Rolling Deep With Some Of Indy’s Local Motorcycle Clubs

Capturing The Feeling

Our photographer, known by many as Pink Bike Mike, shares how he ended up cruising around town on a pink chopper, camera bag strapped to his back.

When I was in second grade, my friend’s mom gave me the nickname “Michael Michael Motorcycle.” She thought she was teaching us how to balance a checkbook, not realizing she was manifesting my destiny instead.

But it wasn’t until eight years ago that my friend Scooter taught me how to ride on his 2002 Honda Shadow Spirit 750cc. We both dropped the bike that summer, putting matching dents on either side of the gas tank. A year later, I bought the Shadow and fully entered a new chapter of my life.

Three years ago, I became a “chopper guy,” earning a reputation for my hot pink 2004 Harley Davidson Sportster Custom chopper. Oil leaks, loose screws, the backbreaking feeling of hitting every small bump in the road, and old men constantly asking, “But why’s it pink?” became a personality statement.

Film photography and motorcycles go better together than prom king and queen. They hark back to a time when you tinkered with the equations and used your hands to determine the results. Plain and simple, they are a vintage lifestyle.

The biggest story in these photographs is the strength of the riding community. Sure, we rag on each other—sport bikes versus cruisers, vintage versus brand-new, carbureted versus fuel injection, Harley Davidson versus … everyone else—but at the end of the day, we are all just little kids cruising the neighborhood showing off our bikes.

Bike Night

Originally founded in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 2002, high-performance motorcycle parts manufacturer Horsepower Inc. has called Gasoline Alley in Indy home since 2012. Every year around the Indianapolis 500, HPi hosts a bike night with hundreds of attendees from around the world. What started out in 2018 as a small gathering among friends and customers, with some Sam’s Club hot dogs on the grill and a few bottles of beer or Londo’s Flameade, has turned into a much-anticipated yearly event featuring vendors, food trucks, DJs, and stunt crews including Jeff (C-Bear), CJ and the Concrete Cowboys, Junkyard Kenny, and the EastCoastin’ Crew.