Austin City NoLimits: Part 1 – Handbuilt

I recently started a job with a home office in Austin Texas and, if you did not know, our good bud and COTT contributor, Quinn is now an Austinite.  My job is a WFH job but I decided to pay fealty and visit the office for a few days of work. I took advantage of my travel expenses being covered to spend time with Quinn as I haven’t seen his beautiful mug in way too long. I just so happened to pick the same week that the Handbuilt Show and MotoGP where in town. Wow. What a coincidence. Total happenstance. I definitely didn’t plan an office visit to coincide with show and race.

I lie… I totally did.

At the end of my final day at the office, Quinn came and got me. Thank fuck because, if you don’t know, ride-shares and rental car prices are fucking bonkers right now and my office is way the fuck in North Austin. His new GMC Sierra is both very Texas and very Quinn. I was stoked to be riding in pure Texan style. We headed  back to his place to take care of his pups. I got to see that big doofus Sam. Love that dog. Never will I forget him mulching a 3 year old at an eastern shore Maryland beach moto-trip. Good times. Anyways, once Quinns lovely lady made it home we went to fuel up on spicy Margs and tacos at a joint called De Nada. Feeling buzzed and fueled, we rolled to the show.

We got overpriced drinks and bumped into people Quinn knows from his RSD and Cali time. We also bumped into Stevan from Revzilla, err I mean Comoto. It was rad to see him as he was one of the few big-wigs there that treated me like an equal. I found out that he used to live in Bellows Falls, VT which is right up the road from my new home town Brattleboro, VT. Small freaking world.

My drink eventually ran dry and I did not wanna re-up because of the stupid drink prices. $6 for a Lone Star? Come on!?! So it was time to get lost and look at some bikes.

The following pics are of some, definitely not all, of the bikes in the show. Some that caught my eye for all the right, wrong, and in between reasons.

Some of my favorites were:

• XR650R Flat Track
• XS650 Stingray
• Honasaki (Z1 in a CB frame. Why not HonDasaki though?)
• Mint Boat-tail SuperGlides (stock is the new custom, amirite?)

This was my first show seeing custom electric bikes. Not sure how I feel about that yet. Maybe I’m wrong but it seems its all body work. How do you make a big battery shine? Anyways, on to the bikes:

After the show we went and had a mini Philly squad reunion at a bar called Fraziers where our old friend, Heather, is the manger and bartender. It was great to drink and catchup with Richie, Garcia, and Persico. For a hot second it was like being back at Garage south in the summer of ’16 or ’17. After plenty of $2 Banquet mugs, it was time to slide back to Quinn’s and get some shut-eye for the rest of the weekends adventures await us!