steveb leatherworks: the blather

Looking at these two pictures of Dennis’s bike, I think to myself – “oh man, what is up with you? Featuring a bike looking like this – a powder puff pimp queen?”  Forever and ever, I’ve been a 3 shades of black guy (wrinkle, gloss, satin), my fxr best personifying this ideal, as that bike looks almost perfect to me. I hated Baggers for their lack of chops, I hated powder puff bikes for their gayness and silliness, i hated choppahs for their lack of handling, comfort and utility – i’ve always been a truck bike kind of guy – straight utility, great mechanics with a burly, dark edge….now look at me…jumping the damn shark….

BUT – i am learning, in my increasing decrepitness and aging, that there are other things out there for consideration beyond what I (have always) liked and to simply dismiss them because they don’t live up to my “ideal” would be denying myself the opportunity to learn and grow. I think buying the Shiny Penny this year is an example of “loosening up” as my better half would say.

Yeah, right whatever – call it mellowing, call it a bad back, call it the “fag-ification” of steveb… I’d like to think of it as keeping an open mind and being non-judgmental (an in the case of the FL, comfortable!).

The Boss talks about this technique to open your mind and it boils down to “learning to love an idea, even if it is not yours and you don’t agree…for 10 minutes”..ya got to love the idea for 10 minutes..after that you can do what you do, but the mental exercise of training your brain to work for you, rather than to just be reactive and run down the same old path – is really interesting. Takes alot of work and mindfulness, but every now and then when i find myself making a snap judgement and being reactive, I think of this…..that is not saying i do it, mind you…….

A pretty Softail, Dennis bike is worthy of a feature, no? Dennis is a good guy, a vet, an auto tech and former auto garage owner, he’s ridden for longer than most of us have been alive and just bought this particular bike last year. He loves the shit out of it and keep is showroom clean. Dennis is also a true rider, that bike has a surprising amount of miles on it and most any decent day you can find Dennis tooling around town…and further, usually in search of “some decent coffee”.

Keep an open mind and “learn to love it for 10”

or not……