Great Biker Build-Off

[100 Grand]

Anyone catch this show that aired on the Discover Channel? If you like American Chopper and Jesse James' bikes you'd love this show. I don't think it's gonna be a series or anything but the idea is cool as hell. The biker/builder that won the whole thing (3 part show) was Indian Larry...from NYC. He builds the old school choppers with the loud ass pipes, fast motors, ape hangers (handlebars)....he cruises down the interstates standing on his seat, leaning back on seat or sissy bar with his feet up on the bars.....sick fuck!:drunk:

[Sinn Fein]

I watched all the episodes. It was great. Indian Larry is nuts, but he builds amazing stuff. All of those guys do. I was really impressed by the younger guy, Billy Lane.

[gumhead]

Indian Larry -- motorcycle artist
09/01/04


Larry Desmedt, a New York-based custom motorcycle builder and biker better known nationally as Indian Larry, died Monday in Charlotte, N.C., of injuries he suffered doing a stunt on Saturday at an appearance there. He was 55 and lived in New York City.

His death was announced by Timothy White, a photographer and friend. He said Mr. Desmedt had gone to Charlotte for the filming of a new segment in a series shown on the Discovery Channel, "The Great Biker Build-Off."

Indian Larry, who had his workshop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was a legend among biking enthusiasts and other custom builders. He regarded his craft as a form of art and, White said, got his nickname from the classic brand of motorcycle he rode years ago.

He had gone to Charlotte for the shooting on Saturday of an episode of "Biker Build-Off," in which he has successfully competed with other riders of custom-made two-wheelers. The accident happened afterward in a parking lot, with a crowd of thousands watching.

White said Indian Larry, wearing a protective suit but not a helmet, was standing on his bike as he went down the parking lot in a crowd-pleasing routine and may have been blinded by the sun; he fell and hit his head.

He died early Monday at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Larry Desmedt was born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y. His wife, Bambi, and White described him as a lone wolf who was a familiar figure to fans across the country but never joined a motorcycle gang. He was known among bikers as a metal sculptor and highly skilled mechanic.

His first motorbike was a 1939 Harley Knucklehead he bought for $200 when he was a teenager, he said in a Rolling Stone interview. Within hours, he had taken it apart, and it took him nine months to put it back together.

Later he went to California to apprentice himself to one of his heroes, the hot-rod builder Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

He spent a wild youth and was a frequent subject of his friend the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who was attracted to his "crash and burn" way of life. But in 1991 he decided to become "the best chopper builder in the world," according to an autobiography scheduled for publication by Crown in 2005, and devoted himself to becoming what he called a motorcycle artist. His most famous motorcycle, called Grease Monkey, was named Easy Rider magazine's chopper of the year.

Besides his wife, a performer billed as Bambi the Mermaid of Coney Island, Mr. Desmedt leaves his mother, Dorothy Desmedt, and a sister, Tina Wells, both of Middletown, N.Y.

It was not a particularly dangerous maneuver he performed on Saturday, Bambi Desmedt said. "It was showing off, his way of blowing off steam after the bigger stunts," she added, "winding down."

http://img88.exs.cx/img88/2171/larry.jpg

http://img76.exs.cx/img76/2710/larrybed.jpg

http://img76.exs.cx/img76/9854/larryarms.jpg

[gumhead]

http://img74.exs.cx/img74/421/larrywings.jpg

[100 Grand]

Damn...thanks Gum....thanks for the pics too.

[newfnshow36]

[B]Thats a damn shame, he was a talented and cool dude, thanks for the info Gum, i had no idea......

[Sinn Fein]

Damn... Indian Larry rules. I just watched the classic episode of Biker Build Off with him and Billy Lane. They just aired it again. Shit...

I'm chilling some Amstel right now as I type. I'm gonna knock one back for Larry. (Yes I know he was a recovering alcoholic). But I'm still gonna knock one back.

[Sinn Fein]

Billy Lane has something on his site as well.

Choppers Inc (http://www.choppersinc.com/)