On the Roam (2024) s01e04 Episode Script

1
[woman] This is
-Hi! Missed you.
-Hi.
-Oh, my goodness.
-[man] She doesn't like Dad.
-[woman] No. [laughs]
-[Jason] Really?
Oh, bro, it's epic.
It's a JD
JD Knucklehead Chief.
[Jeremiah] Indian, yeah.
-It's a JD Knucklehead
Indian Chief.
-Yep.
It's a good name, dude.
[Jeremiah chuckles sheepishly]
[Jason]
"Chief of the Knuckleheads."
Wow.
It's a really special moment,
because I've always
wanted '36s.
And this
is the reason why, um
When I first saw this bike,
I wanted to have a '36.
And so, when I told Jeremiah,
I said, "I want to have
I want to have six '36s."
-[chuckles] Bullshit.
-[chortles]
And Jeremiah goes,
"That's impossible.
You're not going
to be able to get six '36s.
I've only seen a couple."
And so, my goal has been
to get six '36s,
only because
he's my little brother
-and I just want to spite him.
-Pfft.
["Whenever I May Roam"
playing]
And the road becomes
my bride ♪
I have stripped
of all but pride ♪
So in her I do confide ♪
Off the beaten path
I reign ♪
Rover wanderer ♪
Nomad vagabond ♪
Call me what you will ♪
Wherever I may roam ♪
[song gradually fades away]
Wherever I may roam, yeah ♪
I think the genesis for, uh,
doing six '36s, is, uh
It just kind of came
out of a
I guess Jeremiah
just giving me guff
about it not being possible.
He's never seen six '36s.
Being able to find six '36s
this quickly
and be able to make
these kind of bikes,
um, you know,
it's the first year
of the Knucklehead.
I have an obsession
with the Knucklehead motor.
You might call it a problem.
Especially the ones from 1936.
They're so rare,
they're the holy grails.
I'm going to do something
that's never been done before.
Get six of these historic
'36 Knuckleheads
on the road together
with my friends,
and do one epic ride.
The first four of the '36s,
I've already built
with some amazing craftsmen,
like Big Scott Stopnik,
and Socco Obestein.
Now, I'm asking Jeremiah
and Max to come
on this journey with me
and build bikes 5 and 6.
[Jeremiah]
I love Knuckleheads.
But, Knuckleheads now are
not as easy to come by
as they were 15 years ago.
The parts we're finding now
are just completely stuff
that was trashed.
I love the fixing of it, of
fixing something
that was totally broken
and putting it back together.
[Jason] Jeremiah's
unfuckingbelievable.
He does everything.
He knows everything.
Some people are style,
some people rebuild
every part of it.
Some people do everything.
Jeremiah does everything.
[Jeremiah] The thing
with old engines is
or anything old,
like, this stuff isn't new.
Like We're fixing it, yes.
But it has to be
It has to be broken in.
This is a mechanical,
like, being right here.
And all these things ha--
It's like joints in your body,
everything has to warm up.
And like Like,
I don't know, it's like
For when an engine
is rebirthed
after you rebuild it,
people that only
rebuild engines know this.
Like, every piece has to
be fit and sized and
And everything has to wear in
to where it finds that spot
to where it wants to live,
and operate like a
like a well-tuned athlete,
you know?
And if you don't take
that time to break them in
Some people say, "Ah,
I just build a motor,
and I just get
on the road and go."
All right, well,
more power to you.
[Jason] He's, uh,
opened a world to me
that I just knew
nothing about.
Our families are
extremely close,
and I love them
with all my heart.
And so, he's done a lot
of things for me
and I've done a lot
of things for him,
just trying to help
each other's careers
and help each other out.
He's like a little brother
to me, and, uh
I love giving him shit.
[chuckles mischievously]
This is my oldest hen.
This is Jewel.
She's seven.
She's a little beat up,
but [chuckles]
she's our oldest girl.
-[chuckles sheepishly]
-[Jason] She's like my
my bikes.
-I like 'em--
-[Jeremiah chuckles]
A little torn up.
A little torn up,
and got lots of personality.
[Jeremiah] The thing
with building a chopper is
It's a blank canvas for you
to do whatever you want.
You know,
you can either fabricate
every single piece
on the entire bike,
or you could just
piece together what you have,
and make it your own.
[indistinct conversation]
-[Max] Natural yarn.
-Whoa!
-[man] God. Geez.
-[woman] Wow!
-What an amazing space!
-[softly] Yeah.
So, my vert ramp was
started here, and went there.
-Now there's the ring
back here.
-You had a 12-foot, good
-Twelve-foot vert ramp?
-Yeah.
-I had a full vert ramp
back here.
-[woman] Yeah. Yeah.
And Mom was cool with it.
I grew up skating
inside of a warehouse
An old ironworks building
A ramp that my mom
let me build inside the house.
So, that I was alone,
or with her boyfriend,
skating six,
seven days a week.
-Curves to that.
-It goes to like
It was, like,
-built right
-Wall to wall, dude.
-In fact
-[Jason] You could like,
hit the rafters, basically?
I did it. Yeah.
[Max] You see how
that one's cut out?
-I cut it out
because it was in the way.
-[chuckles]
You'd have to air over it,
which was like a 6-foot air.
-So, yeah
[continues indistinctly]
-[Jason] Max was like
He just carries this vibe
with him, where it's
I mean,
everything he touches
I mean, like, his style
in skateboarding
just blows me away,
and what he can do.
And then, what he brought
to the
the motorcycle industry,
his clean lines,
just the way his
his paint jobs.
And, I mean, when I first saw
the first 4Q bike, I was like,
"What is this?"
He just changed the game.
I'd be like, "Man,
this guy is unbelievable."
I think as a skater, you learn
"Failure is okay,"
because you fail repeatedly
to learn something.
My first bike, I'm actually
not really embarrassed about,
but I see a ton
of flaws in it.
I think that's the thing
about skaters,
they make great photographers.
There's a lot of skaters
that are amazing photographers
because
skaters speak
that alien language
to everyone.
They look at a set
of stairs or a a bank,
and they're like,
"Oh, man, look at that!
That's insane."
Well, then you want
to shoot it, and you want it
to look good.
I know that transfers
into this.
I mean, you you're looking
at the lines of everything.
And you just switch
a rear tire sometimes
on a bike,
and you're like,
[exhaling] "Oh, there it is.
[slaps thighs] Finally."
You know, and like,
for two months,
you looked at it, like,
"What the fuck is wrong
with this thing?"
It was just the tire,
or the size, you know,
if 16 versus an 18.
And [snaps fingers]
bam, that's it.
[Jason] Max definitely paved
his own way in skateboarding,
and I I can relate to that,
as a as a skateboarder
growing up,
because it gave me that eye.
But it's never been
on the level that he is.
It's al-- It's always
very inspirational
to see how
he's transferred that
into his art form now.
All right. So
-[strains]
-[rumbling]
Here is our next project.
[exhales]
it's the [sighs]
fifth '36.
-[Jeremiah] Number five.
-This is
That is number five.
I want to throw it
in something that
-um, that's pretty awesome.
-Another crusty old bike?
It's not another crusty,
old bike.
-[Jeremiah giggling]
-No. It was a pristine,
beautiful bike,
but it wasn't '66.
So, the history of it
I bought it.
It's a show bike.
I asked for permission.
I said, "If I bought this,
is it okay if I could remove
this motor?
Like, I love show bikes.
You know me,
I love
all these vintage old bikes,
but I want to ride 'em."
-I
-So you had
a survivor show bike?
Yes, because the person
who made it was a painter,
who's amazing.
-It's an amazing--
-Okay. So, '60 is
an amazing show bike. Okay.
-W-- What it I wanna
I want to see it.
-[Jason tittering]
Quicksilver is this super
famous bike. I've seen it
all the time.
You know, it was really scary,
'cause I'm like,
"This is sacrilegious,"
and then I'm like
I already have permission.
So, don't be like,
[whining] "Ooh, you can't--"
And you're gonna mess with
an original show bike, though?
-Okay.
-It's not the original motor.
-Okay, okay.
-So, but there
Here's the thing,
like, the motor's massive.
It's like You'll, like,
burn your ass off,
and it's like the It
It's It's just for show.
I'd rather ride it.
-Okay.
-And so, if we're making '36s,
I'm asking
if we can take this,
put it in that. Okay?
I'll take it down to Jeremiah,
get the motors,
put it all together,
surprise Jeremiah.
And he just I mean,
you're talking to a
Dude, this is
a very famous bike.
The Quicksilver was built
by a guy, Dean Lanza,
that was, uh
He has a cool, uh, roster
of choppers that he built,
and they became
fairly collectible.
All right.
I'm going to reel it up. Okay?
-[Jeremiah] Okay.
-[imitates babbling]
Stay. Don't look.
-All right. I'm not looking.
I'm turning around.
-Don't look.
-[Jason] Close your eyes!
-They're closed.
I'm turned around.
[Max] It's
Looks like a drag bike,
but it's a chopper.
And everything's
kind of molded,
so that it looks
like it's one piece.
It is its name. It looks
like this quick-moving
piece of silver.
-You ready?
-[Jason] Okay.
[exclaims loudly]
[softly] Fuck, that is
-[Jason] Quicksilver, baby.
-[chuckles]
Oh, my God. The history
of this bike is insane.
The first time I saw
The Quicksilver,
I was blown away.
[Jason]
Dean Lanza built Quicksilver
back in the late 1960s,
and it's probably
his most unique creation.
It was a revolutionary design,
and cemented its place
in bike folklore
as the "grandfather
of choppers."
There's tons
of articles about it.
It's a beautiful bike,
it's a Pan.
[Jeremiah] It's one
of the baddest show bikes
on the planet. Like
It's just so fluid.
[Jason] I won't
take anything away from it.
It's beautiful.
It's sacrilegious.
But it isn't the real motor.
It isn't the one that went
with it.
And it's a chopper.
It's a chopper.
So, it's also just to go like,
"Look what I got, bro.
Let's Let's make something
with this."
And he gets excited about it,
and like, "What are you doing?
What do you mean
we can't do this?"
And I'm like,
"Well, it's not
the real motor."
And he's like,
"I guess Is it not?"
It's like, it's, you know,
that was that one man's dream.
And I'm like,
"It's just evolving. I'm not
gonna paint it black."
-And it's like
-[Jeremiah] Yeah, let's do it.
Let's Yeah. Right?
-Let's do it. [chuckles]
-Right, baby.
-Yeah, I'd love to
-But look at that. But look.
'36 A '36 Knuckle in that.
One of the '36s, like,
if we're gonna take
we've taken a historical bike
and that that paint job,
what it's known for,
But I want to ride
the goddamn thing.
That's the thing,
is when I buy these bikes,
I don't want it to sit
in a museum.
I want to ride 'em,
I want to shoot 'em,
I want to film it,
I wanna
I mean, life is short.
I want to do this.
Bro, that's dope.
Fifth. The fifth '36.
Dean Lanza,
the guy who built it,
I mean, you can just look, uh,
uh at fabricated gas tanks
from scratch, and fenders
from scratch.
And looking at his fabrication
and his paint skills, and
When I saw that bike
-[speaking indistinctly]
-like, I've seen it
for years, you know?
But I've never got to see it
in person
to where I get to spend
like hours and hours,
and hours, and hours,
and hours of looking
at a creation
that was created
50-something years ago.
All right. Well,
let's take this bike,
and I want to put
a Knuckle in it.
It will fit with what
we're doing.
"Are you guys cool with it?"
He's like, "Yeah, I think
it'd be awesome.
And we can ride it."
And I'm like,
"It's pretty impossible
to ride it the way
that it is."
-[Jeremiah] Rock it
all the way towards
-[clatters]
[Max] It's like
a Jimi Hendrix song.
Your You know,
like a good one
you hadn't heard,
where you're like,
I remember seeing that,
and I was like, uh
"Whoa! That's"
It's special. It's a
It's a cool thing.
I don't know how
to describe it,
uh, aside from
that it's it looks
-like a drag bike, chopper.
-[man] Whoo!
We'll get it rolling.
-[imperceptible]
-[girl] Yeah.
[Jason] I was like,
"This is an amazing piece
and I want to ride it.
Let's Let's do it."
And so, I think everyone
kind of got behind it.
I'm sure people
are going to be pissed,
but, I mean
[murmuring softly]
I don't know.
Originally, this thing
had this, like,
10-over, wide glide.
It sat in the weather
for 30 years.
I wanted to switch it
to a Springer.
But I think the bike
we're doing for you,
-it's perfect for that.
-Absolutely.
So, we'll rip it apart.
-I mean, it
-But it's frozen as shit.
-[Max]
frozen to shit, yeah.
-Yep. [sighs]
[hammering]
-[Jason] Ooh. Oh, yeah.
-[Max] Oh, yeah!
[sizzling]
[Jason] Whoo.
It's like we're making
Thor's hammer.
[cackles and sizzling]
[hissing]
-[loud hammering]
-[Jason] Look at this.
-[tool hammering]
-[growling] Ah!
-[Max] Holy shit!
-[smacks tool
and laughs boisterously]
-[Max chortles]
-[exclaims]
[growls] Yeah.
-[objects clank]
-[Max] This is the front fork,
but it sat
for so long outside,
it wouldn't fit in here with,
hanging this up.
I don't know
if you can see in there.
-Jason's cleaning the floor.
-[Jason] It's a lot of
That's a good man. Do you know
what else he cleans?
Is the little thing
at the bottom of the sink.
The little strainer,
it's the first thing
I noticed about him.
-He made tea,
and he cleaned the strainer.
-[grunts]
-[Jason] Raised by a woman.
-I tried to marry him but
[chuckles sheepishly]
-he said no.
-[exclaims in exhaustion]
So, uh Basically, uh,
-COVID happened.
-Right.
I couldn't be with you.
Uh, we had to frame
-'39 with a '40 motor.
We're gonna make a 4Q bike.
-Yep.
-'40 4Q.
-'40 4-- '40 4Q. And then, uh,
we had a whole design
set up for it, and it was
gonna get nickel-plated.
Yep. What happened was,
I took the motor out,
uh, you know,
-to use
for something else we use.
-Yeah.
You brought the '40 motor,
and when I had the motor
out of that frame,
I noticed some damage.
Uh, the old frames took
a lot of abuse.
-So, I sent it to a guy
that's the best.
-Yeah.
Well, COVID happens.
Six months turned
into a year and a half.
Uh, the guy had some
unfortunate circumstances,
-and then I thought,
"Our Our project's done."
-Yeah.
And the other day,
I looked at my own bike.
And I was like,
"You know,
this frame's perfect."
Take my whole bike apart.
-Give you the frame
-Yeah.
and redo the project
in a different style.
We were doing nickel-plated
-Yeah.
-with a fancy paint.
And now we're gonna do
the best Bay Area crust.
It's just kind of neat to go,
-"Well, let's go pick through
all the amazing"
-Yeah.
-"collection of things
that you have"
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
-"build this sick,
what your style is"
-Yeah.
-"maybe pull the Frisco."
Let me get some fenders out.
-Yeah.
-I'll get on the ladder,
and you say when.
-Absolutely.
-Okay.
[Max] But I kind of have
a fender problem,
-just so you know.
-[chuckles]
This one This one,
maybe we make that.
-Pink, with the
-Ooh.
with the stripe.
-The golden, uh
the stripe
-With the golden pearl.
-[exhales]
-[Max] Do the gold pearl
down the peak.
I love taking things blue
and making them pink.
I'm not gonna lie to you.
-[Max] Yeah.
-[object clanks softly]
-[Max] You hate blue.
-[object clatters]
-[man mutters indistinctly]
-[Jason] Oh!
-[groaning] Aw!
-[groaning] Aw!
There, bro.
-That's fucking beautiful.
-[man] Yeah, that's
[Max] That's, uh
We'll just stop there,
'cause I don't want
to embarrass anyone else's
fender collection.
-[gasping] Oh, man.
-You know what I mean?
[Max] So, this will be
kind of a bigger-boy bike.
I'm gonna make something
a little longer for you.
-[Jason] Yep.
-This is a tank that I just
test-paint colors on,
uh, to see, you know,
how they spray out,
so they won't look anything
like this.
And then, you love
that Frisco-mounted
sporty tank.
[Jason] Oh, yeah.
One of the greatest things
about being on this show,
is you get to go
to so many different studios,
like craftsmen,
artist studios.
And you get to be
in their world, the world
that they created,
what they're inspired by.
I get to create something
with them. And so,
it's definitely like
these wonderful moments
where I it's like
pinching yourself,
where I'm like,
"I'm starting to build
a bike with Max, a 4Q,
and I can't believe it."
[Max] Hey, guys.
If this is how I go,
-take care of Rachel.
-[chuckles]
-Booyah!
-[Jason] Oh, yeah!
-Okay. Oh,
while I'm up here
-Yeah?
-pick a pick a primary,
any primary.
-I'd take "Crusty Rusty."
-This guy, right?
-Here. Right.
This, this dude?
-[exclaiming excitingly]
Oh Bro.
-[softly] Yeah, that's it.
What do they say?
The "piece de resistance."
Use my shoulders.
[mumbles indistinctly]
-"Sa-sa!"
-[strains and laughs]
I want to be able
to have this someday.
It's so
It's gotta be so cool
to be able to come in here
-and just go like, "Oh,
what about this window?"
-Oh, it's so nice.
[Jason] It's wonderful
to be in his shop
and be able to pick
all these little pieces,
and it just finds its soul
and its life.
Someone that you look up to
and who inspires you,
and you're gonna go create
this bike together.
-I feel very blessed
to be able to do this.
-[Max] Cool?
-[Jason] Super cool.
-Cool.
-All right.
-So
-'40 4Q.
-All right, on it.
Let's, uh
Let's do the paint. [claps]
Max's style kicked off
so many things
in our community.
Growing up skating really
kind of gives you this eye
that is something of its own.
And I see that in his work,
and I love how he brings it
to his work.
His paint jobs
are unbelievable,
and you can just stare
at them. And they're so deep.
I just really admire,
one, watching him paint,
but, two, just the
the finished product
of everything.
He's teaching me how to paint,
and it's just
a wonderful experience
to sit next to someone
who's a master at it.
With Max, you can see,
you know, his his passion
and love come into his craft.
He's just
so fucking cool, man.
[inaudible]
There's people that come
into your life,
and they open your mind.
They are a reflection
of what you want to be.
And I think Jeremiah
and Max have that.
It's weird to be like,
"Hey, are you star-struck,"
when you meet, like,
actors, and this and that.
And different people,
and I'm like,
"I actually got start-struck
meeting these guys."
[Jeremiah] The first time
I met Max,
this was early in the days
of the blog, and seeing him
in Dice Magazine,
I think dating back to 2005.
I was just in love
with his style,
his paint.
He's just very creative.
That he was a skateboarder,
and not that he was just
a regular skateboarder,
he was, like,
amazing, like,
skating with John Cardiel,
going on skate trips
on the other part, like
This dude ain't just
building bikes.
This dude's a badass
and he ain't no fake.
This guy is as real
as it gets.
The first thing I ever saw
of Jeremiah was on YouTube,
and it was, like,
him kickstarting a bike.
And he had Vans on,
and he had shorts on.
But just from the way
he walked and moved,
I was like,
"This dude skates."
I respect that guy a lot, man.
'Cause he's he's made it
in the skateboarding world,
which is, like
That's difficult, you know?
And I was a skateboarder,
and I still am a skateboarder.
You can't ever give up
on skating. I'm
I'm not what I used to be,
but I watch Max, and he's,
like, six years older than me,
and he's still blasting
his frickin' frontside airs
with Just killing it,
you know?
I think what makes Max
so special is that he is,
uh, he's a pioneer,
in the sense of a style.
And he's perpetuating a
a style from the
the late '60s
that no one really has,
and he really lives it.
He's an artist through
and through. And I feel like
my relationship to him
is really fueled by his love
for skateboarding,
my love for skateboarding,
and you know,
him really bringing
that flavor to motorcycles.
[Max] Jeremiah,
he had asked me
to paint something.
I I asked him to paint
see if he could paint
a gas tank for me.
And there was
no hesitation. He
From, like, the first time
I started talking with Max
I mean,
we've all had our rough
roads with friendships.
But me and Max
Jeremiah was
got into the chopper thing
shortly after I did,
and he started Love Cycles.
And there wasn't a lot of us
back then that were, like,
under the age of 40.
And Jeremiah,
his first bike was cool.
He did a good job.
And so, I took notice.
And then, uh, we were
like fans of each other.
And then we meet each other
at a show, and
we've wrestled each other
at every show ever since.
And I think I've lost
every wrestling match.
[chuckles sheepishly]
Yeah, I call him more
than he calls me,
just 'cause I get
Like, at 11:00 at night,
I'll just be like, "I gotta
I gotta talk to him," and
He'll be like,
"I'll talk to you tomorrow."
He just sends me selfies
of himself with his shirt off.
He's constantly
sending me selfies.
And I'll fuck with him.
I'll be like,
"Oh, another cute selfie
from Jeremiah."
And he nev-- He'll never stop.
He's very old-fashioned.
He loves his families.
He loves being a craftsman,
and he's a pure soul.
[inspirational music playing]
[Jason] It's rooted in
his title, it's Love Cycles.
Does everything.
It's really inspiring,
at the same time, he's just
the most amazing family man.
Max is being a skateboarder
and just being an awesome
human being and
You know, we've been able to
ride motorcycles on the other
side of the damn planet and
We've been able to meet
some of the coolest people
and become
really good friends.
It's a friendship
I love that guy, man.
You know?
I can whoop his ass
in wrestling, though.
[laughs heartily]
I bought this bike
that had been in a fire
and I restored it
and it ended up
in the museum in Milwaukee.
And I took it out of the
museum a couple of months
early to race it and
I was getting really good
at building engines at that
point in time of my life.
I was I was so nerded out
of performance and--
I wanted to build everything
and I wanted to build
the fastest, most powerful
bike I could build
and I didn't care
of the consequences
of doing a 120 down
Grand Avenue at two o' clock
in the morning
all by myself or going out
to the desert
by Joshua Tree and
going as fast as I could.
I couldn't recognize
how stupid
I was being because I was
I was so Sucked in
by this mechanical thing.
That it was like a drug.
It was like, the faster I turn
that throttle,
the more I wanted to do it.
And that day on the beach
My good friend Benji said,
"Man, you already beat
the fastest guy,
just wait 'til tomorrow."
I called Mona on the phone,
and I told her I just beat
the fastest guy.
And two minutes after that
I was, you know
I was screwed.
[mellow music playing]
I couldn't foresee the dangers
involved of what I was doing
I just felt invincible
because I was on this bike
that I had built
from nothing, you know?
And it was so powerful.
My inexperience
of racing on the sand,
and my ego,
or you could just say, drive.
I wasn't thinking about Mona,
I wasn't thinking about Angus,
Paloma, Jonas.
Anybody that I was around.
It was just Jeremiah
and how fast could I go.
And it didn't matter.
And for a couple of years
after my accident, I couldn't
get excited anymore.
I had all these blank canvases
in front of me,
and I couldn't touch
any of them.
It wasn't the bike
that did it.
It was me being--
Taking this bike and almost
killing myself, you know?
That was a hard thing.
Losing full use of my hand.
Being so stubborn
that I could do anything,
I didn't need to listen
to the doctors.
I still didn't wake up
even after wrecking,
I couldn't wake up and say
to myself like, stop!
You know? Just, focus
on the moment of what's here,
right now, one day at a time.
The accident is what drew
the line in the sand
if I'm gonna keep doing this.
And Mona was gonna
still support me.
I don't know how
she puts up with me.
My family has been
my number one grounding point.
And even though I lost touch,
they were always there for me
when I couldn't recognize it.
It's just overcoming
these mental hurdles,
you know?
Depression's a messed up
thing, you know?
[Max] I think Jason came
back around and believed
in what we were doing,
and I've noticed that
in the last year
Jeremiah's inspired to build
a chopper again.
I couldn't try and live
in the future. I just needed
to focus every day,
and I still struggle
on focusing every day,
but when I do,
and I can focus on
one day at a time,
I feel like life
just is so fluid.
I've got all these ideas
and I've got all these blank
canvases in front of me.
I'm gonna build something
that all my creativity
goes into it
and there's no concern of what
somebody thinks or who do I
have to build it for, or
A timeline.
It is validating when someone
has done some really
cool things with their life
has said, "Hey, man.
I believe in you,
let's do this thing."
And I feel that Jeremiah
is validated again.
And he's ready to build
some bitchin' shit for Jason.
[Jeremiah] Getting over
that hurdle,
like hurdles, man.
For people that are struggling
or going through depression,
and I was in here,
at the end of last week,
and I came in and I have had
this bottom end
of a motor I've been
working on for the past year.
It just went together
like it was a, a dance.
Like all my knowledge
came back to me, like,
how to fit it, how to size it.
I could remember
how to make this dance again.
[calm music playing]
Man, life's good. You know?
Life's, life's awesome.
As far as bikes, man,
I just want to keep creating.
No matter what it is.
No matter what it is,
never stop using
that part of your brain
to where you want
to create something.
-[man] Mark.
-Okay.
All right.
Long time coming.
Late 60s, Dean Lanza.
Amazing artist,
amazing painter.
This was a show bike,
my first show bike.
Show them, bro.
We took the pan
and put in a 1936.
[groans] Nickel-plated,
dual carburetor.
Holy shit.
Bro.
Jeremiah.
[exhales] Bro, look at that.
Wow, bro.
Being able to put the motor
that I really cherish
and love the most,
put it in there,
have it all nickel-plated,
dual carburetor.
-Start it up, man.
Start it up. Let me hear it.
-[laughs]
[Jason groans]
Look at that, baby!
That was insane.
It's so beautiful.
It's so complex
and complicated.
[Jason] Look at
that paint, George.
1968. It's like
the Jimi Hendrix of bikes.
Dean Lanza's amazing
monument and uh,
I wanted to put
a nickel-plated motor
in there, so--
The 36 is rare as it gets.
And uh, it's beautiful.
We're gonna take it
for a ride tomorrow.
'Cause we lost the sun,
but tomorrow's gonna be
a great day.
It's really beautiful
to watch Jeremiah.
Because that bike is a chapter
in our relationship,
and it was a chapter
in his life.
Who would have thought that
this bike would have forced us
to get through these,
these times that were
extremely hard on him.
Look at that.
Six '36s, buddy.
[Jeremiah] I told you.
-[Jeremiah laughing]
-I told you!
[Jeremiah] Just like the way
your heart beats.
Like, nothing stops it.
Like, when I feel like
I get creative again, like,
just putting that bottom end
together, I feel like,
the next step
is I could just create this
badass sissy bar and make this
frickin' killer tank
and these pipes,
and I could just see it all
flowing with my eyes closed.
[Jason] This was something
that was to respect
the history.
Dean Lanza's amazing,
and I think Quicksilver
kind of came in to my life.
And I feel like this all came
together, the universe kind of
came together for this bike.
And I wanted to make something
special with Jeremiah,
but the truth is,
Jeremiah and Max together
was very important for this
to all to come together.
Jeremiah was going through
a pretty tough time and what
was going on in our lives,
and what needed to happen,
it really helped bring
one of my best friends
out of a hole.
It's kind of the most
prolific storyline
that moved me the most
in this whole series
because of really
the backstory
of what's been going on
with two of my really,
really dear friends.
[calm music playing]
There's only so much
you can do for your friend
but he needed to come out
of his shell and he needed
to find it,
and feel like this bike
got that little bit back.
Got him rolling again
and got his inspiration going,
and he's got his mojo back.
And really, what that was,
is like rescuing a friend.
Being there for a friend.
It just was the right thing
to get him back
into his craft.
[hopeful music playing]
I really thank everyone
who could make Quicksilver
come together,
because it was such
an important piece
from one of my best friends
to like, survive.
It was a survivor bike,
I feel like, we got through it
'cause of that.
Do you think
that's the farthest that this
thing's ever been ridden?
On an actual road,
I mean, yeah. It's
Dean Lanza, I think,
took it up a drag strip
a couple of times.
Like that. But not as far
as doing 20 miles on it.
[Max] It was just meant
to be a show bike.
[calm music playing]
-How are we doing back there?
-Woah, woah, woah, woah.
See that?
Okay, Jerry. Gonna need
your help here, brother.
[Jason] Oh, man.
-Holy shit,
bro, it looks huge.
-I know.
-I look fucking tiny--
-Bro.
There we go, there we go.
-Got it?
-Yeah, right there.
-[groans]
-Oh, boy.
-Oh, boy. Yeah.
-[exclaims excitedly]
-[both laughing]
-Yeah. Oh.
-Almost lost a thumb
in the process.
-[groans happily]
Oh, man. Damn.
And I made everything
king-sized. Like the shifter?
This is it.
-Brake.
-Where's
This is going to
this is going to
It's going to England, baby.
[calm music playing]
[Jason] Dude,
it's unbelievable.
[Max] We should fire it up.
[Jason] Let's do it.
Wow.
All right.
-So
-Let's start it.
[engine sputtering]
[engine roaring]
[Jason] Oh.
-Oh!
-[cheering indistinctly]
[indistinct conversation]
[exclaims]
Got a big boy bike,
going to kill rattlesnakes.
[Max speaking indistinctly]
-There's no key.
-Yeah, there's no key.
[indistinct conversation]
-Never had a bike
actually start this easy.
-Really?
-[Max] Yeah, dude, real nice.
-[Jason] Yeah?
-Yeah.
-Like that?
It's time, works perfectly,
like, everything's tight.
It's good to go.
[Max] Intense.
Intense three weeks.
Yeah, well,
that's the beautiful thing
about this story.
We planned
to do something else
and this ended up exactly
-by listening
to our loved ones and
-Yeah.
-Trusting in--
-For sure.
-Trusting in the universe.
-Yeah.
We got down to the last
minute, I literally leave
in a week and a half.
Perfect, dude.
-It's perfect.
-Oh, yeah.
My old frame,
that front wheel,
I just had got,
and it just was like, perfect.
-Yep.
-The brake pedal
is hollow inside
so that it's light
and it snaps back quick.
Those are old vintage
table leg ends
to go with
our white-black theme.
And then, yeah, I extended
the shifter arm so your
big foot can fit under there.
Everything's Up, up.
[sighs] Bro.
So, one up, boom, boom, boom.
Yeah, GP style,
like race bike style.
It says it on the gas cap,
so When in doubt.
"When in doubt," like
[chuckles] One up.
[Max] One, one up three
to get down.
[Jason] One up,
three to get down.
Fuck, it's beautiful.
I love how you put these
two different colors, too.
-Yeah. Cool.
-I can't wait
to ride it tomorrow.
So check it out, man.
We got six '36s,
all of us are gonna ride.
-Thirty-sixes, choppers,
on the road.
-Can't wait.
Yeah, so we're gonna
do that tomorrow.
Forty 4Q bike. [exhales]
[mellow music playing]
[Jason] My love
for Knuckleheads,
I love the look,
the aesthetic of them,
and it's really the sound.
Thirty-six was the first year.
It's not the best Knucklehead,
but she's the first
Knucklehead.
And it really was the one
that when I was little,
I was like,
that's the one
I always wanted.
It's, it's a very
unique motor.
And they're so rare.
It's the most beautiful engine
in the world to me.
[Max] This shit
will grind you down,
because you're constantly
having people trying
to criticize your work.
You know that thing
with people where they love
you when you're down?
Jeremiah and I
faced a lot of that
in the chopper thing
where people are kind of
waiting for you to fail.
I'm not saying
we're at the top
but we're doing good.
You know? And having Jason
on our side didn't help
those things, you know?
There's memes made
about making fun of us
and all these silly shit
because we built bikes
for Jason.
Some guy that had the means
to help support our craft.
[calm music playing]
[Jason]
It's a wonderful place,
out in the desert.
So it was cool to bring
Jeremiah and Max
to my kind of territory.
It's kind of where I grew up
after I left my mom's house,
was being out in J-Tree, so--
It was one
of the coolest moments
because I never got
to ride with Jeremiah
and Max at the same time.
How long's it been since
we've all been together?
-Never? Never.
-Never.
-I'd say that's--
-That's crazy.
-Isn't that crazy?
-Yeah, this is the first time.
-That's insane.
-Yeah, that is pretty weird.
We talk all the time.
I'll be with Jeremiah,
we'll call Max.
If I'm with Max,
we'll call Jeremiah.
And it just has been
going on for 11 years now.
[Jeremiah] We've never
gotten together.
I gotta tell you,
this, making the show,
this has been the hardest
out of all the stufff
to shoot.
The whole dream of being
able to have six 36 choppers,
riding on the road.
It's just
one of these weird things
that was in my head
and the fact that Jeremiah
was like, "Nah, nah,
you can't do this."
I was like, "We're doing it."
[Jeremiah] The feeling
of bringing those together,
I've just never
seen it before,
even when I talk to the old
timers too, they're like,
it doesn't happen.
[Jason] Everyone's got
a different style.
And I love collecting,
'cause it's like, man,
it's an art piece,
it's a little Picasso
that I'm like,
I appreciate these.
I get to ride this artwork.
It's what I've always said,
man. We get to ride
our artwork around town.
[stammers] You'd be an asshole
if you had a painting
outside your truck,
and you were like, "I painted
this, check this out.
Check me out."
[Jason] It's almost
like therapy. There's a lot
of healing stuff that happened
by just building
these two bikes and
And you know, the biggest one
was Jeremiah, which I've shot,
you know,
documentaries about him.
We've built so many
bikes together. I've shot
so many things together.
And you know,
Jeremiah's had a lot of growth
in the last year.
Taking Quicksilver,
it's been really beautiful
to see you finish
and like, your face
when we started it up.
That spark happened again.
And then seeing you come here
looking how healthy you are,
I'm like, it's fucking--
I'm very proud of you.
Man.
[chuckles]
Quicksilver was
[clears throat]
that was a hard one.
I remember when it showed up
at the house,
Uh
You know, and they're like,
"We're gonna change it."
And I'm like
[stammers]
"You can't change it."
I'm like, "Okay.
I could do it," you know?
"I could do it." And um
I had closed
my shop down and
And I just
fallen out of love
[clears throat] with bikes.
It came to a head, you know?
A year and a half later,
like, why am I--
I gotta do it. And um
Those months leading up
to that were, you know,
I'd been struggling.
I had quit,
quit drinking and
I'd go into the shop
and I could just sit there
and I couldn't
I couldn't love what I loved,
you know?
How am I gonna
build this motor
to go into like the baddest
chopper on the planet?
I don't have
the skills right now.
And I was calling Max,
"like, what do I--"
He said,
"Why don't you, like--"
-Just do it, like--"
-[Max] Start.
-Just start.
-Just start, and, and
I'm like,
"Oh, okay. I can do the--
I can build the flywheels,
I can balance the flywheels,
I can fix the case,
I can pour this," like
Everything was lining up,
you know? And
It was going so perfect,
you know? This is not how
it goes. Like, this isn't
How it happens, you know?
That day, that morning,
I go in and got Mona
and I said, "I think
it's gonna start, Babe."
And, "Blam!"
It fires up.
I couldn't believe it, like,
I never built a Knucklehead
with all the rocker arms
and everything exposed,
and no oil to the top end,
and it was running.
It was like
I feel like
I got to be kind of like,
reborn again. Like
"Man, I wanna build a chopper
again, Max, I wanna--
Can you paint my chopper?"
-Like, that's all I wanna do,
I wanna do that, you know?
-Yeah, yeah.
And um, but just take it easy.
And listen to the signs.
'Cause those are important,
you know?
-[clears throat]
-Good to have you back.
And like, you guys know I
I love motorcycles, you know?
And I love you guys.
And I'm--
I'm honored
to do Quicksilver,
and I hope I did it justice.
-[Jason] Amazing.
-Thank you, Jason.
-[Jason] You know it, buddy.
-For asking me to do it.
-Yeah, man.
-'Cause it's been
a journey, and
[chuckles] I wouldn't be here
without you.
[Jason] Talking to one
of my best friends
about what he's going through,
it just was like, I was moved,
and that's the real magic,
and uh
I'm happy I was aware
to capture that moment.
[calm music playing]
Both of us
had to like, "Get your
fucking act together.
Do what you are born to do.
-Someone cares."
-[Jason] Yeah.
"And you're gonna show
so many people.
Let's do it, like,
buckle up and let's go."
Most of all,
we didn't want
to let you down.
The spirit of what these
two bikes are, really, um
Super impactful I think
for all three of us,
you know, the friendship.
And just going like,
"this is uniting us."
We've all been talking for,
you know, a long time,
but now this is it.
-Yup.
-Us sitting under this tree
talking about
this kind of stuff
and knowing what we've all,
what we've all been through.
-I love you, guys.
-Love you too, man,
thank you.
-I learned a lot, man.
I love you brother.
-Thank you, brother.
Hermano.
All right, let's go
ride some bikes.
Pretty fucking cool,
how healing that whole
process was, man.
It was the most intense
therapy session
I've been through yet.
[all laughing]
-Oh, shit.
-It was a good one.
God damn it.
[all chuckling]
[hopeful music playing]
[Jason] Riding with
the six '36s at dawn,
all personalized,
some survivors,
it was a beautiful thing,
and it was really just coming
out of two friends going,
"Oh, well, that's impossible,
that's impossible,"
and I'm like, well
I like to see that.
[calm music playing]
It was really fun to be able
to dream that up and then
all your friends build those?
And customize them, and just--
It's having your wildest
dreams come true and so that's
why six '36 came out of it.
It was extremely special.
[Max] It takes a long time
for some of us
to feel comfortable
in our own skin
and to believe in who we are.
And that has been a journey.
I'm elbow to elbow, we're like
a David Mann painting,
we're like, literally
touching each other.
I have my handle bars
hitting Max's and we're just
riding top speed.
The sun is coming up.
I'm so close, I could just
hold on to them.
I felt like we were in
one of those paintings.
Who knows? In a hundred years,
are there gonna be
motorcycles?
[Jason]
They're really beautiful.
And I know
how much fun they offer
and what they've been through,
these machines,
whether it be at war,
good times, bad times, like
I just love all the history
that gets wrapped up
and soaked into them.
[Max] I hope more people
can slow down
and enjoy
These machines
are really simple.
Just being on the road, like,
the universe is just connected
to this machine
and you're riding right next
to one of your friends.
[Jason] I'm through
and through
Just a roamer, a vagabond.
I love--
I love moving.
It's just that vehicle,
it's how I wanna
move through life.
[captivating instrumental
music playing]