Why We Ride Page #4

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One became a hobby

and one is a business.

We appeal to

a different crowd.

The motorcycle riders, they have

a different spirit about 'em,

and they usually have an

appreciation for the arts.

Being an artisanal winery,

it goes hand in hand.

It's people

from all walks of life.

We all share the same

passion, same desire,

to bring these older bikes

back to life

and to really admire the

simplicity of them, the lines.

The old bikes just have

this character to 'em.

The feeling of firing

a vintage bike is unique.

There is no electric start, you

don't push a button and they go.

You may have to kick it, you may

have to play with the carburetor.

It's very emotional to get one of those

bikes running and hear the open exhaust.

And they sound incredible.

Anyone that's

out there that has a motorcycle,

you always try to customize it,

make it yours,

whether you buy one right

off the showroom floor,

whether you buy

a used one off of somebody,

most people want to add a little

something to it to make it their own.

You customize

your bike 'cause it's personal.

People don't like to be like

everybody else exactly, you know.

And it's not just here

in the U.S., we see it worldwide,

we see it in Europe, we see it throughout

Asia. People want to be noticed.

The most

reward that people get from it

is a slap on the back

at the bar when they went off

and had bragging rights

and showed off their bike.

They're all

extensions of our own personality.

Helmets are a great

canvas to experiment with.

I get to reach into the soul

of the athletes and the racers,

and, you know, feel what

they're feeling hopefully

and then transfer that

onto their helmet.

What I try to do and push

all of my artists

is to give them something

they're not expecting.

We're art-driven company and

it's gotta be something they go,

"Wow," you know, and I'm OK for

half the people out there to go,

"I would never wear that,

you know. "

I want it to be the piece

that people talk about.

Back in the day when I

started shooting bikers,

there was a directness

that I felt,

that they were experiencing

life in a big way.

I like culture

and I like character,

and bikers are full

of character and full of life.

I don't know how many times I've ridden with

him, and he's riding with no hands and shooting.

Now, of course, that's

not the safest way to be shooting.

The back of a two-wheeled

motorcycle works great,

and so, I know in the last few years I've

done more then 10,000 miles backwards.

I have a photograph of somebody

riding through a storm,

I call the photograph

"Storm Rider. "

And I've seen bikers and they

grab their girlfriend and they say,

"Do you remember that? That's me. I

came back and I told you all about it,

that's me in that photograph. "

I think it brings back for them

that feeling of

riding through a storm,

and feeling the elements and

feeling the beauty around them.

People see themselves in it.

- Everything happens in California first.

- Saddleback Park.

- Orange County Raceway.

- Hopetown.

- LACR.

- Muntz Park.

- Ontario Motor Speedway.

- Big Bear Hare and Hound.

- Bay Mare.

- The coolest place in the world, that was Indian Dunes.

That's were we started

promoting our first races.

But it was the first place

that everybody remembers.

I spent probably

five days a week out there.

- It was just a way of life.

- A lot of families out there,

everybody would come out and

more like a potluck-type thing,

and build a big bonfire

and have a good time.

Indian Dunes

had something else.

It had a river running down through it,

it had the hills, it had the sand wash.

There was some vibe that the

other places just didn't have.

In the '70s, the club racing scene in

California was good, it was really, really good.

It didn't take too long

of riding a motorcycle,

where I discovered I could do

this better than my friends could.

And I rode it and it ran great,

and I rode it, and he goes, "That

kid's gotta go on the racetrack. "

My fondest memories for sure

are racing motorcycles.

Everybody is your friend when we're

on the track with the camaraderie,

and also the competition, because when

we have our helmet on, we're racing.

Racing to me makes everything

else I do easy.

Because racing is one of the

toughest things in the world.

There's some guys,

the competitive spirit in them

is so intense,

they have to race.

There's no getting away

from it, it becomes part of your life,

it gets in your blood.

If you're

looking up to anybody,

they're gonna beat you

on the racetrack,

so you can't look up to anyone.

Growing up, I was always

really competitive at everything I did,

having four brothers.

As soon as I got on a racetrack,

if there's someone in front of

you, you want to pass 'em.

I can see a corner

and I can imagine the line

of how that turn

needs to happen,

and then on the first try I

can go out and make that happen.

When I did my first race it was

like that moment, you know,

where the angels sing, and you realize

this is the thing that makes me happy.

Hillclimbing

has been going on since the 1920s.

It's a time trial,

so you're basically competing

against yourself and the clock.

Making the hill is one thing,

but you gotta make it fast.

Fastest person to the top wins.

You don't really have

anybody else around you

and you just go for it.

You're

running very hard up the hill

and to have

a lot of obstacles,

a lot of jumps,

a lot of cliff faces.

You gotta know

how to take turns,

you gotta know how to hit jumps

like on a motocross track.

It's not you against the other

guy, it's you against a mountain.

It's pretty crazy.

A lot of our

hills are incredibly steep,

some of them are past vertical,

and when you tell somebody

that you're going up a hill

with a motorcycle that's past vertical,

they're going, "No, that's not happening. "

Well, it is.

The first time

up and over is just awesome.

You just want to turn around

and yell at everybody.

All of our

bikes are all handmade.

A lot of the

classes you have kind of free reign

on choosing either chains,

or bolts, or disc paddles.

Putting your leg over

a 220-horsepower, nitro-injected bike

with steel spikes on the back

of it, driving it up the hill,

it scares a lot of people.

X Climb got started

up in Northern California.

The gate drops, and you battle bar-to-bar

all the way to the top of the hill,

which is something

new to the sport.

It's my release, it's my

medicine in this crazy world.

Bonneville is like

being on the surface of the moon.

Bonneville changed my life.

Bonneville.

That one word

sends chills up

people's spines.

This is it,

this is the Holy Grail,

everybody in the

world knows Bonneville.

You're on this fast,

smooth, white surface

that's flat in every direction.

Salt stuck to everything,

the cycle was covered with it.

Well, I went one time

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