Sooooo Elisa Seeger, owner of Indian Larry Motorcycles in Brooklyn New York, has invited me to their September 19th annual block party in honor of Larry. I can’t go. However since I’m a fan of Larry and have been writing a serialized sci-fi book called ‘BORDERLAND BIKER in memory of Indian Larry and Doo Wop music’ for Bikernet Magazine, I decide to honor him by making two changes on my Victory Vegas 8-Ball. Hey, what can I say; from following the teachings of Jesus to buying Gene Autry lunch boxes folks have for thousands of years found ways to be more like the people they respect.
Would Larry have chosen to chopper-ize a Vegas 8-Ball…hard to tell? My guess is that in an alternate universe were Larry given a 2013 Victory Vegas 8-Ball and asked to make just two modifications he might’ve added some mild, not wild, ape hangers and a different exhaust system. Larry was an artist that sculpted his own bars and exhaust systems; but if he had to choose those two items off a store shelf I suspect a Bassani Pro Street exhaust and some KST Kustom’s 16” Mayhem ape hangers would’ve been high on his list of possible choices.
I can change tires and oil and adjust cables, belts and chains but when it comes to doing ‘stuff’ I’m not qualified to do I’m a lot like Groucho Marx when he said, “I’d never join a club that would have me as a member.”…so I turned to Joe Leon.
Joe’s one of the master mechanics at Hollister Powersports and has experience customizing bikes. Together with parts manager Kevin Vance and with the encouragement of general manager Rey Sotelo we, rather they, complete the project.
Larry’s primary theme was always to build choppers that could be ridden aggressively through the twisties. He accomplished that goal and in turn inspired others…so much so I was recently told by one of the Polaris engineers that more than a few of the designers of select Victory models were/are fans of Indian Larry’s philosophy.
RIP Larry
Elisa, thank you for the invite, maybe next year
