17 minute read
And The Winners Are
Results compiled from over 10,000 digital and mail-in ballots. 2017’s Best Production Model motorcycle
Harley-Davidson Dyna Lowrider S
While the whole Dyna world is mourning the sad news from 2017 that the Dyna line has been discontinued, we offer this proof that Dynas are still in the hearts and on the minds of their fevered fans. The Lowrider S was a slap in the face from a time gone by with it’s hardcore black and gold color scheme that resembled one of the most iconic motorcycles Harley ever produced in my opinion, the early eighties Low Rider. This bike proved ladies loved eighties and drew me in hook line and sinker. With the updated suspension, engine and transmission of a newer motorcycle we knew it would be a hit. For constantly reminding us where the origin of cool all started, even in their new products, we are more than pleased to name the Harley-Davidson Dyna Lowrider S as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Production Model Motorcycle of the Year!
2017’s motorcycling’s Man of the year
Matt Davis - DicE Magazine - Posthumously
Even before he cofounded DicE Magazine, Matt Davis lived a fascinating life. Sponsored skateboarder and original punk rocker in 1970’s London, he developed a passion for modified motorcycles that he happily shared with all he met. He was an inspiring man; kind, funny, knowledgeable and generous. Talented too. And one of those people who doesn’t wait for life to happen to them... he was always out in the world, seeking the very best it had to offer. He is profoundly missed. – Guy Bolton, Greasy Kulture
For continuing to hone his skill while fueling the passion for motorcycling in all of us, we are more than honored to posthumously name Matt - Dice Magazine as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Motorcycling’s Man of the Year!
2017’s motorcycling’s woMan of the year
Brittney Olsen - 20th Century Racing
Brittney Olsen has been a welcome voice for women in motorcycling that’s for sure; but when it comes to Vintage Motorcycle Racing it doesn’t matter what gender, she is an absolute ambassador. Starting off 2017 by winning the inaugural Sons Of Speed in dramatic fashion and reinforcing that sentiment with her own 20th Century Races at the historical Sturgis Half Mile. She continues to be everywhere to further the spirit of vintage motorcycles and races, along with her son Lock and Husband Matt, it’s truly a family affair. For being an inspiration not only to women but to our generation, we are honored to name Brittney Olsen as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Motorcycling’s Woman of the Year!
2017’s Best Shop Related Product of the year
Lowbrow Customs - 4 & 5 speed Tranny Stand
Nothing is a bigger pain in the ass than not having a proper workspace for your project. Having something at the right height and having it held securely can make the difference in the project going well or going south in a hurry. When it comes to engines and transmissions that is even more true. Lowbrow saw a need for a solution when it comes to working on four and five speed transmissions and is now offering it to the public. With the ability to bolt your tranny down using the frame mounting bolts and then clamping the stand into a vice, any procedure you may need to complete will be easier and put it all right there where you need to have it. It’s a solid way to provide a solution to the growing segment of Do It Yourselfers and the reason we are thrilled to announce Lowbrow Customs 4 & 5 speed Tranny Stand as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Shop Related Product of the Year!
Christian Newman
Christian Newman comes in as your selection for Builder Of The Year and further proves that those of us with nothing but time on our hands during months of snow turn out killer work. Hailing from Buffalo New York Christian is among the ranks of what many believe to be the hub of the custom culture for the Mid-West. His bikes span the scope of ultra new age wit ha build like the Turbo Shovel to the ultra classic like his Knuckle, this cat is stead a the task of blowing minds. Coming on to the scene in some of the biggest shows like the first Fuel Cleveland and Born Free, he has surely made a spot for himself for decades to come. With respect to leading the custom culture and his peers we are happy to name Christian Newman as The 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Builder of the Year!
2017’s Best accessory part
Wolfman Luggage Black Hawk Tank Bag
Earlier this year our man in the field; Ken Conte got to use and abuse this product and gave it two thumbs up. In his own words... Wolfman Luggage has made their name by producing high quality motorcycle luggage in the USA for decades. The tank bag could easily be adapted to almost any tank and left no marks. It allows the rider to have essentials they need at their fingertips and keeps everything safe and secure. If you have a chopper or a bike with no luggage Wolfman is the way to go. Support your USA companies! wolfmanluggage.com For helping us stay on the road and still keep us well equipped, we are happy to name the Wolfman Black Hawk Tank Bag as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Accessory Product of the Year.
2017’s Best performance part
S&S Power Package
Back in the day, the practice used to be that to make real power you needed a slide rule and a volume of experience and reference at your fingertips. Today S&S has done the work for you by putting everything you need for your 1999-2017 HarleyDavidson® big twins in one “Power Package” that is bolt in and ready to run. Dyno results from this yield nearly 30 more in both horsepower and torque and for those without the ability to draw on the above mentioned years of experience, the hard work has been done. For always keeping the working man in mind and giving them the best bang for their buck, we are happy to announce the S&S Power Package as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Performance Product of the Year.
2017’s best custom product of the year
Indian Larry Motorcycles Triple Trees
Nothing can beat the East Coast Cool of an Indian Larry bike ripping through the city streets of any tightly arranged city. Of course, we would all love the chance to try that theooy in our own home town but if you haven’t yet made the arrangements for that purchase Indian Larry Motorcycles is offering products to give you some of the elements for your current ride. These 39mm narrow and mid glide tripple trees are made from T-6 CNC Machined Billet Aluminum. They are availible in polished aluminum and black, come with a stainless steel neck stem and are set up for a solid mounted riser and counter sunk socket cap bolt. The look these give your 91 - 05 FXD 88 - 99 FXR 88 - 16 or custom project is timeless East Coast Cool. For taking some of their own signature look and making it available to the world, we are happy to name Indian Larry Motorcycles Triple Trees as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Custom Product Of The Year.
2017’s Apparel Product of the year
Biltwell - Lane Splitter Helmet
Like I said last year, anti-helmet sentiments have been out for a while and the fact that now a company like Biltwell manages to bring such killer designs into the culture is further proof of that. The “Lane Splitter” is the perfect name for this helmet since the look and feel of a front engine dragster helmet comes to mind and makes you feel like a racer just by putting it on. When you consider the environment of getting through California traffic and actually Lane Splitting, I’d for sure rather be wearing this helmet than the far less protective “Pudding Bowl.” It’s made from a shock absorbing ABS shell and a hand stitched liner and is a solid product for good money. For continuing to reach outside of our culture to inspire and equip, we are happy to name the Biltwell - Lane Splitter Helmet as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Apparel Product of the Year!
Ginger McCabe - New Church Moto
Ginger came into this world through hours in her father;’s canvas shop. The smell of sewing machine oil and the hum of the machinery would often lull her to sleep as her father worked into the wee hours to earn the family’s bread. From a young age Ginger herself always made money from sewing but it would be in 2009 when she moved back to Portland and landed a job at Langlitz Leathers that she would really develop a skill for leather work. Over her two years there she became very comfortable with the media and decided to break out on her own. Eight years later and New Church Moto is not only making Ginger a living but is bringing incredible products to the world. For making her way through the world with her own two hands, we are proud to announce Ginger McCabe of New Church Moto as the 2017 Cycle Source Magazine Readers’ Craftsman of the Year!
2017’s Best event of the year
Sons Of Speed
The old saying is you can’t keep a good man down and that’s the case with Billy Lane and his new offering to the motorcycle gods: Sons Of Speed. Racing early teens motorcycles in period fashion and attire was a big question mark for everyone in the industry but the inaugural race in Daytona Bike Week this year would answer that with a big fat Hell Yes!!! The crowds filled the stands and SOS took it’s place firmly in our history books. For redefining what this industry looks like by bringing back a piece of its past we are thrilled to announce “Sons of Speed” as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Event of the Year!
2017’s Best Media Release Of The Year
Mikey Revolt and the images he captures have been an ever present and welcome addition to the pages of recent motorcycle history. His real life and real time way of capturing his subject matter provides drama in addition to that of what is in the frame. It make sense that this work would be compiled into a 200 page hard bound book that covers three years of his life in the game and the stories within will keep the fires of true passion burning as you turn each page. For helping us mark the passing of time in this thing we do we are thrilled to name “Forever The Chaos Life: Legends” as the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Best Media Release of the Year!
2017’s artist of the year
Chris Galley – Devil Chicken Design
I first ran into Chris at the Milwaukee Rally last year and was an instant fan of his work. With a flair for the working class attitude inspired by his hometown of Buffalo New York, Chris set out to carve a niche of his own in the world of visual art. Motivated to create art based on his exposure to growing up in the seventies and eighties and that of Saturday morning television, Devil Chicken’s essence is comprised from the likes of Evil Knievil and Steve McQueen. Followed by the Saturday afternoon horror films, his work is an incredible blend of sub cultures. For embracing the roll of the underdog and letting the world look through his eyes, we are happy to name Chris Galley Of Devil Chicken Design the 2017 Cycle Source Readers’ Artist of the Year!
t’s winter again, the snow has started to fall... again, the leaves have all turned brown and littered my yard... again, and the painful realization that I won’t be graced with a warm tropical breeze on the tip of my nose has sunk in... again. Every year we go through this, and by we, I mean bikers. We cringe at the thought of cold weather; it is truly the bane of our existence. We curse and moan about the snow; we yell at the meteorologist on TV as if his subarctic temperature forecast is a personal attack on our lifestyle. Curse the Gods, shake your fist and swear to move to Arizona once and for all. But still, the cold remains. The temperatures will drop along with the snow and winter will remain. I am a hater of winter, nothing about it appeals to me. Not a single hobby in my
Ilife involves snow or being cold. I don’t ski, I don’t snowshoe and I don’t ice fish. These all seem like very dumb activities to me. Now granted, I’ve already admitted to hating winter so if barreling down a mountain on a couple of waxed up toothpicks or drilling a hole in the ice waiting for a half-frozen fish to eat your hypothermic worm sounds like a hootn’ and hollern’ good time then, by all means, go for it. But, I’d rather just ride my motorcycle to the climate-controlled grocery store and by an already frozen fish and skip all that other nonsense. To each there own I suppose. Amidst all this hatred for winter though, I do find things to occupy my time and take my mind off it. There is always, of course, the typical winter maintenance on my motorcycle, which if we are being honest, isn’t much. I basically
make the same repairs I make every year, including but not limited to, reattaching my oil tank for the millionth time swearing that we finally found a way to keep it from destroying whichever attachment method we have chosen that particular winter. The oil tank always wins, and we always reattach it in some new and improved yet more than likely to break method again. It is a bit of an ongoing saga if you haven’t noticed. If you see my oil tank bouncing around as I lumber down the road, please just keep your opinions about it to yourself. My brake pads are pretty much always 90% gone so I’ll probably blow that off until I can’t stop anymore then call my brakes a piece of crap and ignore Kayla when she reminds how I ignored them in the first place. My oil can always use changing, that’s just a given, and I could probably go through every last nut and bolt to ensure proper torque, but I’ll probably blow that off until one actually falls off, then I’ll know for sure which one was loose. Not everyone agrees with my method, but it works for me at least half the time.
Luckily, I do excel in one winter activity, summer trip planning. This is the stuff that gets me all worked up. My typical method for this, if I’m getting serious about it, is to hunker down on the couch with my favorite light reading material, the atlas, bring my phone and I-pad along as research tools and get to dreaming. With a fire crackling in the background, a warm cup o’ joe and a fuzzy blanket I sink deep into adventure planning bliss. I tend to think big; I go straight to the extreme edges of the map. I Google things like “northernmost road in Canada” or “coast to coast motorcycle record times” or my favorite, “How long until summer?”. My current planning is along the lines of the first Google inquiry, the northernmost road in Canada. This all came about a month ago when I buddy of mine invited me to ride to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska with him. He will be on his adventure worthy KTM and I will be on my “hang on for dear life while I navigate this muddy road” chopper. Prudhoe Bay is, of course, the crème de la creme of moto adventures for most of us, but it got me thinking and researching. Where else could a person ride that could top the
infamous James Dalton Highway? Is there anything more extreme, more remote and still achievable on a tenfoot-long dual rigid chopper? I found the answer to the first two questions to be a very exciting yes and the answer to the third question is yet to be determined. Without saying too much and revealing my plan, I feel confident that, if this works out, I will be the first person to ride a chopper to my planned destination. Stay tuned as I continue to work out the details.
All this being said, not all adventures have to be grand and monumental. Many of my most memorable rides have been over the course of a 3-day weekend. There is bound to be countless enjoyable rides right in your backyard. I always recommend finding obscure towns or destinations within 500 miles of your driveway, draw a circle on your map if you have to. 500 miles is an achievable number for a long weekend. Far enough away that you feel accomplished yet close enough to not beat you up too bad. Try it, draw a radius on a map that equals 500 miles from your house, and you will be amazed at the number of interesting roads, towns, and oddities you can find. This is also where a computer comes in handy. Find a random
small town on the map and Google it, I usually search under images first to see if anything interesting pops up. Most times you will find some fascinating history on this town or area, maybe enough to inspire you to ride there and see it for yourself. Often these searches will send you on a path towards other small towns and things you never expected to find. There’s a town in North Dakota with a population of 150 that is known for its murals. Kansas has the world’s biggest ball of twine, and the SPAM museum is in Minnesota. That’s just three of thousands of examples, and remember, the destination is just an excuse to get out on the road. The real reward is all the cool stuff you get to see in between, the things you can’t find on your laptop and the things that will leave you smiling every time you think of it. If I had a dollar for every unexpected moment of awe...
As always, don’t hesitate to follow me on Instagram @ charlietravelingchopper for photos of past, present and future rides!
