Article By: Xavier Muriel
Originally Published In The Mach 2020 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine
Hello, dearest friends of the wind. I hope this finds you well and that the beginning of 2020 is off to a fantastic start. My New Year was spent with my family and doing something I haven’t done in God knows how long, blowing up a bunch of Fireworks! Man, did I have a blast. Some of the stuff they have nowadays ain’t like the old bottle rockets I used to get as a kid. I mean, they have these things called Mortar rounds that come with their own launch tube and are so fu#king loud and big I thought for sure they would be mistaken for gunfire and that the cops would show up at my place and read me the riot act. But all was well, $200 dollars later, all that was left was some ringing in my ears, a ton of crap to clean up in the AM, and the best thing of all were the great memories.
Again, the memories are what’s most important to me, just like the ones I’m making right now. It’s Friday night; I’m at the home of Rick Bray of RKB Kustoms. If you don’t know who he is, well, then it’s time to crawl out from the rock you have been hiding under. Rick’s creations have won countless awards and have graced the cover of many a chopper magazine, including this one. Now, I’ve known about him for some time but had never met him until the 2019 Golden Bolt in Los Angeles. Needless to say, we hit off immediately. We had been talking one day when I told him about a build that I’ve been commissioned to do for the charity “Debbie’s Diabetes Foundation.” The completed motorcycle will be raffled off aboard the High Seas Rally Cruise Dec 3-7 2020. While I was telling him that I wanted to do something different frame-wise than the last two builds, he quickly stopped me and said: Why don’t you come up to my shop, and we’ll make one together.” Well, needless to say, I jumped at the opportunity.
So here I am building a frame from scratch. Now let me be really clear when I say I’ve never even attempted to build my own frame. Knowing that, I figured that it was best for me to come up here, shut my mouth, open my ears and learn a lil something. Well, Mr. Bray had other plans for me right out of the gate. He made it crystal clear from the moment he picked me up at the airport that I was going to do as much hands-on as needed to get the job done in the 4 days that I was gonna be here. And like most Harley addicts, we spent no time lollygagging around. We went straight to the shop and got to work. As of the writing of this article and day two of the build, we are 80% done. Once again, I tell you that the experience is what I’m always after, not just to be able to learn from someone willing to teach me something new, but the opportunity to build a stronger friendship with another cat who shares the same passion for these machines as I do. Those things to me are priceless and should never be taken for granted! I can’t wait to see how this one turns out and you can bet your ass I’ll keep you all posted on its progress.
Well, it’s almost time for another riding season to be kicked off with Daytona Bike Week in March. So many great things will be happening that week, Billy Lane’s 10th Sons of Speed race will be held at the New Smyrna Speedway, March 7th, the always awesome Chopper Time, Cycle Source’s own bike shows, Grease, as well as a multitude of other bitchin events. One in particular that I’m super stoked about is The Black Smoke Sinners will be playing a few dates during the week. If you’re not familiar yet, The Black Smoke Sinners is a band featuring Mr. Chris Callan on Bass, yours truly on Drums and some amazing musicians from my neck of the woods, Austin. You can check out our website (www. blacksmokesinners.com) or other media pages for more info on the shows. Come on out; I promise you won’t be disappointed. Well, Brothers and Sister, as I always say, be kind to one another and yourselves, God Bless and we’ll see ya on the road. X.
