Last weekend, I went to the monthly open house at Standard Motorcycle Co. I'd been looking forward to checking the place out for quite a while, and decided tonight was the night. They have an open house every first Friday of each month, or at least that seems to be their current plan. I think there's only been one before. I only noticed it on their event schedule last December, but I might have missed where they had previous ones scheduled. The description of the open house said there would be barbecue. I didn't see any, but that's ok - I wasn't there for the barbecue anyway. Being that I'm a vegetarian, I didn't look to hard.
Being a somewhat introverted nerd, I was worried about fitting in. Social intimidation is part of why I hadn't gone to the previous Open House and why I missed out on a Bike Night they had several months ago. But when I got there, everyone was friendly. Kit Kat, one of the Standard Motorcycle Co. staff members, was the first to introduce himself. Shortly thereafter someone offered me a beer. A co-op member (I won't mention real names in this post out of privacy concerns), gave me a tour of the place.
Their garage was quite impressive, with a huge selection of motorcycle lifts, tools, metal working equipment, etc. The lounge area seemed like a cool place to hang out. And, Jesus, who ever decorated that place fuckin ROCKS! The place looks quite hipsterific, and while I'm not a hipster myself, I like the vibe.
After the tour, I learned that a couple of the guys there were fellow Marines. The older of the two served a few enlistments before my time in the corps, while the other guy served long after I got out. We discussed MRE's, MRE bombs, and various other Marine Corps related topics.
Afterwards, I talked to a group of fellow visitors, a few of whom rode in from Sanford. One of the guys in this group told me about using zip ties to change a tire. I wish I'd known about this about a year ago when I changed my rear tire. After breaking the bead, you run zip ties around the old tire about 6 inches apart, and the tire comes off easily. Zip tie the new tire with the same spacing, soap up the rim of your wheel, and slide the new one on. Remove the zip ties, and inflate. I'll definitely be trying this out in the future.
There was one visitor that I really didn't like. In fact, he was pretty much a douche bag. I won't mention what he was riding, but I get the impression that a lot of douchebags (not the Harley kind) ride bikes like this. He tried too hard to impress folks with his bike, his cavalier attitude towards women, how he has better judgement than one of the other guys there, etc. I think he was trying to convince himself how cool he was as much as trying to convince anyone else. Maybe I met my first squid (in the motorcycle terminology sense. I've met several sailors).
Later on, I wandered over to a couple and another guy having a conversation next to a very nice looking Indian Scout. The couple brought home brewed beer, and the wife seemed to be an expert in home brewing. I wish I'd given their beer a try, but I already had one beer. I drink very little when I know I'm going to be riding anytime soon. They were very down to Earth, and were a pleasure to talk to.
The other guy they were talking to seemed a bit pretentious at first, but turned out to be a pretty cool guy. He's educated, talked like he knew a thing or two about good wine, food, etc, but was friendly and definitely not snobbish. He's a computer science guy, and we discussed the software industry, actually discussed the company I work for (nothing confidential was discussed), and even discussed how software/electronic projects could be used for motorcycles.
I wish I could have stayed longer, but ended up leaving after hanging out for a couple of hours. A 5 year old monster lives at my house, and my wife needed some relief. I definitely did not feel out of place. I love that there was a wide variety of people there who are passionate about motorcycles.
I hope to join up one day. While I currently do not have the budget for it, their membership plans are very reasonable considering all they offer. Hopefully one day, I'll find myself turning a wrench there on a project bike. Until then, I hope to show up to more of their community events.
By the way, their website is http://www.standardmotorcycleco.com/
Disclaimer: Neither I nor my blog are in any way affiliated with Standard Motorcycle Company (though I might get a membership one day). They don't even know this blog exists and probably don't care. This is post is simply my impression of the place during their open house.
