Growing up, I did have bicycles, any number of them, and I loved to ride. But never, ever was I tempted to sit myself down on a motorcycle. They were too loud, too fast, too dangerous and, frankly, so were the boys who rode them: too loud, too fast and too dangerous. I am of that era in which the image of the motorcycle and those who rode them was still under that dark, Brando-Hell’s Angels cloud.
I have, of course, witnessed the changes in that culture and now even know a few motorcyclists. But I learned a great deal more about the bikes and the men who ride them by reading Rick Kogan’s cover story, “Going whole Hog,” which focuses on three young men who build that special type of vehicle known as a “chopper.”
“I first met these kids last fall and was immediately taken with them. I was introducing a band called the Ramova Brothers, which contains many friends of mine, and the kids had brought one of their choppers to the event,” Rick says. “It was like a piece of art, and when they told me about having started the only three-day school, Chopper College, for building the machines, and about starting a foundation to aid returning vets, I knew I had to spend more time with them.”
He and photographer Charles Osgood traveled many times to the Chopper College “campus” in Harvey. They got to know and admire the three “professors,” and developed insights into the crazy world of cycling. Rick, who used to ride a bit in his youth, and Charles, who didn’t, plan to take a couple of choppers out on the road this summer. I’m tempted, but I won’t be going along for the ride.
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etaylor@tribune.com
