DEC 2021 #106
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Contents
DECEMBER ISSUE 106
FEATURES
_________
Choppertown Is Back
9
Great American Motorcycle Show
17
Bad Company - Kyle Ray Rice
24
Wreaths Across America
33
CHRIS MILLER RIP
COLUMNS
_________
Nefarious James
23
Craven Morehead
31
Spyke & Mike
38
DEPARTMENTS
09
_____
Letter From The Editor Dave Nichols
4
Ride Safe Ride Smart
6
Movie Review - The Wild Angels
37
Steven Tyler Reads It
39
ON THE COVER
____
Bad Company Kyle Ray Rice - Shoveled FXR Model Ashley Ayan Photos Erick Runyon
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Letter from the Editor
DAVE NICHOLS
FROM THE HELM MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! HOWDY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! As this wacky, weird year draws to a close, we still have much to be grateful for and we still have roads to ride. The December issue of Born To Ride is packed with holiday greetings from the crew here at BTR. The BIG news is that we are gearing up to put on another incredible Choppertown Live motorcycle event at Thunder By The Bay this coming February 18th through the 20th! Born to Ride will put on another killer chopper show featuring some of the world’s wildest old school choppers in the southland. We promise you more choppers and more cool! Yep, the mind-blowing Thunder By The Bay Rally in Sarasota is coming and so is another rowdy round of Choppertown Live for 2022. Want a preview of all the shenanigans? Check out killer coverage of last year’s run right here in these pages and get ready because it is coming back for three glorious days of motorcycle madness. Do you have a motorcycle you’d like to bring to Choppertown Live? Who knows, you might even get yourself a bike feature right here in Born To Ride, the south’s best biker rag! Just give us a call at the BTR office at 888-795-5779. If you are a builder, show us your stuff! Our featured custom bike in this issue offers a look back at Kyle Ray Rice and his awesome Bad Company Shovelhead along with model Ashley Ayan. Kyle is known for his amazing designs and innovation in fabricating the coolest custom scooters and this one will blow your mind. He is currently rebuilding this pavement pounder and we are looking forward to something even more sick and twisted from his fertile mind. Stay tuned! But wait, there’s more! The December issue of Born To Ride also features our coverage of Wreaths Across America; Remember, Honor, and Teach. This
event remembers our fallen brothers and sisters, honors those who serve, and teaches our children about the cost of freedom. You’ll absolutely feel the passion and emotion right here in these pages. Ever see the classic biker film Wild Angels? Peter Fonda ridin’ a sweet Panhead and utterin’ those classic lines of dialog like, “We just wanna be free to ride our machines! And we wanna get loaded!” Yeah, Peter knew best. Well, check out the Phantom’s silver screen review of that tried-and-true biker movie from 1966, that laid it all down just three years before Easy Rider hit the drive-ins. Speaking of, I have relaunched the oneand-only Classic Easyriders magazine. It is available at newsstands, book stores, and retails stores right now! You might notice a familiar name in the masthead of this “biker’s bible.” Born To Ride’s own Ron Galletti is named as the Southeast Consultant of Classic Easyriders and in the January issue you’ll find sweet coverage of our Great American Motofest that rocked Plant City, Florida last July. If you were there, you might find yourelf in the glorious pages of Classic Easyriders! Subscribe at classiceasyriders.com. And if all that were not enough, the December issue of Born To Ride also offers up the badass musings of Nefarious James who puts it all in perspective; Spyke & Mike offer their spiked Holiday punch; and the late, great Craven Moorehead looks at this time of year where we wish season’s greetings and good will toward men. There’s even a Letterfly book review. All this and more is just a page turn or a computer click away as Born To Ride twists the grip on the end of 2021. God bless us, every one, — Dave Nichols editor@borntoride.com
You are riding along in the left lane of a one-way street, with a car ahead of you on your right. As the two of you enter an intersection, the car swerves left across your path to make a turn. Strategy: Because traffic was light, the driver may have forgotten that he was traveling on a one-way street and never looked in his blind spot for you. Since there was no traffic in the oncoming lane, he felt free to make a normal left turn (without signaling), inadvertently trapping you in his path. There was no way, short of watching for the non-existent signal, to predict that this driver was going to turn left. But remembering that intersections are always situations of increased risk, you might have prepared for this by taking actions to separate yourself from the other vehicle. By riding so close (and inside the driver’s blind spot) you effectively hid yourself
from the driver’s vision and greatly increased your exposure to danger. For more information go to www.msf-usa.org
WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU COMBINE A GOOD HEALTHY MIX, OF OUTRAGEOUS CHOPPERS, VANS, HOTRODS, SKATEBOARDS, GREAT BUILDERS, BEAUTIFUL WOMEN AND PERFECT FLORIDA WEATHER? You get Choppertown ‘Live’! We hosted a royal feast of a chopper show at Thunder by the Bay on Feb.19, 20 and 21st and we gotta say it was an amazing event! With the deep cut hits of the 70s pumping in the background and impressive line up of choppers, the 11,000 square foot building was filled on all three days with chopper lovers and people young and old alike, who just look back to the 70’s as that time period they connect with A beautiful and sunny Saturday with the sound of V-Twins in the air, brought us a plethora of choppers for the 10 Class Ride-In Chopper Show with all the first-place winners receiving $100.00 cash courtesy of All Steel Buildings and the Best in Show winner receiving the cash and a $150.00 Gift Card from the good people at Mid-USA Motorcycle Parts. Sunday was capped off by the ‘Bill Dodge Award of Excellence’ Builder’s Choice Award’. With a building full of almost 60 beautiful Choppers, the choice was a very tough one to make, but in the end, there were two very clear-cut favorites, but the 1951 Panhead build named ‘Francine’ meticulously crafted by James Alcorn of Alleyway Kustoms took home $1000 from FTW and that beautiful custom springer built for us by Mondo of Denver’s Choppers. Second Place and a hardtail frame from @paughcoparts went to George Casale of Good Looking Customs. This eye popping 1970 Shovelhead had more bling than strip club in Vegas on New Year’s Eve! Third Place went to @m_stevens1 for his beautiful 1946 EL Knucklehead. Fourth Place went to Richard Ruck of It’ll Ride Choppers w his ‘Red Devil’ of a 1975 Shovelhead and the Fifth Spot went to Weems motor Co. for his legendary 1952 Triumph Twin Speed David Mann replica build. The craftsmanship for all the builds was over the top. We can’t wait to see who wins the next one. Special thanks goes out to our friend Bill Dodge of Bling’s Cycles for helping us out with the judging from home. He wanted to be there, but he is still healing up from his accident. Bill, we will see you at the next one. Take care of yourself and focus on getting better! Was there a better way to start our year off with a ‘bang’? We may be a little biased, but after a year of disappointments and show cancellations we think Choppertown ‘Live’ was just the kick in the ass that 2021 needed to start things off right. To those of you who missed the fun, stay tuned Choppertown ‘live; 2022 is already in the planning stages/ Stay tuned!
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HO, HO, FRICKIN’ HO! How Do You Choose To Spend The Rest Of Your Days? Hello everybody and welcome to the last
So on with December. Another month with
like an ass is because your running late.
month of 2021. I know a lot of people out
holidays and our new year approaches.
Ummm, who’s fault is that? Oh never mind,
there are saying, “It’s about time!” so we
Let’s try to keep in mind that this month is
another excuse. As I was told, a lack of
can try to move forward into a whole new
supposed to be a peace on earth, goodwill
planning on your part does not constitute an
year and a possible whole new outlook
toward men type of mindset. Instead, we
emergency on my part. Think about that.
on where we are going. But as always,
get to watch the news again with those
I may be here to burst those bubbles by
people out there that love to show their
While you ponder the above junk, think of
letting you know that according to the
ignorance by fighting for items in stores
news, we are looking at a new variant
that they don’t even own yet. I still don’t
in this pandemic situation. With this new
understand why people look at shopping
information, there’s always the possibility of
and at acquiring material things that has
a whole replay of 2020 and wondering what
become such a contest between each other.
freedoms we will lose this time.
I was told by some that they are more
in a box. Get out there and live a little. Do
I personally am going to try and fit in
aggressive at holidays, to find what their
it before it’s too late, before your health fails
everything I possibly can before anything
loved ones want all the way to the point of
you, people fail you, or the world fails you.
like that may happen. I would highly advise
coming to blows to make sure they get it.
Get on it before you become just another
others to do the same. I’m going to try to
Hey, here’s a clue for ya. Don’t wait until
guy at the bar bitching about your lack of
ride more, participate in more events, and
the last minute to acquire your gifting ideas.
try to live my life to the best of my ability.
It’s sort of like the excuse of why you drive
life.
this. How do you want to spend the rest of your days above ground? What do you want to do with your life? Well, all I gotta say about that is, ya better figure it out quick. Time is running out. Money’s nice to have, but it does you no good when you are put
— Nefarious James American
“SO ON WITH DECEMBER. ANOTHER MONTH WITH HOLIDAYS AND OUR NEW YEAR APPROACHES. LET’S TRY TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS MONTH IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PEACE ON EARTH, GOODWILL TOWARD MEN TYPE OF MINDSET. .” Tell Jim what you’re thinking, what do you want to say to him? editor@borntoride.com
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THIS ISSUE’S FEATURE RIDE BELONGS TO KYLE RAY RICE. THE 27-YEAR-OLD GREW UP IN A MOTORCYCLE-RIDING FAMILY IN FLORIDA. HIS MOM IS INTO DIRT BIKES AND HIS DAD LOVES ANYTHING TO DO WITH BIKES AND CARS. KYLE STARTED RIDING AT THE TENDER AGE OF THREE (WITH TRAINING WHEELS OF COURSE) Pretty soon the entire family was riding dirt bikes together. He bought his first sport bike at age 18 but was always into Harleys. “I went to the Webster Swapmeet in 2016 and found this 108 cubic inch Shovelhead motor,” Kyle recalls. “It came with a touring tranny and the engine work was already done.” He mated the engine to an FXR frame and cut the back half of the frame off to build a chrome moly sub frame. “I work as an aluminum fabricator making spiral staircases, railings, and work with stainless steel in the construction trade,” Kyle says. He bought an English Wheel and started hammering out the aluminum sheetmetal for the gas tank, side covers, seat dish and rear fender of the bike he calls Bad Company. Yes, he handled all the artful sheetmetal himself and his dad Kraig made the custom seat with aluminum inserts. Kyle says that his dad was always building cars and doing hot rod stuff. He’s proud to be following in his dad’s bootsteps. “He did a lot of the mechanical work on this bike,” Kyle tells us. “He surprised me with that seat!” Kyle also handmade the stainless exhaust pipes, which are a work of art all to themselves. Take a good long look at the photos of this stunning Frankensteined FXR because Kyle is going to tear the whole thing down soon and build an entirely different bike out of the parts. This up-and-coming bike builder would eventually like to create custom scooters for other people for a living and is hoping to start by producing cool custom parts for Harleys. You may reach Kyle at krice37@verizon. net; Instagram – @kylerayrice; Facebook – kylerayrice.
If you’d like to see your gorgeous motorcycle right here in Born To Ride, email photos (300dpi) and contact info to editor@borntoride.com. You might just see your scoot right here on these pages. — Chopper Daddy Dave Nichols BTR 26 | BORNTORIDE.COM
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LOOK OUT! KYLE IS REBUILDING THIS MOTORCYCLE AND IT’S GOING TO BE EVEN MORE MIND BLOWING. STAY TUNED BECAUSE IT’S COMING TO YOU SOON HERE IN BORN TO RIDE
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Craven Moorehead CHRISTMAS
Well, I made it through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and most of Cyber Monday. This was an easy task largely because I had no money to waste on things that I don’t really need. Although the desire is there to spend on the people I care about, it is an impossible feat without the necessary funds. Commercialism aside, there are a lot of valid reasons to enjoy this time of year. If you ignore all the ads, come-ons and deals you can’t live without and then simply focus on what you do have – and not what you want, a certain sort of peace will come over the chaos that roars on in your head and heart. It’s okay to want things, but if you cannot afford those things it’s better to just forget about it and move on. It seems to work well for me, but I’m not suggesting that you should think the way that I do. After all, it is a dark and disturbing place in what remains of my mind! Originally, we were all taught that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Although the census among the scientific community suggests that the event didn’t really happen during the winter, if it happened at all. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and the ability to practice their own religion. Scientists do not profit at this time of year but the commercial entities certainly do. Some of us simply try to remember the story as told in the Bible and let that be profit enough. (It took me several minutes to decide not to use the word ‘prophet’ in that sentence, instead of profit – levity resides in the aforementioned ‘dark’ areas of my mind.) Although it’s difficult to be comedic at times, if you are me then it just sort of rolls out usually to the disdain of those listening. Thankfully for you, my dedicated readers, you don’t have to hear all the crap because you simply read whatever drivel I put in this column - or you just put it down and not read it – and then make colorful comments about my existence. It’s okay. I’m used to it. …
I think as we get older, some of the magic and mystery of Christmas sort of fades away. The beauty and meaning of the holiday; however, seems to be intensified the farther you progress in life. Once you get past 6 or 7 years old, you begin to not believe in Santa Claus and begin believing in Amazon.com. … I, however, still believe in Santa Claus because every time my dogs come back into the house from the yard they have sandy claws. Plus, I know for a fact that Santa frequents the Gentlemen’s Clubs. I have actually seen him there. Although he didn’t have on the red suit, I knew it was him because he kept bellowing out “Ho Ho Ho” and throwing cash around. The unmistakable long white beard and rosy-red face couldn’t have been attributed to the double vodkas he was drinking, could it? I used to think he only liked eggnog and cookies, and then I remembered that most of the eggnog that I have consumed contained a fairly good amount of alcohol. So, whether you believe in Santa or not, I suppose that it doesn’t really matter. I mean after all, everyone needs to have something to believe in, so I believe I will have another beer! This particular holiday has a lot of different meanings to a variety of people. I certainly do enjoy it, and of course it would be a lot more fun if I had some cash – but I never worry. I just wish everyone peace on Christmas and remember to do something nice for folks that need it. As bikers, we know how much love is spread around this time of year for those in need. Countless toyruns charitable poker runs and other events are occurring as we speak, and there are scant few days before the actual celebration of Christmas arrives. I appreciate all the efforts of those that give back to the community from behind this keyboard and it’s a blessing that this old-parts computer is still serving me well enough to allow me to send this important message to my readers. Anyhow, don’t think that I am nuts because I still believe in Christ and still give all I have. I also believe that Christmas itself brings people together and when people get together, great things happen! Just remember what the true meaning of this holiday is and do your best to enjoy it! Remember, just a few days after all the presents are unwrapped and the turkey is eaten, we once again gather together to celebrate the arrival of a new year. This is another great holiday because the new year often brings hope and prosperity to those that don’t wake up with a horrible hangover. When we make all those resolutions that we never keep, we can always remember the great times we had with family and friends during this wonderful season. And then, it’s back to work! May God bless you and all your people during this most joyous time of year! Hey! See ya’ll next year and until then speed safely!! CRAVEN
I knew him for over 22 years, there will never be another Man like him..
Ron Galletti
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The iconic 1966 film featuring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, and a cast of hundreds, is one of the most well-known biker exploitation films ever produced. In this classic film the “Angels” a California Motorcycle Club, travel across the state to retrieve a stolen motorcycle belonging to one of the clubs members “the Loser.” Heavenly Blues (Fonda) is the charismatic club president. At times he seems to have to ‘baby-sit’ his troop of fun-loving boozers and druggies. This one is a favorite of mine, because the producers actually used real Harley-Davidson ‘choppers’ and actually cast some of the real members of the Hell’s Angels. In short, it is one of those films that give bikers in general a ‘bad’ name, but those of us who really know the true way of the biker lifestyle will find it entertaining, and at times hilarious. The Angels ride through the desert to Mecca, California to look for the Loser’s stolen motorcycle. They accuse a group of Mexicans in a repair shop of stealing the motorcycle when the Loser finds his brake pedal on a workbench. After some mild insults and accusations naturally, a fight breaks out in the shop and the ‘taco benders’ as Fonda calls them wind up on the losing end. The
police arrive, chasing the Angels on foot, and the Loser escapes on a parked police motorcycle. After a chase on mountain roads, one of the officers shoots the Loser in the back, and he later ends in a local hospital. Blues leads a small group of Angels to rescue the Loser and they subsequently “bust him out” of the hospital. In the melee a nurse is accosted by one of the Angels who knocks her out to keep the cops from discovering their presence in the hospital. The nurse later identifies Blues as one of the men she saw however; the audience knows that it was thanks to Blues’ intervention the assault stopped short of rape. Blues rebukes the member just before the cops notice their ‘suspect’ is gone. Later, the Loser dies at the Angels’ local watering hole from his injuries. The Angels move his body to an undertaker’s office-he demands cash “plus tax.” Using a forged death certificate the Angels arrange a funeral at a tiny church in the Loser’s rural hometown. During the service, Blues steps up to the minister and says those famous words “We just want to be free. Free to ride our machines without a hassle from the man. …” But when Blues says they just want to have fun, the Angels turn the service into a major party. The Angels remove the Loser from his Nazi flag-draped casket, sit him up and place a joint in his mouth. Meanwhile they also knock out the minister, tie him up and place him in the casket. Later, the Angels proceed to the Sequoia Grove cemetery to bury the Loser. The procession of noisy bikers gets the attention of the locals, who all gather to see the spectacle. One of the local kids throws a rock at the Angels and naturally yet another fight breaks out. This interruption prevents burying the Loser, and as police sirens wail in the background everyone scatters. One of the members begs Blues to go, but he refuses and tells his girl to leave with another member of the gang. This is where the other most remembered phrase comes in, as Blues sighs “there’s nowhere to go.” The last of the group leaves and Blues picks up a shovel and returns to the grave to bury the Loser. Just as I was going to call all my boozing buddies over to watch this flick once again, a knock came at the door. I opened it to see a mailman with an overnight package. I signed for it and opened it up, expecting something good. It was just a DVD and a note from the editor of this magazine demanding an immediate review of The Twilight Zone Episode #138 from 1964. This was disappointing news. In this short film a group of ‘bikers’ if you want to call them that are actually aliens from another planet sent to earth to infiltrate a small town. The local folks actually become fond of this odd cast, and befriend them. Little did they know the space-bikers were there to poison their water supply! I dunno … I suppose that it was getting late and I drifted off to sleep somewhere after the giant eyeball in the 1950s TV screen requested them to continue with the plan of destruction. This particular episode albeit cute, doesn’t really rate very high up there in the ‘biker exploitation’ world. I guess that’s just because it only exists in The Twilight Zone. …
Do you have a favorite Biker Movie we don’t have? Let us know: info@borntoride.com
THE PHANTOM MOVIE REVIEW
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S PY K E & M I K E ’ S S P I K E D H O L I DAY H A N G OV E R
“Ho, ho, ho, booms the fat man or as I cackle; hobble, wobble, and gobble my BTR friends. It’s that time of year to head over the river and through the woods to be around people so dear, near, and hopefully full of cheer. Or in my case, at the Sanctuary, have Mike clean up the extra rooms and pull out the air mattresses so my relatives can come and visit.” Mike replies, “Bird brain, did you email holiday invitations behind my back again this year? I may be the guardian of the sanctuary but I’m not going to be a wildlife rehabilitator to your feathered friends after they’ve gorged on too much hemp seed and wine. Didn’t you have enough of their avian antics last year? Between Polly who ate all your crackers, the roadrunner sprinting around cackling beep, beep all day, Daisy and Donald Duck nesting on the couch laying eggs, Daffy Duck telling you that ‘youuuu’re deththpicable’ and those damn flock of seagulls flying overhead giving us white and purple Christmas droppings to dodge?” I cluck, “Yes, I did, so just hear me out Mike. When I’m not surfing the web I like to loiter with your kind. I may act like a human trapped in a bird’s body, but every now and then, nature calls. Sometimes I just want to hang with my gaggle of fowl friends, all pun intended. I know you can relate becuase you leave me at home to go out with your posse from time to time.” BTR 38 | BORNTORIDE.COM
Mike responds, “I understand, Spyke. And you know what? I’m glad you want to pull your beak off the keyboard and get away from the computer screen to lollygag with your feathered family. I can handle the once a year thing but, a little advance notice would be nice. Seeing it’s that time of year for Christmas jingles, your compulsion for the computer and your love of riding the Fat Bird, I created two wacky carols in your honor. Read along to the tune of: ‘Winter Wonderland’ and tell me what you think.” Doorbell rings, Spykes not listenin’ From her beak, drool is glistenin’ She’s content although Mike really doesn’t think so Happily addicted to the Web. All night long, her snout is clicking Unaware time is ticking There’s old food on her beak A full-fledged computer geek Happily addicted to the Web. Friends come by They shake her saying, “yo, Spyke, We just lit a cherry bomb.” Not flinching she squawks, “Take a hike, I’m on nakedparrots.com!” She don’t phone, she stopped texting Don’t go out, she smells disgusting She don’t care if someday, her perch rots away She’s happily addicted to the Web. She’s happily addicted to the Web! Happ-ily, add-dict-ed to the Web!! “The second one is about your love of being in the wind and written to the tune of: ‘O come all ye faithful.’” O come all ye bikers, Joyful and triumphant, Oh come ye, oh come ye to Pinellas, Come and let her ride with you, Born the queen of biker parrots.
O come, let’s all ride with her, O come, let’s all ride with her, O come, let’s all ride with her, Spyke was Born to Ride! O sing, choirs of v-twins, Sing in exultation. Sing loud so all drivers can hear, Give lots of throttle so they disappear. O come, let’s all ride with her, O come, let’s all ride with her, O come, let’s all ride with her, Spyke was Born to Ride! All hail, world we greet thee, On two wheels makes her happy. O Spyke, your words are so wacky, But somehow they all believe. O come, let’s all ride with her, O come, let’s all ride with her, O come, let’s all ride with her, Spyke was Born to Ride! I squawk, “Dude! Those are pretty cool. You’ve been so narrow-minded lately that now you can see through a keyhole with both eyes. How did you ever get past your bout with S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) to come up with awesome jingles?” Mike babbles, “Well, Spyke, after our putt to the beach and seeing you pose in that Christmas tree at sunset made me realize that life is short, winter is shorter and the sun will be gone in a heartbeat. Getting that Kodak moment and making light of your lifestyle makes my S.A.D. short-lived. Of course I had help from the three wise men; Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Johnnie Walker.” I chirp loudly, “You’re the best daddy ever! Let’s go get your knees in the breeze, my wings in the wind and the Fat Birds’ wheels rolling down the road.”
— SPYKE
Do you have a riding pet story? Let us know, Spyke wants to feature them! editor@borntoride.com
STEVEN TYLER READS BORN TO RIDE
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