ROCKIN’ RIDES

By RICHARD L. BOCCIA

Cruising into Bikes and Blues Blast

Bikers at Chevrolet Centre declare freedom, independence with custom rides.

YOUNGSTOWN — “Chicks dig my ride.”

Tommy Lallo proudly wore a T-shirt with those words and an illustration of a children’s tricycle in reference to his customized three-wheel Harley-Davidson.

At the Mahoning River Bikes and Blues Blast at the Chevrolet Centre on Saturday, bikers from the Valley showed off their rides and talked about the freedom of the open road.

“In the ’70s, it was looked down on. Now there are doctors and lawyers [riding bikes],” Lallo said. “People used to look at us like outlaws.”

Lallo said that’s not the only thing that’s changed in the world of motorcycles. Parts for his custom trike — modified from a 1950 police car — are harder to find.

Spare parts were abundant when he built the bike in 1972, carving a back seat out of the original trunk. Now he orders custom-made components from out of state.

“I’ve had that motorcycle for 30 years,” Lallo said, and the 58-year-old from Struthers has modified it every few years since.

The trike’s color changed the most, going through black, orange, green and brown before Lallo settled on red. He likes the fact that he built his bike differently.

Some bikes come pre-made that way.

Randy Burkey rode into the parking lot on a race car motor stuffed between the wheels of a motorcycle. At $40,000, Burkey said he paid more for the limited model from Tennessee bike-maker Boss Hoss than he did for his house.

“It’s different,” he said. “I love it, just for the attention.”

The 500-horsepower beast gets 12 mpg, and when the 47-year-old from North Lima can afford to ride it, people ask questions.

“They ask me if it’s hard to ride because it’s so big and heavy,” he said.

Though the bike weighs about two times more than the average motorcycle, Burkey said it’s easy to ride because it’s balanced.

Sometimes riding a motorcycle isn’t so smooth, and accidents come with the territory.

Tod McBride of the West Side ought to know — he’s had two wrecks in recent years, although he’s ridden since his dad modified a bike to fit him when he was 10.

“I’ve been to hell and back on them things,” McBride said, telling the tale of one accident.

He used the settlement money to buy a replacement bike from New York City. The only problem was he had to drive it home to Ohio in the winter. He made stops every 20 minutes to keep from freezing. Bearing the cold and the chance of accidents, McBride said fear is the real risk.

“Once you’re afraid, that’s when you get hurt,” he said. “There’s two kinds of riders: those who have fallen and those who will fall.”

Danger and caution were part of the show put on by motorcycle stunt team Star Boyz of Akron, who spun, screeched and stood their bikes on one wheel outside the center.

Scott Caraboolad, who started the team with Kevin Marino 10 years ago, said they decided to take stunt biking to the limits.

“In any sport, you have the guys who cruise around and the guys who do triple back flips and break their necks,” Caraboolad said.

rboccia@vindy.com