King of the Road, An Emerging Breed of Motorcycles

Get your motor runnin’, head out on the highway! To a growing number of motorcycle enthusiasts across the country, those time-worn words from a song by Steppenwolf reflect a biker’s free spirit. They smile in anticipation of the next time they take to the road, even if it does mean picking bugs from their teeth.

It’s no different at the Lake of the Ozarks, one of the up-and-coming destinations for motorcycle enthusiasts. Several road trips, charity rides, poker runs and camping trips are planned every year at the Lake. In fact, the Lake was home to a huge Lake of the Ozarks Bikefest last September, and a repeat is planned this year as well. Hundreds of bikers will show off their machines in a variety of events.

The complexion of the industry is changing as well. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, the occupations of owners have changed to reflect the gentrification of cycling. In 1985, 23.2 percent of owners were laborers or semi-skilled. That was down to 6.9 percent in 2003. In 1985, 19 percent of bike owners were professionals. That number was up to 31.2 percent in 2003.

As the demographics have changed, so has the makeup of the motorcycles. Stock bikes are still available from Harley Davidson, Victory, Yamaha, Honda and others, but a trend, especially locally it seems, is to have a motorcycle custom made or ‘tricked out’ by adding custom features to a stock bike.

One of the best-known custom builders in the Lake area is J.D. Kudart who owns Custom Motorcycle Creations on The Strip in Lake Ozark. As a native of Iowa, he has been involved with motorcycles most of his life. While he owned Edgewater Motel on The Strip and Mike Finks, he still dabbled in building motorcycles.

His interest and talent pushed him into the business full time in the mid-1990s and he opened his shop in 2000. His work has won him several awards at various bike shows and biker build-offs, including Choppers for Children, a fund raising event in 2006. His work has been featured in Easy Rider, V-Twin, Full Throttle and Wide Open magazines.

“I can take a brand-name bike and do what the customer wants, but I really enjoy building from the ground up, the frame-up stuff,” he said.

He custom designs his motorcycles based on what the client wants. They give him a vision, and he runs with it.

“I can visualize their bike as they’re talking to me,” he explained.

His forte is pro-street models, choppers, trikes and baggers.

Through the first three quarters of 2008, a survey conducted by the Motorcycle Industry Council found a 29 percent increase in the percentage of female owners, compared to 2003. That last survey found that 9.6 percent of owners were women. Over the first nine months of 2008, the number had grown to 12.4 percent.

Sheri Brown and Kathy Brooks, both business co-owners with their husbands, reflect that trend.

Brown’s ‘trike’ is a good example of how a stock Harley Davidson can be customized and converted into a street machine worthy of any rally, street meet or show.

Brown, of Osage Beach, started with a 2005 Harley Davidson Deluxe ordered from Springfield, Ill., after a trip to Sturgis, S.D., in 2004. She added a DFT (Darn Fine Trike) conversion kit. Kudart fabricated the body and he and Chuck, who converts bikes to trikes as a hobby, put it all together. The kit converts a standard two-wheel motorcycle into a three-wheeler.

By the time Sheri took her inaugural ride to Sturgis, S.D., in 2001, she, Kudart and her husband Chuck had all been involved in the transformation.

Features of the DFT kit include an independent suspension which isn’t typical of most trikes. It’s also narrower which makes it easier to trailer. The independent suspension was designed after a Porsche car and prevents the trike from leaving the ground as it takes the corners.Brown has been biking since 1999 and triking since 2001. She wasn’t a fan of riding motorcycles early in her riding career because of the safety issue. After she rode a friend’s trike in 2001, she got hooked.
Kathy Brooks has a similar story. She, too, got into the world of biking long after her husband, Dave. It wasn’t until after she got her two-wheel license that she decided to convert to a three-wheeler about 3½ years ago.
“I rode on the back of Dave’s bike for a couple of years, but he decided he wanted a Big Dog (brand of motorcycle),” she said. “So I decided I wanted to ride my own bike. I had passed the two-wheel course in Camdenton, but wanted a trike instead.”

Kathy’s is a 2002 Harley Davidson Softail Deuce, a motorcycle that isn’t produced today. Like Sheri, a DFT kit was used to transform the Softail to a trike.

Unique to Kathy’s trike is the paint job, a reflection of her long, flowing blonde hair blowing in the wind. The black and gold paint job is fashioned after an animal print scarf that she gave to Brown’s Body Shop in Camdenton as a basis for the paint scheme.

Kathy’s trike was on the cover of The Black Hills Pioneer newspaper while on her maiden trip to Sturgis in 2006.

While women are making huge inroads into the world of motorcycle riding, men still dominate. Walker Lee, another Lake of the Ozarks resident, is a prime example of how the demographics have shifted.

According to figures from the Motorcycle Industry Council, the median income of motorcycle owners has gone from $25,600 in 1985 to $55,850 in recent years. The age has also increased from 27.1 in 1985 to 41 in 2003.

Lee is a 50-something owner of a real estate business, a far cry from the bearded do-rag-wearing ruffian stereotyped in various movies by Hollywood.

He has owned four Harley Davidsons and got his start on two-wheelers as a youngster on a dirt bike. Today, he owns two impressive bikes, a 2005 custom-made chopper and a 2004 Boss Hoss.

The chopper sports a supercharged, 110-horsepower Rev Tech motor with a 280 rear tire. It has an open transfer case and air ride.

A 350-hp small block Corvette engine powers the Boss Hoss, weighing in at 1,500 pounds, with a full racing cam. With drag pipes and a super custom paint job, the Boss Hoss has automatic transmission (two forward, one reverse) to handle the 405 horses. Lee says it’s rated to hit 250 miles an hour, though he’s only been to 165 mph (but don’t tell the cops!)

Regardless of your income, your lifestyle or your age, custom-made and tricked-out motorcycles are here to stay. They represent a changing dynamic in the world of motorcycles.

Tags: Harley Davidson, motorcycle, Toys, Victory

Category: Sports & Toys