There are a lot of things I don't know and or understand in life, like quantum physics, where the hell my bike keys are, and women! One thing I am sure of is that every time I shoot an orange bike (that would be twice now) there is always an issue of some sort, something or someone is always trying to piss in my post toasties with orange bikes.inline_mediumwraptextright31263429/features/1001_hbkp_2000_southern_metal_choppers_custom1001_hbkp_01_z+2000_southern_metal_choppers+side_view.jpgTrue

It's a pretty common thought amongst most people that you should never mix business with pleasure. But when you aren't like most people, you can throw conventional thinking out the window and do as you will. Such is the case with three friends who turned into business partners with the inception of Dirico Motorcycles. Formed by inventor Mark Dirico (the company's namesake), multiple New Hampshire Harley-Davidson dealership owner Stephen Talarico, and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, these guys are an eclectic group of buddies who decided to take their love of motorcycles and turn it into a business.inline_mediumwraptextright31266267/features/1001_hbkp_2010_dirico_production_bikes1001_hbkp_01_z+2010_dirico_production_bikes+bikes.JPG.jpgTrue

Last month, HOT BIKE gave you the rundown on Harley-Davidson's 2010 Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) models. This month, we're back with more American-manufactured motorcycle goods with Harley-Davidson's brand-new-to-the-regular-fleet 2010 models.

Attention Hot Bike Readers!

We would like to start by asking you, the reader, to help us with your ride submissions. There is no shortage of Readers' Rides coming across the editor's desks; however, only about 1/4 of them can be used. The reason: bad photos, little or no info about the bike, and even worse, no contact info to get better photos or the needed bike specs. So before you put a stamp on that envelope or send out that e-mail, make sure that you have filled out the basics: Your name, phone number and/or e-mail, where you're from. Then fill out a spec sheet-all you need to do is copy the info from the magazine: Motor, tran, frame, wheels, and so on. Last, a brief history about you and your bike. Now that you know exactly what we're looking for, we can't wait to see what you're going to send in. Thanks!

Here at HOT BIKE, we get a lot of rides-Harleys, hogs whatever you want to call them-submitted by our readers. Pick of the Pen is an opportunity to dedicate a few pages to our favorite readers-submitted bike each month. This month's pick of the pen comes to us from Sue Huebl out of Georgia.

Specs

BIKE OWNER	Paul Kokesh
SHOP NAME	Exotic Choppers, Inc.
SHOP PHONE	(407) 253-1233
SHOP WEBSITE	www.ExoticChoppers.com
YEAR/MAKE/MODEL	2005/HD/V-ROD
FABRICATION	Exotic Choppers
ASSEMBLY	Exotic Choppers
BUILD TIME	45 hours w/fabrication time/paint time

Attention Hot Bike Readers!
We would like to start by asking you, the reader, to help us with your ride submissions. There is no shortage of Readers' Rides coming across the editor's desks; however, only about 1/4 of them can be used. The reason: bad photos, little or no info about the bike, and even worse, no contact info to get better photos or the needed bike specs. So before you put a stamp on that envelope or send out that e-mail, make sure that you have filled out the basics: Your name, phone number and/or e-mail, where you're from. Then fill out a spec sheet-all you need to do is copy the info from the magazine: Motor, tran, frame, wheels, and so on. Last, a brief history about you and your bike. Now that you know exactly what we're looking for, we can't wait to see what you're going to send in. Thanks!

What is it about being the first one on the block to get the new toy, like the latest and greatest cell phone or iPod, the "new" whatever it is? This is the excitement the staff at HOT BIKE feels when the new Harley-Davidson Custom Vehicles Operation (CVO) models are released and we get the first run at them. This year marks 11 years of CVO model releases, and Harley has unleashed four new better-than-ever CVO bikes for us to test ride and review.

Back in the '70s in South Los Angeles, Big Sleep grew up wanting to be part of this elite crowd where the big boys played with the big toys. Harley-Davidsons were primo during the time and for most folk including Sleep, H-Ds were not affordable. For the few people that had a Harley, they seemed to belong in a class all on their own.

On more than one occasion we've heard the sob story of some poor guy who thought he had finally found true love, only to have it ripped from his heart after a messy divorce. We all know a good bike is hard to find, and it always seems that after putting years of TLC into turning it into your dream ride, the ex always seems to end up with it. Mark Missildine's story is a little different. Instead of losing his pride and joy in a knockdown drag-out divorce, basically Mark lost his ride the day he married his new bride.

Here at HOT BIKE, we get a lot of rides-Harleys, hogs, whatever you want to call them-submitted by our readers. Pick of the Pen is an opportunity to dedicate a few pages to our favorite readers-submitted bike each month. This month's pick of the pen comes to us from David Walden of West Virginia.

Editor's note: There are plenty of people whose dream job would be to own their own company or work in the motorcycle industry. Sure it's a great gig to be surrounded by your passion every day and night, and while it comes with a great appreciation to work in such a fun industry, it also comes with a lot of hard work and long hours, as we found out when Kevin Martin of Dragonfly Cycle Concepts (DCC) relayed the story to us about his latest new product display/personal bike. If you're not familiar with DCC, for the past seven years, the company has been putting rock 'n' roll to the road with its fairing and audio kits.inline_mediumwraptextright25875485/features/0913_hbkp_2009_harley_davidson_street_glide0913_hbkp_02_z+2009_hd_street_glide+right_side_view.jpgTrue

You can have function without fashion, but you cannot have fashion without function." Ethics instilled in Noel "Noelski" Kalinosky, by Dr. Cecil Behringer, his mentor and bicycle racing coach. Noel started with super-motobikes and eventually worked his way to his true love, V-twin customs. Building and riding bikes for over half his life, Noel has the same idea we see across the country when we talk to true bikers. According to Noel, a motorcycle is a machine that's supposed to eat up the road with vengeance while still being able to handle and stop on demand. If your bike doesn't do that, who really cares how it looks? With that in mind, he built Seville, a beautiful Shovelhead-based custom with a Salvador Dali twist.inline_mediumwraptextright27009322/features/0913_hbkp_custom_1965_2007_harley_davidson0913_hbkp_01_z+custom_1965_2007_harley_davidson+side_view.jpgTrue

Anybody can break the rules. Give a chimp Red Bull and a shotgun, and chances are, you've busted a few regs somewhere. Some might call it edgy, others might call it entertaining. No one calls it a bright idea. It gets back to the old adage, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should."inline_mediumwraptextright27008506/features/0913_hbkp_2008_special_construction_motorcycle0913_hbkp_02_z+2008_special_construction_motorcycle+harlan_schllingers.jpgTrue

A motivating force behind Dave Welch of Chopper City USA in Orange Park, Florida, is the notion that builders should not limit themselves to one style of bike when it comes to showcasing their vision of two-wheel art. Although he leans towards classic, uncluttered Harley conversions, Dave is just as comfortable building wild, ground-up customs as he is with anything that rolls his way. So when the opportunity arose to build a Pro-Street, Dave was excited to add one to his stable of bike styles offered at his shop.inline_mediumwraptextright27007183/features/0913_hbkp_2007_chpp_300_rsd_pro_street0913_hbkp_01_z+2007_CHPP_300_RSD_pro_street+side_view.jpgTrue

Talk with any custom motorcycle enthusiast and chances are within a few short minutes you'll realize that they are also fans of the four-wheel method of transportation as well. Now, when I say four wheels I'm not talking about your average mini van or soccer mom french-fry-oil-Duracel-powered SUV, I'm talking about cars and trucks that have been customized, modified, or built with style and passion. It must be the ability to appreciate the blood, sweat, and tears that go into designing and building a method of transportation that wasn't just assembled to commute from the office to parent teacher meetings, but a machine that has sex appeal, style, and mad horsepower-these guys just get it.

Many times when we meet custom bike builders we often find that they came from the automotive or even aircraft industry. The transition from cars and trucks or planes and helicopters to motorcycles makes complete sense, it's all a matter of having the passion to utilize steel, aluminum, nuts, and bolts to harness horsepower into fixed wing, four wheel or two wheel modes of transportation.

In the Vol. 41, No.6 issue of HOT BIKE we ran an Under the Radar article on Illusion Motorsports. In that article we showed you a pic of one of the shop's recent creations, a made-over and hopped up 1991 Heritage Softail. We threatened we were going to give you a full feature on the bike so you could get a better look at it, well, here it is.

Attention Hot Bike Readers! We would like to start by asking you, the reader, to help us with your ride submissions. There is no shortage of Readers' Rides coming across the editor's desks; however, only about 1/4 of them can be used. The reason: bad photos, little or no info about the bike, and even worse, no contact info to get better photos or the needed bike specs. So before you put a stamp on that envelope or send out that e-mail, make sure that you have filled out the basics: Your name, phone number and/or e-mail, where you're from. Then fill out a spec sheet-all you need to do is copy the info from the magazine: Motor, trans, frame, wheels, and so on. Last, a brief history about you and your bike. Now that you know exactly what we're looking for, we can't wait to see what you're going to send in. Thanks!

With all the rumors and false information spread across the internet via websites and emails we were a little skeptical this morning when we received an email about the 26th Annual Love Ride being cancelled--especially since we had gotten an announcement a few weeks earlier about Dwight Yoakam headlining the upcoming event. We wanted to make sure the cancellation was true so we contacted Glendale H-D marketing director Steve Fisher to get confirmation and he informed us that yes the event has been cancelled, here is the press release that was sent out.

The 1960s mean different things to different people, even riders. For bikers it's about choppers, for racers it's the dirt track, Daytona, and drag racing. Drag racing is was what inspired this hot rod from Jeff and Jason Tiedeken at Metal Morphosis Cycles. Well, drag bikes and a tire. The two brothers had a shop in Minnesota with so much extra space they lent it out to friends. One buddy had a drag car and left his Mickey Thompson slicks there. It seems the local fuzz didn't like him raising hell on the streets and constantly bugged him about his racing tires.