"Skinnier rear tires, more power, more gears, less weight, less rake, less bullshit". That was the philosophe that Indian Larry shared with me when we finally met in Sturgis in '01. It showed in everything Larry built. He had just finished his ride from The LBC with Jesse, ChopperDave, and Giuseppe Roncen for Motorcycle Mania II. It was Dave that introduced us, and it was a big treat for me, because I had followed Larry' work from the old Iron Horse magazine days.
Larry was just on the verge of "blowing up" then, getting to be really well known with the general public, and on his way. I ran into Larry at all kinds of events after that - WCC's No Love Party, the Horse Smokeouts, Sturgis, etc. But, Larry was always the same guy to me that I met before. He always had a big smile and a warm handshake, remembered what bike I'd been working on the last time we saw each other, and always wanted a progress report. Larry was the consumate 'sickle jockey, Larry was a very cool guy.
I remember being at one big event, and seeing a big-time builder having people standing in this huge line for a picture autograph session, and he didn't bother to show. I looked across the aisle, and there was Larry, with a big crowd around him, giving away personalized autographed posters, posing for pictures, and talking to whoever walked up to him. It was mid-afternoon and hot, and he had been going since 9:00am that morning, and was still in his booth at 10:00pm that night greeting people.
I had the pleasure of introducing Larry to two guys in particular. The first was CJ Allan, who struck up a great friendship with Larry, and in the process CJ engraved several of Larry's bikes, including the Chain of Misterey Bike above - some of, if not the best work CJ has ever done. The other guy was "Pistol Pete" Slactowitz up in Sturgis one year, who owned Deep Cut Rotors at the time. He and Larry worked out a deal to produce the famous signature " ? " rotors Larry ran on his bikes, and they did it all on a handshake deal, never writing a contract down on paper. But, that's the kind of guy Larry was. You can see one of the rotors thru the rear spokes in the COM picture above.
Subscribe
