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Born Free TX invited builder Easyrider Cycle #434
Born Free TX invited builder Easyrider Cycle #434
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About this episode
Rennie from EasyRiderCycle shares insights on his latest Born Free Texas build, featuring an FXR with a big S&S motor. The conversation dives into the upcoming Run to the River event in New Braunfels, Texas, and the importance of community in motorcycling. They discuss the joys of building bikes, the differences between modern and classic styles, and the unique experiences of riding at a leisurely pace. The episode also touches on personal stories, the challenges of bike building, and the camaraderie found in the motorcycle culture.
Topics:
born free texas
fxr builds
run to the river event
bike building challenges
motorcycle community
riding pace
modern vs classic bikes
personal stories
On today's episode, I sit down with Renny from Easyrider Cycle to talk about his upcoming Run to the River event happening September 12-14th in New Braunfels, Texas. Along with his Born Free Texas 4 FXR build! As always, Renny and I talk about bikes, life, and everything in between!
Renny Instagram https://www.instagram.com/easyridercycle/?hl=en
The Fast Life Garage Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@TheFastLifeGarage
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Holden Caprice
"That's all I grew up on, dude. Cutleresses, Caprice classics, all that shit. Dude, I had all those."
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Chevrolet C10
"...d all that shit. So it's Colton, he built a crazy C10. So this place behind us is fucking five times,"
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Chevrolet Silverado
"Like it's honestly, like I have a truck. I have a Silverado or whatever. I daily drive the van."
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What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the Fast Life Podcast.
Today, I'm sitting down with my good buddy, Rennie, from EasyRiderCycle, and we're talking
about his Born Free Texas build and all-out FXR, big SNS motor, really nice bike.
He's trying to build another one for himself as well, and also his Run to the River event
taking place this weekend, September 12th through the 14th in New Braunfels, Texas.
You're not going to want to miss that.
Yeah, we had a great time.
So before we get into it real quick, let's talk about these sponsors that keep this
show running.
RLNS Motorcycles, if you or anybody you know need some cool parts for your bike, check
them out, RLNSMotorcycles.com.
Also don't forget about law tigers if anybody you know or yourself might have happened
to be an accident.
That's the first call you need to make.
They're going to get you on the right path to get things handled properly.
If you need some good lighting on your bike, Front to Rear Custom Dynamics has you covered.
Check them out at customdynamics.com.
Also don't forget about our guys down there in Austin, Texas at Cowboy Harley Davidson.
They're going to get you dialed in with a brand new or used bike depending on where
you're at in life, and what you want to get.
They got you covered.
And don't forget, lastly, my guys over at RWDV Twin.
They got you covered with high quality suspension, fairings, and other components
for your motorcycle to get it riding right and looking right.
Now let's get into this episode.
Hey guys, you ready to let the dogs out?
Where'd you get the furry dogs from?
A local breeder.
Aren't those ones like more expensive or something because they got the shag?
Yeah, so they're fluffy French bulldogs and they're brothers too.
Same litter.
Oh, that's cool.
Same mom, dad, some everything.
So I got one first for Christmas, and then like a month later, the guy hit me up on
Instagram, that's where I found him.
And he was like, hey man, I got his brother if you happen to want a second one,
the lady paid the deposit, but can't take him.
And I was like, bring him.
So literally like an hour later, just walked in with another dog.
But it's probably the best thing I could have done.
I got a little homie.
So they run around and shop dogs.
Dogs are a lot of work, man.
I know it's probably the last thing I needed.
Three kids, two dogs, business, and all this shit.
But I don't know, dogs are special.
They're rewarding.
Yeah, I don't know.
I always had had dogs, and then I tried the cat thing.
Didn't work out like, they're just too lazy for me.
Yeah, I mean, I like the fact that the cats that we have, my wife handles that.
I don't have to deal with it.
And I get to pet it, enjoy it whenever I care.
But like when it throws up on the floor or.
Yeah, they shit in the house.
Like for me, I just, I couldn't deal with the litter box thing.
I don't know, I could always, I don't care what litter you buy, I smell it.
I can walk into his house and just be like, yep, there's cats.
Yeah, we try to keep that down.
But I mean, I'm sure that someone, we're used to it though.
So it's like, we don't even notice the stuff, you know.
But yeah, I mean, it is what it is.
But man, I've wanted a dog for a long time.
I just, I travel too much, I'm too busy.
And then it's like, I don't, I want a dog that grows up with me.
So like puppy on, and then you take a puppy to the shop.
And next thing you know, they're chewing on a faring or, you know,
something that, you know, a cord to a, the lathe.
Yeah, I try to keep everything off the floor to a lot of extent, just like boxes.
You know, they're not going to mess with it.
But like, I'll intentionally leave like a stack of towels right there so they
can feel like they're in there for something they can get.
Yeah, so that's what they're fighting over is the towel right now.
So a couple of things we got to talk about today.
I mean, we have an event coming up next week, which people are listening.
Yeah.
It's this weekend.
Okay, perfect.
So put yourself in the mindset that.
Sure.
So if you guys are familiar with the brand, if you're not, every year,
we kind of try to do something.
Normally, it's like a camp out.
It started about, I don't know, four or five years ago at this point.
Inspired obviously by what you guys were doing.
Just a reason to get everybody together and get on the road,
and have a good time.
So this year is the third year we're doing it at the new location,
which is New Braunfels Camp Waco Springs, right on the Guadalupe River.
It's the event is run to the river.
So the name was an old event that my mechanic used to kind of be a part of
and told me about it and I was like, shit, that actually sounds pretty cool.
So we ran with that idea.
This year we're throwing out and bringing in some sponsorships.
So we'll have some different opportunities.
So on Saturday, we're having a bike show.
It's a sip and shine.
So it's put on by 805Beer and Easy Rider Whiskey.
So they'll be there set up, pouring drinks, cocktails.
Everybody can come, shine your bike up.
We'll give some prizes out.
Just kind of get people involved.
Yeah, like a social event, more than just a bike show.
Have something going.
And then we'll do some riding before kind of leading into the show.
We also like have a little deal with Lindahl going on on Friday night
at their compound with the boys from the Texas Hills.
So just kind of like a little hang and ride.
And then we'll be running from there today.
Just something to bring everybody together.
Yeah.
And then normally Sunday is kind of like, yeah, we got to go home.
Yeah.
And then we, you know, we cruise around, float the river,
the fucking water is always beautiful, amazing.
Like just, I don't know, there's some special about that place.
You showed it to me too.
We've camped there several times, like no event needed.
You know, it's that special.
That's kind of in my thing.
And this year is the first year that I haven't been there to camp.
Because I would always go in the spring.
You know, it's too cold to get in the water,
but it's hoody weather.
You want to get in your sleeping bag
and bundle up overnight, good, you know, campfire.
Right, yeah.
That was one of the first times, I think, at that spot.
We actually did like a cold fire.
Yeah.
You know, we've done fires at my event and shit,
but it's like 100 degrees outside.
Yeah.
You know, you don't want to stand by it.
It just looks cool from like way over here.
It's all for the grab.
Yeah, it's all for the grab.
It's just who's going to like the fire, you know.
But yeah, so we've got some different guys on board,
you know, Lindahl, TTI.
Green Harley-Davidson will be set up.
So for people that are stopping in,
if you want to grab a free hot dog and a drink,
whatever, they'll be there.
So we're doing quite a bit.
Yeah, last time I went, I was sick.
So I was in the bathroom just, yeah, luckily, God dang, dude.
Luckily, I could offer you something more than a good time.
It was a good place to go have a good time
because your stomach was upside down.
That was the first year of the FXR tour,
because I remember I was on my way down here.
I rode with the Big Will Cody.
We drove down and I picked up my Lindahl wheels
from the Texas Performance headbot.
So, and I just remember, because we went to Pluckers,
my favorite wing spot in Texas.
And I had to go there.
Like, it was that immediate.
And then literally for the rest of the night, it was...
I remember you were like, I'll be right back.
I was like, oh, shit, already?
I was gonna sleep in a hammock.
And the next thing you know,
I'm like sleeping in bed with Trey,
torqued up Trey.
Yeah, dude.
And he hung his fucking bathing suit up there.
It was still torqued up Trey.
I was like, who's there?
I was like, oh, nevermind, those are Trey's.
There you go.
Now, it was a good time.
It is a good time.
So if you are listening and you're interested
in coming out, I'd highly suggest it.
Just to meet people and enjoy something.
And I'll co-sign on that because that area
is literally one of my most favorite areas of Texas.
It's the riding, you gotta define riding, right?
Because you can go hit 1431 over here
and go try to scrape some pegs over to Marble Falls
or something, but this spot, the way it is,
it's like you wanna cruise it.
Yeah, River Road, because it's just...
It's a little bit cooler normally when you get there
than when you get off the highway
and you get away from everything.
So the weather kinda chills for a second.
It's 100 degrees outside.
It's cooler down in that canyon.
Tons of shade.
You got these huge trees.
You've got the sounds of the water.
You can see all the people kinda hanging out
and having fun.
So it's definitely a good spot.
To just enjoy the weekend,
not be out there trying to hammer it.
If you wanna go do that, sure.
There's tons of roads like that nearby,
but it's the scenic route.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I feel more and more like
I'm gonna have to change my brand name
to Slow Life Garage.
Cause I feel like everything I'm doing in my life
is like slowing down.
Do that.
Easy rider cycle, bro.
There's no reason.
Something's short.
You can go ham on it,
but life is too long to hammer the whole time.
You need to slow down and really just enjoy everything.
Even when I ride with my buddies and shit,
I'll try to get up front to set the pace
and they'll get all like fucking horny and shit
trying to go.
And I'm chilling right here.
If you wanna ride, let's ride.
There's time and a place for that.
If you're jamming to get to somewhere
or you're beating through downtown, sure.
But for me, like out here, I'm cruising.
Just enjoying it, taking it all in.
Yeah, and that's like the topic of conversation.
Both of us are building bikes for Born Free Texas.
And I've never been more stoked
about building slow motorcycles.
Yeah.
I mean, even for the first tour,
I knew that because people were gonna be needing to travel,
that there was gonna be bags, there was gonna be fairings,
there was gonna be things involved.
And I knew that a lot of people were probably gonna do
the newer M8 stuff.
And so I just went back to like all motorcycle,
just straight bike.
There's no gauges, there's no thrills, frills.
There's no high low.
There's no signals.
There's no cruise control.
It's a shovel head, it's a five speed.
It's not even the craziest thing that you could use,
but it's just like,
I knew that I wanted to ride that thing
as much as possible.
Obviously there's some stuff happened,
but at least through Colorado and all that shit,
like it was cool.
Even if I wasn't leading the pack
and just like hammering it the whole time,
you probably didn't really get to see all the stuff
and smell all the stuff
and really enjoy that opportunity for what it was.
Yeah, 100%.
And even now, I guess with the bikes that I still build,
they have the aspect to where you could do that,
but they're more comfortable.
Yeah, you have all the performance shit
so that like you're not getting your ass whooped
on the road and shit,
but they're built to be comfortable.
They're built to ride and enjoy and just like that.
So I have like a lot of soul,
I feel like the stuff I build,
I put a lot of soul into it
because you have to take in the bike too.
If you're just ripping through canyons and shit,
that's fine, but not really,
you don't really enjoy the whole bike, I guess.
You can push the limitations
to see what the parts and shit will do,
but if you're just looking at your gauges the whole time,
you're not even able to look at your bike and shit.
There's a time for that.
Yeah, it's, don't get me wrong,
like having gauges and having all the information
is helpful for someone that's maybe newer to motorcycles,
but once you get really familiar with
like the ebbs and flows of motorcycles
and the way they feel sound,
like you know when something's off
or something's not riding.
Honestly, a gauge isn't gonna tell you much more
than just like your intuition is gonna tell you.
Right.
I mean, charging maybe.
Yeah.
You know, like that would be a gauge,
like if I was gonna do any gauges,
maybe a little old gauge on the motor
just to make sure.
A little volt.
And like a little volt gauge.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, those are helpful, but you know,
you still gotta fix the problem,
it's still gonna break down.
Yeah, you'll get a heads up on it,
but I don't know, I just like less shit.
Like in Texas, we have brisket obviously, right?
So you have to trim the fat.
That's pretty much how I like to look at bikes.
Yeah.
If it really doesn't belong,
unless it's like a custom request,
but my style is like,
if it doesn't need to be there,
just get rid of the fucking thing.
Yeah.
You know?
It's just one more thing that like those little,
you know, all of pressure things,
Arlenes style, it's like,
they're always gonna fucking leave.
Something, you know,
and then that's more annoying than having it,
you know?
Yeah, yeah.
Just get out of here.
Well, it's like, you know,
unlike the FXRs, there is a look and a vibe
where you have like the dual gauges up front
and it's, you know, it kind of is that,
but then you're on the FXR,
you got the Speedo cable.
Right.
All the extra stuff.
And all the extras that we got,
is that Jorge out there?
Yeah, so this guy's wild.
This guy's wild.
I don't know if you guys can hear it,
but this dude's wild.
He fell out of a tree
two weeks ago here on the property,
trimming a tree,
getting up on a ladder,
broke, fell, broke his arm,
had to run out,
give him water,
throw him in the car.
Like, the guy's crazy in his back
and he does a really terrible job
at his service.
Like, for cutting grass, he'll come by,
he'll just do that,
he'll edge everything,
and then you won't see the guy for like a month.
It's like, you just left all this shit
and then now you got to do it all over again.
So, got really good edges though, you know?
That's kind of like when I'm on my yard
and I really don't want to,
I'm like, I'll do the side of the house.
The bare minimum?
Yeah.
And then I'll do the,
and then it's sort of like,
there's like the side of the house,
the front yard and the backyard,
and you're just like,
it's like a haircut when the power went out
that couldn't finish it.
It's just like, spy.
But yeah, so back to the bike thing.
So, yeah, I mean, the style,
like I said, just enjoy it for me, soul, you know?
Yes, there's purpose built and all those things,
the gauges, all that's classic FXR stuff.
I like to like get away from a little bit of that,
you know?
Because it's easy to throw up,
you know, whatever fairing you want,
gauge combo, boom, you know,
this riser, boom, you know?
Yeah, I feel like when it comes to like,
the biggest question people have is like,
well, how do you know how fast you're going?
I'm like, well, here's two trains of thoughts.
If you're riding in the city, most of the traffic,
you're gonna kind of have a no,
you're gonna know if ever,
if you're passing everybody,
you're probably speeding, right?
If everybody's passing,
you're probably not going fast enough.
When you're in the middle of nowhere,
it's hard to kind of judge.
Like you might be clipping at 80 and you're like,
oh, this probably is 70.
Yeah.
But most of us have this.
I was gonna say most of the time when you're out
and you care about how fast you're going,
you kind of maybe don't know where you're at.
So you'll probably have your navigation up,
which is what I will do.
Like, you know, I'll put my phone up there,
you know, just for whatever notifications,
kids, whatever.
And so it'll tell you right there.
And that's, that's what I go off of.
Cause I'm just like, if I already have that,
I used to have that Apple Watch thing,
but that wasn't really precise.
Yeah, the, yeah, you just have your phone out,
your gate, your, your phone's up there.
And I don't really even leave it on all the time.
Like if I'm like, all right, the next,
I'm going from here to California,
the next gas stops to 125 miles.
I'll just put it in my phone.
That way, even if I get into like a no service area,
it's already got it mapped out.
And then, you know, like check, you know,
swipe the phone up.
Okay, yeah, I'm cruising about 65, you start to feel it.
Right.
And you can hear it too.
Yeah, you're in RPS.
Just like how fast things are kind of,
you can kind of tell, but, you know,
if I was gonna go travel like that, then, you know,
yeah, that's when like the full ferrying comes in.
And you know, then yeah, you'll want a Speedo
or you'll want a gas gauge and shit.
But I don't know.
I like to just kind of have a little bit of quick fun
nowadays, I guess, give my time.
I don't really have the time to like travel
like I used to and stuff.
So the bikes that I do for even myself
aren't really travel, you know, direction, I guess.
It's more like I want it to look fucking good,
look cool, whatever, sound good.
And when I pull up like maybe an hour or two away,
it's like, yeah, yeah, I'm good.
Yeah, I feel like sometimes people get away
from, you know, you buy a lot of stuff for your bike
and then you expect it to make you feel a certain way.
But realistically, like when you just feel
fucking cool on a bike is a different thing.
Yeah, and like I say, like when you build something
with like an intention or like a whatever's
going on in your life at that time,
like a state of mind, you know, these things
take energy off of you, it takes your time.
So you're putting a bit of yourself into it
with some styling or whatever and you're imagining
yourself at a certain place in the world,
whatever, on that thing and you want to feel
a certain way, that's kind of what I do.
And I feel like that's what's kind of missing
because it is so easy now to just be like,
here's X amount of dollars, we're just gonna throw
all the big names on it and all the cool colors
and you know, they go to the bike show
and then you don't really see the bike
or you might see it only on the internet
and you know, it just kind of gets a little,
I guess like diluted.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, it's not concentrated anymore.
There are people that are still doing it,
don't get me wrong, I ain't shit, right?
Like and there's been plenty of more shits
before me and there'll be plenty after,
but you can always tell the people that have it.
Yeah.
When they, even if they're not building it themselves
when they just put the combo or they have the vision,
you can see the difference of like somebody
who just like threw the shit on the wall.
I had basically a Sunday,
I went out and did a little impromptu photo shoot
on my FXRs because my buddy Ramon,
who's also a photographer, was hanging out.
He rode my gold bike and I was able to kind of get
some shots of both of the bikes together.
Yeah, look good.
And so I took him on this loop around like where I lived.
It's like a little 30 mile loop,
maybe not even, maybe 20 mile loop
around the lake that's by my house.
And we got to the like the downtown area to hang out.
And he's like, man, that's actually really fun to ride.
Like he has a low rider SS.
It's got everything, bags,
it's got all the stuff you'd want to, you know,
that you would imagine you're gonna need, right?
The shit you see, what you think, you know?
It's like when you look at my FXR chop,
you don't think of it as like,
oh, that'd be a fun bike to ride across country.
Yeah.
And honestly, like it's probably wouldn't even be fun
to you until you've ridden across country
on something with all the amenities.
And then you start thinking yourself like,
man, how can I make this funner more challenging or, you know?
Well, there's like the convenience thing.
So like, it's like, I don't know,
I'll compare it to like cooking.
You know, you can go to the restaurant
and you could spend as much money as you want.
And it could be the best meal, like flavorful wise,
versus, you know, you just go to HEB,
you get fucking some steak,
you can mash the potatoes, you know,
you actually picked all the shit out.
And then now you're like eating it.
It may not taste as good
because it doesn't have like the season,
you know, the special seasoning
or the special sauce or whatever,
but I feel like you feel more fulfilled
because like you don't get as hungry real quick, right?
So it's the same thing as like what you're talking about.
It's the bike shit.
Like it's more fulfilling.
Yeah.
And it's perspective too,
because like I said, if how would you word it?
It's just, it's not that it's better.
It's just that it's different.
It's more challenging and it requires,
I think it taps into more senses on you than, you know,
like I have less of those,
you ever ridden and you like snap out of like this thing,
you're like, oh shit, I don't remember the last 20 miles.
Right, because you were in it.
I was riding, but I was not even coherently here.
Yeah.
I don't feel like I do that as often, you know,
on the convenience bikes.
Well, I do it on the convenience bikes.
I don't do it as often on bikes where I'm more in gear.
Oh yeah, cause you're more, yeah, right.
Well, it's also like you feel different.
You feel a little bit more, I don't know, like rugged,
more like utilitarian style.
Cause you know, like something can probably go wrong.
Yeah.
And that's kind of the thing.
You're not going to really know.
And that's kind of the thing about all these bikes, man.
Like the things that can go wrong.
It's crazy.
Colton was telling me his like cylinder wouldn't shut down
in surges, so like the bike would overheat.
And I'm like, a bike should never shut down a cylinder.
Like that's the first thing when I bought my truck
was like, take that shit off.
Like it needs to be running.
I don't know.
Like just, they're trying to overthink the shit.
And then just like, they end up going back, you know,
it's like the cable clutch thing
versus the hydraulic thing.
They went back.
It's like the two cam thing versus the one cam.
They go back like, just keep it simple.
Yeah, just keep it a motorcycle.
Stop trying to add all this shit to it
and you'll be fine.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's a,
And it's cool to see innovation.
I'm not saying that, but it's just not my for, not for me.
You know, I like to, I more enjoy cooking my steak
than like going to the steakhouse.
I'll go, but it's more fulfilling to me.
Yeah.
When you kind of earn it a little bit, I guess.
I always try to bring up these kind of conversations
because I want people, you know,
if you think about it, a lot of people
might have like a five year window
where they give motorcycles a chance
to really be impactful and give them
whatever they're looking for.
Or maybe they're not looking for anything.
They're just open minded to whatever it becomes.
And let's say you get trapped into the cycle of,
I just spend a lot of money on my bike.
I'm always waiting on parts.
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I have a water pump for the well.
Oh, for the well.
We're out here, dude.
This is Central Texas.
This is the hill country.
This is the hill country.
You, you know, and like when you have a podcast
or you have like you do anything content-wise,
you just want to give people the options
to find different ways to try motorcycling
to maybe find what really connects with them
because the easiest thing to do is spend money.
Yeah, and that, you know.
There's a place for that too.
Obviously, I'm a shop.
Yeah.
You know, you also have customer base
where it's an exchange, you're money
for such product, you know.
But there also needs to be some understanding
that like as a shop, you know, I'm gonna,
I'll do those, don't get me wrong.
Like I'll build you whatever you want.
We'll put together whatever you want, you know,
to an extent.
But I'm also gonna like give you a little bit of like,
hey a reminder, why are you here obviously
because something caught your attention.
Let's be a little bit more open minded
to maybe why you're here, you know.
Otherwise, you know, most of the stuff
you can just put in your garage
and you can throw your risers on, whatever.
But I don't know, I feel like it's,
it is easy to do that.
But in that, some people also find love in it
and then they end up like wanting to get into it.
So I mean, just don't let it be the only reason why
because you're trying to feel this thing,
this coolness, whatever.
Cause there's so many aspects in it that,
you know, don't spend the money, just ride the bike.
Yeah.
You know, remember what it is, do the stuff, yes.
But don't let that be the only reason.
And then you'll never fall out of it.
Like, I don't know, I found it as like a true hobby
and just like a real love for it was just like in me.
I felt like, I don't know, growing up in Daytona,
seeing the shit, being around it, whatever.
I'll never give it up.
Like even if I just do the shit
back in my garage for myself one day,
I'll never stop because it's just like,
it's more of a creative outlet
that you get to like enjoy.
It's like a piece of art you're gonna fucking
take off on like magic carpet or something, you know.
I don't know, it's just,
you got to find it for your reason
and don't let it be the only reason,
like you said, kind of be more open-minded.
Yeah, just be able to, you know, kind of navigate, do it.
And it's like, I'm not trying to imply
that one way is wrong or right.
It's what's right for you.
But I guess what I am trying to say
is pushing yourself to be, to try more things.
Right, open-minded.
You know, not be the guy like,
oh, I'd never ride across country
or I'd never ride a Sturge.
It's like, well, maybe try it, you know.
Or maybe wait till you find the right people
that you want to try it with, you know what I'm saying?
Or even if you just do it by yourself, like shit,
that's how we met.
I mean, yeah.
The thing is like, I've gotten to a point
where I enjoy solo trips,
but I don't know that I could say
that I would have taken one early on in my traveling.
You know what I mean?
I think it was a combination of a couple of trips
with other people and then a couple of road trips
I ended up doing by myself.
And then I'm like, man, this is like kind of like,
you know, cathartic or I don't know how to say that word.
I know what you're saying.
It's like, it's very comfortable.
Right.
And I don't feel, I don't feel out of place.
I don't feel, I'm not scared of anything.
Like, you know, there's nothing to fear basically
of being out alone on the open road.
And even when I tell my like, my mom or my grandma,
it's like, hey, I'm gonna ride to California.
She's like, are you going with anybody?
I was like, no, I'm gonna go by myself.
You are?
Well, be careful.
But if you just say, hey, I'm gonna drive out there.
They're like, oh, okay.
Yeah.
They don't care.
There's no like, oh yeah, text me when you get there.
It's like, you know, I'm gonna get there by my car.
Exactly.
But on the bike, it's different.
Yeah.
So yeah, there's just something to it.
And I mean, the thing is that like,
some people are just not attracted
to the traveling aspect, you know?
Yeah, and that's okay.
And that's fine.
I mean, and like I said, currently I can't do it.
Do I still dream about it?
Do I still talk to my homeboys about it?
Like, do we still make like, you know,
pretend plans?
Yeah.
Like, yeah.
So like, but I just can't, I can't right now.
You know, if I had the time, shit, I'd be all over it.
But you know, but the bike would be different.
So it's like, I don't know, it's like,
you can go through phases.
It's like you're fitting the bike
to the lifestyle you're able to.
Yeah, and you can go through phases
of like what you can do with your time.
You know, there's other people that,
I feel like the traveling thing
has gotten way less nowadays
from the people that were closest to me.
Because we're all kind of going through stuff,
you know, just living our own lives.
Yeah.
And you know, you eventually fall back into place
and you give yourself a reason.
So like, that's what we're doing bike night now.
You know, that it's, it's for everybody,
but it was mostly for like an excuse for us
to like guarantee that, you know,
twice a month we're gonna at least be on our bikes
together and we're gonna at least hang out.
You know, we're gonna shoot some pool, whatever.
You guys wanna come?
Great, you know.
Yeah, what's up with the bike night?
What's the, what's the details on that?
Oh yeah.
So it's a bi-weekly bike night.
So it's twice a month every Thursday.
So it's, or I'm sorry, every other Thursday.
So basically this week is one Thursday.
The camp out week or the event week is no bike night
and then so on and so forth.
It's here at Lakeway.
So it's North Austin kind of Lakeway area.
My buddy Jesse owns the Wahoo's Fish Tacos
and he opened up a bar right next door
called Wake Surf Saloon.
Huge parking lot, fuckin' like four bars, it's sick.
So we just go there now,
hang out, shoot the shit.
Sometimes we give stuff away.
Mostly just the reason to hang out.
Yeah.
We got a pool table in there now, like,
I'll touch the shit like that's the biggest thing.
I could like our first bike and I was like,
bro, you have a fuckin' pool table here.
And then like we show up and there's a pool table
but now it takes quarters and we're like,
now you're gonna make money on my idea off of myself.
Like, what the fuck, Jesse?
Like put some fuckin' quarters in there for me, dude.
That's what I told you.
Yeah.
But now it's, it's dope.
We've had a lot of people like show up.
First one was like 50, 60 bikes.
Second one was about the same.
This last one was like rained out, so whatever.
But I was pretty surprised
like how many people out the woodwork
are just like showing up.
Well, Austin's always had a huge amount of riders
but it is a hard town to navigate.
Yeah.
You know, because of the highway structures
and the traffic.
Yeah.
In the river, I mean honestly, like,
people act like that is like a border to like Canada.
They're like, I can't go north.
You know, you're like, it's literally 20 minutes right,
from here, right here at the ranch,
it's literally 20 minutes of downtown.
Yeah.
Like, and I can beat the traffic
and just go the back way.
Yeah.
Some people don't wanna take the 20 minutes and like,
okay, you rather go four minutes down the east side,
I get it.
I think that when you're used to being in more
of the suburbs, like the idea of traveling
and traveling more than 10 or 15 miles
or 20 or 30 miles or whatever,
is a more part of your everyday kind of like life.
Yeah.
First, if you live more city-sittered,
you probably rarely navigate
over five miles past where you live.
Yeah, especially on their bike.
Yeah.
They're like bar-beatin'.
That's what a lot of dudes in Austin do,
they just bar-beat, you know,
they go from this bar to this bar to this bar.
And that's, you'll see them just literally
on their Instagram, whatever,
you'll see them in real life,
like in five bikes here in the next bar,
there's like five and that's all they do.
Yeah.
Sometimes on the weekends,
there's some like hill country riding,
but a lot of the old guys are the only ones
that really ride out here, which is crazy.
Because I know a group of older dudes
that fucking their bikes are dialed, dude.
One of them just bought that RR.
Oh, shit.
Yeah, and it fucking, these guys are like
on a whole different helicopters and crazy shit, bro.
And these motherfuckers are out there ripping
and enjoying it and they have their little
band of brothers, their little fucking, you know?
Those dudes are cool as fuck to hang out with
because all they want to do is ride.
Yeah.
Versus like just riding to the bar.
So it's cool though.
The scene is here for sure.
We're just trying to get some people together.
Yeah, yeah.
There's plenty of bike nights and stuff
that we like to attend also.
It was just felt right to have our own, I guess.
Yeah, especially on this side of town.
Let me go check that real quick.
Yeah.
Just for peace of mind to make sure
it's all working, right?
I know how it is, trust me.
I had one, my first one ever, it was terrible
because I didn't record in the audio.
Yeah, we're good.
Perfect.
Yeah, so what's up with that?
Like, are you a YouTuber?
No, so.
Easy writer now or what?
No, I do a lot of stuff and it was always weird.
So like, even though it may not seem
like I'm a private person, I'm pretty private.
Yeah.
There's times where I'll share stuff on Instagram
or I'll say something funny or event, whatever.
And it's just, you know, just out of purely talking shit.
I have that.
You're definitely not on the level of talking shit
or creating controversial things on Instagram
as you were two years ago.
Yeah, it's been reeled back in a little bit.
Only because just once the following got bigger
than just like people I really knew,
people started taking things too serious
and it's the internet, you know, it's for fun, you know?
So the YouTube thing was kind of like an idea
that like my brother and Colton
and a couple other people here were kind of telling me,
just hit record on what we do sometimes.
Yeah.
You know, shows, traveling, bike deliveries, whatever.
I'm not gonna be the guy that's like into, you know,
here's everything I'm doing.
Here's how you fucking put a wheel on.
Here's how you fucking,
look at these thrashing rhinos we're installing today.
Like there's a place for that
but there's plenty of people doing it.
It was more or less like,
I just want to document for myself
some of the cool people that I know
like what you're doing that maybe have influenced me
or I work with or just kind of highlighting them.
Yeah.
And then mostly just like I said,
documenting some of my trips, you know, like born free.
I'm not the person to walk around my phone.
So it's more like a hard reason to record born free
just for me and then put it out there.
Hasn't been, it's been like,
I don't know a couple of weeks since I've done anything.
Not to say that there's not anything to do.
It's just,
it's key.
I have a lot of things going on right now.
The perception of doing a YouTube thing is like,
you put a lot of emphasis in that first video
and then regardless of whether or not
you were counting on the views or likes or whatever.
It's like, once it's done,
it's like you have to start on the next one.
Yeah.
And it's, I have a, so, you know,
it's literally just me.
So I'm the guy that ships all the parts
for the e-commerce.
I'm the guy that fucking has to order all the parts
for the in-person build stuff.
You know, customer service.
I am the guy that answers the phone.
I'm the guy that works on the bikes,
clean the toilet, you know, design the shirts.
Like I fucking have to do all of it, right?
So then when I added the YouTube thing,
it was more like I said, it's only when I'm out.
You know, like I can't see myself
setting up a camera in here
because it's kind of awkward because it's just me.
And I don't know.
It's just weird.
I don't know, like I would rather show you
like where I'm, what I'm doing, where I'm at,
like the things around it to maybe get you
to want to go do some of these things
rather than be like, hey man, go buy a lift.
Yeah.
Craftsman toolbox and you can do this too.
Like there's plenty of that.
I just want to show people
that there's just kind of what I'm up to, you know?
I think that on that note for, you know,
the goal with the FXR I did in those two little videos
was to like have these videos
show them the process of building it
and then show me enjoying it at Sturgis, right?
And that kind of fell through.
So now it's like, all right,
I get a second chance with the chopper.
I'm gonna show as much as I can record and get put out.
But then hopefully it will lead you into
this trip I plan to take on it.
And then you kind of can watch this series
of like the inception of the bike
and then to like doing something really big on it.
You know, and to me that's cool to do like that.
And you know, like I said,
there's nothing, there's no right or wrong way.
It's just for me personally, I just, I wanted to,
like I'm gonna show some of the stuff that like,
tell a story, you know,
but it's not gonna be a tutorial, you know?
That's the same thing.
Right.
And that's kind of like, you know,
working with Corey for main drive.
Like we're trying to show it,
but you know, put some information out there
but not like, hey, watch this video
and you too can hard tell your chopper, you know?
It's not a how to.
Yeah.
It's kind of like give,
it's illuminating the processes
that go into some aspects.
Right.
And I've always said to people like, you know,
cause I've had been approached
to like do custom paint classes and things like that.
And I like nerd out on the philosophical side
of things more than the technical side of it.
Why do it this way?
Like why would you paint like that?
Well, how do you design?
How do you create?
Those are the kind of things that I feel like
that you can kind of hone through conversations
with people versus like,
I can't teach you how to be a creative person.
Right.
I can, you can communicate and see how I operate
and how I do life.
And maybe you can find an inspiration in that to be
to find a way to tap into your creativity.
Inspiration and motivation
and all that shit's all different.
Like you can't motivate somebody
to want to learn something,
but you can maybe inspire them, you know?
And then that's a longer lasting feeling
that they can like hold true and resonate more, I guess.
Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day,
like I'm not, I don't consider myself or think like,
okay, you're going to be this big YouTube star.
Yeah.
I'm just like trying to honestly stay relevant.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
And I didn't want YouTube thing to be a YouTube thing.
Like I said, the interview stuff
when I sit down with friends,
it's more like I'm going to born free.
I'm going to sit down with Chuch
because I'm in town for a few nights.
Hey, let's just fucking chit chat and see what happens.
Like same thing with my tattoo artist.
Like I was already there getting a tattoo.
We're just kind of hanging out.
All right, well, that was a shit up
and let's see what happens.
You know, like Jacob, I'm going to do one with him.
I know you have like, it's pretty cool.
Just, I like what he's doing.
He helps me do my shit.
I got to go pick up this bike.
I might as well throw it up and see what happens,
you know, but it's not like my thing.
I think about every single day
when I wake up of like things I need to do today.
Oh, I need to hit record.
Oh, shit.
Yeah, there's like that aspect of,
you know, like while ago you were saying,
you know, that you're the guy that does this,
this, this and this.
And it's like, I've always thought
about making that video too.
Cause to me, that's, but it just feels like you,
in the same regard as I'm just like you,
I'm alone all day long.
And everything that comes out of the,
out of whatever, however you view my channel,
whether it's Instagram, YouTube or whatever,
I did it all that, you know what I mean?
And then it's like, you know, you're painting,
you're, you're, you're, you're rinsing on
bikes, you're ordering parts, you're,
you're on phone calls cause big brands
that people would think have marketing teams
or wanting to consult with you about,
Hey, so I'm thinking, is this, you know what I mean?
So there's like always shit going on.
Always.
And it's hard to like tell people that, you know?
And I think that the hardest part is like,
I don't, maybe here it could be better
cause you're close to Austin, but then again,
somebody in Austin that wants to make content
or do something, it still might be a long drive
for them to do every day.
And I have some people, you know,
I've had people come out and we've done stuff, whatever,
but like I say, there's just so much to do already.
Yeah.
You know, like if I'm taking time
to go do this YouTube thing, then like,
something's going to pay for that, you know?
And I only have so much to give, you know, already.
So it was more like, you know, just a fun little project.
That's what kind of, it's like, I appreciate it,
but it does get a little annoying
when you constantly have people trying to give you advice
for your business or brand,
as if you haven't already overthought
that scenario 400 times in the last,
in my case, last 15 years since my brand's been around.
So it's like.
Yeah, and this whole thing that's going on now,
you know, the shop and the brand
and whatever you want to call it,
I've just let it do its thing.
You know, I've never really pushed it.
I've never forced it.
I've never like had this crazy five-year,
here's how we're going to do it.
It's more like, just show up
and do the shit that needs to be done today.
And then, you know, do it for a week,
then do it for a month and keep going.
Yeah.
And eventually, you know, shit has just.
Yeah, it just goes by itself.
You know, you don't need to like,
even like if the YouTube thing took off on its own,
great, you know, whatever, I don't,
I'm not going to like,
I don't make anything my priority except for like the shop.
Yeah.
You know, the bikes, the actual physical bikes,
you know, might not sell merch for six months
or whatever.
You know, not having nothing to come out or whatever.
I just have so much shit to do.
Yeah.
Yeah, not really.
But now with the Born Free thing,
I was a little bit more prepared than I was
for the FXR tour.
Cause I was building the FXR tour bike
while building like five other bikes
and there was 20 bikes for service
and mechanic full time and like crazy shit.
Now I planned it to like,
as you could see, I don't really have a lot lined up
because the stuff I am working on
is like quick friend stuff
because now I'm able to like sit down
and actually take the time.
So that one, this version of my little concept
that I have with like the frame cut out
and all that stuff is gonna be a lot more thought through
from like a cleanliness aspect
versus like the first one I couldn't really wire
the way I wanted to
and the oiling is not really how I would like to do it
but this next one will be a lot better
because of the time.
Like I was saying, it is just me.
So it took years to figure out,
you know how you can put your routine together
or like what works for you and what doesn't.
And so now I kind of feel like I'm finally like in the groove.
You know, I found that in the garage
cause I was living there.
It's easy to pop in and grab your lunch or whatever.
Now it's like, I found what I need to do here
finally years later.
And so I'm really excited to have the opportunity
to have one free.
That's a good point.
It's like you, you know, you're going in,
you're doing all the motions and doing the thing
but like finding the groove in that, that, you know
on that record basically gets a little difficult at times,
you know, and every time I go on a trip and travel somewhere
I get out of that groove and it's like
you try to force yourself back in it
to where you're like, you're, you're, for me it's like
I can't go born free or Sturgis and then come home
and then on Tuesday be back at work.
No, yeah, no.
I was going to say that's why like
a lot of the things that I used to do early on
I would hit fucking everything, dude.
Like I was Daytona, Sturgis, fucking this, that you name it
whatever and now I try to stick to, you know
if it's a business thing, okay, great.
Like, but I try to stick to the smaller, quicker
not really high pressure.
Like that's why I really didn't want to go to Sturgis
was because there was the pressure of like, you know
try to reach reaching out and being like
hey, do you want to be in this show?
So now instead of being able to ride my bike
it's like, okay now I got to load the van up, you know
but I also want to ride my bike when I get there
so I got to take two bikes, you know
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
it just becomes this monster that just grows.
You know, like even now with Daytona or whatever
it's like I want to just be able to show up
with just my bike like I used to
and I get that feeling again of why I do this
and then you get these like business things
that come in and you're just like, fuck.
So I try to choose the things that are like nitty gritty
you know, like a less business thing that were,
you know, sure I can throw a canopy up real quick
but you know, my brother's riding the van
cause it's only a few hours away
versus states away and you know
so it's just that's kind of where I'm at now.
Yeah. Just focusing on things
that really kind of matter I guess so.
Yeah well you, it's kind of like we were saying about
you know, the motorcycle thing
you have to try a lot of things to figure out
what you, what speaks to you right now
in that process.
Yeah. And like I hate service work
I know this is going to sound terrible
but personally I don't do the service work
like I have somebody that comes in
and takes care of that for me.
Yeah.
Because like I want to be able to spend the time
like you know, dumping oils, dumping oil
but like I like to sit with something for a long time.
I know it sounds terrible.
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Located in South Austin
Cowley Harley-Davidson has become a hub
for killer events and provides a place
for the motorcycle community to call home.
Cowley Harley has something for you
every weekend of the month.
On the first Saturday they will host the cars
and copy style meat and hang.
Then on the second Saturday it's Ink and Iron
a local artist show where tattooers, painters,
pinstripers and all artists are welcome
to come showcase their work and art.
The third Saturday of each month features a bike show
with a different bike category every month
offering a 500-hour gift card for the top prize.
Finally the fourth week of the month
will have a Thursday night bike night.
Check them out at www.CowboyHarleyAustin.com
and give them a follow on Instagram at CowboyHDAustin.
Cause most people like to hit
and fucking throw the shit out or whatever.
Like I wanna sit with it cause how I started
that my born free bike now, not this one.
This is the second deal.
Hopefully this is a born free bike.
As if one bike is not enough
I'm gonna try to do two bikes.
So my main show bike, I guess the invited bike
is not my bike.
It's a bike that I'm building for somebody
that's kind of been in the works for eight months maybe
that was inspired by him wanting my original one.
So now it's really close to being done, right?
So I said well shit for me again
there's like a transfer of energy
there's like a thing for me mentally
that I wanna be able to like enjoy the thing.
You know, I built an RP a while back
and I wrote it once and it literally sold
and it was the bike that I was building for myself.
So I feel like I got this little hole in my heart
that I need to fulfill, you know?
So this will be hopefully at born free.
It's what I would consider my born free bike
that I'm building myself for born free.
So this one will get some stuff done to it
but I don't know why I decided to do two
cause I really don't feel like I have enough time
but we're gonna have a hard attempt at it.
So I finally got all my powder coat shape back
to build the motor, build the tranny.
I just need to get a couple more parts
for the motor itself and I can start to figure it out.
What's the plan with this one?
So what's the sauce?
Yeah, so the sauce is I have an original set
of bright wine berry sun glow tins.
It's like a pinkish purplish color
and these tins go way back
and the color is the same color
that my mom always used to get her nails done
which is my mom always fucking had her nails done
but that was like the color, right?
She loves like this purple color.
So those tins always stayed with me, right?
So I want to build this with that color
very minimalistic though,
because it's just, I don't know, kind of how I grew up
didn't really have a lot of shit
so this doesn't even have a lot of shit
but I want to build everything on it.
So like the motor needs to be built.
I have a 111 sitting right there.
Could I put it in there short?
But again, I want to have that
like I made my own steak type deal.
So build the motor, just a little high 80,
six speed and full carbon except for the tank.
No gauges and nothing just high and tight.
I got some power plant bars.
I'm gonna narrow them even more
just like I did on the RP.
Just kind of simple but more meaningful than anything.
This is a bike that I plan on having forever I guess.
So I'm using a lot of stuff I already have
also with some brands that support me
with my personal projects like Lindahl
and shit like that.
So it's more of a meaningful bike for anything like,
cause I want to be able to have,
you know like I was invited for Born Free Texas
just like you, right?
So I want to have some type of,
I know it sounds bad to care about physical things
but I want to have a physical thing from that timeframe
if I can, you know, with what's going on in my life
and stuff, I need this, you know what I mean?
So that's kind of why I signed myself up for
just like a mental challenge I guess
and to kind of get this thing out of me.
I, you know, kind of in a similar vein
finished the FXR I did,
which I should have been working on the chopper
but I needed, it's like I needed a practice run.
Like I feel like I was out of practice
from the last bike that I did.
And so working on that FXR kind of got me back
into feeling what it felt like to do it.
And I'm not, I mean, even though I'm also
still under a crunch for Born Free with my build,
I'm not really worried about it.
I just know that I'm already familiar with what it's like
to spend an entire month in the shop
because I did all of July like that.
And I'm trying to be more proactive about it right now
so that it's not like I'm creeping up on it.
And you forgot this or need that, right?
Yeah.
And so like the, that's why there's like,
there is a little bit of a pressure to get this one done
but this isn't the one.
Yeah, I mean, this is more,
this is a little different story.
The one, there's a lot of fucking thought
that went into how I'm gonna have these things
kind of play out.
And I know I'm supposed to be posting a lot of the stuff.
I'm not, like I said, I'm,
I may, I guess I'm a little bit like more private nowadays,
like I say.
You know, the FXR tour,
my well is going off again.
So like the FXR tour was all about like showing it off
and stuff.
And you know, I took it and added some comedy.
It was fun, you know?
This one's a little bit more serious, I feel like.
And you know, again, like I know you're supposed to be
posting all this stuff.
But like I said, it's already been a certain point.
Like so when, you know, there's not a lot to show
because I've already been working on this thing
in secrecy already for somebody.
And I was just gonna fucking come with the elbow
and drop on it.
But I'm gonna start posting a little bit more
and I've recorded some videos with it and shit.
But that one's gonna be pretty sick.
That's, that's the show bike.
That's the one that's got all the bells and whistles
and all the crazy things that I had in my head.
Versus just something a little bit more simpler.
Yeah, I'm excited for Born Free.
I think that, you know, I mean, you were there last year.
Dude, I'm stoked.
It's, it really is such a fucking great event
and the way that it's ran and, you know.
It feels like a reunion more than anything for me.
Like, everybody's kind of there.
But you kind of like, when I walk,
or at least for me, like when I walk in,
I'm basically picking off the last time
I saw all these people, whatever mood or vibe
or whatever we were doing.
So I instantly go back to like, you know, a good time.
Versus like, there's, for me, there's like no lead up.
Like I don't have to show up and be like,
well, where's everybody at?
What's going on?
Like I already kind of know.
And so I'm like, fun, you know, this is gonna be sick.
And then the bowl and like you get to see all the people
riding in and shit, just the cabins, all of it, dude.
Yeah, it's one of those things where, you know,
it happened, like right now we've got a month
and, you know, two weeks essentially.
And, but just like that, you're standing in the bowl
and it's like, fuck it, like we're here.
It's over, it's not over, it's happening, you know.
Sometimes there's like that feeling of like
we both talked about this
after we built for the FXR tour.
It's like, man, like when it's over,
it's like I don't have any direction in my life anymore.
Like where do I, where do I funnel all this stuff?
You know what I mean?
Yeah, it is weird.
And so that also is another reason I wanna do two bikes
is cause I didn't really do one last year
for any real reason.
I was just building bikes for customers.
So I haven't done like a frame up for myself
since that RP deal.
So I just wanna scratch the itch
and show up to that place, you know,
being it from Texas, it's in Texas.
You know, when I first went
to the very first Born Free Texas,
it was a weird situation with my bike
and some crazy shit happened.
But, you know, I couldn't even make it into the bowl.
You know, and then year two, then, you know,
here I am on the pedestal with you guys,
like showing off the shit.
Last year, I didn't show up with anything,
but you, you know, highlighted, you know,
the bike and your art show
or the gallery thing that you guys had,
which was sick.
And then, you know, now it's time to
bring something back in.
Bring something back so I can just ride,
like I said, my bike.
No, I feel you on that.
But I love that, I love that whole vibe of that show.
Cause you get to camp there, you know,
versus like California, you're like,
yeah, you gotta get the fuck out.
You gotta get the fuck out.
You're basically just doing hot laps the whole time,
you know, which is fine.
Cause you're like, okay, we're at Disney World,
they're gonna close at five.
So like, you know, we're gonna have to worry
about anything, but it's not the same.
It's not all together, so Born Free Texas is like.
Yeah, once again, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse now,
but you know, California and Texas are two different vibes.
And one's not better than the other,
it's just you get two different ways to enjoy this stuff.
And it goes back to what I was saying early on,
is that you have to try these different types of events
to figure out what really fucking resonates with you.
I was in the motorcycle industry for almost 15 years
before I discovered a giddy up.
And it was like, this shit has existed?
Yeah, that's the first, like, I guess taste I had of it.
So like, I love that gringy fucking,
that's the same thing with the bikes.
It's like, you don't need all the conveniences and shit.
Is it easier, sure, but you know,
pull up to a fucking a camp spot, you know,
even just with your buddies.
If there's only three of you guys,
everybody fucking pack a tent,
just go for the night, the weekend, whatever.
You know, it's easy to use California Born Free
as a reference because it is such a polar opposite
in the regard that, you know, when you come to Texas,
you get your wristband to get in for however many days
you're gonna be there.
And then, go sleep by that tree.
Do whatever you want, literally.
You know, and the ones that like get, you know,
cause every year it's like when they start releasing it
and you gotta start, people bitch about it,
but the thing is that like, you're not really,
it doesn't really cost that much money,
you're just not looking at it
from the perspective of what you can do there.
Nobody told you to rent a $2,000 RV.
Nobody told you to rent a $5,000 Airbnb for four days.
Or a $500 golf cart.
Or a $500 golf cart, like.
They're there, you can do it, but.
But don't bitch about, like, cause you're not,
you're gonna bitch about the $100 entry-free,
but not the $1,200 RV.
Like, why does that one like, associate to value,
but this thing that everybody put together
so you have a reason to come out here,
the builders, the vendors, the memories and partying
and the good times, and even if you wanna go do the riding,
like shut the fuck up.
Yeah, it's not that bad.
I mean, you think about, it's like four days now
or some shit?
Yeah, Thursday through Sunday.
Yeah, I mean, think about just that your cost,
you go to a bike show, it's like 20 bucks, you know?
Then you have camping, it's like 40 bucks a night.
Well, I mean, there you go.
You're already getting a better deal.
Yeah.
But how's your build?
That's mine.
It's, I mean, obviously now that we're back from Sturgis
and it's all hands on deck, basically, so.
Both of them.
Yeah, no, I have two of them.
I'm very fortunate because I have Corey
and he's essentially in my backyard
and he's, I don't know why he just leaves,
he keeps letting me come back over
and he keeps teaching me more stuff
and I'm just like in a very, very privileged position
to be able to soak up all this knowledge.
I think after this build, there's parts of me
that feel like next year, not for any reason,
not for like invited things.
I need to either tackle like an FXR chopper project
or another chopper project
and utilize this stuff on my own with my own stuff.
Not that I wouldn't like, hey, Corey, I'm in this spot.
Like, what do I do?
But like, I need to do it on my own and fuck up.
So as much as I am welding and doing the physical labor
in a lot of ways on this chopper,
I'm still like under his supervision and guidance.
So it's like, I really,
I'm getting stopped before I fuck up.
You know what I'm saying?
I mean, there's steps to it, you know,
of learning anything.
Yeah.
You know, you need somebody to teach you.
I didn't know 90% of the shit I have in my brain,
if it wasn't for Wayne, you know,
that way long ago at the old shop that I worked together
and just saw the, you know, my eyes
fucking line up every time something happened.
He was just like, come over here.
And then eventually, you know,
he's right there and then eventually he's not.
You know, it's the same thing.
You have to have somebody to kind of guide you
in the right direction and stop you
and then teach you why, hold on, wait,
don't do that because,
and then you might still end up doing it, but.
Well, the other thing that like, you know,
it's a joke that we, I make with Corey all the time
because, you know, he doesn't have a lift
and a lot of things in his shop
that like we have out of convenience.
In a way, when I went to his place.
Yeah.
And I knew that he had built,
that's like right after he did that
and made FXR, I was like, where'd you build that at?
I was like, where's the shop at?
Like he's in the back.
He's like, you're looking at it, buddy.
It's in the corner of his garage.
It's crazy.
And there's just like a couple of little power tools
and shit and you're just like, all right.
See that, I mean, at first, like I didn't get that either,
but it's the, it's that simple approach
that like is making it way more,
I feel like achievable because you don't feel like
you have to buy something to be able to get into this,
into this space or whatever.
And don't be wrong, you still need a welder
and like a lathe is not cheap.
You know what I mean?
So, I mean, you can get, like you can do,
like a drill press will do just as much,
I mean, a mill is good.
Right, you got a drill press can do the job too.
Right, you got to really know what you're doing.
So like I have a poor man's lathe now, you know,
I have a poor man's mill now.
I had a lathe here, didn't belong to me
and it got taken away.
So what else can I do?
I got to fucking figure it out, you know?
I would love to get another one
and I feel like I'm gonna have to
within like the next two or three weeks when that bike.
I mean, I've been saying it all year,
but for sure, you know, once things get back,
I mean, there's been so much money spent on motorcycles
that like my Christmas present to myself
has got to be a lathe.
And you know, the thing is that like from my knowledge,
of course I could be full of shit,
but I don't think I am because this is coming
from all the people that are trying
to share the knowledge with me.
They're like getting old lathe that's made in America.
It's the only way to do it.
You know?
If you don't get none of that grisly bullshit.
Don't get anything that's not like twice as old as you,
I feel like.
The one that was here was old as fucking dirt, dude.
It was probably like chiseled out of fucking rock
to make this thing,
but dude, hands down was the best thing I've ever touched.
And everybody that has ever touched it here
said the same shit.
Yeah, yeah.
Just they have something about them, you know,
like fucking, I don't know.
That is a soul to it, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Some lady in World War II was running that lathe.
Dude, you never knew what could come.
What's the work lady?
The work lady?
We can do it or whatever.
But yeah, that's kind of the thing.
And you know, got the gas tank done.
We took a sports for tank.
We took, you know, because low brow cells,
the gas tanks, right?
And so I found the one that has essentially
the capacity and shape I was looking for.
So it was already Frisco mounted and things like that,
but they put the caps on the right hand side.
Well, I wanted to go with a smaller cap
and I wanted it to be centered.
So, you know, I had to learn how to weld sheet metal,
which I got a chance to do that with Corey.
And then, you know, got the beanbag out
and the hammer and beat the flat part of a sporty tank
into that dome shape.
And then, you know, ran it through the English wheel,
which I finally, for the first time in my life,
actually did that.
And that, to me, was a-
It's hard.
It's hard because like it's a motion.
It's a lot of tension, yeah.
That like you have to get used to.
Like you gotta-
And so like I did it for a minute
and I just felt like I was like getting off track
because I wasn't, it's a muscle memory thing
like skateboarding or something, you know.
So that then, then, you know,
we had to cut the bottom of the tank out.
So I learned a lot in that process
and I did enough of it to still lay claim
to some of the aspect of building it.
But now it's like, you know,
there's just a process
when you're building a hardtail chopper
that's much different
than when you're building something with a swing arm.
Right.
A swing arm means that your fender's mounted
to the frame in a fashion that doesn't,
like now you're put the wheel in
and you have space to kind of-
Yeah, I was gonna, right.
You have some adjustability.
Yeah.
On those it's like, it is what it is.
Yeah, it's like, I've been waiting on wheels for, you know,
since February, they're supposed to be here this week.
Well, that will open up the door
so now that I can get the rear fender mounted
on the bike and figure out where that's gonna sit
and then start finishing all the rest of the fab stuff.
And so-
Dude, I fought my rear fender on my born free bike.
Yeah, I remember that, yeah.
Well, both of them.
This one, the tour bike,
I fought that from, I thought it was long.
I fought this last one for literally like three
or four months, just like,
I held up probably like six to eight different ones.
And I just had to leave it there
and walk by it every single day for like two weeks.
I was like, all right, that's not the one.
Then again, so, yeah, I would say definitely wait.
Cause I tried to not wait.
Just like this, you know, fucking go at it.
Once you get that rear wheel in there,
you're like, oh shit, start all over again.
And see, I don't like spoke wheels.
Like I think they look perfect on like
an old school chopper, right?
But I've been riding with people
on cross-country trips too long
and spokes cause problems.
They all bend, they all break.
It's always a part of everybody's deal.
And I'm just like, I'm like mag wheels.
And so, and right now I'm really into like late 80s cars,
aesthetic, and it's so weird
because when I was in 96, when I started driving.
You was like Tokyo drift shit.
I was like, dude, I'm not into this.
I want like a round, I want an Ultima.
Yeah.
That was the cool shit back in the night.
I want a bubble Ultima.
Yeah.
Not these fucking square bodies
and fucking cutleresses and stuff.
That's all I grew up on, dude.
Cutleresses, Caprice classics, all that shit.
Dude, I had all those.
I'm just like, I don't know why.
So TPJ actually got me,
when I hung out at his house last summer of last year,
he has a Porsche.
I know.
And I never gave a shit about Porsches
until he kind of explained some stuff to me
like why he was into it.
And it changed my perspective on it.
And now I'm kind of like, like some,
there's some 80s Porsches that I'm like.
The older ones.
I'm like, those are pretty fucking sick, dude.
They are sick.
And I can't afford it.
I mean, when I'm thinking of like the Porsche,
I think it's a 944.
It's like still the engines in the front
of like an early 80s Porsche.
I think they look fucking cool.
And I actually want one,
but I can't justify buying a $10,000 project car.
Right.
And the parts for it and everything else,
those get a little crazy.
Yeah.
So I'm like, man, it's kind of out of the wheelhouse
of what I'm, you know, able to do.
You know what I'm saying?
And plus we still got the van that I'm trying to L.S. swap it.
So I think next year for me,
the goal is first half of the year
is to build out the van the way I've been wanting to.
So I'm going to sell the FXR.
I just finished probably in spring.
And then the chopper will have a spot in the van.
And I want to be able to go across country
and do podcasts and make content
and then have a cool van and a bike.
Yeah, be able to be able to unload the bike
and rip around and fucking.
Sleep on the other side of where the bike is
and, you know, do stuff like that.
Yeah, having a van is a game changer.
That was probably the best thing
I could have done for my business.
I think that my van's not as cool as yours.
Well, I mean, my van's cool, but it doesn't.
It's not practical.
Yeah.
You know, like.
I had, I can't do what,
my van can't do what you need to do
and your van can't do what I need to do.
Exactly.
So they all serve a purpose,
but when I love one of those fucking old ass vans
all hooked up and shit, hell yeah.
Well, that's, dude, I was, I was talking to my wife
because I think that riding up to Sturgis with James,
the whole time I'm like, man,
I might have to just at some point break down
and get something because it would have been so easy
to throw like my FXR in the back
and all the shit I need, go to Sturgis
and, you know, be able to do podcasts
because I have more stuff.
It's like, it's like I'm fighting that progress
of taking like the business side
of my business more seriously.
And so I had to do that.
Like I would always do trucking trailer,
like every time, even to pick up, drop off.
But then like the bike started to get a little bit nicer
and I was like a little bit more worried.
And then having to go to events
and the canopy and this and that,
I just said, fuck it.
I bought that, you know, that pro master.
But now it's like, I don't even have the time
to go take the van to an event anymore.
So it's like this whole shuffle thing,
but you know, that's why I like the bikes to be the old stuff
because that's a personal thing.
You know, when it comes to the business,
I need to be more practical.
I need to be more fucking legit.
I guess you could say it.
You know, if I'm pulling up,
I need to be able to keep everything secure.
Yeah.
Well, I just think about like, you know,
I've met so many people out of Iowa
and Minnesota and Wisconsin
like that whole like Mississippi river area
that like, and there's like the Davenport swap meet.
There's mama tried.
I want to be able to throw the chopper in the van
and drive the van up to these places,
pull the chopper out, do things.
If I find a good deal on some FXR,
I could probably fit it in the van to get it home.
You know, so just having all those extra layers and stuff.
And realistically right now,
the only thing that I need to do the van is an LS swap.
And I probably don't need to do that,
but just peace of mind
and having a little bit more power
and more modern stuff.
Well, parts would be easier if you break down.
Yeah.
That's a big thing.
Then, you know, maybe a little bit of suspension work
on the rear, you know, just stuff like that.
I mean, it's still a relatively new van
compared to like, those vans like had a similar body style
from like this 72 or three to 95 or 96.
And I have a 95.
And it's that TBI, what is it that,
it's like, it's fuel injection,
but it's not like injectors.
Yeah.
It's like, it looks like it's in a carburetor.
It's like, I think they call it a TBI or something like that.
Yeah, my, I had a 93.
Yeah, that's right.
Blue truck, it was the same way.
Yeah, I got rid of all that shit.
It just, it wasn't practical for me.
It's like, can I have a project bike?
Sure.
You know, the cost of entry here is way different
than a fucking 79 K10 or some shit.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, and if this big bitch breaks down,
I can't just put it in my van or call my brother
and be like, Hey bro, fucking bring the van.
That fucking things, those are crazy.
I was in the cars too, but,
we thought about getting this place behind me actually
because my brother's super in the cars,
like, let's swap in and all that shit.
So it's Colton, he built a crazy C10.
So this place behind us is fucking five times,
six times the size of this.
You can put lifts in there and everything.
And I was like, no, we're not doing this.
Yeah.
We're not going to go into the cars.
Cars are fun, man.
Like, but I am, I don't know that I have enough
attention in me to do cars and bikes.
Yeah. I mean, you're just crawling all over the
fucking thing.
Like, I hate crawling underneath shit
and halfway in and you're fucking.
Well, it's just, you take a car apart
and this whole shop is now one car, you know, apart
and you're like, okay, well.
Now what?
It's like, how do you?
Everything's fucking everywhere and just blown out
versus this you can put on a shelf.
You know, you can organize it.
You take cool pictures of it.
It looks, you know, nice.
Instead of just a box, this fucking big for a bumper.
Yeah.
Totally different way.
You try to get a part chrome for a bike
and you're like fucking 200 bucks.
How do you get a fucking bumper chrome?
Yeah, or a frame or something.
Yeah.
That's even crazier.
So yeah, it's, it's, there's, I don't know.
I need a vehicle to travel in that I can also
still bring my bike and enjoy it and still have space.
So right now it's like, I'm gonna try to make it work
with the van, but if the van just can't fit the bill,
then I'll try to sell it and get whatever I can get
out of it and either put it towards something
like a pro master or something
or maybe even a more modern van.
Like, I mean, I had an E 250.
Oh yeah.
Which was like a cargo van that I actually enjoyed it.
I love my van.
Like it's honestly, like I have a truck.
I have a Silverado or whatever.
I daily drive the van.
I don't know why.
I love this fucking.
It doesn't feel like you're in this crazy thing.
It's like super nimble actually.
It's pretty quick.
I can throw the dogs in there.
I know like, I could just throw whatever
I want to do in there.
And I don't know.
I just feel like I'm on fucking top of the world.
I'm like so high above people like I'm like,
what's up dude?
I don't know.
The crazy thing about driving the van,
could you guess like the people
that thumbs me up in that thing a lot?
Dude.
I don't know.
Honestly, I get more in my van.
Oh yeah.
I'm sure.
There's two demographics of people.
Older ladies.
Yeah, I bet.
Shagging wagon baby.
And Mexican dudes that usually do like some kind of like.
Some type of physical labor.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That van can go either way.
That's like an old hippie van or like a fucking.
Well, it's like there's always some,
some old lady that probably got fingered
in one of them a while ago.
It's all over the roof.
Is that on the floor?
Cause they used to do that shit back in the day.
It's like, they're not the same anymore.
Those women were different.
Look at the Playboy now, dude.
They were built different.
They were built different.
They're going on the roof, not the floor bro.
But I mean, I'm hoping that right now
I feel like I've driven the van.
I think the first I've driven it was down here
for the cruisey blockhead thing in the winter time.
But my suspension was kind of fucked up
cause I just put the bigger wheels on it.
And so it would bottom out a lot.
But I got the bottoming out kind of solved
unless I just hit like a stupid bump.
Yeah.
But now it's like, I'll be cruising down the highway
and then, and I got a new fuel pump in it.
The fuel filter was brand new already.
Like that's like an easy thing people do.
But I probably should probably replace it
just because my fuel pump went out.
Well, maybe it went out because it was,
you know, get a lot of gunk and whatever.
But every once in a while you just get like a little,
like a misfire at like 75, 80 miles an hour.
I can deal with that on a bike, but for some reason bro,
my cars have to be like turnkey.
And if this, if one fucking light shows up,
I'm ruining my life.
Like I'm crashing out over this shit.
Like, I don't know what it is.
I don't know.
Like I said, the bikes and shit, it can leak.
There's a lot of variables in a car.
Yeah, in a car it's just like,
you can't even tell it's leaking until you like go underneath.
I don't know.
And then it's like this whole process
to fix this whole thing.
I want my shit.
Like a car needs to be the opposite of what a bike is
to me, I don't know why.
Maybe it's because I have kids and I rely on my shit,
but I don't know.
I mean, I got the Jeep
and that's always going to be like the go-to.
But you know, like I said,
there's just something, you know,
for me, if you think about the aspect of like
photography, YouTube and all this,
it was just different.
Doing something in that, like,
all right, now I'm in Monument Valley right now.
Well, when I drove through there in my Jeep,
it's like, you know, like,
I would love to do that.
I just have the patience.
I don't have the time.
And I certainly don't want to start
throwing money at this thing.
That's why I got rid of all my old trucks, dude.
I had three of them in fucking.
Troop, see ya, troop, see ya.
Like, I even won that 79 K10
or in a fucking raffle.
This guy's back, I told ya.
He's the number one trimmer.
Like, no edge the fuck out of the property,
but he don't even have a lawn mower with him, bro.
He's not even, he has zero intention
of cutting any of that grass.
He's just gonna come, trim it and blow it off.
But yeah, I even won one for like 70 bucks.
So I didn't even, and the thing was running,
it was great, but it was just,
had things that were kept popping up.
I'm like, oh, not doing this shit.
Sorry.
Even if I had zero dollars in it,
I'm kind of like, see ya later.
Yes, it's one of those things that like,
if I built something from the ground up,
then I would probably be much more connected to it.
But it's like, you always see those vehicles
where someone like, bought some kind of car
that had the perfect patina.
And they just like, maybe threw a LS in it or something
and then drove it around everywhere.
That's kind of what I've always dreamed of wanting to have.
Colton's got a C10 that's like that.
It's like an older body,
but fucking everything else is done.
Well, you know, I didn't do the flames on my van, right?
Oh, okay.
It was that way, and I fucking hate them
because they're not mine.
Even cooler though.
But if I go and do that over again,
I don't believe in fake patina.
So right now it looks the way it looks.
Yeah, you'll kind of kill it.
I'll make it nice and pretty,
and then, you know.
That's not really the style of that.
Exactly.
Then you gotta do all the other shit.
It's like paying the old fucking beat up bike.
That's why I got rid of that one FXR
that I had with the A-Pingers.
Oh yeah.
It had the perfect patina.
I think it's so sick.
I remember when I went over there for...
The tattoo fest thing.
Yeah, the tattoo fest thing.
And I was riding next to you.
I was like, you had Brit on the back.
I was like, I want to get on the back of that thing.
I think it's fucking sick, dude.
I was like, hey, swap with me, Brit.
But yeah, it's like, I ended up selling that.
I actually sold that bike and the money for the bike
is what I bought the van with.
But like, there's no way that I was able to...
Do your thing.
I enjoyed riding it,
but it just, someone else's bike.
So everything I felt like I was gearing up to do to it
was going to take away that soul or vibe that it had.
Well, it's probably gets rid of why you even bought the bike.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's hard to hold on to other people's shit,
for sure, without changing it.
Yeah, and there's a lot of things
I wanted to do to it.
You know, I did put the mid-controls on it,
which felt better, but then it didn't feel the same.
Yeah.
No, it was way cooler, dude.
For controls, I'm like, this sucks.
But like, it still feels cool when you're riding.
Cool with the apes, dude.
Yeah.
That bike was sick.
I'm not gonna lie to you.
It was fucking, I liked it a lot.
I think I even told you, I was like...
How much?
It was cool.
But then I would have been in the same predicament.
I've been like, well, I gotta change some shit.
And then here we go.
Whoop.
Yeah, you know, I got the mid-controls from you.
I put it on, and then I'm like, all right, like it's better,
but like apengers and mid-controls
just don't really go together.
No.
Like maybe some high mids, but...
You gotta be like a kite on those bikes.
Yeah.
Like this fuck, dude, this knucklehead that was just here.
Fuck, dude, his handlebars were like,
it had to be like 40s, dude.
Like they were way up and then out,
but he had these crazy fords too.
So like it made you go like this.
That's the only way that works.
If you were to be like this, it'd be fucking weird.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I don't know about it, but...
Apengers need to make a comeback though.
I feel like they are.
From me, it sucks.
I might have to like get rid of a lot of old podcasts
and make sure that nobody can get those.
But man, all this stuff is like,
you just wanna have a different experience
on bikes right now.
And you know, there's a version of a chopper
that I wanna build that does have apes,
but I don't know, like it just,
it didn't fit like the bike I'm doing now.
So the one I'm doing now have like some real narrow
traditional T-bars.
Oh, nice.
Not like Modo style, like none of that.
It's like straight bar on it kind of thing.
So yeah, it's just, it's waves, man.
Part of me wants to do a modern bike next year.
I'm really leaning towards possibly a road glider,
low rider ST, but I don't know.
I've thought about it so many times.
It's calling me a little bit,
but I'm not like sold on it.
Yeah, it's, for me, like when my buddies pull up,
like Eric, he's got a sick ass ST,
dude, he's got Lindo wheels, rotors, we just,
I just did...
That FXR he had was sick, dude.
Dude, that FXR is super clean.
And we did GP suspension,
you know, you go riding and you're like,
this thing's fucking sick, like I get it.
But then you get off of it and you look,
and you're like, actually, never mind.
How much is this thing on?
I'm good, like I can have half that into a bike.
You know, that's as cool as this FXR,
like that motherfucker was so clean.
Just traditional, what you would expect out of like,
you know, back in the day type of thing
with some modern touches, you know,
the risers, whatever.
But it wasn't overly done.
Like it's just tasteful, classic,
like even my anniversary right now,
that's, you know, I'm selling it to obviously fund this deal,
but I'm selling it also because it's like,
there's not much more I can do,
except ride it, which I've already done.
And so now I'm like, okay, time to reset it.
But it, the same thing, it's just like,
classic Harley shit, you know,
chrome thunderstorms and clean paint and blah, blah, blah,
you know, all the little decorations and shit
from that time period, you know,
that FXR that was very clean.
He regrets it all the time.
Well, yeah, that I think that the FXR just finished,
I had went to look at it before nitty gritty
and then seeing your anniversary in his black one there,
made me like, hit them back up when I got back home
as like, hey, do y'all still have the bike?
Like, yeah, well, like this is much I can do,
which I got that bike for it fucking still,
but, you know, yeah, just...
They're, like I said,
there's something about every style, of course.
It's kind of up to the individual
as to where they are at mentally or in life
or whatever fits their social status.
You know, if you just wanna be a trailer bike show guy,
great, if you wanna have a crazy built out
big money bike, great, doesn't matter.
They're all fucking sick,
but I'm more of like that,
you know, more of a classic kind of traditional
with some modern shit, you know,
kind of like the resto mod idea,
like that bike right there,
that's the first bike I ever built, period,
from the frame up for a customer.
And it's super old school
with a whole bunch of modern shit too.
I mean, I still do the same shit.
Like the tour bike is, it's all the same, you know?
I like that kind of classy stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
That's why I didn't want him
to get rid of that bike either.
Dude, I tried so hard and he was like,
well, if somebody offers it to me,
that's kind of how I am with my anniversary.
I'm like, if somebody offers it, I'll take it, but.
Yeah.
Like that's the hard thing about the FXR stuff.
Like, so in my mind, maybe I ask you this
because you've sold more FXRs and stuff,
but like if somebody wanted me to build that bike
that I just finished, like just,
let's just say that they already have the bike,
whatever that is, but they wanna go all out.
They wanna make it nice.
There's 25, it's like 25 grand, right?
And that's labor, paint, parts, not an SNS motor,
not a Baker transmission, right?
And I feel like when you add those,
my motor's completely built, good stuff in it,
balanced, completely coated, very nicely on the outside,
all ARP everywhere, and all in on my motor
with powder coating, with having it all balanced
and stuff and parts, I'm probably like five grand in it.
And so an SNS motor is gonna be how much more than that?
Almost double at this point, because they went up.
That's why that one sitting there,
that was a really good price,
and it came with the carburetor and the ignition.
So it's like, I'm doing the same thing.
It's like, is it cheaper, sure?
Is this better, technically, what's more fulfilling?
That's what I'm getting at,
and that's what I was trying to explain to some people.
I was like, the EV27 cam, the Makuni,
it's got a little bit of a port and polish
that Russell did on there.
It feels fucking good, and it feels fun to wrap it.
But if you're riding with a bunch of people
on 20, 25 baggers, it's not the same.
Yeah, they're on a different ride.
Yeah, they're on a different ride,
and that's kind of like something that's alluded to me
where I think that people think that everything is like,
oh, those guys don't wanna hang out,
and it's like, nah, man, it's like,
that chopper rides at a certain frequency,
and you ride at a certain frequency.
For him to keep up with you, it's like a lot for that bike.
And for you to keep up with him,
it's like you're leaving a lot of meat on the bone.
It's like, I feel like this bike wants more road.
That's what I mean every time I ride with my buddies
because they all have brand new bikes.
Dude, James, he fucking hauls ass everywhere, dude,
on his low rider ass, you know, Eric's got an ST.
I was thankful that he had an FXR
because when we went to the Polar Run together,
I was with him, you know, I was like jamming with him.
Now that that's gone, it's like Colton,
he's got a fucking built out bagger.
So I'm just like, like I said, I'm in the front
trying to hold them back though.
I'm not like, I'm not leading them.
I'm actually like holding them back, you know,
like a dog, I'm like, hey guys, let's chill out.
I'm like, whatever.
So, you know, I was telling you a while ago,
my buddy Ramon and I went on the cruise around the lake
and I told him, it's like,
just imagine that vibe we were just on in that pace
and how it felt and like five more dudes right behind us
all on the same kind of bike,
on the same kind of wavelength.
It's the same thing like it was
whenever we were all ripping performance baggers,
like when we rode the Serge,
that you hadn't left all you guys.
Yeah, and I was on an FXR and I did not care.
I even told a, I think it was Dragon,
he was like, hey, should I still,
I was like, fucking take off, bro.
I was like, I'll be all right.
Shit.
But see now it's like,
I've done that ride to Sturgis in California
and even New York to some degree,
so many times that like,
I have no desire to ride on the main highway.
Yeah.
So like, when I went to-
Just slow down a little bit.
Yeah, dude, it's so much,
it's not that it's better, it's just different.
And I've already ridden through El Paso 40 fucking times.
Like I don't need to ride that stretch
from Pecos, Texas.
I'm gonna go see what other roads get there.
It might add more time, but cool
because I'm seeing a different part of the country.
Right, and you're already out there, might as well.
Yeah.
And so that's kind of like the thing about,
like even the chopper, it's like,
when I ride that, you know, hopefully to NorCal,
like, I've ridden that,
I've made that trip a lot of times
and I'm looking forward to doing it on this bike
and going down roads that I haven't really done.
Have you seen that?
It's like a documentary movie thing by Brixton.
It's called 50 weight.
Yeah, then they just recently do that with a-
There's a bunch of dudes in it.
Yeah, they basically rode, what, Tucson to-
Like Mexico.
Like into Mexico or up to,
because I thought they went to like Monument Valley and-
No, they went to Mexico.
I'm thinking about a different one there.
That is what I would think,
like when I think about a trip nowadays.
That, like if you watch that,
for those who have not, I'd highly recommend it.
I'd recommend it.
That is like, it's kind of like the, what is it?
21 days.
21 days, but less dramatic, you know,
less storytelling, more like realistic,
like this is the shit, you know,
that you're actually going to be doing.
Yeah.
And you can like feel the camaraderie
and feel them like they slowed it down a lot.
You know, you could just tell.
That is where I'm at, you know, with the bike shit.
When I did the Beaver Bash with Jason Ocho
and Haney and all those dudes,
that was the first time I rode with like chopper dudes.
And mind you, we were doing like,
I think that from Denton, Texas to Brokenbow
was maybe 200 miles.
Yeah.
But it's the longest 200 miles ever.
And that was an entire day to get there.
And I wasn't mad at it.
Like the gas station stops included getting a tall boy.
Yeah.
The, there was no, there was no, it's like,
we are the party.
When we get there is when it happens.
So why are we hauling ass?
Yeah, that's how we like, you know, over the years
we've gotten our little group of guys that, you know
I hang out with around town and we do things or whatever.
That's exactly what we do.
We don't try to haul ass,
like to go to nitty gritty or to this or to that.
We're going to stop.
We're going to hang out.
We're going to fucking talk shit, have fun.
Somebody's going to definitely be having a beer,
you know, like whatever.
And there's no phones out.
There's no, you know, none of that shit.
It's just, you slow it down,
you enjoy it a little bit more.
I feel like that's way more fun than 80 motherfuckers
rolling together.
It's like, oh yeah, that's cool,
but you don't get to live it with everybody at the same time.
When everybody's living it together,
it's a little bit more enjoyable.
Yeah. And I think that's why I was like,
I think going back to what I was saying is
you just kind of segregate yourself.
Yeah.
It's not that you don't like choppers
or choppers don't like you.
It's just that you tend to want to ride
at a certain frequency and pace
and you kind of got to find people,
if you want to ride with people
that are doing that pace, you know?
And I'll do it.
Like I'll push my FXR, I don't care,
but my preference is the way I like to do it.
And that's the only thing that I think
when going back to what we were saying
about like selling these things.
Yeah.
It's like you kind of like,
if you sell an FXR to a dude
that's only ridden baggers.
Yeah, I have.
Like they're like, oh man,
like this thing, why is this so much better?
And it's like, man, I really can't explain that to you.
Yeah.
It's not, it's not a better bike per se.
Like, oh, this thing is better than,
like a bike brand new is going to do everything better
than an FXR.
But it doesn't feel like it.
But it don't feel like an FXR.
And you got to ride the FXR the way it wants to be ridden,
not the way you're used to riding your other bike.
Right.
And it'll slow you down.
Yeah.
Mentally and everything.
Yeah, it feels good.
And there, you know,
everybody always talks like, oh man, you know,
everybody wants one now.
Man, I feel like everybody's always been wanting one.
Like even if you go back and think about it,
they've really been wanting them.
It's just gotten more attention, I guess.
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely got waves.
I mean, I've seen probably seven different waves.
Higher people are wanting in too.
I'm like, it's weird.
Yeah, you're seeing more people.
I mean, the inmate stuff open the door for like people
that maybe wanted that,
that does have a modern bike
and they want to have an FXR with all the modern stuff.
And there's a version of that that I fuck with.
But, you know, I like the hopped up 80 inch Evo.
Like it's...
I said it to you a million times.
I had to swallow my words the other day
when I saw Cody Childress.
I don't know how to say his last name.
Yeah, Childress.
Childress.
When I saw his inmate, FXR, Chopper,
they're sold there.
Like you can, it's a different animal compared to like
some of the other things that I've seen
where I'm just like, okay, we get it.
Yeah.
That's why I like, we kind of at the beginning,
you know, I used to talk a lot of shit on the internet.
I slipped out the other day and I was like,
you know, we get it, you're in FXRs, you have an inmate.
Like, okay.
Yeah, that's just a joke of mine.
Cause I'm just old school soul.
Like everybody always says that about me.
I just, I didn't like how they were looking.
Like I didn't like that motor.
I didn't like those rocker boxes.
I didn't like how just all of that looked too fancy
to be the biggest thing that you actually see
in an older styled bike.
I don't know why for me just,
but that fucking bike is going to be sick.
Like I'm looking forward to quite a few bikes
for Born Free Texas.
And that was definitely like,
Yeah.
And I had to say it the other day I posted,
I was like, okay guys, take back everything I've ever said
about MADFXRs because of this one.
Yeah.
Yeah, I was out at his, his,
I'm actually releasing his podcast this week
cause I went out there to do a podcast
with him.
Hell yeah.
And yeah, it's pretty sick in person.
Yeah.
I want to see it.
Yeah.
The little shit, like all the small detail stuff
like his wheels that he put the little
Texas in it.
God damn dude.
I was just like,
it doesn't sound like such a big feat to like,
but he had the time to think about the thing
that he's giving his time to.
And that shit, like, I like that a lot.
Yeah.
It's going to be cool.
I mean, it's definitely a,
the more and more of other people's bikes
that I see getting done,
then the more like what my head was at.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess to give myself a little credit,
like my bike project was being built,
was started to do like L Diablo Run.
Oh, sure.
And then Born Free turned into an opportunity
to drag this out and maybe put some more effort into it,
which then turned into,
I've already got to mess with it until September.
Right.
I just need to buy shit here and there
and then, you know, whatever.
Speaking of Diablo, not to cut you off,
did you see they're going to be the last year next year?
Yeah.
So when I went there and I stopped in Biltwell
for them to auto help me outside to replace my chain.
And he told me that basically next,
what he said to me was next year is going to be the last
year because it's the 20th year,
not the 20th run, but the 20th year
since they started the run.
And that the town itself and the event down there
is kind of taking its own shape and life.
And the Biltwell aspect isn't really as needed there.
Right.
There's always going to be something going on down there.
Yeah, cause I heard they have like their own little thing now.
Yeah.
So I want to try to go check that out.
Eric went, he said.
Yeah. I mean, we were right there.
I got my passports.
Yeah, I remember that.
We were just having such a good time in San Diego
with Taylor and all those folks down there
that were like, man, this is like sick.
And we're like, got a cabin in the mountains
and we're like, we could just do this
for the next two days.
Yeah. And not have to worry.
Or we can go to Mexico and maybe get robbed.
Right.
You know what I'm saying?
Or somebody, yeah, get into some trouble.
What I was worried about, honestly, like just no bullshit.
What I was worried about, about going into Mexico was,
I didn't, if I didn't have like a backpack full of camera
gear and things like that, I probably wouldn't have gave a shit.
Yeah.
You know, say, I don't want to go in there
with like literally like, you know,
the money that I have invested in my camera stuff.
And my bike, it's flashy.
Your bike's pretty long.
Yeah.
If you never went in there with a kind of understated bike.
Yeah.
And then, you know.
So a lot of those dudes just do like those,
you know, Enduro style bikes or whatever,
those are super common out there.
Yeah. You know.
No, it's not going to draw any attention.
Zero attention.
So, yeah, that's kind of,
I just got a little worried, overthunk it,
overthunk it and just kind of like,
ended up backing out of that thing.
But like I said, it was also like,
we were in such a good vibe sitting there
campfire is fucking in the mountains of San Diego.
Just kind of like, you know,
like this is actually pretty sick too.
It's on a trip already.
Might as well just go.
Yeah. And we have a shower.
Oh yeah. You're going to camp on the beach, right?
Yeah. We wanted to camp on the beach.
Yeah. That. Salty.
That's a fucking.
Dude, I've camped on the beach,
not that beach, a beach.
No, I can't.
I need, I need to get this shit off me.
You know, like, cause I'll be in the water all day
and just kind of like fucking.
Yeah. Yeah.
I need a nice, cold fucking bed and a hot shower after that.
Yeah. Well, all right.
Well, I think that's it.
Think that's it.
We got shit to do.
Yeah.
See you later, guys.
All right, man.
See you.
It's the best way to end it.
And it's the best way to end it with it.
Well, see you later, guys.
That's all I got.
We got stuff to do.
Well, guys, once again,
I really hope you enjoyed that.
I want to thank Renny for hanging out with me
and letting me check out his bike
and get all this inside information
about all the things he has going on.
Guys, if you haven't heard already,
Born Free Texas is right around the corner.
It is going down in Mount Enterprise, Texas.
October 16th to the 19th, we'll be there.
We're going to have new t-shirts.
We're going to have new hats.
We're going to have a lot of cool stuff.
Hopefully my chopper will be done there as well.
That's, that's a big hope.
And yeah, we're going to be also hosting the pre-party
for Born Free Texas at Stroker's Dallas, October 15th.
That's a Wednesday.
It usually kicks off around 6 p.m.
and goes on till whenever, every year.
We've been doing it since the day
Born Free started out here in Texas.
And it's just been a great time.
So hopefully see you out there.
And we'll catch you on the next episode.
So have a good one.
Peace.
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