June 13, 2025 • 48 mins
The moment you restore an old motorcycle, you're not just fixing a machine—you're preserving history, creating art, and joining a global community of kindred spirits. This truth resonates powerfully throughout my conversation with Chris Tope, the visionary builder behind Utopeia Moto Company. That's right, uTOPEia. Get it???
Chris's journey from Richardson, Texas to the mountains of West Virginia reveals how motorcycles can become the thread connecting seemingly disparate lives. His passion began at 14 with a neglected Yamaha moped from an abandoned storage unit, which he lovingly restored while dreaming of impressing girls (despite it being a single-seater). This early mechanical education blossomed into a lifelong dedication to rescuing forgotten motorcycles—particularly two-strokes like Hodakas, Pentons, and other brands that have largely vanished from America's roads and trails.
What makes Chris's work truly exceptional is his integration of natural elements reflecting his background as a biologist. Each build features thoughtful details like epoxy resin grips, gemstone accents, paint schemes inspired by butterfly wings, and his signature "hobo coin" tribute. "I try to make the coolest two-strokes in the industry," he explains, focusing on models overlooked by mainstream builders. This approach has earned him invitations to prestigious shows from Portland to Austin, allowing him to connect with luminaries including DGR founder Mark Hawwa and musician/motorcycle enthusiast Lyle Lovett.
Perhaps most inspiring is how Chris transformed his passion into community service. Discovering West Virginia lacked a Distinguished Gentleman's Ride, he founded one in his small town of Fayetteville (population 3,000), growing from 25 riders to 46 and raising $25,000 for men's health causes. He also established the annual "Utopeia Give Back Giveaway," distributing $10,000 in donated motorcycle gear to community members during the winter months when riding spirits often need lifting. Connect with Chris on Instagram at Utopeia Moto Company to see his remarkable creations and perhaps commission your own piece of motorcycle artistry—though with twin nine-month-old boys at home and a biology career, he limits himself to about one custom build annually.
https://www.instagram.com/utopeia_moto_company/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063995115243
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ron (00:00):
Well, welcome everybody again to the Peace Love Moto
podcast.
There's been so many things Ihave loved about this podcast.
Sometimes I'm not pleased withthe material.
I think I could go back and doa better job, especially with
the earlier podcast episodes.
But the real privilege has beento meet people, people who were
(00:22):
strangers at first, and then wefind out that we have this
common thread that happens to bemotorcycles, and then it just
takes a usually a shortconversation, like the
conversation we're going to havetoday, where you find out that
who you're talking to is areally good person and that is
who we're visiting with today.
So Chris Tope from Utoepia MotoCompany is on with us today.
(00:45):
We found each other throughInstagram, so I know there's a
lot of people, including myselfsometimes that bashes Instagram
as a waste of time, but no, itisn't Not always, especially
when you're looking up peopleand elements that are of
interest in.
Motorcycling is my interest.
So, chris, I'm so glad that wecould connect today.
(01:07):
So thanks for being on thePeace Love Moto podcast.
Chris (01:11):
Well, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Hello everybody.
Ron (01:16):
Well, chris.
So now my Texas accent comesout every once in a while.
We've lived here in Coloradofor about 30 years now, but grew
up in Texas.
So tell me, tell our friendsthat are listening in, where are
you and where does the accentcome from?
Chris (01:35):
So I'm currently in West by God.
Virginia is where I live in asmall little town called
Fayetteville.
It's actually the home of thenewest national park in West
Virginia and in the US, so it'sthe New River Gorge National
Park is right where our boundaryis.
I grew up in a town calledRichardson, Texas, outside
(02:00):
Dallas.
Ron (02:02):
Absolutely.
Chris (02:03):
About 20 minutes or so north of Dallas and I grew up
there and I guess that's wheremy accent came from.
Richardson, texas.
I went to school at the TexasA&M University and got my
education and then startedmoving around the US for my job
(02:24):
and my career, so it's kind ofdied down.
My accent.
It's not near as strong as itused to be, but you know I still
.
Every time I go back it getsdeep again.
Every time I visit home.
Ron (02:37):
You know it's funny, chris, I would not be surprised at all
if our family tree doesn't meetsomewhere, because I'm from
McKinney, texas, which is about10 miles north of Richardson, or
, yeah, 10, 10 minutes anyway,oh man, it is just just flew
home last night from Texas and Iwas out in that area, but, uh,
(02:59):
yeah, we're, we're, we probably.
Uh, our family tree hasprobably crossed branches
somewhere.
But, chris, somehow somewhere,yeah, yeah.
So, chris, we crossed paths,originally through Instagram,
and I found you there, becauseof motorcycles, obviously, and
you started a little companycalled Utopeia Moto Company.
(03:24):
Yeah, Utopeia Moto Company,that's what you call it, right.
Chris (03:30):
I do.
My last name's Tope and Ialways had.
My nickname growing up wasUtopeia, and so they
incorporated Utopeia with Tope,and so if you look at my logo,
everybody's like man, youmisspelled Utopeia and I'm like
no, no, no, it's my last name,it's just incorporated, so we
(03:51):
just ran with it.
So that's kind of how the dayswere born for Utopeia Moto
Company.
Ron (03:59):
That.
Well, that's cool, I love that.
I love that.
Well, I want.
I want to come back to yourcompany.
Chris (04:20):
Oh, I love that, I love that.
Well, I want to come back toyour company, but if we could
circle back a Evinrude Eltos,the Cubs, the Elto Ace, you know
, I really got into and joinedrebuilding old outboard motors
and kind of bringing life backto them and kind of bring life
(04:42):
back to them, and so then that'skind of how I learned a little
bit of carburetors restoration,polishing paint, all that stuff,
and then I used to have a.
I still actually have one ofthe almost original QT50 mopeds,
(05:03):
a Yamaha moped that I own.
Wow, and my aunt and uncle owna storage unit in San Antonio,
texas.
Someone didn't pay their billand they're like hey, we have
this random moped, you want it.
It didn't run or anything, andso that was kind of my getting
my feet wet.
Uh, old motorcycles, eventhough it was a moped.
(05:24):
Uh, I got on that and uh,started restoring that and
trying to get it.
So it ran and drove and at thattime I was like 14, I was like
yes I'm gonna have some wheels,I can go pick up girls on the
moped, even though it's a singleseater.
You know, uh, I I thought, yeah, this is, this is my next way
(05:47):
of life.
Man, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna becooler than all my friends.
And so I got it all restored,got it running and I got my
moped license.
You can in texas, you can getlegal to drive around on the
roads if you get a mopedendorsement on your driver's
license.
So so I got a moped.
There's an interesting feedbackor interesting line to this.
(06:10):
So I got that.
I was driving, outgrew it, Iwas 16, got my real license, got
my new car it was an old usedBronco, ford bronco.
And uh, I'm driving home oneday and I get pulled over and
the cop looks at my driver'slicense and he starts laughing
(06:34):
because it said motorcycleendorsement.
But then you look on the backand it said regular regulation,
uh, moped.
And then that that guy startedlaughing, almost crying, and
he's like man, I'm gonna let youoff like you.
Actually, I've never seen thisin my life someone have an
endorsement for a moped and Ihaven't heard of that either
(06:56):
yeah yeah, yeah.
So yeah, there's such thing asgetting uh back in the day.
I don't know how it is now, butyou could uh and get an
endorsement and start riding amotorcycle or a moped.
I think it was only 125 andbelow was uh, so you didn't have
to take a motorcycle course andall that stuff you can just go
down.
(07:16):
I think I had to take the test Iwant to say, but I had to take
a riding test or anything likethat.
So funny story about that andthat's how I got into
restoration of motorcycles andif I'm long-winded, just I'm
sorry, that's how I am.
Ron (07:33):
You know, I can talk your ear off for days.
Chris (07:36):
Go for it.
And so you know, I just startedrestoring bikes here and there
People have issues.
I'd fix it for them on themotorcycle, started learning
bigger bikes.
Um, I had a guy.
You know I'm partial.
I'm partial to small, twostrokes.
It's always been my wheelhouse.
(07:57):
It's, uh, something I alwaysenjoyed and I actually had
another builder come to me oneday.
He's like, dude, you're gonnabuild a bigger bike.
Like, come on, you know andwe're joking with each other and
I'm like you ever gonna build asmaller bike, you know, because
he'd always stick the v-twinsand uh, and I said, man, there's
always got to be a person thatmakes two strokes.
(08:19):
You know, I try to make thecoolest two strokes in the
industry if I can, and so that'salways been one of my favorite
things to do is just two strokes.
More smoke, more, you know,white smoke, the better, and so
if you look at a lot of mybuilds, I really try to.
I pick out bikes that peopledon't hear about anymore, don't
(08:42):
really?
You know, they're real popular,maybe back in the baby boomer
era or maybe even before that,but then they kind of died
around and, you know, back inthe day they used to ride them
until the wheels fell off.
So a lot of them are rough andyou can't even see them anymore,
like Bodaka, for instance.
(09:03):
You know, know, a lot of peopledrove hodakas, yeah, and that
was a bike.
I just found a gas tank at aswap meet one time and I was
like man, this is the coolesttank.
I wonder what the bike lookslike, and I started you know,
thank god for google startedgoogling it, and because back in
the day you have to go find amagazine and look it up,
(09:24):
especially with trying to findparts, that was a nightmare back
in the day.
And so, hudaka man, I looked itup and I fell in love with the
style bike.
It was a two-stroke dirt bikeand it was the one that you
could go to the store, buy itand out-compete any kind.
You know set up dirt bike race,and so I really enjoyed doing
(09:49):
that.
I like finding the hidden gemsof motorcycle industry, the ones
that you don't see.
You know you see enoughtroppers, cruisers and all that
using v twins, but how many, um,how many bikes do you see that
are broke out from the 70s, thatare old, two strokes or dude
(10:09):
even?
Uh, some of these europeanbikes are fun to get a hold of
because you don't see too manyof the old ones in the us you
know, that are actually restored.
So I like triumphs, I likeanything that you know it's fun
to do.
Ron (10:26):
Got a two-stroke question for you.
So I've owned only onetwo-stroke bike in my life and I
bought this old, used, beat upHonda CR250R motocross bike and
this was before monoshocks, sothis was early on.
But as I recall, though, man,the power band on that thing oh
(10:50):
my gosh, it would take off.
I want to ask you about powerbands real quick in just a
minute, but here's the funnystory.
So I needed to sell it becausewe had our first child and I
knew I was going to get killed,so, especially with the power of
that CR250R.
And so a guy that I worked with, he came over with his son, I
(11:13):
think his son was maybe 17,eight years old, and his son was
maybe interested in it.
So I give him a helmet, he hopson the bike, heads off into the
fields behind our house, goesfor a ride, and then I'm just
standing around talking with hisdad.
Well, I didn't notice after alittle bit that we didn't hear
the engine anymore.
So we thought, well, he hasn'tbeen back for a while from this
(11:35):
test ride, so I better check onhim.
So we start walking out thatway and he's walking back to us
walking the bike, and the poorguy had a concussion, as it
turned out.
I don't know exactly whathappened.
He probably doesn't either getin a concussion but yeah, he
crashed badly.
Apparently the bike was fine,but that poor kid, they did take
(11:58):
him to the hospital and he hada concussion.
Needless to say, I didn't makethat sale.
But circling back to questionfor you on power bands, so are.
Are the power bands, even onthe bikes that you have built in
, the work, bikes that you'vedealt with that are two strokes,
do they all have a similar,similar characteristic of a
(12:23):
power band?
Chris (12:25):
yeah, yeah, some really like your cr 250 probably really
rips at their power band ohyeah, um, somebody's daca is 100
up don't really have near nearthe power.
I mean, you know it's still upthere, but uh, you'll still feel
it it's.
You know it's still up there,but uh, you'll still feel it
it's.
You know around 6,000 RPMs whenit hits and it just pops you
(12:48):
and if you're like that guyprobably did, it probably takes
you.
It always takes me by surprisewhen it kicks in.
You know, and that's when.
That's when you get toaccidentally uh doing the
wheelie Cause you'll startgetting in and all of a sudden
that power band kicks off.
It's like dropping the clutchalmost.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah Well, butno, these uh shoot.
(13:11):
I drive a.
I got a old.
I got a couple of Penton, whichis one of my favorite
collecting uh bikes.
If I anybody out there thatwants to sell their penton, I'm
all for it um they're up in uh,amherst ohio.
The guy, the guy turns like uh,john penton turns 100 this year,
(13:31):
I believe, still alive, stillum picking it.
Uh still goes to mid ohio.
There's a big swap meet midohio, which is one of the
coolest places that you've neverbeen.
Uh has like millions of bikesfor swap me.
Has races, road races, sidecarraces, dirt bike races,
motocross scrambler hair, all ahair scrambler, all that stuff.
(13:53):
And and then it's an afterparty that you can only imagine
you've heard of barber museum inal in.
Alabama.
Yes, okay, so they do BennettDays and it's.
I saw a meme about a year ago.
It's like what's that?
What's that golfer that has themullet and the red hair, the
(14:15):
white hair?
It's a big pro golfer.
Ron (14:21):
I can't think of his name oh my god, john Daly, yeah, yeah
.
Chris (14:24):
John Daly.
Yeah, yeah, john Daly.
Okay, and they have a pictureof Tiger Woods and it says
Barber Vintage Days, and thenthey have a picture of John Daly
and that's the mid-Ohio vintagedays.
So it's just the exactcharacteristic of it.
Barber Vintage Days is realclassy, you know the Tiger Woods
(14:48):
style and John Daly at theMid-Ohio, so, but no, he's
actually John.
John Penton's showing up thisyear, supposedly, and going to
be there for his 100th birthday.
Oh, that's cool.
Ron (14:56):
I'm hoping to make it out there.
Well, that's you know.
That's just one more thing, andwe talk about it on this
podcast all the time iscommunity.
There's just this massivecommunity of folks like you and
me and so many others who justreally have a passion for this.
It's the combination of a wholebunch of stuff.
It's the look and the feel ofthe bike and the history and
(15:19):
it's the going out and riding.
But, like you're describing,with these people too, it's the
community.
I mean you, just anotherdescribing with these people too
, it's the community.
I mean you, just another duderides up on a bike, or you and I
both know it's just this, it'sjust the community that's out
there.
That's all motorcycle ridersand it's instantly going to talk
about.
Next thing, you know you findout who you're talking to is
(15:40):
from Richardson, texas, andyou're from McKinney.
You know, I love that.
Chris (15:43):
I just love that it's a small world Like I was walking
around mid Ohio and um I raninto Lyle Lovett and I was like
what?
the heck is Lyle Lovett doingout here and uh, you know, lyle
Lovett and I uh have passion for, uh, he loves old, vintage dirt
bikes, so we really hit it off.
And then he also went to texasa&m, which is college I went to,
(16:07):
and so, man, we hit it off anduh, and he's from texas and uh,
you know, I didn't realize howbig an enthusiast he was.
And then, um, he did a wholenarration of the.
They did a documentary of johnpenton that, uh, penton
motorcycle former or founder Iwas talking about that turns 100
years old this year.
(16:27):
Man, I watched it.
It was pretty dang good Smallworld.
I didn't expect to see LyleLovett walking around the swap
meet, no kidding.
Wow, yeah, it's beeninteresting.
I don't know how long I've beendoing this, building bikes.
(16:47):
I'm not telling you my age.
I turned 30 this year and we'lljust say I've been doing it
almost on and off 25 yearstouching bikes, building bikes
and all that stuff, and in thattime I've run in and meet some
amazing cool people.
Ron (17:06):
Yeah.
Chris (17:07):
Um, and it's a small world, it's a very small knit
world.
You know, um, I'm sure we couldname drop for about two hours
of different people We've runinto, podcast guys you've
interviewed and somehow we we atleast know a sixth degree of,
uh, kevin Bacon style.
(17:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Ron (17:30):
Oh, oh, very, very likely, yeah, well, hey, let's talk
about the bikes you build andthe bikes you make available to
others.
I'd love to hear about that andget the word out about what
you're doing and, yeah, what youhave to offer so my style bike,
as I said earlier, is kind of Ilove two strokes, but you know
(17:53):
I do all kinds.
Chris (17:54):
I've done cafe racers, bobbers, brats, scramblers, you
know you name it as long as it'ssomething that hasn't been
overdone or is more unique.
Um, I get I try to do maybe onecustom a year.
Um my full-time job on abiologist, so that takes up a
lot of my time.
Plus I just had two twin boys,so that also takes up a heck of
(18:17):
a lot of time, andcongratulations.
Ron (18:19):
I'm going to be sure and put a link to your Instagram in
there.
You have a wonderful family, myfriend.
You are blessed, that's sure.
Chris (18:28):
Oh man, I'm an older dad, know, I'll just throw it out
there.
I'm 42, just had freaking undernine months old almost, and so
you know for any listener outthere that still kind of
dragging the anchor on havingkids or not, it's well worth it.
You don't want to wait too longbecause, man, your energy level
(18:50):
is dropping, but it's wellworth it.
And it's kind of stressful,it's hard, it ain't easy, don't
let anybody pull you, but man,it's really rewarding.
So I'm very blessed to have twoboys that are healthy and all
that stuff.
So that's been a really godsend.
Ron (19:10):
Oh for sure, Um, all the pictures of you and your wife
and your two boys dressed up forthe distinguished gentlemen's
ride.
That's another thing, obviously, that we have in common, that
that the listeners can go out onInstagram and see our, our
mutual involvement and passionfor the distinguished
gentlemen's ride.
But oh, you, yeah, you have a,you have a cute family.
That's awesome.
Chris (19:33):
Oh yeah, you have a cute family.
That's awesome.
That's kind of my next build.
Honestly, I'm not building foranybody except for the boys.
I came up I randomly found theymade these bikes back from like
the 60s or 70s and it's anIndian MM5A, which is a 50 cc.
(19:58):
Um, indian moped or not moped,it's like a.
It looks like a miniaturemotorcycle, little scrambler
looking and, uh, my buddy soldonly two a pair, so I'm going to
be building that this year.
Uh, so that way they can ridethat and we're calling them the
twindians love it.
That's so cool yeah, now, ifthey're identical looking, I
(20:19):
don't know, I haven't decidedyet, but uh, they're definitely
going to have a utopeia twist tothem.
Yeah, uh, to get in kind of mytwist, I always incorporate some
earth elements to the bikes.
I enjoy my background biologyand so I I like using uh, wood.
(20:41):
I like using uh, differentmetal compounds, you know, uh, I
like using anything that youcan imagine that makes it seem
like it's connected to the earth.
Sounds kind of hippie-like.
Love it but you know, even youcan look through my pictures of
(21:01):
some of my builds.
The Ice Pick was one of theones I built.
It's an ice racer bike and theway I got that as I was working
and I saw a taxidermy that did alot of the butterflies and I
saw these butterfly wings thatlooked like ice and I was like,
okay, that's going to be thenext color I'm going to use for
(21:25):
this ice racer.
Because Michael Lichter, whichis an amazing photographer in
the motorcycle industry, had ashow.
He used to run a show at theBuffalo Chip in Sturgis and so
he invited me to skinny bikes.
Well, I had a bike that was.
I had a vision that was goingto be super skinny because I
(21:46):
went from dual shock tomonoshock, did that conversion
update and it really made itsharp.
And then the reason why icepick if you look at it from a
bird's eye view, it looks like aice pick, super slender, sharp,
and with ice pick you thinknothing but okay, ice.
(22:07):
So that's how I got that color.
It's like a blue morph ofmotorcycle or a motorcycle, uh,
butterfly and that kind of hasthat shimmer and sheen glow.
Oh man, it's amazing.
My buddy, casey, from caseycrossovers.
Uh did the paint job on it andman it.
(22:27):
We went back and forth but man,he nailed it, um and that thing
.
So the point behind that, it'sgot that earth, you know the
animal kind of insect wing color, and then it's got, uh did
epoxy resin, hand grips and Iused um I I also like to use
(22:50):
gems and jewels and all thatstuff and I used a stone called
the Moonstone and I use that asthe bar end caps and so
everything about that thing justglows.
It looks like ice and that wasthe whole point.
It's got studded tires for iceracing, but the whole point was
(23:11):
it to look like it.
Just if it, if you drovedropped it racing, you couldn't
find it because it just blendright in.
That was the whole point.
So that's great like.
But also another thing I alwaysincorporate in my build is a uh
hobo coin.
A lot of people don't know whatthe story behind Hobo coins are,
(23:33):
but no idea when you used tohave the guys that would jump
from train to train and uh, Ithink Randy Travis sings about
that on a one of his songs Umand uh, you know, these Hubbell
guys would go pick up uh coinsoff the ground and take a knife
(23:53):
or whatever and carve a pictureinto it and then sell it right,
and then that's how they got thecigarettes and all that stuff
for trade.
And so hobo, the hobo coin, umtrend was pretty awesome.
If you look at the originalones back in the day, uh, it's
pretty cool.
(24:13):
You know, they take lincoln'sface and make a like a chief
indian out of it, or they'rereally awesome.
So every one of my builds thatI, I someone custom uh
commissions me to do, I alwaysincorporate some type of hobo
into it.
Hobo coin yeah, I've got alittle miniature cafe racer, um,
(24:37):
black bomber, uh, platformsfrom a 1977 honda 50cc and that
one actually had two monkeys forthe hobo coin one's's a gorilla
, one's a chimpanzee smoking acigarette with a motorcycle
helmet on, and that bike'sreferred to as the Honda Monkey
(25:00):
anyway, right, yeah, yeah,that's why I did that, because
they're called Honda Monkeys istheir nickname, and it also has
banana.
I took a Lego banana and made avalve stem out of it.
So then it's got little monkey,banana, valve stem covers, just
(25:24):
stuff like that classified mesometimes as a theme motorcycle
builder and I try not to.
I just like to incorporatelittle bitty details, and the
reason why I do that is when youtake these bikes to motorcycle
shows you don't want you wantpeople to be attracted to it so
they see it from distance.
They're like, oh, that's coolbike, let me come go look at it.
(25:46):
And then all of a sudden youkeep them there longer with the
small little intricate detailsand and that's kind of my my uh
mantra, or you know, that's kindof what I like to do is keep
people looking at my buildslonger than just oh, that's a
cool bike, I've seen that before.
Let's keep going, you know so.
Ron (26:07):
Oh, that's, that's just cool.
I gotta, I gotta tell you uh,chris, as we've been talking, I
made myself a note here PaulKrause, who I interviewed for
this podcast a few months ago.
He is part of one of theleaders in the Colorado Vintage
Motorcycle Group and thisSaturday well, tomorrow, today
(26:31):
it is is tomorrow is their bigfundraiser, where they have
vintage motorcycles out there uh, restored bikes, custom bikes
and so forth, but mostly vintagebikes, and that's tomorrow.
So are you already familiarwith paul and the colorado
vintage motorcycle group?
Chris (26:48):
no, no, that's uh that.
What's cool about thesepodcasts is I learned new names
and I haven't.
I don't believe I know who thatis.
Ron (26:56):
Well, I will.
I will connect you up and Iinterviewed Paul.
It's it's been a few monthsback, but the picture that I use
for that interview that I puton the podcast episode is a
picture of a.
What do they call it?
It's a whizzer.
Yeah, yeah, you familiar withthat?
Chris (27:17):
It looks like a bicycle.
Ron (27:18):
Yes.
Yes exactly and, if I recall,I'll have to go back and listen
to it again.
Of course I'm going to see himtomorrow and so look forward to
seeing him and I'll see thatbike out there.
But I believe it was hisgrandfather's and then he
restored it end to end and it isjust a work of art these days.
So I, as you were talking aboutwhat you've done and the work
(27:39):
and the passion for it, I was.
I wrote down Paul's name heretoo.
So, paul, if you're listeninglater on, talking about you,
buddy, uh, but uh, you know tome, chris man, I mentioned this
a lot on the podcast too.
We are so fortunate to have apassion for something outside of
(27:59):
the computer screen, outside ofour phone or social media or
you know anything, anything else, even bad stuff too.
There you can easily fall intothese different addictions.
(28:23):
But I feel so blessed I'll putit that way I feel so blessed
that I was talking with my dadmy dad's 90, 90, about to turn
92.
I was talking with my dad thispast week and he was talking
about how it was such a goodthing when I was 11 years old
and he bought me a little redmini bike with a lawnmower
(28:45):
engine in it and, uh it.
You know it gets me choked upnow thinking that that purchase
of that bike for me, um, changedmy life, and that was going on
52 years ago now.
And just being able to dropinto this, learning the thrill
of riding motorcycles and minibikes back in the day, learning
(29:08):
the mechanics of it, liking toget my hands dirty, it changed
my life.
And now I'm a grandfather, I'vegot two grown kids, two
grandkids, and, man, I'm keepingon going with it because it's
just something that's really,really touched my life.
And again, when I jumped intothis podcast thing a little over
two years ago now and thengetting to meet people like you
(29:30):
and having conversations likethis, I just I don't know where
I'm going with this other thanto tell you I couldn't feel more
blessed to to get to have aconversation like this and meet
people like you, and mostdefinitely, what was that?
Chris (29:46):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Like as much as the you know,social media is a curse.
It's also a hidden kind of gem.
You know've met a lot of peoplevia people reaching out to me.
I've gotten actually acommission for builds via social
media.
I started doing social mediajust because it wasn't that I
(30:08):
was trying to get any kind ofpopularity or anything.
But I love taking pictures ofdifferent scenes, different
rides, different motorcyclesI've built, and you know, you
get a collection of stuff inyour, you know, your phone or,
back in the day, your camera,and you kind of want to share it
.
Right, and that's kind of howsocial media is.
(30:31):
People want to share theirknowledge, share their photos,
share their experiences, yeah,share their, their adventures,
you know.
And so that, to me, is what youknow.
When it gets in the likepolitics and the banter and the
trolls and all that stuff,that's where it's ruined it.
But when it's all about justlooking at, uh, different builds
(30:52):
of my buddies that have comeout or different rides that
they've done, or you know,honestly, it's just I, I,
sometimes you, you're kind ofhappy that you social media does
exist because you know it's,it's allowed me to meet guys
like you and talk about storiesand you know, have experiences
(31:14):
and all that stuff, absolutely,absolutely.
One of my favorite things, too,is building bikes.
Has allowed me, I never wouldhave gone to some of these
motorcycle shows, you know.
Ron (31:25):
Yeah.
Chris (31:25):
I'm not the most amazing builder but you know I've been
blessed to get accepted to someof these cool invite-only shows,
like the one show in portland,the hand built, in austin, the
mama tried show in milwaukee um,you know, I have a invite.
I'm going to the glory day showin pittsburgh uh, here in
(31:47):
september and uh, and I'mbringing uh, you know, every
show you bring your custom buildthere and show it off and they
display it really nicely and allthat stuff.
But the story behind that Inever would have gone to some of
these cities most likely I hateto dog on Milwaukee.
It's turned into one of myfavorite cities I've ever been
(32:09):
to, but I don't know if I wouldhave visited Milwaukee.
Same with going up to Portland.
I'm always on the East Coast.
Would I maybe justify the tripeventually?
Maybe, but these shows kind ofbrought me into the areas and
also I met some cool people.
(32:30):
I met the founder of DGR, mark,yes, and I met him.
I got a picture of him sittingon my mini cafe racer bike I was
talking about with the monkeyhobo coins.
Ron (32:42):
Yeah.
Chris (32:43):
And met him, we hit it off and that's kind of how I
started wanting to get moreinvolved in the DGR
Distinguished Gentleman's Ride,you know, which you and I share
a passion and a love for that.
I think you said you hosted itand I I started hosting uh here
out in uh, fayetteville, fouryears ago, and so you know,
(33:07):
that's that's kind of one of myexcitement, you know, and
honestly I would have probablynever done hosting out here, but
I realized, realized WestVirginia was one of the only
cities, or not cities, one ofthe only states, that did not
have a DGR ride.
And so I reached out to Mark andI was like hey, mark, man, I'd
(33:29):
love to host it this year.
Anyway, I can get approved.
It's pretty late in the season.
And he sent me a message withinlike hours saying okay, chris,
you're approved.
And so then we got WestVirginia on the map and it
started.
You know, I only live in apopulation of 3000.
It's like 10,000 during recseason, cause we have whitewater
(33:51):
rafting, rock climbing,mountain biking, all the major
uh, um and uh adrenaline junkiesports oh yeah right, right, but
, um, it just never hit on, Iguess, motorcycles and stuff
like that.
So we started it and first yearwe got 25 riders and then the
(34:13):
next year I had almost 40.
This year we had 46.
One sixty five hundred dollars.
Um, in the four years I'vehosted we raised 25 000 for that
, for prostate cancer, suicideand men's health, yeah, which is
pretty spectacular.
And then, uh, you know, I Iguess I'm saying all this
(34:34):
because I can't, I'm not, I'mnot good at hosting, maybe you
know, but if you ever are on thefence of maybe starting to ride
in your area and this is allthe listeners right now hop out
there.
You know it's not hard to getapproved, chops it down and, uh,
(34:57):
it's really fun, you know, ifyou've always want to do it, but
there's nothing, no ride beenclose or nearby to you.
Um, start one.
You know, I'll tell you onething uh, I started here and
then, uh, this is not thecapital of west virginia.
West virginia's capital ischarleston, which everybody
thinks it's south carolina, butuh, charlesteston also is out
here in West Virginia and that'sthe capital.
(35:17):
They just started one, twoyears ago, a ride, and now their
ride I think they had like 10,and they're starting to get
bigger and bigger.
So now we have two cities inWest Virginia.
So that's kind of cool.
So that's my challenge.
If you always want to do thisride, it's really fun.
(35:38):
You dress up dapper, you have agood time and uh, host one and
start reaching out to yourbuddies and get it going.
Ron (35:46):
Oh, I, I appreciate you sharing that.
Chris.
We are another thing.
We're on the same page on mywife and I, involved in the
distinguished gentlemen's ride.
Also, of course, the bikes thatyou have are perfect for that,
most certainly, but that'shonestly at its core.
That's where this podcast camefrom.
It's from the inspiration ofMark Hawa, who I've interviewed
(36:09):
on the podcast and the purposeof the Distinguished Gentleman's
a.
I call it a global hug.
You can go up to a totalstranger, give them a hug and
then introduce yourself afterthat, and that's why the way the
DGR is.
It's this motorcycles bring ustogether, but it's a cause to
like, just like what youmentioned.
(36:29):
It's men's health, suicideprevention, prostate cancer
research and so forth.
Yeah, it's, it's a beautifulcommunity that we reside within
here, this motorcycling people,a lot of people with a really,
really good heart.
And before we wrap up, I don'twant to forget, chris.
So tell the listeners if theywant to find out more about what
(36:53):
you do and engage maybe in afuture project with you or
purchase or whatever.
What do they need to do?
Chris (37:01):
Yeah, so I do have like a Facebook for Utopeia Moto
Company, but I rarely get onthere.
The best way if you're everinterested in checking out my
work or reaching out to see ifI'll be interested in doing a
commission, like I said, I onlydo about a.
You know, custom bills onceevery year.
(37:22):
I'm just too dang busy witheverything else life in general.
But, uh, you can reach out uhon Instagram utopeia moto
company.
I think you can even use uhgoogle utopeia moto company and
pop up you can google it and hitimages.
You'll see all kinds of pastbuilds I've done uh between a
(37:44):
surf and turf bike, thatsurfboard and drive on the roads
you know all that stuff that'swhat.
That's what her nickname wassurf turf, um.
So, yeah, reach out there.
Um, you know, send me a DM, tryto slide in there if you can.
Um, sometimes you can,sometimes you can't, I don't
(38:05):
know Um, but uh, yeah, that'skind of what we do and we do all
kinds of vintage bikes.
You know, I don't like doingdoing modern.
The wiring is about six to tenmiles long and that wears me out
with these new bikes.
But yeah, we, we do like from90s back.
(38:26):
You know, that's that's mystyle.
Um, I'm actually I got a 1986honda nighthawk S CB 700 FC and
that one I got to get going thisyear because I plan on riding
it for next year's ride and it'sa red, white and blue color and
, man, that's one of the baddestbikes I've owned.
(38:47):
I've had that since.
Uh, that was one of my bikes.
I had one on 16.
So, yeah, that one's really funone, but uh, no, that's uh kind
of my passion.
Um, you know, uh, that's uhkind of got what got me into it.
If I can't go to the store andbuy what I want, why not make it
?
And so that's kind of how Istarted going and getting into
(39:09):
it is the only way to get.
What I wanted was build it.
Ron (39:12):
So well, that's, that's fabulous, chris.
Again, I couldn't be more, uh,more happy with this opportunity
to get to meet you this way andto share this conversation with
the world and, uh, just want tothank you for what you do.
I know that, what you do for aliving too.
We we didn't talk a lot aboutthat, but we you and I talked
(39:33):
about it the other day when wewere on the phone that, uh, you
know your environmental focus.
There is, uh, you know, for forall the good, and then you know
your spirit and the bikes thatyou're building and, uh,
obviously, you're a good dad too.
Chris (39:49):
Sounds like you won't see me hugging trees.
I'll cut a tree here and there,here and there, but, uh, we try
to make our waters cleaner and,uh, make our air safer.
So you know I'm not one ofthose types, but uh, yeah, uh,
it's been fun.
Um, if you are in thepittsburgh area around september
20th to 21st not to throw thisout there, but I'm just saying
(40:12):
I'll be at the glory day showwith the custom build and that'd
be fun to say hi.
If you, uh, you know anybody,I'd love to see y'all.
Ron (40:23):
Well, well, I'll do.
I'll most definitely includelinks in the show notes.
So including that offline andget all that info and, uh, you
know, and and other info for forfolks to get in touch with you
and check out your good work.
Chris (40:39):
But you know, you mentioned how do you give back
to this community and I startedthis thing called Utopeia, give
Back, giveaway, ChristmasGiveaway, you know, and this
will be our eighth year doing itthis year.
Our eighth year, uh, doing itthis year and I reached out to
(41:00):
all these sponsors you know fromgo fast, don't die uh brady out
there some of the guys thatyou've had in the past.
Yeah, um, you know we've reachedout to lowbrow.
I could just go off.
I have painters.
I have, uh, chris white, real.
I have Chris White,world-renowned painter for
motorcycles.
They donate all kinds of stuffto us and we started doing that
(41:24):
eight years ago.
We've given back all this stuff, and the reason why I started
it is you don't pay for a raffle, you don't do anything, you
just like, subscribe or or notsubscribe, but just like and
comment, uh, pass it to anotherperson and you're automatically
entered.
And we do it around right atbefore christmas.
(41:45):
And the reason why I started itis everybody gets depressed when
you can't ride anymore andyou're having to give all these
gifts to all these people thatyou know family members and all
that.
You feel obligation andsometimes it's nice to just give
back to the community andthat's kind of why I started it.
I I took a lot from motorcycleindustry between you know,
(42:10):
getting to go to these shows andall this stuff.
What am I giving to it?
And so that's kind of where westarted it.
And now we're eight yearsstrong and I get over almost
$10,000 worth of gifts fromsponsors and we give it back, we
take it and we give it back.
I usually pick six winners andthey get tons of awesome gear
(42:35):
between gear, tobacco, moto uhcompany has all kinds of riding
gear and there's just tons ofstuff.
And so that's kind of lookforward to it and pay attention
around December.
I started around November andthe giveaway is usually the
second week of December andthat's kind of our give back.
Ron (42:56):
Beautiful.
I love it.
That's beautiful.
Chris (43:01):
But no, Ron, I appreciate it.
It's great.
You know our paths may havenever crossed any other
situation, but through thispodcast, you reaching out and
all that stuff, Uh, it's been apleasure to get to know you.
Ron (43:15):
Oh, it sure has.
On this end too, chris, it's aFriday afternoon right now for
the listeners, just as an FYI,and I've got a big smile on my
face.
I've been taking lots of notes.
That's awesome.
This is going to be adiscussion that I'm hoping a
whole lot of people will reallyfeel good about, so I can't
(43:36):
thank you enough, yeah.
Chris (43:37):
Yeah, shout out to my mom .
She turns.
I won't say the age, but sheturned her birthday tomorrow, so
shout out to her.
Ron (43:45):
Oh yeah, wonderful.
What's her name?
Colleen, colleen.
Well, happy birthday, colleen.
Chris (43:54):
And again, chris, it's been a pleasure man, I'm glad to
do this on a Friday, hopefully,and fire some of the listeners
to get out there on the weekendand have fun yeah absolutely,
thanks again, man.
Well, welcome everybody again to the Peace Love Moto
podcast.
There's been so many things Ihave loved about this podcast.
Sometimes I'm not pleased withthe material.
I think I could go back and doa better job, especially with
the earlier podcast episodes.
But the real privilege has beento meet people, people who were
(00:22):
strangers at first, and then wefind out that we have this
common thread that happens to bemotorcycles, and then it just
takes a usually a shortconversation, like the
conversation we're going to havetoday, where you find out that
who you're talking to is areally good person and that is
who we're visiting with today.
So Chris Tope from Utoepia MotoCompany is on with us today.
(00:45):
We found each other throughInstagram, so I know there's a
lot of people, including myselfsometimes that bashes Instagram
as a waste of time, but no, itisn't Not always, especially
when you're looking up peopleand elements that are of
interest in.
Motorcycling is my interest.
So, chris, I'm so glad that wecould connect today.
(01:07):
So thanks for being on thePeace Love Moto podcast.
Chris (01:11):
Well, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Hello everybody.
Ron (01:16):
Well, chris.
So now my Texas accent comesout every once in a while.
We've lived here in Coloradofor about 30 years now, but grew
up in Texas.
So tell me, tell our friendsthat are listening in, where are
you and where does the accentcome from?
Chris (01:35):
So I'm currently in West by God.
Virginia is where I live in asmall little town called
Fayetteville.
It's actually the home of thenewest national park in West
Virginia and in the US, so it'sthe New River Gorge National
Park is right where our boundaryis.
I grew up in a town calledRichardson, Texas, outside
(02:00):
Dallas.
Ron (02:02):
Absolutely.
Chris (02:03):
About 20 minutes or so north of Dallas and I grew up
there and I guess that's wheremy accent came from.
Richardson, texas.
I went to school at the TexasA&M University and got my
education and then startedmoving around the US for my job
(02:24):
and my career, so it's kind ofdied down.
My accent.
It's not near as strong as itused to be, but you know I still
.
Every time I go back it getsdeep again.
Every time I visit home.
Ron (02:37):
You know it's funny, chris, I would not be surprised at all
if our family tree doesn't meetsomewhere, because I'm from
McKinney, texas, which is about10 miles north of Richardson, or
, yeah, 10, 10 minutes anyway,oh man, it is just just flew
home last night from Texas and Iwas out in that area, but, uh,
(02:59):
yeah, we're, we're, we probably.
Uh, our family tree hasprobably crossed branches
somewhere.
But, chris, somehow somewhere,yeah, yeah.
So, chris, we crossed paths,originally through Instagram,
and I found you there, becauseof motorcycles, obviously, and
you started a little companycalled Utopeia Moto Company.
(03:24):
Yeah, Utopeia Moto Company,that's what you call it, right.
Chris (03:30):
I do.
My last name's Tope and Ialways had.
My nickname growing up wasUtopeia, and so they
incorporated Utopeia with Tope,and so if you look at my logo,
everybody's like man, youmisspelled Utopeia and I'm like
no, no, no, it's my last name,it's just incorporated, so we
(03:51):
just ran with it.
So that's kind of how the dayswere born for Utopeia Moto
Company.
Ron (03:59):
That.
Well, that's cool, I love that.
I love that.
Well, I want.
I want to come back to yourcompany.
Chris (04:20):
Oh, I love that, I love that.
Well, I want to come back toyour company, but if we could
circle back a Evinrude Eltos,the Cubs, the Elto Ace, you know
, I really got into and joinedrebuilding old outboard motors
and kind of bringing life backto them and kind of bring life
(04:42):
back to them, and so then that'skind of how I learned a little
bit of carburetors restoration,polishing paint, all that stuff,
and then I used to have a.
I still actually have one ofthe almost original QT50 mopeds,
(05:03):
a Yamaha moped that I own.
Wow, and my aunt and uncle owna storage unit in San Antonio,
texas.
Someone didn't pay their billand they're like hey, we have
this random moped, you want it.
It didn't run or anything, andso that was kind of my getting
my feet wet.
Uh, old motorcycles, eventhough it was a moped.
(05:24):
Uh, I got on that and uh,started restoring that and
trying to get it.
So it ran and drove and at thattime I was like 14, I was like
yes I'm gonna have some wheels,I can go pick up girls on the
moped, even though it's a singleseater.
You know, uh, I I thought, yeah, this is, this is my next way
(05:47):
of life.
Man, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna becooler than all my friends.
And so I got it all restored,got it running and I got my
moped license.
You can in texas, you can getlegal to drive around on the
roads if you get a mopedendorsement on your driver's
license.
So so I got a moped.
There's an interesting feedbackor interesting line to this.
(06:10):
So I got that.
I was driving, outgrew it, Iwas 16, got my real license, got
my new car it was an old usedBronco, ford bronco.
And uh, I'm driving home oneday and I get pulled over and
the cop looks at my driver'slicense and he starts laughing
(06:34):
because it said motorcycleendorsement.
But then you look on the backand it said regular regulation,
uh, moped.
And then that that guy startedlaughing, almost crying, and
he's like man, I'm gonna let youoff like you.
Actually, I've never seen thisin my life someone have an
endorsement for a moped and Ihaven't heard of that either
(06:56):
yeah yeah, yeah.
So yeah, there's such thing asgetting uh back in the day.
I don't know how it is now, butyou could uh and get an
endorsement and start riding amotorcycle or a moped.
I think it was only 125 andbelow was uh, so you didn't have
to take a motorcycle course andall that stuff you can just go
down.
(07:16):
I think I had to take the test Iwant to say, but I had to take
a riding test or anything likethat.
So funny story about that andthat's how I got into
restoration of motorcycles andif I'm long-winded, just I'm
sorry, that's how I am.
Ron (07:33):
You know, I can talk your ear off for days.
Chris (07:36):
Go for it.
And so you know, I just startedrestoring bikes here and there
People have issues.
I'd fix it for them on themotorcycle, started learning
bigger bikes.
Um, I had a guy.
You know I'm partial.
I'm partial to small, twostrokes.
It's always been my wheelhouse.
(07:57):
It's, uh, something I alwaysenjoyed and I actually had
another builder come to me oneday.
He's like, dude, you're gonnabuild a bigger bike.
Like, come on, you know andwe're joking with each other and
I'm like you ever gonna build asmaller bike, you know, because
he'd always stick the v-twinsand uh, and I said, man, there's
always got to be a person thatmakes two strokes.
(08:19):
You know, I try to make thecoolest two strokes in the
industry if I can, and so that'salways been one of my favorite
things to do is just two strokes.
More smoke, more, you know,white smoke, the better, and so
if you look at a lot of mybuilds, I really try to.
I pick out bikes that peopledon't hear about anymore, don't
(08:42):
really?
You know, they're real popular,maybe back in the baby boomer
era or maybe even before that,but then they kind of died
around and, you know, back inthe day they used to ride them
until the wheels fell off.
So a lot of them are rough andyou can't even see them anymore,
like Bodaka, for instance.
(09:03):
You know, know, a lot of peopledrove hodakas, yeah, and that
was a bike.
I just found a gas tank at aswap meet one time and I was
like man, this is the coolesttank.
I wonder what the bike lookslike, and I started you know,
thank god for google startedgoogling it, and because back in
the day you have to go find amagazine and look it up,
(09:24):
especially with trying to findparts, that was a nightmare back
in the day.
And so, hudaka man, I looked itup and I fell in love with the
style bike.
It was a two-stroke dirt bikeand it was the one that you
could go to the store, buy itand out-compete any kind.
You know set up dirt bike race,and so I really enjoyed doing
(09:49):
that.
I like finding the hidden gemsof motorcycle industry, the ones
that you don't see.
You know you see enoughtroppers, cruisers and all that
using v twins, but how many, um,how many bikes do you see that
are broke out from the 70s, thatare old, two strokes or dude
(10:09):
even?
Uh, some of these europeanbikes are fun to get a hold of
because you don't see too manyof the old ones in the us you
know, that are actually restored.
So I like triumphs, I likeanything that you know it's fun
to do.
Ron (10:26):
Got a two-stroke question for you.
So I've owned only onetwo-stroke bike in my life and I
bought this old, used, beat upHonda CR250R motocross bike and
this was before monoshocks, sothis was early on.
But as I recall, though, man,the power band on that thing oh
(10:50):
my gosh, it would take off.
I want to ask you about powerbands real quick in just a
minute, but here's the funnystory.
So I needed to sell it becausewe had our first child and I
knew I was going to get killed,so, especially with the power of
that CR250R.
And so a guy that I worked with, he came over with his son, I
(11:13):
think his son was maybe 17,eight years old, and his son was
maybe interested in it.
So I give him a helmet, he hopson the bike, heads off into the
fields behind our house, goesfor a ride, and then I'm just
standing around talking with hisdad.
Well, I didn't notice after alittle bit that we didn't hear
the engine anymore.
So we thought, well, he hasn'tbeen back for a while from this
(11:35):
test ride, so I better check onhim.
So we start walking out thatway and he's walking back to us
walking the bike, and the poorguy had a concussion, as it
turned out.
I don't know exactly whathappened.
He probably doesn't either getin a concussion but yeah, he
crashed badly.
Apparently the bike was fine,but that poor kid, they did take
(11:58):
him to the hospital and he hada concussion.
Needless to say, I didn't makethat sale.
But circling back to questionfor you on power bands, so are.
Are the power bands, even onthe bikes that you have built in
, the work, bikes that you'vedealt with that are two strokes,
do they all have a similar,similar characteristic of a
(12:23):
power band?
Chris (12:25):
yeah, yeah, some really like your cr 250 probably really
rips at their power band ohyeah, um, somebody's daca is 100
up don't really have near nearthe power.
I mean, you know it's still upthere, but uh, you'll still feel
it it's.
You know it's still up there,but uh, you'll still feel it
it's.
You know around 6,000 RPMs whenit hits and it just pops you
(12:48):
and if you're like that guyprobably did, it probably takes
you.
It always takes me by surprisewhen it kicks in.
You know, and that's when.
That's when you get toaccidentally uh doing the
wheelie Cause you'll startgetting in and all of a sudden
that power band kicks off.
It's like dropping the clutchalmost.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah Well, butno, these uh shoot.
(13:11):
I drive a.
I got a old.
I got a couple of Penton, whichis one of my favorite
collecting uh bikes.
If I anybody out there thatwants to sell their penton, I'm
all for it um they're up in uh,amherst ohio.
The guy, the guy turns like uh,john penton turns 100 this year,
(13:31):
I believe, still alive, stillum picking it.
Uh still goes to mid ohio.
There's a big swap meet midohio, which is one of the
coolest places that you've neverbeen.
Uh has like millions of bikesfor swap me.
Has races, road races, sidecarraces, dirt bike races,
motocross scrambler hair, all ahair scrambler, all that stuff.
(13:53):
And and then it's an afterparty that you can only imagine
you've heard of barber museum inal in.
Alabama.
Yes, okay, so they do BennettDays and it's.
I saw a meme about a year ago.
It's like what's that?
What's that golfer that has themullet and the red hair, the
(14:15):
white hair?
It's a big pro golfer.
Ron (14:21):
I can't think of his name oh my god, john Daly, yeah, yeah
.
Chris (14:24):
John Daly.
Yeah, yeah, john Daly.
Okay, and they have a pictureof Tiger Woods and it says
Barber Vintage Days, and thenthey have a picture of John Daly
and that's the mid-Ohio vintagedays.
So it's just the exactcharacteristic of it.
Barber Vintage Days is realclassy, you know the Tiger Woods
(14:48):
style and John Daly at theMid-Ohio, so, but no, he's
actually John.
John Penton's showing up thisyear, supposedly, and going to
be there for his 100th birthday.
Oh, that's cool.
Ron (14:56):
I'm hoping to make it out there.
Well, that's you know.
That's just one more thing, andwe talk about it on this
podcast all the time iscommunity.
There's just this massivecommunity of folks like you and
me and so many others who justreally have a passion for this.
It's the combination of a wholebunch of stuff.
It's the look and the feel ofthe bike and the history and
(15:19):
it's the going out and riding.
But, like you're describing,with these people too, it's the
community.
I mean you, just anotherdescribing with these people too
, it's the community.
I mean you, just another duderides up on a bike, or you and I
both know it's just this, it'sjust the community that's out
there.
That's all motorcycle ridersand it's instantly going to talk
about.
Next thing, you know you findout who you're talking to is
(15:40):
from Richardson, texas, andyou're from McKinney.
You know, I love that.
Chris (15:43):
I just love that it's a small world Like I was walking
around mid Ohio and um I raninto Lyle Lovett and I was like
what?
the heck is Lyle Lovett doingout here and uh, you know, lyle
Lovett and I uh have passion for, uh, he loves old, vintage dirt
bikes, so we really hit it off.
And then he also went to texasa&m, which is college I went to,
(16:07):
and so, man, we hit it off anduh, and he's from texas and uh,
you know, I didn't realize howbig an enthusiast he was.
And then, um, he did a wholenarration of the.
They did a documentary of johnpenton that, uh, penton
motorcycle former or founder Iwas talking about that turns 100
years old this year.
(16:27):
Man, I watched it.
It was pretty dang good Smallworld.
I didn't expect to see LyleLovett walking around the swap
meet, no kidding.
Wow, yeah, it's beeninteresting.
I don't know how long I've beendoing this, building bikes.
(16:47):
I'm not telling you my age.
I turned 30 this year and we'lljust say I've been doing it
almost on and off 25 yearstouching bikes, building bikes
and all that stuff, and in thattime I've run in and meet some
amazing cool people.
Ron (17:06):
Yeah.
Chris (17:07):
Um, and it's a small world, it's a very small knit
world.
You know, um, I'm sure we couldname drop for about two hours
of different people We've runinto, podcast guys you've
interviewed and somehow we we atleast know a sixth degree of,
uh, kevin Bacon style.
(17:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Ron (17:30):
Oh, oh, very, very likely, yeah, well, hey, let's talk
about the bikes you build andthe bikes you make available to
others.
I'd love to hear about that andget the word out about what
you're doing and, yeah, what youhave to offer so my style bike,
as I said earlier, is kind of Ilove two strokes, but you know
(17:53):
I do all kinds.
Chris (17:54):
I've done cafe racers, bobbers, brats, scramblers, you
know you name it as long as it'ssomething that hasn't been
overdone or is more unique.
Um, I get I try to do maybe onecustom a year.
Um my full-time job on abiologist, so that takes up a
lot of my time.
Plus I just had two twin boys,so that also takes up a heck of
(18:17):
a lot of time, andcongratulations.
Ron (18:19):
I'm going to be sure and put a link to your Instagram in
there.
You have a wonderful family, myfriend.
You are blessed, that's sure.
Chris (18:28):
Oh man, I'm an older dad, know, I'll just throw it out
there.
I'm 42, just had freaking undernine months old almost, and so
you know for any listener outthere that still kind of
dragging the anchor on havingkids or not, it's well worth it.
You don't want to wait too longbecause, man, your energy level
(18:50):
is dropping, but it's wellworth it.
And it's kind of stressful,it's hard, it ain't easy, don't
let anybody pull you, but man,it's really rewarding.
So I'm very blessed to have twoboys that are healthy and all
that stuff.
So that's been a really godsend.
Ron (19:10):
Oh for sure, Um, all the pictures of you and your wife
and your two boys dressed up forthe distinguished gentlemen's
ride.
That's another thing, obviously, that we have in common, that
that the listeners can go out onInstagram and see our, our
mutual involvement and passionfor the distinguished
gentlemen's ride.
But oh, you, yeah, you have a,you have a cute family.
That's awesome.
Chris (19:33):
Oh yeah, you have a cute family.
That's awesome.
That's kind of my next build.
Honestly, I'm not building foranybody except for the boys.
I came up I randomly found theymade these bikes back from like
the 60s or 70s and it's anIndian MM5A, which is a 50 cc.
(19:58):
Um, indian moped or not moped,it's like a.
It looks like a miniaturemotorcycle, little scrambler
looking and, uh, my buddy soldonly two a pair, so I'm going to
be building that this year.
Uh, so that way they can ridethat and we're calling them the
twindians love it.
That's so cool yeah, now, ifthey're identical looking, I
(20:19):
don't know, I haven't decidedyet, but uh, they're definitely
going to have a utopeia twist tothem.
Yeah, uh, to get in kind of mytwist, I always incorporate some
earth elements to the bikes.
I enjoy my background biologyand so I I like using uh, wood.
(20:41):
I like using uh, differentmetal compounds, you know, uh, I
like using anything that youcan imagine that makes it seem
like it's connected to the earth.
Sounds kind of hippie-like.
Love it but you know, even youcan look through my pictures of
(21:01):
some of my builds.
The Ice Pick was one of theones I built.
It's an ice racer bike and theway I got that as I was working
and I saw a taxidermy that did alot of the butterflies and I
saw these butterfly wings thatlooked like ice and I was like,
okay, that's going to be thenext color I'm going to use for
(21:25):
this ice racer.
Because Michael Lichter, whichis an amazing photographer in
the motorcycle industry, had ashow.
He used to run a show at theBuffalo Chip in Sturgis and so
he invited me to skinny bikes.
Well, I had a bike that was.
I had a vision that was goingto be super skinny because I
(21:46):
went from dual shock tomonoshock, did that conversion
update and it really made itsharp.
And then the reason why icepick if you look at it from a
bird's eye view, it looks like aice pick, super slender, sharp,
and with ice pick you thinknothing but okay, ice.
(22:07):
So that's how I got that color.
It's like a blue morph ofmotorcycle or a motorcycle, uh,
butterfly and that kind of hasthat shimmer and sheen glow.
Oh man, it's amazing.
My buddy, casey, from caseycrossovers.
Uh did the paint job on it andman it.
(22:27):
We went back and forth but man,he nailed it, um and that thing
.
So the point behind that, it'sgot that earth, you know the
animal kind of insect wing color, and then it's got, uh did
epoxy resin, hand grips and Iused um I I also like to use
(22:50):
gems and jewels and all thatstuff and I used a stone called
the Moonstone and I use that asthe bar end caps and so
everything about that thing justglows.
It looks like ice and that wasthe whole point.
It's got studded tires for iceracing, but the whole point was
(23:11):
it to look like it.
Just if it, if you drovedropped it racing, you couldn't
find it because it just blendright in.
That was the whole point.
So that's great like.
But also another thing I alwaysincorporate in my build is a uh
hobo coin.
A lot of people don't know whatthe story behind Hobo coins are,
(23:33):
but no idea when you used tohave the guys that would jump
from train to train and uh, Ithink Randy Travis sings about
that on a one of his songs Umand uh, you know, these Hubbell
guys would go pick up uh coinsoff the ground and take a knife
(23:53):
or whatever and carve a pictureinto it and then sell it right,
and then that's how they got thecigarettes and all that stuff
for trade.
And so hobo, the hobo coin, umtrend was pretty awesome.
If you look at the originalones back in the day, uh, it's
pretty cool.
(24:13):
You know, they take lincoln'sface and make a like a chief
indian out of it, or they'rereally awesome.
So every one of my builds thatI, I someone custom uh
commissions me to do, I alwaysincorporate some type of hobo
into it.
Hobo coin yeah, I've got alittle miniature cafe racer, um,
(24:37):
black bomber, uh, platformsfrom a 1977 honda 50cc and that
one actually had two monkeys forthe hobo coin one's's a gorilla
, one's a chimpanzee smoking acigarette with a motorcycle
helmet on, and that bike'sreferred to as the Honda Monkey
(25:00):
anyway, right, yeah, yeah,that's why I did that, because
they're called Honda Monkeys istheir nickname, and it also has
banana.
I took a Lego banana and made avalve stem out of it.
So then it's got little monkey,banana, valve stem covers, just
(25:24):
stuff like that classified mesometimes as a theme motorcycle
builder and I try not to.
I just like to incorporatelittle bitty details, and the
reason why I do that is when youtake these bikes to motorcycle
shows you don't want you wantpeople to be attracted to it so
they see it from distance.
They're like, oh, that's coolbike, let me come go look at it.
(25:46):
And then all of a sudden youkeep them there longer with the
small little intricate detailsand and that's kind of my my uh
mantra, or you know, that's kindof what I like to do is keep
people looking at my buildslonger than just oh, that's a
cool bike, I've seen that before.
Let's keep going, you know so.
Ron (26:07):
Oh, that's, that's just cool.
I gotta, I gotta tell you uh,chris, as we've been talking, I
made myself a note here PaulKrause, who I interviewed for
this podcast a few months ago.
He is part of one of theleaders in the Colorado Vintage
Motorcycle Group and thisSaturday well, tomorrow, today
(26:31):
it is is tomorrow is their bigfundraiser, where they have
vintage motorcycles out there uh, restored bikes, custom bikes
and so forth, but mostly vintagebikes, and that's tomorrow.
So are you already familiarwith paul and the colorado
vintage motorcycle group?
Chris (26:48):
no, no, that's uh that.
What's cool about thesepodcasts is I learned new names
and I haven't.
I don't believe I know who thatis.
Ron (26:56):
Well, I will.
I will connect you up and Iinterviewed Paul.
It's it's been a few monthsback, but the picture that I use
for that interview that I puton the podcast episode is a
picture of a.
What do they call it?
It's a whizzer.
Yeah, yeah, you familiar withthat?
Chris (27:17):
It looks like a bicycle.
Ron (27:18):
Yes.
Yes exactly and, if I recall,I'll have to go back and listen
to it again.
Of course I'm going to see himtomorrow and so look forward to
seeing him and I'll see thatbike out there.
But I believe it was hisgrandfather's and then he
restored it end to end and it isjust a work of art these days.
So I, as you were talking aboutwhat you've done and the work
(27:39):
and the passion for it, I was.
I wrote down Paul's name heretoo.
So, paul, if you're listeninglater on, talking about you,
buddy, uh, but uh, you know tome, chris man, I mentioned this
a lot on the podcast too.
We are so fortunate to have apassion for something outside of
(27:59):
the computer screen, outside ofour phone or social media or
you know anything, anything else, even bad stuff too.
There you can easily fall intothese different addictions.
(28:23):
But I feel so blessed I'll putit that way I feel so blessed
that I was talking with my dadmy dad's 90, 90, about to turn
92.
I was talking with my dad thispast week and he was talking
about how it was such a goodthing when I was 11 years old
and he bought me a little redmini bike with a lawnmower
(28:45):
engine in it and, uh it.
You know it gets me choked upnow thinking that that purchase
of that bike for me, um, changedmy life, and that was going on
52 years ago now.
And just being able to dropinto this, learning the thrill
of riding motorcycles and minibikes back in the day, learning
(29:08):
the mechanics of it, liking toget my hands dirty, it changed
my life.
And now I'm a grandfather, I'vegot two grown kids, two
grandkids, and, man, I'm keepingon going with it because it's
just something that's really,really touched my life.
And again, when I jumped intothis podcast thing a little over
two years ago now and thengetting to meet people like you
(29:30):
and having conversations likethis, I just I don't know where
I'm going with this other thanto tell you I couldn't feel more
blessed to to get to have aconversation like this and meet
people like you, and mostdefinitely, what was that?
Chris (29:46):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Like as much as the you know,social media is a curse.
It's also a hidden kind of gem.
You know've met a lot of peoplevia people reaching out to me.
I've gotten actually acommission for builds via social
media.
I started doing social mediajust because it wasn't that I
(30:08):
was trying to get any kind ofpopularity or anything.
But I love taking pictures ofdifferent scenes, different
rides, different motorcyclesI've built, and you know, you
get a collection of stuff inyour, you know, your phone or,
back in the day, your camera,and you kind of want to share it
.
Right, and that's kind of howsocial media is.
(30:31):
People want to share theirknowledge, share their photos,
share their experiences, yeah,share their, their adventures,
you know.
And so that, to me, is what youknow.
When it gets in the likepolitics and the banter and the
trolls and all that stuff,that's where it's ruined it.
But when it's all about justlooking at, uh, different builds
(30:52):
of my buddies that have comeout or different rides that
they've done, or you know,honestly, it's just I, I,
sometimes you, you're kind ofhappy that you social media does
exist because you know it's,it's allowed me to meet guys
like you and talk about storiesand you know, have experiences
(31:14):
and all that stuff, absolutely,absolutely.
One of my favorite things, too,is building bikes.
Has allowed me, I never wouldhave gone to some of these
motorcycle shows, you know.
Ron (31:25):
Yeah.
Chris (31:25):
I'm not the most amazing builder but you know I've been
blessed to get accepted to someof these cool invite-only shows,
like the one show in portland,the hand built, in austin, the
mama tried show in milwaukee um,you know, I have a invite.
I'm going to the glory day showin pittsburgh uh, here in
(31:47):
september and uh, and I'mbringing uh, you know, every
show you bring your custom buildthere and show it off and they
display it really nicely and allthat stuff.
But the story behind that Inever would have gone to some of
these cities most likely I hateto dog on Milwaukee.
It's turned into one of myfavorite cities I've ever been
(32:09):
to, but I don't know if I wouldhave visited Milwaukee.
Same with going up to Portland.
I'm always on the East Coast.
Would I maybe justify the tripeventually?
Maybe, but these shows kind ofbrought me into the areas and
also I met some cool people.
(32:30):
I met the founder of DGR, mark,yes, and I met him.
I got a picture of him sittingon my mini cafe racer bike I was
talking about with the monkeyhobo coins.
Ron (32:42):
Yeah.
Chris (32:43):
And met him, we hit it off and that's kind of how I
started wanting to get moreinvolved in the DGR
Distinguished Gentleman's Ride,you know, which you and I share
a passion and a love for that.
I think you said you hosted itand I I started hosting uh here
out in uh, fayetteville, fouryears ago, and so you know,
(33:07):
that's that's kind of one of myexcitement, you know, and
honestly I would have probablynever done hosting out here, but
I realized, realized WestVirginia was one of the only
cities, or not cities, one ofthe only states, that did not
have a DGR ride.
And so I reached out to Mark andI was like hey, mark, man, I'd
(33:29):
love to host it this year.
Anyway, I can get approved.
It's pretty late in the season.
And he sent me a message withinlike hours saying okay, chris,
you're approved.
And so then we got WestVirginia on the map and it
started.
You know, I only live in apopulation of 3000.
It's like 10,000 during recseason, cause we have whitewater
(33:51):
rafting, rock climbing,mountain biking, all the major
uh, um and uh adrenaline junkiesports oh yeah right, right, but
, um, it just never hit on, Iguess, motorcycles and stuff
like that.
So we started it and first yearwe got 25 riders and then the
(34:13):
next year I had almost 40.
This year we had 46.
One sixty five hundred dollars.
Um, in the four years I'vehosted we raised 25 000 for that
, for prostate cancer, suicideand men's health, yeah, which is
pretty spectacular.
And then, uh, you know, I Iguess I'm saying all this
(34:34):
because I can't, I'm not, I'mnot good at hosting, maybe you
know, but if you ever are on thefence of maybe starting to ride
in your area and this is allthe listeners right now hop out
there.
You know it's not hard to getapproved, chops it down and, uh,
(34:57):
it's really fun, you know, ifyou've always want to do it, but
there's nothing, no ride beenclose or nearby to you.
Um, start one.
You know, I'll tell you onething uh, I started here and
then, uh, this is not thecapital of west virginia.
West virginia's capital ischarleston, which everybody
thinks it's south carolina, butuh, charlesteston also is out
here in West Virginia and that'sthe capital.
(35:17):
They just started one, twoyears ago, a ride, and now their
ride I think they had like 10,and they're starting to get
bigger and bigger.
So now we have two cities inWest Virginia.
So that's kind of cool.
So that's my challenge.
If you always want to do thisride, it's really fun.
(35:38):
You dress up dapper, you have agood time and uh, host one and
start reaching out to yourbuddies and get it going.
Ron (35:46):
Oh, I, I appreciate you sharing that.
Chris.
We are another thing.
We're on the same page on mywife and I, involved in the
distinguished gentlemen's ride.
Also, of course, the bikes thatyou have are perfect for that,
most certainly, but that'shonestly at its core.
That's where this podcast camefrom.
It's from the inspiration ofMark Hawa, who I've interviewed
(36:09):
on the podcast and the purposeof the Distinguished Gentleman's
a.
I call it a global hug.
You can go up to a totalstranger, give them a hug and
then introduce yourself afterthat, and that's why the way the
DGR is.
It's this motorcycles bring ustogether, but it's a cause to
like, just like what youmentioned.
(36:29):
It's men's health, suicideprevention, prostate cancer
research and so forth.
Yeah, it's, it's a beautifulcommunity that we reside within
here, this motorcycling people,a lot of people with a really,
really good heart.
And before we wrap up, I don'twant to forget, chris.
So tell the listeners if theywant to find out more about what
(36:53):
you do and engage maybe in afuture project with you or
purchase or whatever.
What do they need to do?
Chris (37:01):
Yeah, so I do have like a Facebook for Utopeia Moto
Company, but I rarely get onthere.
The best way if you're everinterested in checking out my
work or reaching out to see ifI'll be interested in doing a
commission, like I said, I onlydo about a.
You know, custom bills onceevery year.
(37:22):
I'm just too dang busy witheverything else life in general.
But, uh, you can reach out uhon Instagram utopeia moto
company.
I think you can even use uhgoogle utopeia moto company and
pop up you can google it and hitimages.
You'll see all kinds of pastbuilds I've done uh between a
(37:44):
surf and turf bike, thatsurfboard and drive on the roads
you know all that stuff that'swhat.
That's what her nickname wassurf turf, um.
So, yeah, reach out there.
Um, you know, send me a DM, tryto slide in there if you can.
Um, sometimes you can,sometimes you can't, I don't
(38:05):
know Um, but uh, yeah, that'skind of what we do and we do all
kinds of vintage bikes.
You know, I don't like doingdoing modern.
The wiring is about six to tenmiles long and that wears me out
with these new bikes.
But yeah, we, we do like from90s back.
(38:26):
You know, that's that's mystyle.
Um, I'm actually I got a 1986honda nighthawk S CB 700 FC and
that one I got to get going thisyear because I plan on riding
it for next year's ride and it'sa red, white and blue color and
, man, that's one of the baddestbikes I've owned.
(38:47):
I've had that since.
Uh, that was one of my bikes.
I had one on 16.
So, yeah, that one's really funone, but uh, no, that's uh kind
of my passion.
Um, you know, uh, that's uhkind of got what got me into it.
If I can't go to the store andbuy what I want, why not make it
?
And so that's kind of how Istarted going and getting into
(39:09):
it is the only way to get.
What I wanted was build it.
Ron (39:12):
So well, that's, that's fabulous, chris.
Again, I couldn't be more, uh,more happy with this opportunity
to get to meet you this way andto share this conversation with
the world and, uh, just want tothank you for what you do.
I know that, what you do for aliving too.
We we didn't talk a lot aboutthat, but we you and I talked
(39:33):
about it the other day when wewere on the phone that, uh, you
know your environmental focus.
There is, uh, you know, for forall the good, and then you know
your spirit and the bikes thatyou're building and, uh,
obviously, you're a good dad too.
Chris (39:49):
Sounds like you won't see me hugging trees.
I'll cut a tree here and there,here and there, but, uh, we try
to make our waters cleaner and,uh, make our air safer.
So you know I'm not one ofthose types, but uh, yeah, uh,
it's been fun.
Um, if you are in thepittsburgh area around september
20th to 21st not to throw thisout there, but I'm just saying
(40:12):
I'll be at the glory day showwith the custom build and that'd
be fun to say hi.
If you, uh, you know anybody,I'd love to see y'all.
Ron (40:23):
Well, well, I'll do.
I'll most definitely includelinks in the show notes.
So including that offline andget all that info and, uh, you
know, and and other info for forfolks to get in touch with you
and check out your good work.
Chris (40:39):
But you know, you mentioned how do you give back
to this community and I startedthis thing called Utopeia, give
Back, giveaway, ChristmasGiveaway, you know, and this
will be our eighth year doing itthis year.
Our eighth year, uh, doing itthis year and I reached out to
(41:00):
all these sponsors you know fromgo fast, don't die uh brady out
there some of the guys thatyou've had in the past.
Yeah, um, you know we've reachedout to lowbrow.
I could just go off.
I have painters.
I have, uh, chris white, real.
I have Chris White,world-renowned painter for
motorcycles.
They donate all kinds of stuffto us and we started doing that
(41:24):
eight years ago.
We've given back all this stuff, and the reason why I started
it is you don't pay for a raffle, you don't do anything, you
just like, subscribe or or notsubscribe, but just like and
comment, uh, pass it to anotherperson and you're automatically
entered.
And we do it around right atbefore christmas.
(41:45):
And the reason why I started itis everybody gets depressed when
you can't ride anymore andyou're having to give all these
gifts to all these people thatyou know family members and all
that.
You feel obligation andsometimes it's nice to just give
back to the community andthat's kind of why I started it.
I I took a lot from motorcycleindustry between you know,
(42:10):
getting to go to these shows andall this stuff.
What am I giving to it?
And so that's kind of where westarted it.
And now we're eight yearsstrong and I get over almost
$10,000 worth of gifts fromsponsors and we give it back, we
take it and we give it back.
I usually pick six winners andthey get tons of awesome gear
(42:35):
between gear, tobacco, moto uhcompany has all kinds of riding
gear and there's just tons ofstuff.
And so that's kind of lookforward to it and pay attention
around December.
I started around November andthe giveaway is usually the
second week of December andthat's kind of our give back.
Ron (42:56):
Beautiful.
I love it.
That's beautiful.
Chris (43:01):
But no, Ron, I appreciate it.
It's great.
You know our paths may havenever crossed any other
situation, but through thispodcast, you reaching out and
all that stuff, Uh, it's been apleasure to get to know you.
Ron (43:15):
Oh, it sure has.
On this end too, chris, it's aFriday afternoon right now for
the listeners, just as an FYI,and I've got a big smile on my
face.
I've been taking lots of notes.
That's awesome.
This is going to be adiscussion that I'm hoping a
whole lot of people will reallyfeel good about, so I can't
(43:36):
thank you enough, yeah.
Chris (43:37):
Yeah, shout out to my mom .
She turns.
I won't say the age, but sheturned her birthday tomorrow, so
shout out to her.
Ron (43:45):
Oh yeah, wonderful.
What's her name?
Colleen, colleen.
Well, happy birthday, colleen.
Chris (43:54):
And again, chris, it's been a pleasure man, I'm glad to
do this on a Friday, hopefully,and fire some of the listeners
to get out there on the weekendand have fun yeah absolutely,
thanks again, man.
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Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com