Category: Uncategorized

Work hard for your money but feel like a bad break could hurt your finances tremendously? Paycheck to Paycheck? Most of America is middle class, hard working families that have enough to get by and live a comfortable life but don’t have the means to really live financially free.  We can’t but we are happy.

I work to put food on our table every day. My wife and I are in our early thirties and we have 2 girls (4 and 2) with another little girl due Christmas Day. We live very frugally knowing we need to support our girls now and in their bright young futures. We want them to be educated and know they have a roof over them when they get home from school. We don’t drive luxury cars. We have a 2013 Dodge Caravan and a 2014 Cargo van…  We don’t live in a new or huge house.  We put our money into experiences with our girls and savings accounts for them to enjoy college without the burden like I have of thousands of dollars in student loans.  Being with them and seeing them happy is far more enjoyable than knowing my checkbook is fatter than the neighbors. Cause we know the neighbor, his life sucks and he has money.

Supporting small businesses supports people like us. People who put family as the forefront of any expense. Small business is about doing something you love and being able to provide just enough to make your needs met while providing an affordable service to your customers. Money doesn’t run our lives, our love does. I don’t aspire or desire to build a million-dollar business or even half of that. We want a comfortable future and the opportunity to enjoy each other.  I have worked for corporate dealerships and its sad and frankly disgusting when some employees are riding the city transit bus to work because they can’t afford a car or the insurance. It’s very sad…. pay attention to where your dollar goes. Big companies, dealers, and corporations pay themselves first and their employees LAST after all other expenses come out… watching their employees hop on the city bus to go home while they head down to the fancy restaurant their employees can’t afford.

Remember who you support when you support small business!!!

Sturgis is always one of my favorite weeks of the year. Not many times I can take a few days off work and do any kind of motorcycle riding I want to. Friday before the rally my brother and I loaded up and pointed out sprinter van west. We arrive in Nimo around midnight. We found a random parking lot near the trail head and went to bed. Saturday morning we took off with a few good friends from back home and hit the trails. We rode roughly 10 hours on some of the gnarliest trails the hills have to offer. Our father borrowed us two of his trail bikes with the understanding we buy parts to replace anything we brake. Needless to say, it might be cheaper just to buy the bikes from dad. They are both beat.

Sunday morning was load in for the Buffalo Chip TT AFT national. I was sitting the day out so we put My brother onto one of our 2017 CRF 450’s. He qualified well, rode a solid heat race and put himself in a good spot for the semi. We were on rain delay for a couple hours. His semi was the first race back on track. On the first lap of the semi he was well inside the top 9. He made a risky move in the tight left hander and slid out. If he could have pulled it off we would have gotten a few guys and been able to ride it home and into the main event. Well, he hit the dirt. Got up dead last and in typical Cole fashion, he put a show on for the sold out crowd doing wheels any chance he could. On the last lap he hit the jump harder than he had all day. When he landed onto the flat ground the front end broke. Luckily he is 100 percent okay. The bike however… I’m scared to unload it and see what’s actually damaged. I’m just happy Cole is alright. With all the bad things that have happened to my close friends and family lately it really sent my head for a spin.

Monday I rode my grom down to Needles highway. If you have never experienced Needles I highly suggest getting away from Main Street. What an experience and fun ride. I will for sure be doing it again next year. Hopefully with no rain this time.

Tuesday was the Rapid City Half Mile. Put on by a good friend of mine Terry Rymer and Black Hills Harley-Davidson. My best buddy, Brad Baker offered up his Indian FTR-750 for us to ride. First free practice I quickly found the day was going to go a lot harder for me then I wanted. Mentally I don’t think I was in a position to really send it. I called Brad and had a good talk with him about where I was at mentally. He just told me to go have fun and everything will go smooth. Heat race was miserable. But our times got faster and I got a little more comfortable. During the semi I was going faster every lap and not looking like a fish out of water. All and all I am very happy with how things went. It took a lot for me mentally to even put the leathers on. Tuesday was more about getting out there and doing it for myself then it was for results. I really can’t thank everyone of my supports enough. They are with my through the good times and the bad. I am happy to have such great relationships with each and every one of them. Vanilla Cycles, THANK YOU!!

That’s all for now. I’m now off to take a look at my 17 Honda and get a parts list made up!

Cheers,

KA25

Well, it was another amazing race in Milwaukee, WI for Flat Out Friday. This event was a solo event, meaning it didn’t have the Mama Tried Show attached so it was a one night only race. The logistics of this race got a little crazy. A good friend of mine, Scott T Bone Jones from Noise Cycles, was afraid they wouldn’t be able to find a way to get the bikes to Milwaukee to race with us. Well, we offered to come down and pick them up. Maybe take a little vacation, drive down, grab three bikes, and head back. That turned into grabbing three, then four with Rusty Butcher AKA Mark Atkins to the Speed Merchant and finally, the Suicide Machine Brothers. So, we hooked up to the flatbed and hit the road. It ended up working out as slick as possible. Made for quite an adventure. We have to thank our best friend Jason Brelie, he logged over 10,000 miles in about three weeks hauling bikes back and forth across the country.

First night in Milwaukee was the pre-party at the Harley Davidson Museum. Good times were had but most of us were really looking forward to the racing. Friday morning came and we were all ready to race. The day started off with a nice text video from Lee Fealy letting us know we had our pit spots picked out and saved at 7 AM. His son, Cole Fealy, is a stud of a racer and proudly sponsored by us. His best friend, Dan Jacobson, is also a Vanilla Cycles sponsored rider, and both were there to compete in the Pro class.

The races were great, sticky syrup on concrete. Tight corners, action packed. Our Amateur rider. Shawn Wegenas.t kicked off the night with a 2nd place in his heat for a direct transfer to the A main. I also took a 2nd in my heat for a transfer to the A Main of the Hooligan Class. Cole was the 3rd rider to make the A Main for the Vanilla Cycles Race Team. Dan, his first race back from a nasty wrist break did well but missed the A’s by one position.

It was a great weekend and a blast to hang out with The Speed Merchant Team, Rusty Butcher, Noise Cycles, Suicide Machine Co and our entire team. I want to thank Harley Davidson, Mama Tried, Flat Out Friday, Jason Brelie, my wife, Cece Fealy, Ashley Jacobson, Shane Skaggs, and anyone else I may have forgotten. All your help was very much appreciated. Also big thanks to Stutsman Harley Davidson for their continued support. Some pictures of the weekend are attached.

The 1^st Flat Out Fargo is in the books. Flat track racing in the Schollander Pavilion for the first time since the 70’s was a blast. The venue was great; the stands were literally packed. I heard an announcement during the first intermission–the beer stands were sold out but since it was so early in the show, they were rushing to provide more. I anticipated a good crown but I think our host and promoter of the event, Joe from Sisufab, didn’t even expect how rowdy and large the crowd was.

We had our entire team at this event since it was a local race in North Dakota. Our Pros, Cole Fealy and Dan Jacobson, our Pro-Am, Shawn Wegenast, our Vintage Lee Fealy and myself and Jason Brelie running the Hooligan class.

I hadn’t thrown leg over the XG750 since last October so I was a bit nervous. The show started with the Pro’s running 12 exhibition laps to give them some more lap time. The show was supposed to begin at 6:30 but due to the 50 plus deep line of people, waiting to get in, still the start time was moved back to 6:45. So, to get the crowd going, the pros put on an “exhibition” that in my opinion was the best race of the night. Josh Koch from Minnesota and Kevin Anderson took the last 6 laps and made it a back and forth winner take all. Kevin snuck by him in turn 4 to take the opener by about 4 inches. Watching that race only made my nerves even tighter, how do you follow that up?

Lined up in the first heat and got the whole shot. Unfortunately, I was slammed into from another rider coming in the corner a little hot, I tried to lean on him but just couldn’t get us to turn, and I ended up over the hay bales and into the concrete wall. It was nasty and it hurt. I got up and walked it out; the track crew did a great job cleaning up the mess and got the XG back on the track. I didn’t realize it blew my left shock apart. We lined back up but I took a low side dirt nap and called it a race. Noticing the shock, we made some repairs in the pits and were ready to roll. Adrenaline kept any pain away.

Our pros finished a respective 3rd and 5th in the heats and advanced to the main. Shawn tore it up, took a direct transfer to the Pro-Am main from his heat race.

At night end, we ended up with a 2nd in the Grom class (Dan), 3rd in Pro-Am (Shawn), 3rd in Hooligan (Myself), and a 4th in Pro (Cole).

JJ Flairty took the Hooligan checker on his rad sporty (he was dialed all night) and Kevin Anderson took the Pro sweep.

Can’t thank Joe from Sisufab for organizing and promoting this event. Great guy, awesome wife, and team he has. He rules! Our sponsors, Stutsman Harley Davidson, Ohlins Suspension, Roughrider Signs, and everyone individual support along the way. Huge thanks to our team! You guys make this all possible.

Sorry, I suck at writing. Deal with it! Ha!

The retail world is changing by the minute.

Today we have everything accessible at our fingertips, literally! With cell phones and apps, we can access anything we want in a matter of seconds, and with an additional click, we can purchase just about anything we want. It’s that fast and that easy. That has created a lazy America. I love technology, don’t get me wrong–but I am also understanding not everything in my life will be as easy and simple as a cell phone will make it. The chopper world is becoming this same way. People want a chopper (typically these people buy for status, not enjoyment) and they want it delivered and in the driveway in a matter of minutes. They don’t want to learn anything about them. They want to fire them up and drive straight to the bar to make sure they get the attention they deserve. The real issue arises when that one time they can’t seem to fire it; they assume it’s a pile of crap and were ripped off. In that instance, they assume they know it all and decide it’s the previous owner’s fault. Regardless if its 1 day or 100 days after they purchased the bike, 1 mile or 1,000 miles, it’s not their fault. In a day where everything is handed to people at an instant, their brains are washed into thinking this is the way it’s supposed to be. Nothing should be their responsibility and everything should be handled instantly. Choppers used to be a way for people to escape reality. What happened to people wanting to learn about history and mechanics? What happened to the ride being “cool” and not the attention?

I’d say 1 out of 10 choppers we sell is to someone who is an idiot, and that’s being pretty nice. Most guys want to learn the industry, the bikes, and history. To those guys, we will go to the ends of the earth to help. We definitely do not know it all, but are more than willing to share what we know or help find answers. We don’t build the bikes we sell so often times, we are learning about that bike as well. There is no harm in not knowing, the only harm is not wanting to learn.

That’s my rant for the day, and moral of the story I guess is if you are an idiot, don’t buy a bike from us, please!