There’s a certain edge to the last Sunday before Christmas. Everyone’s fried, the weather’s closing in, and riders are squeezing whatever throttle time they can out of the calendar. ShopTalk Episode 328 lands squarely in that moment, feeling less like a show and more like a late-night hang in the shop when the door’s shut and the heater’s working overtime.
This week’s episode hits the full ShopTalk stride—industry news with teeth, a proper custom bagger that didn’t come out of a catalog, and the introduction of a new voice joining the Cycle Source TV lineup. The big headline is Jason Romeo of Sub Kulture Garage Works stepping into the family, but the strength of this episode is how naturally everything flows together. Nothing feels forced. Nothing feels polished for the sake of it. It’s just motorcycles, culture, and the people who actually live in it.
Jason Romeo fits that mold perfectly. A blue-collar builder with a sharp eye and zero patience for filler, his approach to wrenching and storytelling lines up with the Cycle Source philosophy—show the work, explain what matters, and keep it moving. His background isn’t something you hear every day either, balancing life as a builder with a career that took him from Harley dealerships to submarines under the polar ice cap. That contrast is part of what makes his content hit. He’s not building bikes for clicks. He’s building them because that’s how he’s wired.
The featured bike segment keeps things grounded in real-world custom culture. Bobby “Shak” Shackle’s Road King-based bagger isn’t a checkbook build or a trend-chasing exercise. It’s the kind of machine that evolves over time, shaped by taste, trades, favors, and friendships. Flames still matter here. Used parts still matter. Making something work because it works—not because it’s expensive—still matters. That’s the stuff most riders actually recognize when they look at a bike.
The news side of the show brings some perspective too, touching on Harley-Davidson pulling people back into Milwaukee, Buell finally delivering bikes that have been talked about for years, and Triumph continuing to prove that entry-level doesn’t have to mean disposable. It’s not hype-driven commentary. It’s garage talk from people who’ve watched the industry swing hard in both directions.
As the episode rolls on, the conversation widens out into upcoming events, new Cycle Source projects, and the kind of humor that only works when you’ve been doing this long enough to not care who it offends. By the time the crew wraps it up, the message is simple: less noise, more time with your people, and don’t forget why you got into motorcycles in the first place.
ShopTalk Episode 328 feels like a reset before the holidays. New blood in the family, solid machines, honest conversation, and a reminder that this whole thing still works best when it stays rooted in the garage.
Watch the full episode now and catch up with everything happening across Cycle Source TV and Cycle Source Magazine at cyclesource.com.
