I promised a shot of the finished Ultra Classic but got distracted by a week in Paris!  And what is a week in Paris without finding a Harley dealer in which to buy a HD tee?  Of course we bought three.

Now back to the reality of getting ready to appear at our first Hog Rally (http://www.ncstatehogrally.com), which will be in 3 weeks in Matthews, NC. Hope that you’ll be able to stop by our booth and see the finished Ultra Classic that is posted below.  The pictures just don’t do it justice, if I do say myself!

Catherine

Finished Ultra Classic

Detail of Ultra Classic "sculpture"

One more detail shot!

So odd having a day gig I love, and a night gig I love even more.  Today I trained  college counselors all day, and tonight I’m working on the bike business; cutting a bike (Harley Softail Deluxe), blogging, and updating the website.  Never a moment of rest, and all of it is good.  My dream is that my night gig will become the day gig and life will become less complicated, calmer. However I also realize that this could be a pipe dream.  And the pipe dream part of this is not that we’ll earn enough money creating bike art to make this my day gig, but rather that my life will be quieter once this happens.  I know first hand that running a successful business takes much more time than working for someone else, yet I still want this more than anything.  Bike by bike, this dream is becoming a reality.

Check out the bike I’m cutting tonight. Will turn it into a sculpted piece of art when I return home from PA this weekend.

Catherine

Ok, I have to admit it, biking scares me a bit.  I LOVE the beauty, art and design of bikes, but getting on one is a different matter.  I did it in my twenties, but I was young, dumb and never going to die.  However today was going to different.  Robert had convinced me to do Keith Larson’s (a local talk radio host) charity run, Ride for the Kids, with over 150 riders.  I allowed the safety stats to sway my better judgement – you are safer riding in groups,  AND, most accidents happen with younger, reckless riders. My darling Robert has got to be the safest rider out there, so what is there to be scared of?  My father would say plenty, but that’s another story.  So we got  up this morning with all intentions of doing this ride, and to my delight, it was raining!  However, by 10am, it had cleared up, and the ride went on as scheduled, without us.  As a compromise, Robert and I went to the ride location (we drove there in my racey looking red Prius) to have lunch with the riders after they returned, and to meet Keith in person.  We also wanted to get a picture of Keith’s bike, which we plan to create into a sculptural bike for him as a gift for the amazing work he does for this cause every year. Mission accomplished – see the pictures we took below.

As for me getting on Robert’s scooter, it will be soon.  Not like I’ve never riden with him before, but there is usually a “good” reason not to when he asks.  However, the idea of safety in numbers is actually growing on me, so the day is coming when it won’t be raining and my excuses will run out.  Stay posted; I’ll let you know about the big day when it finally happens.

Catherine

Keith Larson and daughter Hallie right after the ride

Keith's bike, a Vulcan, that we'll be turning into a piece of art

Just a few of the hundred bikes enjoying a day out

I love just heading out some nights and stopping at a place that I stumble upon that is having a bike night. You never know what you are going to see or who you are going to meet. The randomness of just setting out on a destination unknown brings a sense of adventure that is the essence of being on the scooter in the first place. It’s fun for me, but I like to be in new situations with people I don’t know just to see what unfolds and go with it.  Add motorcycles to the mix and I’m in heaven.  So the other night I’m out riding around and stop at one of these bike night spots. There are 50 or 60 motorcycles all parked up front, proudly displayed by their owners, just looking great.  You know what I mean. People are standing around talking and laughing, exchanging stories, giving tips and inspiration, showing off their latest mod and, of course, checking out everyone else’s bike. You know, you can’t act too interested in the other bikes lest you give away your envy. Because we all know our own bike is the nicest one there even if we think, deep down; “I’d like to have one of those”. But sometimes you have some people who just give it up and truly and openly admire someone else’s ride. I got to enjoy that experience that night.  Catherine was out of town, enjoying the southern California sun (not so much…it was cold last week in LA) and after I arrived at my destination, I called her to let her know about all the beautiful bikes I was admiring.  Of course, she was having dinner at some great restaurant in Santa Monica overlooking the Pacific Ocean so it’s a toss up as to who had the better view.  Okay, we all know I did because you can look at the sun setting over the Pacific pretty much everyday if you live there. It’s the same thing every time.  Booorrriiinngg. ; )  But checking out some of the most beautiful creations of man and woman, uniquely and randomly assembled together only that one time, never to be the same ever again, trumps God’s everyday creation, every time.  I mean, we have some pretty creative people out there. So while I’m on the phone and standing about 50 feet from the scooter, I look over and there are nine people crowded around it (yes, nine…I counted) all looking, pointing, crouching down for a closer look, peering over it…it was a great sight to see.  And they were there for like 15 minutes.  Now you have to admit, if you’ve seen my picture on the contact page http://spiritbikes.com/Contact.htm, the Raider is a great looking bike and even though it’s only been out for a couple of years, has grown a reputation for being bad ass as well and they are still relatively rare.  : )  They usually draw a person or two at every event.  So these admirers are doing their admiration thing and one of them turns around and points over to me.  Obviously, someone in the group was asking what kind of totally awesome guy could ride such a beautiful motorcycle and fortunately for them, one of them saw me pull up in it and was nice enough to oblige their curiosity and point me out.  Needless to say, I just continued my conversation with Catherine, pretending I really didn’t notice or cared what they were doing.  I’m just cool like that. ; )  Actually, I was watching them like a hawk just to make sure nobody actually touched the bike.  Now, any of us who have been to these things knows that pretty much nobody ever touches someone elses bike unless they want to get their ass kicked.  I wouldn’t have cared if there were nine of them.  Touch the bike and I’m takin’ on all y’all.  But sometimes I just leave an empty holster on the seat of my bike and that usually keeps the riff raff away.  So the point of all this is that when the guy points me out to the thralls of admiring fans, two of them look over and as if in a planned synchronization, give me the double thumbs up.  Each.  That’s four thumbs up.  Not even Siskel and Ebert gave four thumbs up.  So now you understand the title of this thread.  I’m sure it is an experience all of us have enjoyed from time to time and I’m looking forward to the next one. : )

In the middle of creating a Harley Ultra Classic, in two sizes.  This involves hours and hours of work, including hand cutting over 80 small pieces of paper.  Oddly enough, even though this is extremely tedious at times, I really like doing it.  Like meditating with scissors!  Check out the pictures of what the bike looks like before I cut it.  Will post the finished product in a couple days.

Will be 80 degrees here in Charlotte this weekend; perfect riding weather.  And what will I be doing?  Cutting bikes!  Robert is the smart one – he’s going for a long ride.  At least one of us has good sense!

We’ve been seaching for a bike rally to exhibit our sculptural bikes, and the best one just landed in our laps.  Its not a sure thing yet, but we just learned that the state-wide Hog rally for North Carolina will be in June, in Matthews no less.  Couldn’t be more perfect.  Close to home, and with our primary market, Harley owners.  We’re very psyched because it gives us the chance to try out our art on people who could afford it.  If this works as well as we anticipate, next stop will be Daytona in October!  Keep your fingers crossed…..

I know this is going to take time, and then I forget our one step at a time motto.  I want to have all the details worked out NOW, and slowly but surely they are being figured out, but it all feels so slow.  At the moment, we’re figuring out how to create a structual bike (our new name for 3-d) in a size twice of what we have been creating.  But before I do that, I’ve got to spend time with Epson tech support to fix my professional printer. Then onto finding a new frame that we can use with glass.  One step at a time…..

What do you think of our potential new frame profile?  Jury is still out, but this is the best we’ve seen yet.

Today we listed 25+ tasks that need to be completed prior to exhibiting at our first bike show in May.  I have to keep looking at all the tasks we’ve already completed to not be overwhelmed by all that is still  to be done.  Yikes.  Priority this week is to figure out how to take professional pictures in our 10 x 10 booth, and how to add glass to our frames.  If we can figure out these two things this week, we will have come a very long way.

Check out the custom bike we made for Robert’s boss Tommy.

Catherine

Tommy's Road King with Ape Hangers

Back from a whirlwind trip to Daytona over the weekend.  We learned so much about how to market our 3-d bikes at the next show in October.  All very exciting.  If all goes as planned, we’ll have a 10×20 booth at the speedway.  So much to do to get us there, but having Daytona as the goal is moving us along quicker. Meanwhile, we’re back at our day jobs, and I leave on a business trip to California tomorrow morning. So odd to be a “suit” by day and a “biker” at night, but living a double life is my life for  moment.

The picture below is of me trying out potential new bikes.  I loved this Honda Fury!  What do you think?

Catherine

Catherine trying out her new bike?

Tonight I am once again creating bikes to show off to bikers, in hopes that they fall hopelessly in love with what we have created. Just finished creating our most beautiful 3-d bike yet, a Harley Softail Deluxe, and it will go on back of the teeshirt we plan to wear to advertise our bike art in Daytona. The design is posted below so you will recognize us walking down the main drag in Daytona. Think this is known as gorilla marketing. So exciting to be going to our second Bike Week, but this time with our new bike art in hand. Feel free to stop us in the street and ask to take a peek. We love showing off our bikes, the same as a parent showing off their newborn. For to us that is what our bikes are, each one a new born piece of art.

Catherine

What we'll be wearing in Daytona