Born Free Continues to be the pinnacle of custom motorcycles shows
touting a vintage feel. In any other arena, show or local bike night, any
one of the thousands of bikes at Born-Free would hold our attention as the only
"cool" bike we saw that day. At this show, you're senses are
numbed by a vast sea of bikes that are all "cool". So many
great bikes that it's actually possible walk by a knucklehead chopper without
breaking step. How absurd is that! If you saw this bike in any
other location on any other day, you would geek out, you would wait for the
owner, you would take photos. But due to its surrounding it can become a
chameleon, just another in the crowd, just another knuck.
I hear people say Born-Free is just more
of the same. More of the same choppers, more panheads, more knuckleheads,
wassell this, Bates that. To some degree that may be true. But, you
have to step back and regain the perspective of normalcy. These choppers
and vintage motorcycles we enjoy are still rare and only being built, ridden
and restored by a small collective. The scene is not blown out, or played
out. It may seem that way when 30,000 people of similar mindset gather
for a weekend surrounded by thousands of bikes that play to our senses.
If the estimated 400 remaining wild Siberian Tigers were all chilling in
Oak Creek Canyon and you spent a weekend with them, you might think, “Damn there’s
a lot of freaking tigers in the world...endangered species my ass.” But, spread
them back out across Russia, and they're rare as hen's teeth. It’s the same with
these bikes; they are not in every garage across America. They are still unique.
Once a year Born-Free turns us upside down
and puts our minds in overload. People start talking crazy. Then, we return to
our normal life or maybe attend a local bike show and realize the scene is
definitely not played out. We are still a small group of individuals who enjoy
building and riding motorcycle inspired by a previous era. Thanks to Mike
and Grant for providing an event that gathers those people. Here’s a
small recap of some of the machines that make Born-Free great.
-Zach
-Zach
