What's next?

Reading Blue's articles in BSH about John Reed and seeing how far ahead of his time that he was I got to thinking, what's going to happen next. I know and have met some of the most inovative and creative individuals in the custom motorbike world. When I get my head in the right place even I can have idea after idea of different ways of doing things although I won't be in the same league as someone like Vic Jefford or Chica.

I'm opening this up now. There is so much inovation in the custom scene that there must be a stop off point. Is that true? Can we just keep getting better and better ideas? Or will we get to a point where the old ideas get a makeover? What do you think is the next big step in custom building. Do you think there will be an end to it or can we go someplace we've never been before?

www.thatchopperspirit.com A new road in magazines.

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

1 year down the road

Yeeha. That Chopper Spirit has reached the grand old age of one. (The first issue went out just about this time last year.) That's six copies of the magazine, come video diary come music collection. Plus in the last couple of weeks I have actually managed to get my sorry arse to the workshop of Mr. P. Bridges and get some work done on the chop.

It's been a 'project' for three years now. (I didn't do much last year as I was getting this magazine going.) I haven't even got a proper rolling chassis yet but that will all change soon. Tomorrow perhaps. It's a long haul when the most time I can spend doing it is about four hours a week. Once all the welding is done I shall relieve Mr. B of the burden. He won't let me take it yet as he knows I will do a shoddy job and probably kill myself. That's not fair though because I didn't kill myself last time I built it. Nor the time before that. My welding is crap though.

Is anyone else building anything?

It would seem like that rascal, Bill Gates, has stolen the font I used for That Chopper Spirit magazine. Why does that happen? It's not that I wasn't using it. Now I have to find a new one to take over. I know, I should have saved the title banner but I didn't. Of course I could spend nineteen pounds to buy the font back again but why the hell should I?

More than just another magazine. It's almost a phenomenon.

18 Nov 2007

OK, let's get to business. This is all about choppers. Not just the bikes but the people who ride, the people who build and those that want to spread the word. I fall into all three categories. Obviously that means just the people parts. I'm not a chop myself although I have had some teeth removed. It didn't make me any faster or more nimble though. In fact once I almost fainted but that was an impacted wisdom tooth so I feel vindicated. A little bit of pain never hurt anyone.

Anyway, it's been a year since I launched the CD-Zine, That Chopper Spirit and what a year it's been. Go to http://www.thatchopperspirit.com/ to find out what the project offers.

How did that all come about I hear you ask. Alright maybe you don't really care but then I don't care that you don't care so I'm going to tell you anyway.

I've known I wanted to be a writer since about 1986. Back then I was tring to be a novelist. Who knows, maybe one day if I get a spare year. (And here is a tip for any would be writers out there. Don't let anything get in your way. Just do it. If you fail first time do it again.) After trying a few avenues I found something that I had been into since I was sixteen to write about. Yep, motorbikes. I've always had them in my blood so to speak. When not in the blood they have been in the garage. That is to say, when you don't own one you tend to want one and when you do own one you want another.

Any way, one night at a rally about two and a half years back I'm sat there, minding my own pint when Blackjack turns to me and says, "What about a magazine on CD-Rom?" He get's these ideas now and again as he has that sort of brain. Knowing that he has that sort of brain I had said to him prevoiusly, "I'm writing for magazines but where do I go from there? I want to do something more!" At the time he said write a book but God, how many books are there out there? More than a hundred that's for sure. OK, maybe that is something that I will do as I've already aluded to but time is a cruel sea, err, or something.

For about a year we shot ideas past each other, started collecting material, he learnt HTML and we came up with a rough idea of what it was going to look like. Things were going great but I had to keep pushing Blackjack to get interested. Once he was pushed he rose to the occasion and came up with some great content. But then other things took him off track and the whole process of pushing had to start again. I mean, let's face it he does lead a full life. Not only does he build custom bikes and stuff he writes for two publications as well as getting his own stuff together for another project. As plates go his has a large helping of pie.

After a year he says he can't do it as there is too much other stuff he has to do. I ask if he minds if I take over and he says of course not. So take over I do. But I don't know HTML. I don't know squat when it comes to this stuff but I'm willing to learn. What is the best way to learn? Through experience. What is the best way to get experience? Through making mistakes. And the best way to do that is to have a go with a blindfold on.

It's been six months since I took over from Blackjack and I just took a peek under the blindfold. The sun was out and I couldn't see a thing. Basically I wasn't getting it done. Then I hear that Chris Ireland is going to release a magzine on CD-Rom. Blackjack had told the idea to someone who gave it to Chris and he was as fired up about it as I was. I was ready to team up with Chris as a joint venture. We would have had a surplus of stuff to use but he didn't want to take anyone else onto his team as it was going to get too watered down. He was also a bit wary of competition. I don't believe in that concept as we can all help each other to get ahead if we huddle down nice and cozy. Well, I wanted to be the first. After all, we'd been working on the idea for two years so I felt it was my perogative to be first. I'm so glad that the idea was passed to Chris or I would still have been dragging my feet. That whole scenario got me the kick up the arse that I needed, so no hard feelings to anyone involved. You played your part in the grand scheme of things.

And that is how the universe works folks. Everything happens for a reason. There are no bad situations as every cloud has it's silver lining. Even the fact that I have lost any free time I may have had and I don't get to just go for a ride for no reason any more, it's all for a good cause.

I don't seem to have writen much about choppers yet. All in good time.