8 Ball In The Wind

Sunday, January 23, 2011

My Heroes Have Always Been Bikers



I can remember as a young boy in the 60s riding in the back seat of our 60 Merc station wagon along 6th Avenue in Tacoma, and seeing a couple "bikers" riding custom bikes.  The apehangers; loudpipes, cool paint jobs, raked and extended front ends, and I knew then and there what "cool" was all about.  Even if my father in the front seat thought the bikes werent worth a shit, I knew better. 
They weren't his type of bikes.  He had rode in the late 30s and early 40s before he joined the army.  Then WW2 came along, and by the time that one was over, he had a wife and family in Chicago and had to settle down to take care of business.  Dad always had the style of bike he rode as his way a bike should look.  Whe a trip from Chicago to Peoria was a major ride over shitty roads, the bikes had to be strong.  To him anything that even looked spindly just sucked ass.  But not to me.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying there's anything wrong with the bikes of his day, and even older.  They're just not my first choice.  I enjoy a long bike.  Chrome doesn't do it for me, but a low long bike can just be the shit when it is rolling down the road, and you are riding it for all its worth.  I don't have a longbike anymore, but when I get through this financial hole I am in, I will again.  I can see it in my mind, with the details growing sharper as I fine tune what I want, and need on it.  How it will look will follow two lines of thought that blend well with each other:
1. Form Follows Function
2. Keep It Simple Stupid!!

It may take me a while to build it the way I want, and I will I am sure need some help of a good welder, and painter, or better, I will learn from my brothers how to do it myself.  So yeah, I guess what this video I made a couple years ago says is still true.  "My heroes have always been "bikers" in some way or another.

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