This Is Where It Started

I’ve been a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast. Actually, maybe motorcycles aren’t where it started.

Maybe it was always about going fast and feeling free.

If we’re going all the way back to the beginning, my first adrenaline machine was a Big Wheel when I was about five years old.

If you’re a fellow Gen Xer, you probably remember exactly what I’m talking about. The whole goal was to get that thing moving as fast as you possibly could, crank the hand brake, and send yourself sliding sideways.

Something woke up inside me on that Big Wheel.

It never went back to sleep.

My First Motorcycle Didn't Have a Motor

My first “motorcycle” was an old motorcycle frame with two wheels. No motor. No real plan. Just a frame that was rotting away at my buddy’s house.

His brother, like so many of us, had aspirations of building his dream bike. I begged him to sell it to me and eventually he agreed.

Fifty bucks.

When you’re a kid, fifty bucks might as well be five thousand.

So off to work I went. Delivering papers, mowing lawns, whatever I could do. I was getting that motorcycle.

Eventually, I scraped together the $50 and she was mine.

There was just one problem.

It still didn’t have an engine.

But growing up in a small town in upstate New York, we had something almost as good.

Hills.

My friends and I would push that thing to the top of the highest road we could walk to, climb aboard, point it downhill and let gravity do the rest.

Pure freedom.

Twenty miles an hour on a bare motorcycle frame probably doesn’t sound particularly exciting today, but I can still feel it in my gut.

The wind. The speed. The freedom.

That feeling never really left.

Then Life Happened

I’ve had motorcycles on and off my entire life.

The biggest gap came when the kids came along. A lot of riders know that story.

Baby on the way. Bike gets sold. Priorities change.

When my second child was about five years old, I finally told my wife:

“I’ve got to get a bike again.”

I needed to be reminded of that feeling. That sense of freedom that, for me, only a motorcycle has ever been able to provide.

So I bought an adventure bike.

And as anyone who loves motorcycles knows, one motorcycle has a funny way of making you want another one.

Then BMW released the 2023 R nineT 100 Years Edition.

It struck me like lightning.

The chrome tank. The lines. The heritage. The fact that it was a limited edition. It was a modern motorcycle that somehow still felt connected to everything I loved about old motorcycles.

I had to have it.

And once I got it, I was all in.

Strangely enough, that motorcycle is where 73 Moto really begins.

I Couldn't Find What I Was Looking For

It started simply enough.

I wanted a classic-style helmet to go with the bike.

Then I started looking for a jacket. Then gear. Then clothes.

And I realized there really wasn’t much around me that captured the café racer, classic motorcycle style and culture I was looking for.

Then I discovered brands like Deus Ex Machina, Hedon and Holy Freedom.

One brand led to another.

Suddenly I was discovering this whole world of beautifully made, interesting motorcycle gear and apparel. Stuff with character. Stuff you didn’t see everywhere else.

And I knew I couldn't be the only person looking for it.

There had to be other people out there who loved this culture as much as I did.

So I did what I tend to do when I can’t find something I think should exist.

I started my own.

I began sourcing the brands I liked and eventually opened a little store.

I called it 73 Moto.

1973 is the year it all really started for me.

The year I came into this world.

At first, I thought I was building a motorcycle shop.

Turns out, I was building something else.

Then the People Showed Up

Eventually, I brought Sarah and David in to help build the community side of 73 Moto.

Because that’s what they do.

And they did it right out of the gate.

Thursday Bike Night started as a small gathering.

Then something happened.

The people I always knew were out there started showing up.

Brand-new riders.

Old-school riders.

Builders.

Collectors.

People who had been riding their entire lives.

People who had just bought their first bike.

And people who simply loved motorcycle culture and everything that came with it.

Every Thursday we gathered around the bikes. We told stories. We talked about what we were working on. We planned rides. We made friends.

Then we'd come back the next Thursday and do it all over again.

Before we knew it, this little thing we had started had become something special.

It wasn't really about selling motorcycle gear anymore.

And strangely enough, it wasn't even entirely about motorcycles.

It was about the people.

I Found My People

That’s what 73 Moto became.

A place where it doesn’t matter what you ride.

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been riding for 50 years or got your motorcycle endorsement last week.

Hell, you don't even have to ride.

Maybe you just love the machines. The clothes. The design. The history. The sound. The freedom. The culture.

That's enough.

There’s room for you here.

Because somewhere between that Big Wheel, a motorless motorcycle rolling down a hill in upstate New York, a BMW R nineT and a little Thursday night gathering, I finally realized what I had been looking for all along.

I found my people.

And if 73 Moto can help someone else feel that same way, then we built exactly what we were supposed to build.