I have been to the motherland and it looks a lot like Indiana. That’s because my parents and older brother live there. I have been tripping back and forth to Indiana since Mom moved us out of there when I was just a little girl. I know the way from New England and the way from Florida like the back of my oil spotted hand.
Whenever I go, I am always sniffing around for a new dealership or motorcycle shop to see. It’s become more of job lately, given my new advertising sales position with The Horse Back Street Choppers and with the Florida based Crossroads magazines. I still get to take pictures and write the stories, which is where my heart is, so adding a sales pitch was a natural progression. I must believe in my product or I wouldn’t be pitching it. This I have in common with the good folks at Lucas Oil.
For those of us living in voids or vacuums, Lucas Oil is the proudest of the new names in our industry. Forrest Lucas is a self made man and he isn’t shy about letting the world know it. He has a history very much like the majority of us, with humble beginnings, a non-stop work ethic and “do-able” dreams. His dream was to create better motor oil for the trucks he was driving. Again, it was about hooking up with the right people and making those dreams happen.
Today Forrest Lucas is a multimillionaire who jets around the country with Charlotte Lucas, a wife who loves drag racing. Lucas Oil likes putting its name on quality products that have something or anything to do with hydraulics, transmissions, or motors. Lucas Oil recently began building a new home for the beloved NFL Indianapolis Colts. The Lucas logo will be on everything from the cup holders to the display screens. I was given the extreme pleasure of viewing a promotional DVD when I stopped in to visit the Lucas Cycles Shop in Brownsburg, Indiana, this past May.
James Crain greeted me and we wasted no time in touring the small warehouse on Northfield Drive. James is the general manager, a younger man who used to own American Cycles East. That was until he met up with the Lucas family and again, Forrest Lucas knows a good thing when it rides in front of him. James was raised in the homeland, graduating from Lawrence Central High School on the East side. He first began riding an old 550 Honda, and a 1956 650 Triumph Tiger. Today he stables three Harleys, one a blue 1200 Sporty for his wife of sixteen years, Laurie. James, and his brother Robert, agreed with the oil that Lucas was selling and after early promotions, breakfast business plans were discussed and they were asked to run the new line of Lucas Cycles.
With Robert Crain, being tagged a professional student; it is always good to learn something new every day. Robert has a back ground as a welder, his fabrication skills dipping into the areas of aeronautics and sequentially being sent to work with the Department of Defense.
So let’s look at the specs on a Lucas Cycle. Initial serial productions stayed close to 100 bikes the first year. Two models, a pro street and a cruiser type wait patiently in stages for hands on assembly at this airy brand shop. They bend their frame metal and shaping their own profile.
These are thick and meaty motorcycles. They currently use S&S 124-inch, VFI motors, RSD six-speed trannys, BDL belts, RC wheels, Independent Fuel tanks and four piston calipers to stop the big beasts.
With a new host of regulations regarding the upcoming EPA, Lucas Cycles will be ready. Robert is making the fuel injection system a priority, working on the oxygen sensors, barometric pressure, temperatures, altitude jetting and much more for better performance and of course, more power!
Bill Buell (no relations to Eric) is the old school biker here and lead builder. His favorite title is test pilot. He says that you need to know that the iron horses coming out of this barn are going to get you where you want to be, quickly. They use 250 rear tires to grab the asphalt and cover them with Russ Wernimont fenders.
The Lucas Family success story has been built on premium products with customer satisfaction the ultimate commitment. The Crain brothers and their families went to Sturgis last year to début the new motorcycle line along with the Lucas Oil label. They performed 300 full- service oil changes in one week. What better place to test a bike and its life blood in such various and diverse situations. Lucas Cycles gave away one of the pro-streets to one lucky rider and countless of photographs were taken with Playboy’s May 2005 CyberGirl Stephanie Eve, who was autographing posters at the Biker-Penthouse Sturgis Bike Show.
Back home in Indiana, James calls the industrial plaza in Brownsburg, where they come to work daily, the racing mecca of Indy. Surrounded by other big names in auto racing, there is a growing glint in his eye as he discussed with me The Brickyard. I was there the week before the big Memorial Day race and the entire state was in race frenzy by the end of May. Forrest Lucas was in town, and he was probably at the track, while James and I talked motorcycles.
Riding on the weekends is paramount and the annual Miracle Ride came up on June 3 and 4. A two day event that encompassed five poker runs and a parade past the hospital. It ended at Tony George’s parking lot. If you brought a helmet, he’d let you lap your bike around the track.
James and I could have talked all day, but he had work to do and I had another shop to visit. As I wished them all well, I was sorry I missed meeting Rita, Robert’s wife. She’s a welder here and assists with answering the phones. I couldn’t help but wonder what would become of the local’s flathead bobber, with scruffy red paint, that sat faithfully waiting her turn at the lift. Lucas Cycles may have a big time title these days, but the hospitality was comfortably small town.
Look for the new Indiana stadium in 2008, where the Colts will be surrounded by gear heads and machinery from all walks and ways of life. Didn’t I see the Space Shuttle in there? I believe the Crain brothers will be up in one of those sky boxes, their bikes parked beside the players’ rides, enjoying the gladiators of our lives.
I will annually return to the home lands of Indiana, as it is my heritage, when my family and her riding roads are calling.
