Beginners Pluck

Beginners' Pluck.

You're looking at a beginners' bike!!!

Yep, hard to believe that this blacked-out, jockey-shiftin', ape-hanging', rigid-framed Shovelhead belongs to a first-time Harley rider but, as they say, them's the facts. Another startling fact is that thiss class chopper is its' owners very first street bike, period. But what could have possibly possessed a first-time street rider to go to such extremes with his inaugural mount? What could have inspired such an uncompromised commitment to custom biking....one that often takes seasoned bikers years to achieve?

T'ain't no mystery, friends. It's the same ol' story we've heard so many times before. A heartwarming tale that involves a young impressionable lad whose empty gourd is polluted with pulp fiction and biker trash which thus determines the course of his later life. However, in this particular instance, the story has taken a kinda cosmopolitan twist. The kid was an Ecuadoran Indian.

Danny 'Indio' Almeida was born in New York City, but shortly thereafter his parents moved back to their native Ecuador, where young Danny spent his formative years. He remembers his first fateful, celluloid encounters with bikers: "From the time when I was eight to ten years old I watched biker movies. They were popular down there, subtitled and everything. The image of bikers enjoying freedom on wild custom motorcycles really appealed to me".

Indio, as his NYC. friends call him (in recognition of his proud 'Inca' heritage) was never the same after witnessing the excesses of the '60s. biker exploitation genre. His Shovelhead chopper is as much a tribute to A.I.P. and Roger Corman as it is to English Don and Manhattans' SD Cycles. The Hells Kitchen custom shop produces what Don has called "industrial strength customs", and Indio was attracted to the uncompromised, no-frills chops that rolled out its doors on West 37th. Street.

Hmmm, Mature, Eh?

Jockey Shift, Ape Hangers, Rigid Frame, Open Belt...

If Only More Bikers Were As Mature As INDIO.

"He came in here to kind check thing out and spotted a photograph on the wall". said Don. "He said he wanted a chopper built just like the one in the picture...and I said he could have it. I sold him the picture off the wall...and the title".

Off the wall, indeed. Indios' friends gave him all kinds of grief for buying a photo, but he knew what he wanted. "I never lost my fascination for these kinds of motorcycles", he said. "I told my Dad when I was ten that I wanted a motorcycle like the ones in the movies. He told me, 'I'd rather give you a gun than a motorcycle'! But I knew that before I died, I'd have a chopper".

Those sordid, anti-social celluloid influences had an even more direct effect on Indio, however. His shocking confession follows: "I shouldn't tell you this, but what the hell. Our 12th. grade class had saved up some money for the senior trip, my plan was to steal the money and buy a bike. I broke into school and found that they had put the money in a different hiding place. I was so mad I started turning things over and throwing boxes around. Then I found the six 'Hasselblad' cameras that belonged to the Biology class. I sold them and bought a stolen yamaha 125. dirt-bike". Indio hastily added that he has grown up and is now "more mature". Hmmm, mature, eh? Jockey shift, ape hangers, rigid frame, open belt...if only more bikers were as mature as Indio.

"I'm 28. years old", he said. "I've been saving up for years and can now buy the bike I always dreamed of...a real chopper". Now if only he can ride it! Indio has not yet ridden his 'dream machine'. I spoke to him the day before he was going to get his registration and license in order. I guess I was a little cruel. "How the hell are you going to ride that in NYC. if you've never owned a street bike before"?

Thanks to English Don, Indios' chopper won't be as good as a gun. He finagled a fuckin' kool little set-up that will enable Indio to get used to his slapstick Shovel without embarrassing stalls, tipovers or head-ons. Look closely at the left-side shot of the mill and you'll see a clutch cable extending back to the clutch arm which is also engaged with the suicide pedal. Don explained the trick modification: "We fabricated a clutch arm that would allow for the use of both a hand lever and clutch cable and a foot pedal and chain depending on what the rider wants. It's a great idea for New York City, man. You know how you get stuck in traffic and your bike heats up and your forearm gets cramped and you can't find neutral? Just stomp on the pedal man and she ain't going nowhere. Kind of like having training wheels for a jockey shift, too".

Taking the suicide out of the suicide shift was only one of many neat mods' performed on Indios' Shovel. The gorgeous, hand-tooled leather dash/seat/p-pad combination was a Paul Cox creation. The three-bullet, sidemount tail-light cleans up the traditional, full hinged fender and that looking-forward 6.1/2" CCI. headlight on its' chrome stalk complements the sky bars. Indio should be able to get away with it in NYC.

It's certainly refreshing to see young riders getting into traditional, outlaw-styled machinery, especially a first timer like Indio.He makes us all look like beginners.