, and it seems you get lost in the tidal wave of appointments, events, mishaps, and circumstances.  If you take a step back and just enjoy the ride, eventually the dust settles and you can reflect on what you accomplished without sacrificing your self, or your beliefs, or your sanity- so it's super hectic, but in a really good way.  The way that you meet new and awesome people, get to spend time with ones you love or fall into love, you accomplish a goal or reach a target.. things are finished and time has passed.. and now come the stories...

Last summer, after my trip to Montana, I attended the Clam Jam, a local Indy chopper party with rad people and good times... (I wrote a blog way back my first year attending, if you want to check it out ) While I was there a dude wrecked his Frankenstein of a bike, later known to me as The flyingt1t , on the dirt track he was ripping around.  The alternator blade on his bike ate his foot... Yeah that sounds wrong, but I'm not wrong..

Fast forward a few months, turns out he lives in the quad cities, and he's a cool dude, his name is Andrew, and we become friends.  He tells me about a show in Lacrosse WI every year, put on with BreakNeck Cycles, in Pearl Street Brewery.. it keeps getting better and better... And if I ask, I could put my bike in it too.
Neat.
So I asked.. and James Whistleman, the man who curates the event with the brewery, said hell yeah! So... I got my ass in gear, finished relocating and cutting and painting and wiring Breeze.. and took her and Eggy, to a bike show:

Eggy had a great time, and got her picture taken with everyone... And the taillight I built for Breeze made way more sense when she was there ..

I had such a good time making that taillight- I had to hustle to get it installed and working by the show.  It gave me something to focus on, and it is one of the few pieces on the bike I made from found objects or oddities...I love to imagine something, and make it happen. I wanted a chicken taillight, I made it happen.  I think I'm going to make a few more, and I've started a collection of them.. the first of the one off creations is going to my friend as a birthday gift, so it can be run hard and see if it survives.  I want to make more, and sell them maybe...

The drive up to Lacrosse was 35* , leaving me no way to start my bike when we arrived at the brewery.. so I couldn't unload it across the parking lot, without having to push it pretty far.  The loading dock wasn't an easy option, and I didn't have a ramp.  Luckily, as we arrived, the guys from Breakneck Cycles come rolling in six deep, ready to help.  They literally picked my bike up, and took it out of the truck, and set it on the loading dock. Lacrosse hospitality at it's finest!
I had the pleasure of meeting some of them in Milwaukee at Ramada Tried, and they quickly introduced me to everyone, their other halves, and I got to meet some Instagram names I'd been following- solid babes and dudes. They showed us Illinois kids how to party that night.  I don't remember most of it, but I do know I had a great time in Lacrosse.

Nate Ullrich , of Natanics pinups was there, so I signed a few calendars and took a few pictures with people.. always fun to get dolled up and tromp around in high heels carrying a chicken!
My mom came to the show to see me and my bike, she had never seen it finished.  I have the best momma.  She even met the president of the Rooster's car club, and got a photo with Eggy.. so much fun.

We got breeze loaded back up in the truck at the end of the night, off of the loading dock, thanks again to the Breakneck guys- and I got to kick her over in my heels.. it was awesome!

Over all, it was an amazing month of motorcycle related schenanigans.. the hospitality and breed of people that you meet in the bike world is just amazing. They treat you like a human: always interested in each other's stories, travels, builds, and ideas.  The brotherhood is alive and well, despite the overflow from the millennial generation that seem to be making waves in the bike scene, causing memes to cover the internet about how beards and flannels don't make you a biker/builder/chopper hoe whatever the fuck. 
I've met a few of you.. the scene kids, the thrill chasers.. I get it. Motorcycles are exciting...I usually sell you one, and then never see you until you need me to buy it back... With two hundred more miles on it..

This is something I learned the hard way over the last few years-  Some of us are born into it, and some of us wish we were... Seeing it all over the internet, making it all look so easy.  The lifestyle of a 'biker' these days has been reduced to a staged picture on Instagram.. it's not real.  And I'm sorry, but you can never wish it to reality. I've also seen an increase in self proclaimed 'biker chicks' who complain that biltwell or icon or bell put a sexy half naked girl in an Instagram ad.. And now they are boycotting the brand.. *rolling eyes so hard I can see my own ass* again ITS NOT REAL.. get over your own insecurities, and stop projecting them on some model who is just doing her job, and instead maybe tell her how amazing she looks balancing on the back of a chopper wearing nothing but fishnets and a smile... because motorcycles = sexy half naked babes... It's history, it's fact, it's tradition.  This is not your fight... In fact there is no fight, we fucking love naked chicks on bikes!  It brings up a conversation about the stereotypes female riders are fighting.  Some claim we are being sexualized and used to sell Moto gear and bikes, that we are being made fun of "why would anyone wear heels/shirt/no shirt/no shoes/whatever to ride, that girls dumb” listen. It's not real.   And the stereotypes we are facing are not that we are so sexy we ride around half naked all the time, becase, listen- if that were the case - I'd have thousands more followers... 

The stereotype we are fighting, is being created by you closed minded frozen cunts. I am not a crusty anti dude, vegan ,hairy armpitted, nazi femenist just because I ride my own bike. And im sick of being told that's what im supposed to be.  I like getting my ass slapped and told to get on my knees every once in a while.. Fucking lighten up.  I'll never find a man if you bitches keep this shit up.

The line needs to be drawn, and these temporary scene people.. The people seeking an environment to vent their opinions about things they know nothing about- the 'dress for the slide not the ride' bullshit, the 'I've been riding 2 years and am going to tell you how your bike works' fuckers, and my personal faves, the : "yeah my buddy had a Shovel head like this (looking at an iron head-), and he let me ride it once" will disappear.. Eventually, the weak weed themselves out.. In two years everything will be back to normal and chopper parties will be chopper parties, with naked girls and cocaine and fucking burn outs and beer bongs off of dildos..because that's just the way it is.  Luckily most of the shit talkers never go to events or shows.. just hide behind the ever prevalent clever profile handles.. staring at the pile of parts they drugged up at the last swap meet using it for photos of how choptacular they are.
Despite all of this.. the real is there. The true 'biker' community is thriving, and I am so grateful to have fallen into a vein in the Midwest. I really don't know any other term to use.. and I'm not sure if Biker is really as relevant as it used to be.. labels are pretty stupid.. but for the sake of the argument, if I can use poser, I'm going to use biker.  I'd say let's keep the true lifestyle secret and keep it off of social media, but honestly... It's like finding survivors... There are still kids building choppers in their garage at 15, looking at the posts and builds, getting inspired by dudes like Brad Gregory, and Mike Reed, Christian Newman and even the Haints kids and they'll be awesome one day too.  After the last few seasons, and meeting the most amazing people I could have imagined through riding and building this bike, I know these kids will prevail, and for the right reasons.  To ride choppers, fuck off and have fun.  

The next adventure we are going on is coming up fast! April 28, we have a ride in Indiana called April Fuels. Ride to camp to ride. I can't wait to tell you all about it!

To everyone who knows or cares, I love you, and thank you for being awesome.