Watch this. I’m surprised how many people don’t understand the effects of a little respect. If you wanna be a bad ass biker, you better understand a little of it. I’m surprised how many people don’t.
Check out:
How the Allied Major showed respect to his Lieutenant to have him handle the situation.
How the defeated German General showed respect to his Allied Lieutenant so he could address his men.
How the Allied Lieutenant showed respect to his captor.
How the Major educated the Captain, who was once his superior, who didn’t understand the subject.
How the General showed it to his troops, at their hour of defeat.
I’m not going to say too much about it. You figure it out. If you end up riding more than around your house this is good info I think. Its the difference between making a friend with a real person, or getting your ass kicked in a world you probably don’t understand like you might think you do.
It also works in other parts of life. its just a good thing.
I’m learning up here, never forget the jacket. July means shit. I’m learning that. Down south, I hung it up for the summer. Not so up here. Basically, I have 1 1/2 saddlebags up here. Spent the day with the wife and kids at Lagoon (a utah amusement park) and man, it was a bit chilly. I live in the mountains now.
Had to explain it to cagers twice this week. 55 degrees walking to your car is a lot different than riding it on a motorcycle.
My first thought on the Aurora shooting is that my heart goes out to the innocent victims and their families. Good people, shot by a bad person. They just wanted to see a movie. My second thought is, If more of us carried legally, maybe less innocent people would have died. Pretty sure a 9 at the hands of a good citizen would have gone through that helmet. Either way, sad deal.
Missus Zip’s grandpa’s funeral was today. Found things I never knew about him. What a life. Went on a mission to Germany when Hitler had just come to power, served in the phillipines during WWII, came home, got married, built his home with his own hands, raised a family, was active in just about every community club around, and was an honest solid and genuinely good man. Tom Brokaw was right, it was the greatest generation. RIP John. Proud to have known you.
Between his mission and the war, he was the catch of a small Utah town. He was also shy and wanted to date (his wife to be) Arlene. He pulled in front of her house, and told the nearest family member he would like to date Arlene. When that message reached her, she said “if he wants to court me, he’ll have to ask him himself”. John did, and his whole life happened from there.
John and Arlene wrote love letters to each other all through his 4 year military stint. It was through these letters that he proposed, and they eventually started their life and family together. he was in Blythe california and told her to get a one way ticket to California, and she did. She tells a beautiful and romantic story of her courtship. John said “she drove me to the desert and all I could see for miles were sidewinders and cactus, so I chose the lesser evil and asked her to marry me”.
John Irwin lived to 96. I’ve only known him for 20 years or so, and wished I’d have known him more. He was a quiet guy, but his convictions were deep and solid. The test of time always proves that.
I got off of Steppenwolf for a long time. The whole born to be wild thing got a bit sour tasting somehow, but lately I’ve been enjoying them like I used to. This is a great song. I’ve had a few snowblind friends who would be cool to see again.
I just finished writing the scripts for the tour guides for Easy Rider. I’ve compiled a lotta info over the years, and it was kinda tricky to me to know what people would want to know about. I’m so close to the trees, tracking down clues that sometimes I lose track of the forest.
Eaglerider lauched the tour. We start in october. here’s the link.
Mayberry Riders MC. I’d roll that patch. Someone needs to the balls and vision to get that done. Andy Griffith walked the line, and where johnny cash fell black, Andy Griffith fell white….
Andy Griffiths died this week. Man, the first I’d heard of it I was surprised he was still alive. He was 86 years old. I grew up watching the Andy Griffith Show. I’m a channel surfer to the point I drive my wife nuts, and I gotta admit, if that show is on I stop and watch. Other than the color ones. I don’t know why. I don’t like seeing Opie and Aunt B in color. Somehow it cheapened the whole thing.
Don Knotts died in 2006. We used to watch his movies in grade school assemblies. The apple Dumpling gang and “gus” if I remember right. Do you remember Gus? He was a donkey that made the football team. The prick could kick a football. Yeah, thats what a Utah grade school education gives me. I have no regrets.
Andy Griffith was one of a kid. Ever seen “a face in the crowd”? 1957 was right when rock and roll was peaking, and he held his guns to play that part. It was almost foreshadowing of a time we’re all too familiar with now. Ahead of its time.
Rest in Peace Andy Griffith. 86 is a ripe old age. For a whole lotta years I’ve wished I lived in mayberrry. I gotta think you were honest and good through all the hollywood bullshit. I hope others can keep your way. Those are the people we honor, right?
98 percent of all creation is accident, and 1 percent is intellect. At least that what Dennis Hopper said. I think thats an extremely humble way to describe natural talent and desire. Hell, mostly desire. But then again, Dennis Hopper smoked a lot of pot.
I’ve watched American Chopper since it came out. Jesse James makes some killer bikes. Been to bike shows and seen some really custom bikes that just blow my mind, and a few make me just wonder why. Anyone who fabricates something out of metal and it ends up rideable and 2 wheels tho, has my respect. I can’t do it. I never tried, and its always been this goal of mine to get to a place in life that I could try. I think I could make something cool. Maybe an old school bobber from the 40s or 50’s. I love that history; Guys came home from WWII, started cutting off fenders and lightening up their bikes so they’d go faster. Thats when the custom bike was born. But what is the most famous custom ever? To me, its pretty easy. I bet most people can tell you what this bike is.
Captain America – Easy Rider
Man, I double dog dare you to find me a more recognizable bike. I can’t figure what that bike would be. Evel Knevel? Steve McQueen in the Great Escape? Both are great bikes, but would you know em if you saw em? Whether or not you’ve seen the movie, that bike is an icon. It’s a 1950’s panhead motorcycle ripped from its police bike frame (peter Fonda bought 4 old police bikes from ranging from 1952 to 1954 for the movie) , and then someone got all freaky creative with it. The rake is crazy, the fender is gone, and there is no rear suspension. Hell, there’s no front brake. I am not a chopper guy, but you gotta respect that teardrop gas tank, the king and queen seat and you’ll find waldo faster than you can find the rear shocks. Maybe I’ve got my head lodged up Easy Rider’s ass (and that may be true), but tell me a more famous bike. Either way, you can’t tell me a bike that influenced more people to ride, and start customizing.
When The Easy Rider concept was quickly made into form, Peter Fonda set out to get him a couple of bikes for the movie. There’s lots of controversy about who built these bikes. Some say Dan Haggerty, who was in the movie. The guy who painted the bikes, his son says it was him (his dad, that is). Some say it was Peter Fonda.
But the guy who built them was a guy named Ben Hardy. Ben was an African american man who knew Harleys, and knew what he was doing. When Cliff Vaughs was asked by Fonda to oversee the building of the bikes, Vaugh’s turned to Hardy who was well known (if you were black) in Los Angeles as the go to guy to build a killer bike, and do it right.
Ben Hardy was the man who built the Easy Rider bikes in 1968. A man lost in history, yet was one of the men who built the most famous bike ever built. Click on his picture for a cool story about someone who dealt with him.
Peter had only one thing he wanted on the bike. He wanted captain America to have a flag on his gas tank. Beyond that, the design was left to Vaughs. I gotta think tho… Peter was an experienced rider, and Dennis hopper wasn’t. That had to have come up in the conversation somewhere, because the Billy bike was a much easier bike to ride. I had a fat boy that was really close to the same configuration, and my brother has a friend with a Billy Bike replica. They’re easy bikes to ride. The captain America bike? Cut that steering head off and rake that bitch out like it is, throw in those long forks with no front brake and see how you fare. You don’t give that kind of bike to a beginner.
It was Cliff who actually first offered the name “Easy Rider” to Fonda. It was a term he used in the day. Whats an Easy Rider? that depends on who you ask. In the 1900s it meant a freeloader. A guy who mooched off you. To Dennis hopper, it meant a man who lived off the money of a whore. He got it from an old Mae West movie. Whatever cliff meant by it, I’m not sure. All I know is he redefined the word. To this day I think it is associated to Harley riders. Maybe because of cliff, but most definitely because of the movie. When you say Easy Rider, I think of the movie. I think of Harley’s.
Vaugh’s quickly took the idea to Ben Hardy. Peter bought four 1950’s panhead police bikes from auction, and got them to Hardy and Vaughs. Jim Buchanan fabricated the frames, The engines were built by Hardy, Dean Lanza did the paint (his son is adamant he built the entire bikes). 2 bikes were for filming, 2 were for the final sequence of the movie, which I’m fucking assuming you know about, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this. Hardy went to work, and the rest is history.
Ben Hardy’s shop, back in the day – Builder of the Easy Rider BikesBen Hardy Shop Today
Ben Died in 1994. Cliff is still alive today. Both men haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve— in my opinion, for building the most famous bikes in the world. Ben’s old shop is still around in Los Angeles if you want to see it.
The next time you’re at a gas station, and you’re staring down into your tank and pouring gasoline all over it, think of Ben Hardy and Cliff Vaughs. They made a killer movie as much as anyone else, and I dare say the most famous motorcycles ever built.
Man, half way down the canyon this morning I realized I forgot a huge thing yesterday. Hell, maybe the the most important on the list. Sunglasses. What was I thinking?
You got a pair that you love? The pair I wear I’ve had 3 pairs of over the last several years. Only lost one pair, and the others just got too scratched up to see through so I replaced em. I don’t know the name of em, but when I see em in the dealership I snatch up a spare pair if I’ve got the money.
I don’t know what they are. Bones, or some shit. They just feel right on my fat little head. Made by Harley, I love these glasses.
They have strong hinges and I’ve never had to do that thing where I stick a toothpick in where the screw worked out to keep em going. The shade is just right – not too dark and not too light. They’re tall enough they deflect a lot of wind. I hope I can keep finding pairs of these over the years.
For clears, I got some ones I really like for fathers day. Transitional lenses, and although not dark enough for my taste during the day, they’re killer at night. By panoptyx, before they got bought out by 7eye:
Panoptx/7eye transitional glasses. Eye cups. Those are like Jock Cups for your eyeballs. Good for when you wanna drop the windshield and not ride like you’re cutting an onion.
I have terrible night vision. I don’t know why, but cheap clears at night just fuck with my head. Like I can’t process the info thats getting thrown at me. Plus, to be honest I don’t want to die at night because I didnt see something. Your reaction time is so much shorter at night, so I’ll always stick with more expensive clears than regular glasses. These have the eye cups which are nice when you take the windshield off. I don’t get watery eyes so bad and have to stop from the wind. Ive had these for a few years, and they’re solid. Hats off to whoever you are now…. I like how you make glasses.
I really want a third pair. For rain. I’ve been eyeing those pugz goggles you see in Maverik’s and 7-11’s. They’re cheap, but I gotta think for rain glasses they’d be the best investment in the world. maybe I’ll get a pair for 13 bucks and have my kids hit me with the garden hose as I run up and down the street. They’d love that. Thats real life beta testing yah? Ya gotta think it’d work.
I have a few other pairs in my little hutch in the garage I keep my bike treasures. I got old maps in there, bungee cords of varying sizes, spare sunglass cases, I think a few toothbrushes and tools, and 2 more pairs of sunglasses that somehow I horse traded over the years with other bikers. One of em are expensive Vuarnet’s with these deep ass eye cups. I don’t know where he got them, but the lenses are great and you could eat a small bowl of cereal out of those eye cups. Great in the wind. Maybe good in the rain. I should give those a second try, maybe tomorrow. I also got a cheap pair that I keep when I missplace my good ones, and they’ll always be there when I get too impatient to keep looking and I just wanna get the bike out of the garage.
I think tomorrow I’ll talk about long ride saddle bag must-have’s. Most of what I need I’ve committed to memory, and about half of that I don’t bring because I get ants in my pants or just plain forget. Maybe my wife is right…. Maybe, but I’ll be damned if I ever admit that to her.
You got a preference on what kinda shades you wear when riding?
