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we're going to get into this episode right.
Speaker 2: Now, Big.
Speaker 4: Five or.
Speaker 5: Why we have a left off?
Speaker 2: Yes, once again we have lyft off.
Speaker 3: I want to thank you for tuning into this episode
of The Big Truth podcast. And I'm stoked to have
my man Carrie broke back with me today from my
Choppers magazine. But he's been an industry player for a
long time. So without further ado, we're just gonna jump
right into it, Man bro Back. What's going on? Buddy?
How's it?
Speaker 2: How's it been?
Speaker 5: Good Man? Finally recovering from Chopperfest? Yeah, last week and
it was it was wild. You know, we kind of
this was our second year running it and last year.
You know, I guess I can tell the story if
you want. How I got it was Tory and his dad, Huggybear.
Dave Hansen ran it for twenty twenty years, so it
all started. It started back as a tribute to David Man.
It's where David Mann got married. Was a venture fairgrounds
to Jackie Mann, and then when he passed away, they
turned into a memorial which started out just as a
Chopper show. So fast forward twenty years. You know, Huggy
Bear unfortunately passed away and Toris you know it was
something he did with his dad, and I think he
was just ready to move on. So he hit me
up and asked me if I would, you know, wouldn't
mind taking it over. So that's what happened. So last
year we had like a joint, we did it together,
and this year he was hands off. He just like,
you know, but that's what he said he was gonna do. So,
you know, myself and Manny, like my GM and one
of my best friends, we just ran a whole show
with all our friends and as staff and family. A
lot of family helped out. So it was good, good ship, man,
It was good.
Speaker 4: A lot of people.
Speaker 5: We doubled attendance from last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, man.
Speaker 3: So so yeah, like, for why don't we just you know,
because I'm sure everyone in the Chopper community knows who
you are, but you know, I got people coming from
you know, punk rock and weird conspiracy world and all
that stuff. Why don'd you get for people that might
not be familiar with you. Why don't you give a
little bit of background on yourself and uh, you know,
and and uh where people can can find you and
get in touch with you and all that stuff. And
then and then we'll just we'll launch into it because
obviously we're gonna I want to talk about Choppers Magazine.
We'll talk more about Chopper Fest and and all the
stuff that led you to where you are now.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I'm just a regular dude. I'm just
a dad and dad and a Scout leader, and you
know I were I work construction full time job. I'm
an calauity control manager. That's my full time gig. You know,
grew up around bikes. My my stepdad and a couple
of different step dads were bikers, like my mom. Like
the biker dudes, I guess you know they were they
were club guy. There was a club guy in there.
And you know, so I've been around it, been around,
been around choppers and motorcycles since I was a kid.
I kind of, you know, fought it for a long
time that I didn't really want to get into that
scene because I saw a lot of the bad ship
that came along with that stuff. We did.
Speaker 6: My buddy Billy did a just did.
Speaker 5: A documentary called Origins, and it kind of told told
tells my story. So if anyone really wants to know
in depth, look it up. It's on YouTube. It's just
called it's called Origins. I think Cloud Motors. But anyways,
that was a shameless plug for him.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, and that is that Is that just
on you?
Speaker 3: Or is it like a series where he's talking to
a bunch of people about there, like like obviously he's
kind of like Origin Stories.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a series. And I was
just my turn, you know, So I'm like episode five.
So he's done a few other people and he's started
on his six to one already really good.
Speaker 6: He's he just gets.
Speaker 5: Better and better and better. But yeah, so just grew
up around motorcycles, you know, got married, had a kid,
and decided, like, you know, I've been married, going this
will be twenty five. It's my twenty fifth when anniversary coming.
Speaker 4: Up, so hell yeah, congratulations, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 5: You know, got married and said, all right, fucking I'm
time to get on a bike again. And you know,
I rode as when I was younger, but focused on career,
focused on you know, marriage and family for a while,
and then you know about I'd say it's like twenty
years ago, twenty little over twenty years ago was when
I was like, all right, I'm in built my pant head,
same one that.
Speaker 6: I ride today.
Speaker 5: Built a couple of other bikes too, but that's my
never got rid of that one.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, So that's your forever bike, your forever bike.
Speaker 5: Yeah, forever.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5: Almost sold at once to save Choppers Mag and then
I did it and some friends stepped in and helped out.
Speaker 3: So well hell yeah, man, Well you know, it's funny,
you know, and it's not funny, but it's a it's
it's it's and I want to talk about Choppers Mag
and you know, the the lead up to that and
how that happened. But you know, you said you're still working,
you know, we you know, part of this was like
scheduling and you know we've been talking about Avenue come
on for a while. And you know, it's funny that
you mentioned you're still working, you know, a regular job too.
And you know a lot of people get enambored do
they think with industry stuff like oh man, you know,
it'd be great do this and that, and it's they
don't know the grind, you know what I mean. And
it does like there's a lot of people I know
that you know, are involved in the industry that still
work regular jobs too, because you you almost got a
dude like it's it's like because I'm sure everyone's like, oh, dude,
this dude's own Choppers magazine. He's got it made, blah
blah blah, and they don't see the grind of it all,
you know what I mean, Like you know, the hours
that go in and like the sacrifice that you're doing
to do this. But I know you'd come like you know,
why don't we? You know, you talked a little bit
about like how you you got into bikes, like like
what what got you like into like specifically Choppers versus
you know, just you know, you could have just got
into like being a guy that rides, you know, like
the whatever the newest thing is, or like the whatever
the newest is, Like you know twenty years ago that
you you twin cam you know, street glide, Like what
got you specifically into Choppers in the in the coach
the custom aspect of of of everything, you know. And
then and then I do want to talk about your
history and publishing because it didn't start with Choppers. You know,
there was like a whole you know, ranch and everything
before that.
Speaker 5: You know, I mean, I think.
Speaker 6: There was never really really any other choice for me.
Speaker 5: Choppers are just fucking cool, right, Like you could see
a panhead chopper and you could see a road glide
or whatever, and you go which one's more cool?
Speaker 6: And I think it does come from you know, early
skateboarding punk rock days.
Speaker 5: You know, got in went from from you know, skateboarding
to punk kind of dove into the rockabilly a little bit,
but not too much.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: I always thought I was a little hokey, but I
still like some of the music, you know. But but
along with that is the custom culture, right. It's got
you know, I mean, tattoos and hot rods and bikes
and it just all goes together, you know. I think
it just was a it wasn't really a conscious choice
to like do I want a new bike or do
I want a chopper. It just was always like I'm
getting to ride a fuck chopper, you know, and that
was it. The guys, you know, when when Dice magazine
first came out, when they first came to America from
you know, England. I mean, I think I met those
guys on Earth issue three or four, I don't know,
very very early on, and they really opened my eyes,
Like I knew I want to chopper, but they really
open my eyes to what you could do, you know,
within this custom world. So you know, my stepdad he
rode the same I think he got sixty eight Jenny
shovel you know, even even in a club, you know,
guys were ripping around on Dinas and ship. He had
his kick start, you know, shovel head that they probably
hated him for now that I think about it, you know,
but I mean, it was just it's just it's just
kind of just happened.
Speaker 6: I don't know, that says not a choice.
Speaker 3: So I hear you man, And I always tell people
because you know, I have the same kind of origin
like background, you know, like punk rock, skateboard and all
that stuff. To me, it was like the it was
the next iteration. It was like you said, it was
a logical progression, and it was the next iteration of loud, fast,
dangerous and do it yourself, you know what I mean.
And that's what the the punk rock world was, and
you know the skateboard world was back in those days,
you know what I mean. And uh, you know, so
it was it was it was a logical It didn't
even seem like like a progression.
Speaker 2: It was just like, ah, that's the next thing, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just you know, someone in your crew gets a bike, yeah,
our chopper, and then it's just everyone. Then the next
guy the next time, and then you've got one, and
you know it was yeah, like it's just it isn't
It was very natural, very organic progression into this for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So like in your head like like like when
I was a kid, you know, And it's funny because
I don't know, we're probably in the same age range
and background. Like like when I was a kid, I
remember seeing club guys go by. I remember being with
my father driving around to you know, being a little
kid without a seatbelt on in the passenger see you
know what I mean, Like, you know, the seventies style
and seeing club guys go by, and they were on choppers.
So in my head, like the archetype of a motorcycle
was always a chopper, like because I remember, I'm like, wow,
these things a loud wild like you know, you know,
they there's something about a chopper if it resonates with you,
like especially from a young age. It's it's different than
a regular bike. Like I like all bikes you know
what I mean. I'm not shitting on anything. Yeah, but
it was just there was something that stood out for that.
So like when I first got into bikes, I was like, man,
this isn't like I was looking, you know, and I
didn't know, you know what I mean, I didn't know
like what you know, the like what a chopper chopper was.
I was like, nah, like because I remember being like,
I don't like this bike because I remember like the
bikes I saw the tank came up like this, you know,
like you know, and I you know, I had a
vision of like a coffin tank and it's sticking up
and I was like, what the fuck is that? And
then my buddy Jay, who ended up becoming my business
partner for for a long time, you know, he was
like he got he inherited is well. He he reacquired
his father's old Triumph chopper. It was in his uncle's
attic and you know, brought it down and reacquired that
and put it back together. I was like, that's what
it was. That's what was in my head. And He's like,
dahn chopper, you know, like and then it was like
then that started the sickness right from there. And then
you know, I built my first triump and I you know,
and you know, obviously with help of like Don Hutchinson
from Hutchinson Cycles out here, and because I was green
as fuck, and and you know, it started out like that.
So so that so in your head when you saw bikes,
I was like, you know, is that what it always was?
It was like chopper was what was a bike in
your head type of thing?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Yeah, grow well, growing up, But there was a
mix of everything really, Like there was you know, kind
of that late seventies early eighties shovel head styled kind
of stockish bikes. Maybe they put apes on it. There
was that around, but there and then there was a
couple of choppers around. But you know, I can't even
really remember, but I definitely know it's like a shovel
head with ape hangers, you know, a dude with a
fucking beard and a greasy you know, cut on. Like, yeah,
for sure, that's what I remember as a kid, you know, Rember,
that side of it. Where did you grow up in
southern California in La Area? Yeah, with your East La
Montabella peaking like this this whole kind of tri city
area here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, man, I'm jealous of you right now, dude,
cause it's like seven degrees out and it's like the
snow is like melted. We're in that type of year
with that time of year over here where it's like
thirty five forty degrees in the day and then it
goes back into like the single digits at night, so
everything ice is up.
Speaker 2: It's just fucking gross, dude. You know.
Speaker 5: I'm just like I was about to be there next
next weekend for Mama Tried, and I was like, I
got We got a guy transporting out some stuff out
there and he's like, are you bringing your bike? And
I was like, yeah, I think my bike just rip
around and I was like, hold on, look at the
weather and I was like, yeah, no doesnt bike doesn't
need to man, I gotta escalate rent, and I'll just
do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's tough, man too, because like you know, this is
like as someone like you know, you obviously have like
you know, your your magazine and everything, and you know,
I have chop Ahead, and like when we go to
these shows and we set up, it's like it's always
the juggle man, like can I bring my bike to
like or do am I just bringing a bike to
bring to the s or can I bring something to
rip around on?
Speaker 2: Am I gonna even have time? Am I just going
to be asleep to the booth?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's different when you when you have to set up
versus like when you can just go out somewhere and
like have a good time at a show, you know
what I mean?
Speaker 5: Like, yeah, yeah, it's it sucks right everybody ripping around
you know, wherever it is. I mean, obviously probably not,
Mom will try. But this week, this past weekend and Ventura,
the weather was seventy degrees or on the beach, palm trees,
seventy degree weather, people riding in t shirts and I'm
like in my truck with a twenty foot trailer with
full of you know, stuff for the show. Yeah, so
you know, and I thought about the same kind of
same thing you're just saying, like should I bring my
bike just to rip around town? And I was like,
I'm gonna be tired, and I wouldn't have wrote it,
you know. So there's there's some downfalls to to doing
this stuff too, you know what I mean, some downsides
I say that that you don't get as much, you know,
win time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, or anything because like you know, especially like
you know, when you when you're hosting the show and
putting on the show, unless you cove out something specifically
like like all right, we're gonna do a ride as
part of the show, and then you can do that.
But you know, you're you're you're you're the point person.
So you know you I'm sure you had a Choppers
magazine booth and you're running that and then you're also
running the show and the logistics and a million people
like hey we need something here with this that this
that you know what I mean. It's it's it's tough
to enjoy, you know what i mean. It's like you know,
it's like you know, you look at it almost like
from like a parent standpoint, where like, hey, this is
this is my thing, and you know, like you can
appreciate it, but you're not in it, like like someone
that's like a just going as a attendee like and
that can just you know, yeah, it's a different it's
a different mindset, a different you know, set of responsibilities.
Speaker 5: You know, we had over ten thousand people come to
the gate, so it was it was a pretty massive
show for us, you know, I had never never put
on a show with that many people. You know, we've
done the five six thousand range to double. That was nuts.
Speaker 6: It was like it was putting out fires. I was
just talking to.
Speaker 5: Manny, you know, my manager, and he was like, man,
next year, you don't work. He's like, you just host.
He's like, we'll handle everything. So we're gonna, you know,
we got we had a little we'll have a little
bit of growing pains, and we're gonna add some staff
and change some things around and so.
Speaker 6: That I can maybe I can't ride my bike next year,
you know, and just.
Speaker 5: And uh, pretend I'm the boss and that's it.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Cool. Yeah, So.
Speaker 3: The the scene is, it's I don't know, I feel
like things are weird, like like I think what I
feel like, we're kind of in a good place with
Choppers right now, you know, obviously, I don't know. Like
out here on the East Coast in general, industry is
just down, like it put It's down for everything, like
economy is is, you know, making everything like pecially out here,
like where you can't ride year round, like motorcycles are
like a luxury, you know what I mean. Like so
like if people have to choose between feeding their family
and keeping their cargoing so they can get to work
and the motorcycle. The motorcycle's going so right now you
can buy bikes cheap. Everything's kind of gone down even
just hear it, like with the bike shop things. This
was one of the slower years we've had on the books.
But at the same time, like I feel like in
a way that's good because it's kind of like I'm
not saying this in a dicky way, but it's kind
of shaking out the dead weight a little bit, you
know what I mean. Like like people that are in
it now are like really in it, like and they're
I guess, for lack of a better word, true believers.
That there's not a lot of tourists. You know, Like
two thousand and five, you know, when all the TV
shows were on, there was a million people that were
like in the bikes, and a lot of them were
just like in it because of the they saw it
on TV. But like it feels like now that there's
like a good core group and it seems like more solid,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I don't know how to you know, I don't know
if that's what's going on. Out there.
Speaker 5: I mean it's a little different out here because we
can ride year round, but yeah, you know, we we
run into the same thing out here where people kind
of float in, float out, you know, and right now
it seems like like they're on their way out. You know,
maybe they found fucking seedws or something. I don't know, whatever,
they're right, but you know, I was watching the Meek
Them bike you know, auction by way cheaper than they
used than they did even last year. So I'm like, okay,
things are getting back to normal. You know, it takes
some time, you know, it's you know, it's crazy to
think that. You you know, like I don't have a knucklehead
right knuckles. Now, if I want to buy knucklehead, it's
forty thousand minimum. Like I can't see taking money off
my table, you know, food from my family for forty
I know what to hold is value and it'll it'll
be worth it.
Speaker 6: But I got a panhead, it runs fine.
Speaker 5: I don't need that. But you know, shovel at prices
went way up. Handed prices in California are crazy now,
like it's it's twenty up, which is nuts. You know,
I about my pand for four grand you know, it's
twenty years ago. I abought it for four grand. So yeah,
it's crazy. It's it's it's wild. And as these people
filter out that aren't, you know, maybe getting into it
just because it's cool for a minute. You know that
it probably happens with everything.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm assuming, you know.
Speaker 5: It's just you know, there's people that are really into
it and there's people that are just you know, cruising along.
Speaker 2: I'm just talking about it in general.
Speaker 3: It just seems it seems down Like we said, yeah,
I saw some of that mekam auction too, and I'm like, damn,
like it likes, shit's getting back in the prices where
be able to start scooping stuff up again, you know
what I mean, because it got wild for a long time,
and it's like and you know, and you know, I
think two for a while in the Choppa world specifically,
you know, I don't know, you know, and you guys
you have probably more of a pulse on this, but
it seems like the Japanese dudes are buying lesser, you know,
importing less out there.
Speaker 2: So it's like that also, like lets values.
Speaker 3: Kind of like breathe a little bit, you know what
I mean because like you know, for a while, like
everything was going overseas, like whether it was to Europe
or Japan or whatever, and it seems like a lot
of it's died down like that. And but yeah, I
don't know. But that said, but you being able to
double the attendance of the show like shows that there's
still like a strong community around, which is fucking awesome, man,
you know what I mean, Like.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we we definitely made some moves to get that
attendance bump, right, Like we brought in a vikless show.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's California.
Speaker 5: I'm a big fan of the Vekle motorcycles. You know,
I'm half Mexican.
Speaker 6: It's in my blood.
Speaker 5: I dig what they're doing. I mean, those guys put
more work and money into their bikes and any chopper dude,
I know, you know, they're insane. So we brought this guy,
Lydia in and she did a maze that was one
of my favorite parts of the show. Like he was
inside a giant Kwanza Hut building and she brought like
Aztec dancers in and lowrider cars and the bikes and it.
Speaker 6: Was just bitch.
Speaker 5: And so you know, we gave him that crowd. Then
we pushed on, you know, because Harley Harley Davidson is
our title sponsor, and they don't like to just see
old shitty choppers, right, They want they want people on
new bikes. So they brought out a truck and trailer
with all the new models and all the born free builds,
and then we teamed up with Rational Supply Co. And
if anyone runs a new bike, don't know who these
guys are. They're great, great people, man, They're just they're
family guys. You know, you go to his you go
to their giant warehouse and office, and his mom is
there and you know, wife is working. It's a family
run business. Big business, but it's family run business. His
dad does two Lane Life podcasts. Pretty big, big show.
But so we brought the newer. I called it a performance show.
And I met with him yesterday and he was like, yeah,
I don't know why you called a performance show because
like people thought they had to have like hot rods
and stuff. But I thought it sounded better than modern
bike show.
Speaker 4: But yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: But so now we had the Beakla people, we had
the new newer modern bike people, and the same you know,
four thousand chopper people, maybe thirty five hundred and four
thousand you know chopper people that were there. And it
was fun. There was not you know, ten thousand people,
not one fight. You know, everything was great.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, may vibe.
Speaker 5: Everybody was smiling, having a good time, drinking beers, having
you know, it was it was good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's rad, dude, Like, and it's cool because it
is like when when me and my buddy Packer used
to do a show out here called Full Speed Ahead,
and you know, we would incorporate hot rods and you
don't have a modern piece part of the show, like
you know, like the Dina performance bagger type of situation.
You know, And and it's cool because you know there's
there's different lanes. But you know, the funny thing is
is like if you bring some hot rods to a
to a chopper show, everyone's like glombing onto the hot rods,
you know what I mean. And if if you go
to a hot rod show and you got bring a
couple of choppers, all the car guys are going and
glombing onto the choppers because it's something meltse, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 2: So it keeps things moving. It keeps things interesting for everybody.
Speaker 3: And yeah, you know, so it's it is good to have,
you know, different crowds because and then you bring a
bigger community together and you never know when some crossover
stuff might happen. Like you get a guy that's like
a bagger guy who looks at the old choppers like,
oh man, you know that's cool, like maybe I and
vice versa. You know, sometimes as you know, as especially
as we get older, and it's like man, you know,
like you know, you know, you know, you know, you're
an old chopper guy. And sometimes like man, it might
be all right to have a push button bike that
goes fucking fast if I got to get somewhere as
a commuter, you know what I mean, or whatever, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So you get to see.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's funny you say that. I was
when I met with a thrashing guys there. They want
to build choppers now, but to be fair, they started
on choppers. Like Lance, the guy, he started on a chopper.
He would showing me pictures. I think he was in
high school and he was like on a it almost
looked like a sucker punch Sally type bike that he built,
and then he had a panhead and then he just
got into new bikes and started this company and it
took off and now he's like, you know, doing chopperfests
with him inspired him.
Speaker 6: Now to get on a chopper.
Speaker 5: So I think we're gonna build some choppers with him,
and we're gonna do a Sturgis ride on all choppers.
Speaker 6: So you know, it's it's different.
Speaker 4: For these guys.
Speaker 5: They haven't been on him in a while. They're all
new bike guys and they you know, get bikes from Harley,
and you know it's it's gonna be fun. But yeah,
there's a lot, there is a lot of crossover. So
so if I I told him, if I'm helping him
build a chopper, like, he's got to help me build
something an FXR or a diner or a bag or
something look cool, and then you know it's time a
fucking fifty three man, like.
Speaker 6: We should we should tell that story.
Speaker 5: Well how we met? Do you remember how we met?
Where we met?
Speaker 4: All?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Well so like but that's what I was gonna ask
you too, because I was like, did we meet? But
we we must have talked or something before then, you know,
like I'm sure, like just just just you know, industry
type stuff. But yeah, I think the first time we
actually like met, like in hung out in person was
at those Mexico City shows.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 6: That was wild.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 5: That was a good time, man.
Speaker 3: Yeah, shout out to to Charlie and Wan Pablo and
all those all the dudes down there that biker shelter spot,
all that they had it going on down in Mexico City.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: Like, It's it's sad that that show kind of dissipated
because I was like pulling for it because they had
a cool scene starting down there, and I'm I'm I know,
I still talked to Charlie and Wan Pablo and every
now and then, and you know, I know there's still
there's still going. But like that show was the I'm
a Nopless show, dude. That show was fun, man Like,
I yeah, yeah, scho City is a rad place. I
think it's a little like, you know, it's a little
dicey over there right now, but it's but you know what,
that that never stopped any any you know, any any
Chopper guys from having a good time, you.
Speaker 2: Know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's true. I would definitely go back. We should
should talk them another show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, be like all right, dude, we're ready to
We're ready to help you guys push it.
Speaker 2: Let's let's do it.
Speaker 3: Well we'll talk offline about that and uh and uh
and uh and loop loop those guys and but so yeah, so,
like how did you go? Like like what got you
into you know, you know, you talked a little bit
about getting into bikes and everything, but what made you
want to do uh, you know, magazine stuff? And I know,
I know, yeah, we definitely talked before because we talked
when you were doing other things, like you know what
I mean. But like I don't think like we'd ever
like hung out face to face, but like, you know,
tell tell a little bit about what got you into
the whole publishing side of things and what pushed you
towards that.
Speaker 5: Well, man, it was uh, I guess I gotta blame
I gotta blame Dean Man. Dean from Dice from like
you know, kind of show me how to do it.
We started riding with them, hanging out with them, and
I'd helped him out, you know, even if it was
just packing magazines to send out. You know, we were
doing that, and then I had another buddy JJ photographer
that was like, dude, we should start our own meg.
Speaker 6: So we did.
Speaker 5: We started this little mag called Hopper and it was
a little digest size to uh meg and it was
not just bikes that had skateboard, ship, punk rock shit.
It was almost we called it a men's magazine like
it was like almost like a punk rock men's magazine
focused on bikes, but had some other ship. We did
like an issue zero and an Issue one. And while
all that was going on, we were doing I was
doing a bike build with my buddy Jason from Sacred
Steel and we did it was a show, it was
a History Channel show. So we did a bike bike biker.
Speaker 6: Build off against another builder.
Speaker 5: You know we did. We were such just retards, like
we didn't take it serious and we you know, I don't.
We We kind of just fucked off the whole time
during during what they're filming. Then they would leave and
we would build ship and they'd come back to the
ninth Shi, it's done. Anyways, we killed it. We won
the show and the editor from Easy Riders was was
one of the judges, Dave Nichols. So after we won,
we went out drinking, and I grew up with easy Riders.
I mean I grew up. I got kicked out of
I don't know, fourth fifth grade for bringing them to school,
you know, easy riders with.
Speaker 6: Titties out or something.
Speaker 5: And you know, and I always say, I think, yeah,
the first time I like fucking rubbed one out was
to an easy Rider that was laying around the house, right.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 2: His catalog, man, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Too, But UH got to the after party after we won,
you know, kind of kind of kissing his asshole because
I'm like, fuck, this is the editor from Easy Riders, right,
But by that, like the fourth Margarita or something, I
was just like, your mag sucks now, dude, I'm really
hard on him. And he didn't disagree, but which was crazy,
and he was like, well, come on down and let's
talk and see what you can do to to help
us out. At that point, I really wasn't I wasn't
a writer, I wasn't a photographer.
Speaker 4: It wasn't anything.
Speaker 5: Didn't make it barely speak English, right, So how he
wanted me to write a story for him. So he says, yeah,
why don't you what's coming up? And I think it
was ld Obbo Run two like there was a second one.
I saw the first one and maybe the horse bag
or I don't know where I saw it. I saw
it early on, and so I'm gonna do this crazy
ride too to uh San Felipe and and and Sonana,
and they're like, man Mexico, or I will take some pictures,
write a story. So I did and it. They did
like a six page spread on that and in Biker
Mag and everyone loved it. They offered me a job.
So that's how I got in with Paisonic Publications and
Easy Riders. And I was still working, you know, in
my construction job and doing that part time. And then
that led to when we did Wrench. It was because
I was putting too many choppers into the new Easy
Riders and they didn't like it.
Speaker 6: I think, you know, they.
Speaker 5: Were trying to sell ads to you know, modern bike
companies and having choppers it makes sense. So then we
started Wrench Mag. We got Wrench Mag going that.
Speaker 6: One for a while.
Speaker 5: You know, it was short lived. They couldn't sell ads.
They had an old their staff was very dated, you know.
They it's like the everyone's been there twenty years and
wasn't in the scene, like they didn't even had even
Born Free was like on its fifth Born Free five,
and they're like, oh, should we.
Speaker 6: Go to this thing?
Speaker 5: Do you think it's cool? And I'm like.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So they were from another error and they just didn't
they didn't keep up with it.
Speaker 4: They didn't keep up.
Speaker 5: Now, Joe TERESI actually told me that the Internet was
just a fat and it was gonna go away. I'm
waiting for it to go away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, sometimes I would, you know.
Speaker 5: But yeah, So that led to uh, you know, me
trying to buy easy Riders and not falling through. And
then I got linked up with some fucking shady partner
that was like, let's start our own mag and I'll
fund it all and you just run it. And that
lasted one and a half to two issues when he
was already trying to run it, and I, you know,
we got into it and I had to buy him
out because Chopper's mag And I've told the story before,
is like I was trying to find a name for
a magazine, you know, and everything cool was taken because
you know, if you're trying to start a brand, it's
got to be you got to have the socials Ofvailable.
You gotta have the website available, you gotta have the
trademarks available. And I was like on my wits and
I'm just like, I don't know what I'm gonna call
this fucking thing. And I'm sitting in my shop and
I see a stack of you know, the old Ed
Ross Choppers bags that I had, and I was like,
I had my laptop. I was like, oh, I wonder,
I wonder who owns this now, let's just see. I
looked it up and it was the trademark was available.
I was like, huh, go to on instagram. Choppers mag
is available. Oh available? And I was like it possible.
So scooped them all up, got the trademarks, got everything done.
But before we did one issue, you know, I think
this is important thing to tell is I got a
hold of Ed Ross's son and let him know, hey,
I got these trademarks, I got the socials, I got
everything lined up. I want to print a magazine. I
need your blessing. And he was not stoked at first.
He was just like, you can't do that. That was
my dad's company. You know, I have all the archives.
I have that, And I was like, well, let's work together.
Let's do this together then, you know, and he wasn't interested.
He was interested in doing a magazine. He wasn't interested
in motorcycles. I think he was a retired cop, is
what I somebody told me. And in the end, you know,
I just said, hey, man, I just want to make
a magazine and I think this is a cool name
and I would love to I mean, ed Roth is
you know, fuck big daddy, Like this is cool. I'm
not trying to be ed Roth. I'm doing my own thing, right,
but I really want to do it. And in the
end he gave me his blessing. He said, go for it,
like you won't hear anything out of me, so which
was cool. So that to me, that was you know,
that was a sign to really to do it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's wild, man, because it's it's funny because
like I have a side project.
Speaker 4: Man, when we just.
Speaker 3: Stided and it was like the whole thing, man, is
like like getting finding a name now is the hardest
thing in the fucking world, dude, for like a company,
a band, whatever whatever it is you're trying to do,
and have a name that hits hard and like is good.
Speaker 2: And so I couldn't.
Speaker 3: I can't believe that, you know, I can kind of
believe that they let the trademark or if it ever
was even trademark, if it laps, because it lapses after
a certain amount of time, that it makes sense that
you might be able to scoop that up. But the
fact that nobody took like Choppers mag like any of
the socials was yeah, or the domain is the you know,
that's all a sign, man. That's the way I would
look at it. It's like, hey, this is all available,
like this is a sign. And I wanted, yeah, I
wanted you to actually tell the story like how it
came about, because I know, you know, we talked and
you I knew the kind of the background a little
bit about how you had dealt with his son on
getting it going and stuff, and and you know, I
think it's rad that you you pay homage to it
because you know, for me, especially being an East Coast dude,
like you know, I'm sure they were more plentiful down there,
but finding those magazines, those were like unobtainium, man, and
those were like holy Grail finds. Like if you could
find a copy of like the old Roth Choppers or
I have a couple of the old like full sized
posters and stuff. You know, they got tears and stuff
I gotta actually bring up. I'm gonna bring them to
like like a place that like does archival stuff to
like really like get the posters laid out and framed
and correctly, you know, with like museum.
Speaker 2: Glass and stuff.
Speaker 3: Because you know, if I if I even look at it,
like I see it like I'll make another tear and
it just buy like my eyes looking at it, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I got like gorilla hands and stuff.
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not dainty or calfl with anything, so
but but that stuff was such relic like like I
remember when I found like an old roth like you
know air cleaner like the birds, you know, like the
bird deflect the air cleaner, and I was like, oh man,
it's got and they had the raw stamp like you know,
just being a kid, you know, not even a kid,
but just being younger and being so stoked on that stuff.
And I'm so glad that you kept it going and
the way you did it, like especially like you know
you were doing like.
Speaker 2: Didn't you get like some of the like a box
of like some of the old ones from them or
something like you.
Speaker 5: Had those posters. I've got them all framed.
Speaker 4: Yeah, every one of them that came.
Speaker 5: From the Roth family. Everyone except the Sonny Bargin one
I have because he threw that one out because he
didn't like him. So I've got them all from his family.
And I've got a bunch of the archives stuff too,
like the original layout boards and stuff from the magazine. Yeah,
so that's pretty cool, just sitting on my shelf right there,
you know, Yeah, it's it's pretty cool. I'm a big,
big collector of art. So I've got all right, I mean,
I'm gonna I'm gonna jump into something you could. You
can cut me off if you want, but we just
I've been working with Jackie Man a lot for like
for the for the Chopper Fest, and I just signed
a license deal with her so that we can print.
I can't touch any of the Paisono stuff. They still
own all that stuff. They won't allow Jacket to print
any of that. But all the early ed Roth stuff
that Jackie owns, I can. You know, We're gonna come
out with a whole line of shirts and really cool
ship that were looking on. We've set up a nonprofit
organization called the David Mann Legacy Foundation. And what we're
gonna do with that is try and raise money, I mean,
and to buy this. So there's a lot of Dave
Man art floating out through with a lot of old timers,
and I worry that this stuff, like you know, some
some someone's grandson or granddaughter is not going to know
They're going to see this like half naked woman on
a chopper.
Speaker 6: And be like this, throw it away.
Speaker 5: This is garden, right, So we want to try and
start tracking some of this stuff down, offering decent money
for it, preserving it, not so that.
Speaker 6: I own it.
Speaker 5: It's all going to be belonged to this foundation that
we'll have a board and we'll be able to you know,
to to preserve it and to show it and to
keep get it. Let me see it like we want.
I want to see it in the Peterson. I want
to see it in the Harley Museum, like you know,
stuff like that. So and then it it just I
don't know what happens to it. We're still setting this
thing up, but it belongs to this foundation, and just
you know, as we get a board members and people
come and go, it moves with that with those people,
and it's you know, I'm gonna die someday and I
don't want my kids to throw it away, so you know,
I want want it to be well preserved while taken
care of. So that's something really cool. I'm new I'm
working on that with Davey Gant and Tommy Boy and
Jackie Mann. They're all in Kansas City, so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's important man. You know, it's you gotta
preserve that artwork, like cause it's it's like you said,
even with like like you said, dealing with Ros's son,
like he didn't want nothing to do with it, but
he also it's like if if you would if you
had proceeded or you know, if like if you wanted
to be a dick, he could have tried to block
it or whatever. Like I don't know how legally things
could have worked, but it's good that you did it
with his blessing. But at the same time, it's like
he had all that stuff, but it wasn't gonna do
anything with it, but it was kind of being protective
of it because it was his father's. But it's like,
hey man, I'm just trying to keep this going. You
know what I mean, Like, and it's important to pass,
you know, get get people to pass the torch, whether
it's on like some got an original man painting kicking
around and.
Speaker 2: It's like it's in the like you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: It's like it's packed up in someone's like storage unit
or in someone's basement or attic or something. It's like
that stuff needs to be preserved and someone, Yeah, that's
that's a righteous thing to do, man, is to get
that stuff and have it be preserved and be able
to be available for people to see again, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 5: And yeah, I've been gifted a few Dave Man originals
from people that basically old timers that you know, Kim
Peterson game is some stuff and Dave Nichols games, all
all these writers people that they just you know, they've
enjoyed it for thirty years and they're just like, it's
your turn. And so now eventually I'll want to do
the same. You know, I'm not going to try and
sell something that was given to me. If I'll pass
it down to somebody or stays in this foundation and
you know, gets gets displayed somewhere, so we're we'll be
doing it you know, we just at chop Profest. We
just had you know, Davy Gank drove down because we
don't really want to ship any of these Dave Man
original I don't know. We've got Gray Cat's coat that's
in all the paintings. We've got the sissy with the
the sissy bar that Dave made, and like it's it's
not just paintings, it's his paint brushes, it's his glasses,
it's his his artifacts, right, So we chipped that stuff.
So Davy had a ren A van drive from Kansas
City here gets in a four car pile up like
it is craziness, man, Yeah, it was just crazy, but
it have We got to show it and then we'll
be back in Kansas City and sometime in September.
Speaker 6: And showing more stuff. So you know, it's it's pretty
neat to see.
Speaker 5: If anybody's out there, you know, you could you can
open up an easy Riders and see a centerfold and
go out.
Speaker 6: These are cool. But to see some of this stuff
and the brushstrokes.
Speaker 5: And the the paint brushes that painted in and you know,
some artifacts from him, it's I mean, if you're if
you're a fan of art, a fan of motorcycles, a
phantom motorcycle art. You should come see.
Speaker 3: This stuff, yeah, man, So it's gonna it's gonna be
on display at at at all of them like the
chopperfests and everything.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so we're gonna actually we're taking a little bit
of it with us too. I think Tommy just text
me he's taking six or eight pieces to Mama Tried,
so he'll have a couple original things. I don't know
what they selected, it's it's I kind of leave that
in their hands. They're they're they're the caretakers of the
art of Jackie's art right now. So and they're all
in Kansas City, so makes sense. So so one of them
will drive it up. Well, we'll have a fee pieces
hanging and uh yeah, I mean that's it so well
to be there. We're gonna do a little show in
Sturgis at the Buffalo Chip. We'll have some pieces hanging there.
But then Kansas City will be We're gonna do another
Kansas City Chopperfest in the West Bottom somewhere.
Speaker 3: So hell yeah, man, that's that's rad. Yeah, because yeah,
especially like you know, as the foundation gets going and
there's more of a budget and stuff. If you could
make like a little traveling version of it to hit
the all the main shows. Man, let let that let
people get their eyes on that stuff, like in person.
Speaker 2: It's cool.
Speaker 3: Have you ever been to this is my first I went.
I had to go pick up a bike in Albany,
and I had never been to the Uh you ever
have you heard of the Motorcyclopedia Museum in Connecticut. It's
not it's not. It's on the border of Connecticut and
upstate New York. It's you know, you know v Twin Manufacturing,
you know Ted. Yeah, he's got a museum and he's
got a bunch of old Roth stuff. He's got like
the mailbox he's got like, oh, I'm gonna send you
some pictures. I'll send you some pictures offline. If you're
ever out this way, Dude, you got to go check
that place out because he's got like I'm like, no
one really like people know about the place, but people
in the Chopp world don't really understand what's there. There
is so much. There's so much there, dude. And not
only is there so much there like in just as
like there's a bunch of old like Roth, you know
Roth strikes, you know, rock bikes and stuff. He's got
stuff from from from everyone. But then he's got a
bunch of like famous movie bikes and TV show bikes
and all this stuff, and then there's so many vintage bikes,
like I can't even keep track. I'll send you some pictures, like, uh, definitely,
that's something you might want to check out sometime too.
Speaker 2: Man, if you're ever out this way just.
Speaker 5: To go there, I'll head out just to go there. Yeah,
we do want to do We've we've been kicking around
the idea of doing something on the East coast, like
do a Chopperfest New York or New Jersey or some
you know something like that, you know, or maybe just
do something with with Bobby when he does his block
party again, you know when he if he doesn't use
it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's he's always funny. He's like the
last few years, he's like, there's gonna be the last one,
last one, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: And it's like you tell me that every time you
gotta come this last one.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, He's like, you can't kill that thing, man, you
can't kill that Yeah. But yeah, I'll send you some
pictures when when when we're off here. But but yeah, man,
and I'll talk to you about some other stuff too.
But uh so, what's so, choppers? What what what issue
you on now? Because we are you doing it monthly still?
Or are you doing it?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 5: We never did a monthly No, you know, the full
time job and the family is doesn't you know? We
try we do four a year. Sometimes I tried to
do six. It didn't work out too well. We can
get I can get four.
Speaker 6: Out a year.
Speaker 5: I mean they're high end Hunter page coffee table books
now perfect bound. Now I don't know obviously the new
ones we went away from the stable.
Speaker 6: I'll get you some out and now.
Speaker 5: But they're you know, they're they're very well done. My my,
my layout guys, I got a new guy beating it
is still around. He's an old easy writer's head. But
we got I got a new layout guy too. It's
helping him named Kyle. He did the a take of
his own version of Miraculous Mother called Benevolent Brother, and
it's it's it's so good, you know, a little homage
to the my easy writer days.
Speaker 3: I guess, yeah, yeah, how how are you know when
when some of the older guys. See, you know, the
new incarnation of Choppers, And I know it's been around
for a while now, but like, you know, like are
they stoked on it? Are they like, hey man, this
is cool? Or is it like they're like this reminds
me of like back in the day, you know that
that type of vibe.
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure. A lot of the old timers too, right,
because a lot that's a lot of our clientele, you know.
I guess these younger kids, they'll still flip through it
on their phone. We do have a digital version, but
you know, are a lot of our readerships are older,
older cats, and they love it.
Speaker 6: I mean, I haven't had one complaint.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: Complaint is the cost mostly to mail it, but it's
the weighs over a pound, yeah, so and it has.
Speaker 6: To get out to you.
Speaker 5: So I don't make any money on that. So that's
what I tell them, Like do your.
Speaker 3: Post Yeah yeah, I get that all the time too,
Like hey man, my stuff isn't here And I'm like,
you sawr I shipped it right, And I'm like yeah,
I'm like once that left me. Dude, you got you
have complaints with the post office? Bro, not me, Homie
like what do you want me to do? Like go
go go drive out the North Carolina and find it,
you know the you know, but yeah, but no, but no, yeah,
I mean that's what I like about the magazine is
like it's it's got the old vibe to it. It's
it's it's quality. It's it's it's something to hold, you
know what I mean. And and that's important because I'm
still you know, I'm the same age you you you
know what I mean. So like I'm still someone that
like wants to flip through. I just haven't had time.
I'm like so behind on everything right now, dude, because
I've been working like seven days a week. I got
a bunch of different crap going on. But but yeah, man,
I always you know, I have all the all the
original all the all the early issues and stuff, and
they're just like it's it's quality, dude. And that's how
you got to do it now, right because you're competing
with the internet. You got to do it almost like
a you know, like a like like a like you said,
like a bound book, like you know, like.
Speaker 6: Four we may get a collectible book.
Speaker 5: We keep our print runs as low as we can
with subscribers. We know about how many we're going to sell,
and then we just buy you know, maybe you know,
a thousand or two thousand extra from what we think
we're going to sell. But I'm lately with I think
with you know, we kind of partnering up with Harley
Davis and stuff. We're getting a lot in new readership.
So it seems like every other issue I have to
up my print run because I'm selling out trying to
sell out, which is good, but it bums people out,
you know, because I'm a collector too, So when I
like miss A mag and it sells out, I'm like,
ah shit, yeah, yeah, you know, try and find it
and then you pay one hundred bucks for it online
somewhere or something for magazine suck. So but yeah, I
mean it's it's it's going well. We got another issue
just about ready to drop, two issues about ready to
drop because we've got to get two more out for
last year's subscribers because we did six and we didn't
make it. So we're getting these next two out in
the next month and a half and then we'll be
onto the twenty twenty sixth subscription, which will be four issues.
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, oh yeah, man, and uh the the
uh anything? I lost my train of thought. I'm sorry, man,
because now I got so much shit going through my
head right now, like because I like, you know, like, uh,
anything else going on like.
Speaker 2: With like, sorry, dude, I just totally blaked out. Whatever.
That's all right, but let's let's keep it moving.
Speaker 3: Like anything going on different in twenty twenty six with
the magazine or is it still headed just like just
just just dialing it in more like you know anything.
Speaker 5: We've got a few ideas, I think. You know, we've
done a couple of like kind of we've done two
Texas editions. Now, yeah, people are always you know, we've
done two Texas editions and one Milwaukee was in Milwaukee, Yeah,
Milwaukee edition. And and so I get people from other
states from others. You should do it, Canadian one, you
should do with this. I'm like, yeah, get me ten
bikes shot and your runs that are in your area
and I'll do it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: The only only Texas comes through, man, like well Milwaukee
tod two. But it's like it's it's not an easy
task to get ten I mean it's not I'm not
asking them to pay for it. We'll pay for it,
but you line up ten bikes in your area, you know, professionally,
professionally yeah, and you know we pay photographers with pair riders.
But you get me all that and we'll do one.
But I've got a few ideas to do one one idea,
and I haven't even started yet. I really would like
to do like an all woman's Ride edition. They don't
have to build their bike.
Speaker 6: I don't care.
Speaker 5: Like, but if you ride a Chopper and you'rel I
got mad respect for you, man, because these things aren't easy, right,
And there's a lot of chicks across the country, are
around the world that rides some pretty cool Choppers. So
if I can make that happen, I'd love to do that.
Speaker 6: You know, we we thought about doing.
Speaker 5: Taking the Choppers mag formula and doing a new mag
for newer bikes, right, because I mean, Choppers Magazine is great,
it's cool, it's fun, it's you know, it pays for itself.
Speaker 6: There's no money in it, and I'm not doing it
for the money.
Speaker 5: But if I wanted to ever quit my job, if
I want to, like I was up since four thirty
this morning, if I ever want to stop that, like
I need to make a magazine that could sell ads
to yeah, sell ads, you know, newer bikes. So we're
kicking that idea around two but as right now, I
just don't have the bandwidth to do it. You know,
I'm busy with like I said, with family with choppers,
and then these shows are doing now is taking the
time and.
Speaker 2: Plus plus regular ass work on top of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know what I wanted to ask you now,
there's two things, and one I'm going to ask is
delicately like, answer however you want?
Speaker 2: Dealing with Harley? What's it like?
Speaker 3: I mean, all right, we all we all love Harley
Davidson products. We all have a love hate relationship with
the company, you know what I mean. Like, you know,
I'm not saying you I'm saying but I'll say me
like you know what i mean. I'm like, Harley's one
of the only companies that you can absolutely like love
the company, love some of the products, and hate the
fucking company half the time. And you're like, what the
fuck is going on with these guys? Like, but they
also will do some cool shit, like they'll they'll like
co sponsor, you know, or be a main sponsor of
like Mama Tride or like some Chopper stuff like it.
How is it working? Is It's just like a couple
of people that are in there that are in a
cool shit and are like trying to like kind of
keep things going like with like maintaining a relationship with
like their past and like their cool shit like or
it's like, what, like what's your experience like with working
with like Harley.
Speaker 5: You know, I'll start off with I was in I
was in your shoes and a lot of people's shoes
for a lot of years.
Speaker 6: Like yeah, fuck factory this and.
Speaker 5: That, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'd be saying that while
we're in a Harley shirt, riding Harley Davison, maybe having
a Harley hat like, and I'm.
Speaker 2: Like a fuck.
Speaker 5: And I was like I just matured, and I was
like even before they were a sponsor, and I was like, well,
this is dumb, Like why am I wearing? Why do
I still buy Harley shirts if I'm this guy saying this? Right?
So I had gotten over that years ago, gotten over
years ago, and just you know, it's a corporation. It's
a giant corporation. They do what they got to do
to continue to be a corporation right, Like, they're not
they're not going to come out with his shirts they
used to come out with, or they're not going to
come out with stuff that, you know, especially in today's
climate with you know, I don't want to say wokens,
but whatever it is, you know, with people canceling for everything.
Speaker 3: With modern with modern sensibilities.
Speaker 5: You know, when I got an opportunity to work with them,
it all came from my buddy from Jeff Hole who
called me out of the blue one day and he's like,
are you coming to Daytona? And I was like, fuck, no,
I'm not going on why would I go to Daytona?
Like I write a Chopper dude, Like, there's no choppers there,
And he's like, there's choppers there, you know, And I said,
I don't think. He's like, well, my buddy's gonna call
you from Harley. He wants you to do the Chopper
show there.
Speaker 6: And I was like, oh, so that was our first
show we did with him. So we did. We did
the show with them.
Speaker 5: And the you know speedway there in a parking lot.
We had a blastom We had a good time and
they were great. That person to helped me moved on
to the person that took his place. His name is Brian.
Became a friend and it is there's a lot more
cool people than you would think in there. You know,
there's a lot of really good you know, my managing editor,
Max Varna, he now works for their like global marketing team. Like,
they got a fucking biker in there. He's a little
fella angry Philadelphia and he's probably listening. I will listen
to this, and he he's kicking ass there. He is
kicking like he is. He is a real deal biker,
but very intelligent and very good at his job in marketing.
So there's there's a lot more cool people than you think.
They are beholden to corporate structure right like like anything.
When when you know, when they went to the whole
DEI stuff, I kind of I just laughed at it
because I was like, man, every corporation is going through that.
Any corporation you could think of that you're involved with,
went through that.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: It wasn't nobody going.
Speaker 6: The opposite of it.
Speaker 5: So they were doing what they had to do because
somebody on the Internet told me how to do it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: Now you know they got this new CEO, and I
got to meet him in Italy, very down to earth guy.
You know, I did hear some ship while he's from
top golf, he's not He's not a biker, he's not
pretending to be a biker.
Speaker 6: He's he's a fucking CEO.
Speaker 5: And he needs to turn this company around and he
needs to get new riders on bikes and he's got
a job to do. And I from from just I
had a ten minute conversation with him in Italy. I
got a meeting with them set up a Mama tried.
I think he's going to be good for the for
the motor company. He's American. Nothing against Yoakin. He was
a great guy too. But this guy, I think is
going to be great. And I think I hope he
continues to support like the historical or the history part
of Harley Davidson, right because without without all of us
on these old choppers riding around like, there may not be.
Speaker 6: A Harley Davison anymore.
Speaker 5: Right. So I think they know, they know that they've
got to pay homage to where they come from, and
they're doing it, and they have done it, and they've
they've been great to work with. I would not you know,
work with anyone else. You know, I if Harley left
me as a sponsor today, I would not go run
into Indian.
Speaker 6: Like other people do. It's like I've seen it in shows.
Speaker 5: You know, fucking Paradise Roadshow got dropped and they ran
straight to I'm calling him out.
Speaker 4: I don't care.
Speaker 5: They ran straight to Indian.
Speaker 6: And I don't rune an Indian. I don't want to
write an Indian.
Speaker 5: I don't care. Like Indians are cool, They're great. If
that's your thing, it's not my thing. I would rather
just you know, fund everything myself then like I got
some loyalty to this brand and and that's it. That's
you know, that's where I'm at with them.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, I would just be remiss to ask because I
you know, the chopper community wants to know, like what
the fuck is up with them? Like why they get
you know, cause it seems like sometimes they'll pay like
some attention to choppers in history, then sometimes they don't,
you know what I mean. So it's just like I
was just wondering what it was like that. But I
always had a feeling that I was like, there's gotta
be some motherfuckers that know what's up in there, because
they'll hire certain people that I know or you know,
and they always have like seem to have good photographers,
so they they'll cherry pick from from our world, you
know what I mean, and get people in there, and
so you know.
Speaker 2: I just want I just want people to have hope.
That's all, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they're they're great to work with. I don't have
you know, the people I deal with are very upfront.
You know, if I ask for a certain budget, I
don't get the I don't get the run around. Maybe
let's see what we can do. No, I get that
you're crazy. We'll give you this much. Yeah, that's you know,
That's all you can ask for is some honesty and
and you know, being upfront about things, and you know,
working together, you know, it's it's I I'm I'm nothing
bad to say about working with them at all. Yeah,
and I ont you know, I know this relationship won't
last forever. I'm you know, they're going to move on
to somebody eventually, and I still won't have any bad
to say about it.
Speaker 4: It was great, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, No, that's good to hear man, especially like
you know, from a sponsorship situation because you know, you know,
you know what I think it is is that like
you know, it's like I don't know, like sometimes, like
you said, you know, the guy on the street isn't
going to understand why the CEO sometimes is doing certain
things like for the sake of the company, you know,
because you know the company is also you know, beholding
to a chair and all that, but they're also trying
to be beholden to the people that got them where
they were, which is like the guy on the on
the on the on the bike on the street. You know,
it's like it's a it's a delicate balance, man, because
you're dealing with a lot of like basically American subculture
and outlaw world, you know, but also you're dealing with
a lot of corporate culture. So it's a weird position
to be. And like if you're like you know, in
in that corporate structure, you know what I mean, it's like,
you know, you'll beholding to these guys, you know what
I mean, like on this level and then also you know,
on the business level. So it seems like a you know,
a balance and act you know for sure to try
and keep things afloating.
Speaker 2: Everyone happy.
Speaker 5: You know, Yeah, they're they're they're really good. Good good
to me. And they understand, you know, it's our scene.
Our guys. They'll go out and drink a couple of
beers and ride their bike. Like obviously as a corporation,
you can't show that, you can't, you know. So but
they work with us, they you know, they we find
loopholes too to still party and have a good time
time and still work with a company. And and like
I said, there's nothing more I can ask for them.
And what better sponsor is there for a motorcycle show
than Harley Davidson?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, cool? Well what else you got cooking man?
This is you got a lot of you got a
lot of irons in the fire man? What else? What
else is going on?
Speaker 5: I think, well, it's just the shows that we're planning
to do, right this this this Legacy Foundation. And then
Mama tried, Are you coming to Mama tried?
Speaker 3: Y'all I see your thing right yeah, so you know,
and it's it's uh, you know, like Zach and Bobby,
Like Zach's been hit me up, like I didn't. I
don't have anything done to bring this year. I might
just do like a I might just try and do
Like so for me, it's like hard to do all right,
you know what we were talking about earlier, Like it'd
be great to be able to go to a show
and not have a booth and not be beholden to
it and like just be able to pop around. I
also kind of need to be able to have business
happen at a show to meet for me to justify
going out to a lot of ship like because it's
you know, working seven days a week and cost and everything.
But if I can make it happen, I'm gonna try
and just skate in and like hang out for a
day or two. Like, but I don't have anything set up,
Like I didn't I didn't talk to Scott or anything
because I didn't have any bike to bring this year.
Like we're working on some stuff, like I'll try and
have a bike for next year. But so yeah, I
might try and just pop through and hang out, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 5: So some of those we're not doing much, I might
be sending some hats and mags and then we're just
gonna have some art hanging, yeah, you know, some some
man art hanging. We're going with our friends from Huckleberry brand.
They're they're setting up a booth and then Tommy set
up a booth right to what's his names, Tommy Speed.
Speaker 6: I can't always forget his name, him Tommy anyways.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so we're we're we're all kind of be set
up upstairs in the balcony hanging out. I'm not planning
to be there. I this show for me is like
a it's kind of a networking show too, kind of
you know, it's the same thing with like parts and labor,
the builtwell did there's some great networking for the industry.
You know, I really never until recently, I never really
understood the whole net like really networking. Like, but you know,
putting a face of the name and shaking hands and
having a beer, having a dinner, having a conversation goes
a long way in our industry, right We're still dealing
with a lot of the I mean, I'm fifty three
and they're still I call old people that are still
in the industry that they want that handshake. Man. And
if you want to do anything in this industry, you
got to show up, man, Just show up. And you know,
you don't always have to sell something. You could just go,
and those are some of the obviously better times you
have because you're not stressed out about getting up at
crack of dawn to make sure your booth is set
up and all that.
Speaker 6: You can stroll in when you.
Speaker 5: Want and walk around, hang out, get a little drunk
if you want, and not worry about things, you know.
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, yeah, I think you're you're saying all
the right things, you know. Yeah, So you know, I'm
like fifty to fifty, I'll be out there. It's just
it's more of a time thing because I have I
have a bunch of irons in the fire as well,
and that's just if I can carve out a couple,
if I can carve out.
Speaker 2: Some time and and you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And it's like for me, it's like, you know, I'm
already in shitty cold weather, so it's not going to
be any it's not gonna be any different from me.
Speaker 2: It's like.
Speaker 5: I'm not looking forward to the seven degree night I
just saw on the weather. Yeah, but yeah, oh go ahead.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say, it's like I should have I
should have really, I should have really just been out
there in Ventura, you know.
Speaker 5: That, man, I mean venturing February seventy degrees.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, that's an easier sell than the Especially if
I go to fly into Milwaukee, I'm like, am I
going to be able to fly there and not have
any snow delays or get stuck? You know, like going
there or coming back?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like, Yeah, I might just drive,
you know, I like driving.
Speaker 5: What we're doing is we're flying into Chicago. It's an
hour drive there. You got to do a stop somewhere,
you know, and it's more than an hour delay to
get on the next plane on that. So we just
fly to Chicago and drive up. It's a nice drive.
The weather looks good to drive, so we're good. But
so after Mama tried, what's that February, We're gonna do
a little show in Decatur, Texas. An old friend of mine, Brendan,
and he used to work for old Smokey Moonshine and
used to party with him a little bit, have.
Speaker 6: A good time.
Speaker 5: Needs to set us up with that moonshine. He opened
up a bar up there and he just called me
and he goes, hey, like I want to have a
chopper party. He's like, nothing big that you know, you
don't need to do anything, just come out, hang out.
And I was like, all right, like let's see. You know,
we kind of worked it out. It's just called the
name of the bar is a county seat, So we're
doing the county seat kickback. I'm flying a few days early,
get some get some danger. Dan time he's got you know,
he's building an M eight chopper and he's got to
I'll ride his other chopper and we'll go camping for
a couple of days and get dirty, and then we'll
make our way to the show that's in that's late
April somewhere, and then, uh, can you catch my dog barking?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all right. I love dogs. It's cool. They
can make guest appearances anytime.
Speaker 5: And uh yeah, so that's April.
Speaker 6: May June.
Speaker 5: We got a decision to make. Are we gonna go
to the last al Diable run in May? Or are
we going to go to Thailand for a bike show?
It sounds like an easy choice, right, like Thailand not
Man because EDR I've been almost all of them and
I love that show, but Thailand is bitching.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but if Thailand's going to be there next year,
you know, you know. That's the thing, is it?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like is it or is
the invite gonna be there?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Like yeah, yeah, they're gonna Like Southeast Asia has got
a fucking scene kicking man like I I I get,
I get hit ups from some of the guys, like
from like Indonesia and not really talent, but like Indonesia.
Speaker 2: And where's the other one I can't remember.
Speaker 3: There's a few few countries out there with like they're
building rad choppers, but they're building them out of like
things they have, so they might not be Harley, but
they'll be like these weird like little bikes, but they're
like building like you know, raked out long bikes out
of them and crazy ship like they're they're they're they're
being very uh they're they're doing a lot of uh
you know, cool engineering with with what they have available
to them out there.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, sorry, I'm telling my kids to stop the barking.
Speaker 4: Where did you go there? You are?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Yeah, they got those those little bikes, then they got
the tuk tuks or tuck tuck I don't know, I
say some ones.
Speaker 4: That's that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: Of course, Japan has everything.
Speaker 5: They've got you know, everything there, like bikes.
Speaker 2: Dude. When I did Moon Eyes, they had us come out.
Speaker 3: It was like it was like two thousand and five
or something, two thousand and five or two thousand and six,
they had them all. Then I was like, oh, here's
where all the knuckleheads are. And then yeah, now it's
twenty years later and it's like, I'm sure there's even more,
but that it seems like that slowed down a little bit,
but they're you know, they're still going. You know, them guys,
the the commitment they have to design.
Speaker 6: The answer graver.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all right, man, it's all right. But yeah,
I mean it's uh, but what we were saying, just
like Thailand, like what all the stuff they going they
got going on in Southeast Asia? Man, they're doing cool shit.
And those dudes are like ride like maniacs, like you know,
like whenever you see their videos and stuff, I'm like, damn, dude,
like you guys are gonna die, like you're on these
little bikes and like you're just going fucking insane, you know,
Like I love that shit.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Oh, Malaysia has a good scene.
Speaker 6: Some of the guys from Malaysia.
Speaker 5: Uh, rode to the Bangkok show when I was there
a few years I don't know, five years ago for you,
and they did a full motor swap on the way
because one of the one of the bikes blew up
and they you know, bike up lots of breaks or something.
So they're like, well, the guys like I don't want
to ride that bike, Like, let's just pull that motor
like inside of the road in Malaysia and they just
did a full panhead motorsa fucking ran right like those
guys ride.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it's all over the world. Man, it's great.
Speaker 5: It's great. So yeah, yeah, yeah, but other than that,
you know, we got that and then we'll have Sturgis
in Kansas City and maybe Moon Eyes. I don't know
if we're going back, like you know, we don't go
every year.
Speaker 4: But it's a whole Yeah, it's.
Speaker 5: Hard to do them all.
Speaker 6: It's hard to do them all.
Speaker 5: We're having a blast with ours, you know, this this
venture one was a blast. Kansas City was a big
success last year. You know, we were getting guys saying
things like man, we were this community needed it.
Speaker 4: He needed a.
Speaker 5: Bike with this and you know Jackie's man's from Kansas City.
Speaker 6: So it's it's it's good.
Speaker 5: It's good, good ship going on. You know, we're just
making mags and doing shows. That's it.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, where can people find you? You know, you
don't give out the socials so that people can give.
Speaker 2: You a shop.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Choppers Magazine on Instagram, Facebook if anyone's still on Facebook.
And then Chopper fessed for the shows we do. I
know one last thing, I got a top before we go.
So we were doing we were doing the the uh
Virginia City roundup where you could get on a horse
and ryde all that. We did that for five years.
It was great success. We have fun. But with the
addition of the extra Chop profests, we're.
Speaker 6: Gonna kill that one.
Speaker 5: But we don't want to kill it in its entirety.
So what I think we're gonna do is we're gonna
do town takeovers and we're gonna start with Virginia City.
So we're just gonna tell people, Hey, we're coming up
to this town. We want everyone to ride with us
from wherever, and we're gonna party for a weekend. No vendors,
no no no show, no prizes, no raffles. On another
coming party. With like minded people, have a good time
for a weekend and go home, and then we'll change
that town every year.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so we'll just do these things.
Speaker 5: You know, it sounds bad a takeover, but it's not
like un sure right booze fighters and it's just guys
going having a good time. And uh so I think
that's what we're gonna do. That's that's on the on
the on the on the whiteboard is the town takeovers.
So you know, we'll start with Virginia City to where
we were doing the show, and then we will change
it up next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And the cool thing is that this is this is
such like a nationwide like there's such there's like all
these grassroots shows all around the country, and you could
team up with one of them, one of the organizers,
and be like, hey man, we're gonna this. We're gonna
think maybe your town, like what's cool, you know what
I mean? Where's the good riding, you know what I mean?
And like you know, like you got you gotta You've
got a bunch of guys out there that are already
ready ready to rock and roll, you know what I mean,
And like that could be fun as fuck, man, Like, yeah, no, no,
no preordained stuff, like just show up and whatever happens happens,
and it's it's a good time.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, were thinking eighty one hundred people might show up,
so it's like we're gonna, you know, fully take over town.
But yeah, as this thing grows like it might, you know,
and it's just gonna be a fun hangout like a
roving basically party, just a roving already type show and
everybody could check out bikes and hang out and drink beer,
get ice cream, do whatever you want to do, man,
like you know, agenda. So but yeah, Choppers Magazine chopper Fest,
and then that one is currently called Virginia City Roundup,
but we'll probably just change it to the Choppers mag Takeovers.
So we got three channels, but yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah man.
Speaker 3: And so if you're listening, make sure you subscribe to
Choppers Magazine. Support independent media, especially independent media that supports
stuff that you love, and you know, have the magazine
in your hand. It's good to have kick around your house,
put on your put it on your coffee table, pick
it up and look at it. It's beautiful to look
at It looks way better in a magazine than it
does on a little screen, on a tablet or on
a phone. Not to say don't get it digital if
you don't want to get the hard coffee. But I'm
saying it's way better to hold a full sized thing
than it is to look at it on a little
even if your big iPhone or your big whatever phone,
like you know, it's always better to hold a magazine.
But I'll have all those I'll have all those links
in the show notes. So if you're driving or riding
right now, you don't gotta pull over and try and
write it down. You guys, already most of the people
listening to this already no Choppers magazine anyway. So but
you know what I mean, it's good to put your
face to it and people get to know you a
little bit better and everything. Carrie, I appreciate you coming on.
I'm gonna I'm gonna shut this off, but I'm not
hanging up, So just hold on one second, all right,
another one in the books. Want to thank you for
listening all the way to the end. And you know,
if you're rocking with this, come into the back channel.
That's where we take the gloves off and a little more.
The big truth back channel where the podcast and redacted
stories are continued. You know where to find it. Patreon
dot com, Sash Big Truth, go to Big Truth podcast
dot com. Hit the store link if you want to
rep with some shop swag, I mean some podcast swag.
We got a bunch of stuff over there and we're
keeping it moving. I got more coming up. This is
gonna be a huge year, so thanks for sticking around
and rocking with us, keeping locked