THIS IS ME: BIKES, GEAR, AND THE STORIES THEY TELL

Elvis Presley is by far the most famous of the featured riders, but this story isn’t about him and his music. It’s about how he came to own his second Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

His rise to fame was meteoric. In two years, Elvis went from driving an electrical supply truck to signing a deal with RCA records. He celebrated his newfound success with his famed pink Cadillac, a new house, and a 1956 Harley-Davidson KH motorcycle.

It was a symbol: he’d made it.

J. Shia’s story started because she was just trying to make ends meet. A self-taught motorcycle mechanic, she’d been repairing friends’ and families’ bikes in her parents’ backyard since she was a teen.

When she was in college studying photography, her life changed unexpectedly. She suddenly had bills to pay. She gave up the dream of being a globe-trotting photographer.

It was never supposed to be a career, but it was a way to earn money. When a customer told her to do whatever she wanted with his bike, she realized she could express her artistry through custom bikes–marrying her business with her desire to work on art.

She built her custom 1972 Harley-Davidson Sprint in honor of her mother, a classically trained singer, and used Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake as her inspiration.

Lauren Gunawan also found a way to combine her job and her passion. From an early age, she wanted to be a police officer like her grandpa, an auxiliary police chief in Milan, Illinois. When a friend introduced her to motorcycling in college, she couldn’t get enough.

She pursued her law enforcement career, and she became a member of the Secret Service Uniformed Division. As soon as she could, she applied to join the elite United States Secret Service Motor Support Unit.

After passing rigorous training and being assigned a 2016 FLHPI Harley-Davidson motorcycle, she spends her days and nights moving the president, vice-president, and foreign dignitaries through heavy Washington, D.C. traffic.

In the summer it’s a hot job; in the winter a freezing one. In short, it can be miserable. And she loves every minute.

A teacher, principal, and school superintendent, Randy ‘Detroit’ Hayward was also a show-bike builder, beautifully restoring antique motorcycles and creating drop-dead gorgeous custom bikes.

Then, someone introduced him to antique motorcycle racing. Off went the fenders of his 1929 Harley-Davidson DL (along with a few other parts)–and onto the race track went Detroit.

It wasn’t long before he was using the skills he learned in the classroom to inspire others on the asphalt.

Today, he runs a traveling museum about early Black motorcycle racers, mentors new racers, and coordinates the Detroit Antique Motorcycle Show.

Four people, four different bikes, and four different ways they express themselves through their riding. These aren’t the only four stories told in This is Me nor the only in motorcycling.

What’s your story and how do you show that?