Michael's Blog

Jessi Combs in Bobby Green's Overland Whippet at The Race of Gentlemen. Wildwood, NJ. Photo ©2015 Michael Lichter.

Of course, we paid tribute to Jessi Combson to kick off last nights “Women in Custom Biking” episode of the “Coast-to-Coast” podcast that I co-host with Cris Sommer-Simmons, but most of the show was given up to two incredible custom motorcycle builders, J Shia and Sofi Tsingos.

“Heavy Mettle” exhibition builders Brian Klock, Jerry Covington and Paul Yaffe will be on tonight’s “ShopTalk” multicast

Michael as photographed after his portrait sessions of riders on the Cross Country Chase in Miami, FL. Photo by Melissa Shoemaker

It was fun getting interviewed for the Pigeon Hole podcast by Dave Woll.

Dean Bordigioni riding his 1-cylinder 1-speed 1914 Harley-Davidson on the Motorcycle Cannonball. Stage 7 (274 miles) from Cedar Rapids to Spirit Lake, IA. Friday September 14, 2018. Photo ©2018 Michael Lichter.

This image of Dean Bordigioni in the Motorcycle Cannonball shows the determination that went into riding coast to coast on a single-cylinder ~7hp single-speed 1914 Harley-Davidson without missing a single mile, and taking the first place trophy home at the end.

Sugar Bear leads the way on the Lichter / Sugar Bear ride from the Broken Spoke County Line during the annual Sturgis Black Hills Motorcycle Rally. Sturgis, SD, USA. August 2, 2009. Photo ©2009 Michael Lichter.

Sugar Bear, the legend who has said, "If it ain’t long, it’s wrong" has a very fitting logo of a big red heart with wings.

Choppers at Junction and Main, Sturgis, SD, 1979. Photo ©1979 Michael Lichter. Where is everybody? The busiest corner in Sturgis on the busiest day of the rally. Rossini went on to create his famous tattoo parlor in the barber shop. While Rossini died in 2003 and the building was eventually scraped, but it’s still the best corner to watch the scene. Enough time has passed that the look has come back - the long front ends, metal flake, pull back bars, maybe just not the Honda chopper.

I've made some positive changes to the upcoming Sturgis Motorcycles as Art Exhibition! We had a great Cycle Source Shoptalk podcast last night with 4 of the 38 builders in this year's Sturgis “Heavy Mettle - Motorcycles and Art with Moxie” exhibition at the Buffalo Chip. It now has the qualifier "UNLOCKED EDITION"

Ryan Allen of NM takes a break from riding his 1916 Indian at the Mesa Trading Post in Arizona during the Motorcycle Cannonball Race of the Century. Stage-11 ride from Durango, CO to Page, AZ. USA. Wednesday September 21, 2016. Photo ©2016 Michael Lichter.

This photo of Cannonballer Ryan Allen of NM with his 1916 Indian Powerplus keeps growing on me. It was taken on a break from the 2016 Cannonball Centennial Run (all 100-year-old bikes) at the Mesa Trading Post in Earp, AZ (I got the town name from one listener, and then Ryan posted that it has since been demolished and replaced by a modern gas station). We were riding from Durango, CO to Page, AZ and it was plenty hot. This was the photo I talked about last week with Jason Sims, Ron Nussbaum, and Chris Callen during my “Thousand Words” segment of the Wednesday night weekly Cannonball Chronicles podcast.

Michael Lichter in the studio photographing the What's The Skinny" Exhibition bikes. Sturgis, SD. 2018. Photo ©2018 Missi Shoemaker for Michael Lichter

Live show on 4ever2wheels Facebook page. Bikers and Racism: "The Difficult Conversations" with Gevin Fax, Michael Lichter and Ken Conte. A topical discussion.