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Indian Larry Block Party 2018

Puttin’ Them Up In Brooklyn

Originally Published In The February 2018 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

Article By: Brad Gregory

Photos By: Brad Gregory & Mad Stork Ken

My Indian Larry Block Party adventure started a week prior to the event in Ohio, so I chose to include those events into this story. My trip began in Cleveland when I met up with my good brother Mikey Revolt. He loaned me his Sportster while he was on his Shovelhead chopper, and we went riding around Cleveland and surrounding areas. Mikey showed me so many rad places, abandoned warehouses, downtown, tons of fantastic restaurants, the Lowbrow Customs world headquarters and the location for the Fuel Cleveland Show. Every stop was filled with killer food, a few cold beers, and lengthy motorcycle discussions.

Next, I headed South to Dayton, Ohio to catch Wednesday night dirt bike practice with Pat Patterson. Unfortunately, I showed up just as they finished but was still glad I was able to see the phenomenal trails they ride on every week. After practice, we all raced to downtown Dayton to a local pizza joint for a few adult beverages. It’s always great to hang out with Pat despite the bad decisions that followed. I woke up the next morning missing my wallet, running late, and had a receipt for a $200 bar tab. I had to catch my flight at noon from Ohio to Brooklyn, NY for the Indian Larry Block Party. Because I was running late and trying to make my trip I may have been speeding just slightly to the airport… and of course, the local highway patrol decided to pull me over and give me the shake-down. I played their games and with enough “yes sirs/ no sirs” I was on my way. Miraculously, I made it to the airport just in time to catch my flight.

I landed in Brooklyn and headed straight to Indian Larry Motorcycles. As soon as I got to the shop, I ran into Otto and Flynn from Biltwell. We decided to do some sightseeing around Brooklyn, and as we walked down to the Bay, we ran into Ed Subias, who was getting some killer video footage of the skyline with his drone. When we headed back to ILM more and more bikes were showing up to hang-out before the official block party the next day. Someone ordered a bunch of pizzas, and we chilled outside the shop watching the sunset over the Manhattan skyline. Just then, Patrick Garvin and his brother Stephen showed up. More motorcycle discussions and pizzaeating went down outside the shop before we decided to take this “unofficial” block party preparty on the road. We all headed over to one of the random dive bars Brooklyn has to offer. The rest of the evening was filled with more and more friends showing up unannounced; the pinnacle was when Dumptruck busted in the front door, coming in hot straight from California. More partying, laughter and good times continued well into the night and early morning.

The next morning I headed back to Indian Larry’s for the official Grease Monkey Block Party. I arrived mid-morning, and everything was in full swing. The full stretch of street in front of the shop was blocked off, and all of the vendors were setting up. All sorts of cool custom bikes were rolling in for the motorcycle show. New York definitely has its own style of motorcycles, very raw, very hardcore, very purpose built. You can tell they get ridden hard on the brutal streets. In addition to the bikes entered in the show, there were rows and rows of bikes parked down the side streets in all directions. Out back there was a hog roast going down, a full pig was being smoked, and you better believe I helped myself to a big slab of pork.

It was great to catch up with all my East Coast friends. I ran into some of the FXR Crew from out East and had to check out their bikes. As I was walking around eyeballing motorcycles I came across an FXRT that was leaking a bit too much fluid. After closer inspection, I saw the neutral switch had backed out of the    transmission lid. I tracked down the owner only to learn that he was from Michigan and had just ridden 700 miles from Detroit and had to ride back home the next day. I ran into the shop, grabbed some tools from John the Painter and went back out for a quick wrench session. Luckily, we found the neutral switch wedged down along the frame and were able to extract it and got it screwed back in the tranny lid and the bike was good to go.

In addition to tons of cool bikes, killer food, and great people, there was also some fantastic music going down at the Block Party. A stage was set up at one end of the block, and a handful of bands jammed out all day. The highlight was Judas Priestess, an all-female Judas Priest cover band. I’ve seen them play a handful of times and they always put on a killer performance. As the block party was winding down, I found Dumptruck who had that “it’s party time” look on his face; which I think is his usual look…so we grabbed a few friends and strolled on down the street to find a few local establishments that would allow us to continue the partying well into the evening, with no fun being had (sarcasm).

Sunday morning, I met up with Patrick and Stephen Garvin to have breakfast at the famous Five Leaves restaurant. They served up some phenomenal food. I had to down a few cups of coffee to get my bearings straight from the night before. That afternoon I took the subway down to Coney Island for some sight-seeing and just as I stepped off the train I ran into Ed Subias again. It seems like he had the same plans, great minds think alike. So we spent the rest of the day checking out the freak shows, and attractions that Coney Island provides along with devouring some World Famous Nathan’s Hot Dogs.

In recap, my adventure, starting in Ohio, ending in Coney Island was filled with great friends, endless hours discussing motorcycles and the industry, too much partying, and tons of laughter and a long list of memories made. And if you haven’t yet been to the Indian Larry Motorcycles Grease Monkey Block Party you really should make plans to go next year; it’s always more than worth your time.

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