Bearded Lady Freak Show!

The Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freak Show is always a great time and this year appears to keep the good times rolling! CT just dropped the flyer on me. Speed Club will be there as usual. Come out and say hello. Great beer, bikes, and bands. This is guaranteed to be the most diverse motorcycle event the Twin Cities has to offer.

JULY 21st, 2012
13th & University Ave NE

Heated Winter Storage for your Motorcycle!

Heated Winter Storage for your Motorcycle, Chopper, Bobber, Dirt bike, ATV, Scooter, etc.
Yeah! This fall/winter, we’ve decided to open up our shop to offering winter storage for your bike.

Here’s the details:
Cheap-cheap-cheap! Just $30 a month.
Pay up front or pay/month. Its up to you!
Our lock-up is located in Minneapolis just off of Hennepin Avenue.
Totally climate controlled.
Super secure!
We winterize your bike for you free of charge.
Stabilize Tank.
Drain Carbs.
Tend battery.
FREE Pick up within the Twin Cities.
$30 for out of city pick up.

Any questions or to book your spot, jut email me at info@speedclubinc.com.

Union Speed and Style – Garage Feature III

Ran out to visit Jordan at Union Speed and Style yesterday. Turns out it was his Birthday. Happy birthday mother f*cker! Jordan is fitting me for a custom vest. Sh*t is gonna be tough! Denim w/ golden brown stitch, green/tan flannel liner, and a short pop collar. While I was there I thought it a good time to get him in for a little garage feature session. Union Speed is tucked back on River street in Monticello. A little off the beaten path but for what he’s doing, its probably a good thing. This dude is so busy, he’d probably loose his sh*t if he were in the twin cities (distractions day in and day out).

Jordan and I don’t get many chances to hang out with us both being knee deep in running our respective shops. That said, I did get to rock down to Iowa with him lat weekend. His little XS has got some serious balls. Not surprising… his bike didnt miss a beat once the entire trip. His spot was packed with projects. Jordan dabbles in all sorts of stuff. He’s turning out custom tanks, frames, leather and denim, seats, etc. Come to think of it… he’s a bit of a one stop shop.

Union Speed works pretty steadily throughout the year and they even manage to make all the stops on the vendor circuit. I’m not even really sure exactly how many people make up Union Speed but from the work load, they probably some kind of small army.

The Union Speed Crew are definitely a younger bunch but they’re also talented well beyond their years. If you need some fabrication, without having to deal with the grumpy old heads in the scene, these are the dudes to hook up with. They’ve got the skills and creativity to blow minds. Check em out. UnionSpeedandStyle.com

Garage Feature II – CT is NE

I met CT a couple years back at the Bearded Lady Motorcycle Show. To put it to you straight… CT is North East. He’s involved in a little bit of everything. CT was part of the the once mighty Track Stars. He’s a regular fixture at Blue Cat. He runs every year at the Salt Flats and CT is one of the guiding forces behind the Bearded Lady. He runs a lot of bikes and is real big into his vintage Italian and Japanese stuff. Especially his Suzuki 2-stroke triples.

CT spends his winters keeping busy in his garage.  A couple cans of Hamms, crank the heater, a few touches here and there on the ratrod and the snow keeps falling. Eventually Bearded Lady plans start up as the snow and ice start to melt.

I asked a little more about how that (cycle show) whole thing got started. CT is always quick to pass off the success to his other partners in crime who lend a very large helping hand. In fact, he’s one of the most humble dudes I’ve ever met. “Truth is” he says, “the whole thing was sorta started out of spite.” Apparently, CT and some friends attended a few vintage Japanese bike show years back and unfortunately, the judges never quite knew how to judge their whips. It started to get pretty obvious that there were a lot of custom classics in the Twin Cities in need of an event where they could get a little appreciation. “Fuck it, I’m gonna start my own show for the kind of bikes that deserve it.”

Years later and here we are. The streets have to be shut down. Vendors and sponsors line up in advance and the permits need to be legit. The Lady has really taken on a life of its own. Everybody… and I mean EVERYBODY attends.  See you there this July 23rd. Speed Club will be out with booth overhead and beer in hand as usual.
Dig it. Thanks CT.

Garage Feature I – “Pinky”

If you’re even remotely serious about building bikes in the Twin Cities or Midwest for that matter then you probably know Rick. He’s a wealth of knowledge and quite a unique character. When I asked if I could get some pics for the site he responded with “I dont give a shit whatcha do.” Believe it or not, he and I get along really well. All the local bike and car guys gravitate to him when it comes to heavy duty fabrication work. He’s an all around motor man with decades of experience and experimentation.

I’ve heard him referred to as Handsome Rick, Fabricator Rick and my personal favorite… “Pinky.” Rick is one fine fella. He’s professionally or semi-professionally raced just about everything with a motor at one point or another. New rules have been written because he knows how to exploit the unmentioned details. He told me a little story about 3-wheeler ice racing in the 80’s. He asked what the widest wheel base allowed was. They said something like 3 feet. He went home and built a trike axle so narrow and with such narrow tires that you could canter around a corner like an 2-wheeled enduro. They showed up a couple weekends in a row. Won 1st place in their amateur division on every race they attended. The next season they introduced a minimum wheel base and that was that.

Rick’s really a bit of a living legend when I start to really think about it. I’m pretty sure he’s never had a “regular job.” At one point in his life he was racing 48 weekends out of the year at different tracks across the US. The last time I visited, the founder of House of Kolors Paint, Jon Kosmoski happened to drop by with a front end for Rick to work up. On top of it all, he’s a really solitary guy.

He’s good shit and he’s probably one of the most interesting guys I’ve met since my move to the Midwest. Who better to start off our first ever Garage feature than the one-man garage master himself. I shared all kinds of oddball ideas with him and he always says to me, “if you can imagine it, I can make it.”

welcome to the chopper blog Garage Feature I. More to come.