steveb leatherworks: the blather

People talk about what makes a biker. Or more to the point they talk about what a biker isn’t.
Most of this jaw-flappin’ is for the sake of divisiveness.
People love to categorize, they like to exclude. they like to rate, they like to compare and contrast.
We are all guilty of it… we draw the lines in the sands around us with the things we say….
“jap bikes suck”
“the old guys know dick, they should get the hell outta the way”
“Full dressers are for weiners, only chops, bobbers and cut-downs are man bikes”
“sportsters are for girls” 
“if you are’nt slap stickin’ you aint shit”
“real men work on their own shit”

Well, all i can say to that is “yea blah yea blah yeah” whatever, live and let live. 
Heres’ a clue for all the categorizers and folks focused on the accurate definition of cultural and style clues that identify a “real” biker from a “not-real” bikers – Real Bikers don’t care. As a matter of fact, you’ve probably never really seen a real biker. They are generally on the road, traveling – not giving much of a crap about the categorization challenges the marketers  or the wannabe experts and talker posers are encountering in their vicariously lived lives….

These pics are from a Sunday morning last November, about 45deg at 9am. These guys are bikers. They ride their bikes, they don’t care for the most part what other people think. Its why we are friends for all these years. Dennis, the old gray haired devil was already out of the Military building Triumph choppers when most of us were still pooping ourselves. One might look at him and think “old man, get outta my way”. Fact of the matter is, Dennis is a tough nut who is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet. I’ve seen him hold his own with the most intimidating looking fully sleeved mongrel talking durfee girders and the idiocy of dual carb triumph heads…..all while wearing some brand new leathers and riding a squeaky clean new pimping bike…making NO excuses or apologies at this point in his life. He likes his new leather, he’s earned it, he wears it when riding his bike…D is cool, I dig him. He could give a shit.

The other birds in the flock are the normal crew Shank, SteveP (with chappies), Andy and Freddy – all long time bikers who enjoy riding as much as they do each others company. What would we do without our bikes?  What would we do without our friends?