I'm Gin from Ginz Choppers.
I've been around motorcycles, race cars and sand cars since I was able to stand and piss on my own. My dad was racing as far back as I can remember. My parents bought me a 1/4 midget when I was about 4 years old. I raced that car all around my neighborhhod and at a local track.
My parents bought my first motorcycle (Honda Trail 70) when I was 8 years old. About the same time, we got into sand cars and started hitting the sand dunes of Pismo Beach, Dumont and Glamis. I spent many hours along side my dad in the garage wrenching on bicycles, motorcycles and sand cars. We had all the awesome toys. Being a kid was GREAT. After riding my first bike for the first time, I was instantly addicted to motorcycles for life. I continued riding dirt bikes into well into adulthood.
I became interested in Harley Davidson motorcycles in the late 90s, buying my first one in 2001. Over the past few years, by watching and reading about the many talented bike builders in the business, I became inspired to join them and started looking for a way to get my foot in the door.
I had these solo seat sissy bars ideas in my head specifically for solo seat cruisers. Not the traditional sissy bars located on the back of the rear fender, but sissy bars located at the back of a solo seat. My inspiration to get into the business collided with my sissy bar idea in the early months of 2006. So I started down the path to get started, with Ginz Choppers formally opening in October 2006 as a manufacturer of custom sissy bars. My plans are to evolve from a provider of custom sissy bars into a custom bike building operation. I plan to start our first bike build in 2008.
LA Calendar Bike Show
LA Calendar Bike Show
We just wrapped up the LA Calendar Bike Show held in Long Beach, CA on July 12, 13. The builders and vendors were GREAT, the Puurefect Angels were GREAT, the fans and spectators were GREAT, but...to be frank, the event itself SUCKED! Once again, attendance as down from the prior year, parking ($5/bike, $15/car) and admission prices ($25/person) were ridiculously high and the bikes contests were rigged. Before you shout SOUR GRAPES, allow me to explain.
No, I did not enter any bikes into the contests, but some of my bike builders buddies did. After they entered their bikes, they stood on the sideline and watched the single judge (we'll call him Jim) blow by all the bikes except for one, bee-lining directly to one in the group, writing some crap on his clipboard for a few minutes, then walking away. Just a short while later, he returned and did the exact same thing. Actually, he must have forgotten to grab the cash hidden under the seat.
So I ask myself: "Self, how can bikes be judged against one another when the judge doesn't even take a second to pause and look each bike over. What the hell does he use for criteria? Let's see...my best friend (check), biggest kickback (check), MILF (check), my bitch (check), WE HAVE A WINNER!" I mean WTF, it was total BS!!!
Now to add insult to injury, the rules clearly state (which my buddies were even verbally reminded of when signing their bikes up), each bike MUST BE PARKED in the appropriately area marked by category, or the bike WILL NOT BE JUDGED.
My buddies had their bikes appropriately parked in the "Street Chopper" catagory area. But guess what??? A bike won that category which wasn't even parked in that area. Want more??? The bike wasn't even a chopper. Is was a Harley Davidson with a fancy paint job and a bunch of bolt-on accessories. HUH??? Don't get me wrong, I love Harley Davidson and this was a well done Harley, but it was not a chopper. This is just off-the-scale WRONG.
When one of my buddies asked Jim about the parking rules, he reconfirmed that was a requirement for judging. When pressed on how a bike could win in a category where is wasn't parked, AND how a dressed up Harley could win the street chopper category, Jim suddenly became a mute.
Needless to say, unlike Arnold, I WON'T BE BACK! Ginz Choppers WILL NOT BE BACK. Instead, next year you'll find Ginz Choppers at the Hollister event. I hope you'll be there too.
The Ginz Crew
Clyde, David, Frank, Arleen and Mike are members of my crew. They share my same love for the craft and have helped me immensely. They also assist me at bike shows. We are all good, normal (what does normal mean???) guys ... we’ll maybe except for Mike... just kidding big guy.
I don't smoke and rarely drink. I have fun and get my high in other ways. Peace "V"
