Below is a transcript from the video above. We caught up with CT Newman, Jamie Dempsey, Savannah Rose, and Sam Wake at the 2021 Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee, WI.
(CT) Hi, my name’s Christian Newman, CT Newman.
(Jamie) Hi! I’m Jamie Dempsey. I’m from AtWyld. We are a women’s motorcycle gear and apparel brand out of southern California.
(Savannah) Hey, I’m Savannah Rose of Maidenmoto Art Show.
(Sam) Hey, I’m Sam Wake with Kids and Cobras Coffee. Today we’re serving coffee with Go Fast Don’t Die.
(CT) The shortest version of that story I can give you is I’ve just always liked to screw with stuff, and then one time I was at a garage sale and there was a Honda just sitting in the back of the garage sale, and I went and talked to the guy, and I said, “Hey, how much that bike?” He’s like, “Oh, it’s like that’s my son’s bike.” He’s like, “I don’t know just, I want to get rid of it. Give me whatever you want.” I’m like, “How about 10 bucks?” And he’s like, “I was just joking.” He’s like, “Okay, sure.” So then I got this Honda CB, and so, I brought it home, and my dad came out. He’s like, “Oh, I used to have one just like this!” Then he kind of looked around at it, and he’s like, “I had a dent here just like this too!” And he’s like, “Hang on.” And then he went downstairs. He had his old paperwork, and he looked at it, and he’s like, “This is my old bike!” So then I had it, and then, so I just started messing with it, and, I don’t know, it was just, I started dicking with it and now I’m doing bullshit like this.
(Jamie) Motorcycling, for me, started when I was just an impressionable teenager seeing other people riding down the street in the city. It just excited me watching them, and I just wanted to be a part of it, so I took lessons. I lived in Pennsylvania. DMV offered free lessons, so I took them, bought my own bike, which was a vintage Yamaha XS 650. It broke down all the time, so I had to fix it, and that’s how I learned how to fix it. And since then I’ve ridden many, many bikes: Royal Enfields, Harleys, Triumphs, whatever two wheels I can get my hands on. I’ll get on it.
(Savannah) Right before the first Babes Ride Out, I got my bike, I took an MSF class, got licensed, and then realized I wanted a job doing what I love. And I’m pretty much a motorcycle carny. I travel around with the art show; you know, do social media. I do a little bit of everything. I also teach people to ride, so I’m an MSF rider coach.
(Sam) Yeah, so I’m actually fairly new to riding. I always watch from a distance, at least road riding, so I was like I gotta get into that world one day. And, I did a few years ago and started to ride around with a lot of new people. So, our company kind of connected with people who were newer to riding and didn’t know who to ride with, so yeah, that’s more of my history. I’ve been riding for about five years now, but once you’re in it – literally it’ll change your life. It changed my life; I found so much freedom. I needed it, became my own personal counselor out on the road, and I never looked back, so now, I own three or four motorcycles. My friends do the same thing. I live in an apartment, and we’ve just lined them up on the road in front of our apartment. So, it’s just, it’s totally become life for us, and there’s nothing better.
(CT) Lately, I’ve decided that I want to, at least participate beyond making stuff for myself. So I’ve just been making small things here and there to sell. I actually sold two of my bikes that I had built in order to get that started, and so, I bought a CNC Mill. I knew nothing about CNC. When I got it, when the Haas guys delivered it (and this is a machine that cost more than my house), I was like, “So how do I put a tool in it?” Because I’ve used bridge ports and manual lathes my whole life; that’s how I built most of this, and so, now I’ve got this CNC machine, and so, I’ve made a couple things here and there. I made a bunch of frame jigs. I thought I was gonna sell like five of them and wound up selling 35 of them, and so, that was a logistical nightmare because, like, I’m working out of my home shop; I don’t have a loading dock, or a freight account, or anything like that. And so, it was a huge endeavor to get those all shipped out, but I’m just going to keep making stuff and trying to give back to the community as much as I can because I’ve been building bikes for probably 10 years, and I just like to be able to have some stuff on other people’s bikes too.
(Jamie) So, I have this alter ego life – Jamie Dempsey Ride and Seek, and I ride different motorcycles around different parts of southeast Asia experiencing culture and adventure; basically highlighting all the best parts of the countries. It’s the most fun thing I think I could ever do, and I do it for work, so I’m super lucky. I get to see all kinds of different cultures, experience all different adventures. I ride Harleys there; I’ve ridden Royal Enfields, again. That’s how I’ve gotten a chance to ride so many different bikes.
(Savannah) Riding long enough, there are so many really good memories. Probably one of the most satisfying ones was that very first Babes Ride Out where it was 50 women who didn’t know each other. A lot of us were pretty new riders; I definitely was. I got my sportster a week before, and I got to go out to the desert with 50 women and make friends, and that’s probably why I still do this, because, you know, meeting all these awesome women, and making friends, and the connections – there’s nothing better than that.
(Sam) I had a Bonneville T120, and I took it, I got in an argument with my brother, and in riding class they say don’t ride angry, and I didn’t listen. So I hopped on my motorcycle, and took off, and three seconds later I drove through a church sign actually, and it was like this big wooden church sign, went up over the curve, went right through it, whiskey throttled through it. I flew like 30 feet. I don’t know if that’s like a good memory, but it’s a good memory in the sense of it humbled me a lot.
(CT) So, I have a website, but the easiest thing is just find me on Instagram. It’s ctnewman, all one word, no weird punctuation, so I’m pretty easy to find.
(Jamie) You can find AtWyld, we have a website AtWyld.com. Instagram, Facebook, and if you go on our website you can find a dealer that might carry us near you. Oh, you can find me JME_DEMPS Jamie Demps. Follow me on Instagram, you might be able to see some of my adventures in Asia.
(Savannah) So, to find the art show, primarily on Instagram is @MaidenmotoArtShow, and I am TheMouseAndTheMoto.
(Sam) Motorcycle culture can seem so exclusive. The outlaw culture, we’re all attracted to it, but once you get on a bike, you become family, and I didn’t really realize that, so I always wanted to get in with the community; I wanted to connect in that way, and it was pretty scary at first, so I started growing a long beard to maybe find my way in. (I’m totally joking). But, actually what it was, as soon as you get on two wheels, the family, the moto community embraces you, so I would say – just get on it, go and ride, chase your fears. It’s exhilarating. It creates so much opportunity for you, and the family that I have found in the moto world is what keeps me around it, even more than the motorcycles, I love the community. I didn’t know it existed, and I didn’t know it was a family I needed, so yeah, if you’re new to riding and you’re thinking about it, just know that there’s a large subculture of people that are ready to welcome you in and make you feel like you’re at home.