Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler behind new custom cruisers

Motorcycles and rock 'n' roll have been linked together since the 1950s, and this connection is vividly made with the introduction of Dirico Motorcycles.
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler lends his star power to the Dirico project, boasting a love of motorcycling that he says creates a sense of freedom he can’t find elsewhere.
Dirico Motorcycles is a collaboration between Tyler, his neighbor Mark Dirico, and his cousin Stephen Talarico.
“The talent and brains behind this is Mark Dirico,” says Talarico plainly. The man whose name is on the tank has an engineering background and specializes in machine design, a field in which he holds more than 20 patents. One of his other companies has the capacity to produce 4 million boxes a day!

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler is getting into the bike-building business with his engineering neighbor, Mark Dirico. Photo by the author.

Talarico’s role is in providing marketing savvy as well as the facilities to build the bikes out of his impressive Manchester Harley-Davidson dealership in New Hampshire. Three full-time builders work out of the shop, and the company says it takes about 10 days to build a bike from start to finish.

Steven Tyler poses on the hot-rod Dirico Speedster. Photo by the author.

A Steven Tyler autograph is a no-extra-charge option on every Dirico motorcycle. Photo by the author.

As for Tyler’s contributions, the rocker says it’s mostly in “tweaks and details,” adding, “It’s an ongoing process with Mark.”
It was back in September 2007 when the company first announced its debut under the Red Wing Motorcycles brand, a reference to Aerosmith’s winged logo. But Honda didn’t take kindly to another motorcycle company having ties to the red-wing theme that is part of its trademark. “It was a fiasco,” Talarico comments. “Honda came after us and they were relentless.”
And so the company’s name became the less imaginative Dirico Motorcycles (I personally think “Aerocycles” might’ve been more provocative…), launched at a time when boutique chopper brands aren’t really in step with a tanking economy.
“The V-Twin market is really constricting right now, and we’re carving out a little niche” says Talarico. “We’re not giving up.”
“We’re trying to have fun with the products we’re doing,” Tyler interjects.
To get the word out, Dirico brought out a group of motojournalists to sample its three-model lineup around the lovely New England area surrounding Boston. Prior to our ride day, I asked Talarico what makes Dirico’s bikes different from other limited-production cruisers, and he responded with a cowboy boot analogy: “Some are uncomfortable, but a Lucchese boot feels like slippers.”
To maximize reliability and meet emissions requirements, Dirico uses off-the-shelf Harley-Davidson engines, both standard lumps and also Screamin’ Eagle versions. They are said to be 49-state emissions-legal if the muffler baffles are installed, which they weren’t. Ease of servicing is also ensured by the fitment of H-D switchgear, gauges and various other bits. The frames, however, are proprietary pieces drawn up by Mark Dirico and built by Rolling Thunder in Canada.
Custom options are virtually unlimited, and nowhere else can you get a Steven Tyler-autographed electric guitar in the same shade as your bike (for an extra $250). Signed fenders are free if you want ’em. Each bike comes standard with a 2-year unlimited-miles warranty.
Flyer
The retro-themed Flyer is perhaps the most appealing bike in Dirico’s lineup, offering cool, throwback styling with company’s lowest price point. Now, $31,900 ain’t chump change, but it’s not outrageous in the custom bike world.

The Flyer, with its springer front end and deep fenders, looks vintage but isn’t.

The Flyer is defined by three elements: the springer front end, large vintage-style steel fenders, and the spoked wheels with color-matched rims. It’s a tidy package with 61 inches between its axles, and that old-school springer fork is raked at a fairly modest 28 degrees. Together with reasonably sized Metzeler rubber (130/90-16, 150/80-16) and a 660-lb claimed dry weight, the Flyer is imbued with a charming deftness unlike most contemporary choppers.
A 26-inch seat height combined with a beach cruiser handlebar and well-placed floorboards keep a rider mellow, only becoming ungainly during U-turns when the wide bar will test your reach. The H-D high-mount speedo/odo is easy to see, and the bike ably fits riders of various sizes.

Duke gives the Flyer a blurry thumbs-up.

Ride and handling qualities are quite good, and the springer front end appears to have benefited from Mark Dirico’s “playing with the springs,” as it offered decent compliance and control. A weak front brake (Harley again) is disappointing but not entirely unexpected from a bike of this genre.
The Harley-sourced seat on the bike I rode was mismatched for this chassis, as the seat back rubbed obnoxiously on my tailbone. It turns out that Dirico is instead choosing another H-D seat for its production versions, and a quick test-sit revealed that it immediately feels much more hospitable.
To keep the Flyer’s price in the low-$30K zone, Dirico uses a stock Twin-Cam 88B Harley motor for power. As you’d expect from the 1450cc Harley lump, it’s very well behaved and offers great throttle response, even if it won’t yank your arms out of their sockets. Still, it feels sprightly enough for its intended purposes, and its counterbalancer keep unwanted vibes at bay. However, I was less appreciative of the two-into-one Thunderheader that had its baffles removed from its flat-black muffler. To my ears, the popping on the overrun sounds like firecrackers going off inside a trash can, but your ears may disagree.

More options...

The Flyer – with the new seat – is an enjoyable place to watch the scenery go by as you rumble through. The production versions of the Flyer will have pan-style heads, a kickstarter and body-color frames. Though a list of options wasn’t available to peruse, there’s a veritable cornucopia of accessories for the Flyer, everything from chrome fork springs, fender lights and bolt-on windshields.
Speedster

The Speedster, the bike we never rode...

Although built in the same vintage style as the Flyer, the Speedster is the hot-rod in Dirico’s lineup, as it boasts the 110-cubic-inch Screamin’ Eagle motor. It’s safe to assume that it has a much bigger kick than the TC88B in the Flyer, but assume is all I can do since another journo hogged the only one on our ride! It lists for a spendy $39,900.
Pro Street
There’s nothing vintage about this low, stretched-out chop, throwing out a 36-degree rake with a 71-inch wheelbase to create a stylish contemporary cruiser. A nice line extends from the headlight through the tank and over the 25.5-inch seat height. Dual frame downtubes bend inward in a stylish flourish, while the rear is punctuated by a fat chunk of 240mm Metzeler that rides on a Softail-style rear suspension.

This is Steven Tyler’s personal bike. To our knowledge, this is the only bike in the world that has had the asses of both Duke and Tyler on it.

The Pro Street is comprehensively slathered with deep chrome from the headlight housing and Marzocchi inverted fork to the wheels, motor and Samson Big Guns 3 exhaust. Braided cables add some more bling, while H-D switchgear and gauges don’t look out of place and function well. It even uses the H-D fuel gauge incorporated into the faux filler cap. Turn signals are nicely integrated into the mirrors and the brake light for a clean look.
The Pro Street isn’t the only one with a good stance, as the rider layout is accommodating for a bike of this ilk. The stock bar position puts a rider into a slight reach for the grips, creating a curved spine that is good at counteracting big bumps. I also got the chance to ride Tyler’s personal Pro Street,

The Pro Street has a preference for straight lines, but it is also quite content on the backroads of New Hampshire. Note the running lights and turn signals in the mirrors.

If Duke could figure out how to write while he’s riding, he’d be a lot more productive. harley davis

and it was equipped with taller bar risers which also provided a comfortable position. Grips are chrome jobbies with rubber inserts that were more comfortable than expected, and I was happy to feel forward controls that weren’t much of a stretch for a 32-inch inseam. The only comfort caveat is a scooped Corbin seat that rubbed me and my lower back the wrong way.
Despite the 21-inch front wheel residing in the next zip code, the 680-lb (claimed, dry) Pro Street isn’t overly cantankerous in its slow-speed handling. Metzeler has done a fine job producing a wide rear tire (240/40-18) that doesn’t radically spoil a bike’s handling. Not that the BG3 exhaust system allows much lean angle in right-hand turns. Also earning demerits was the frame of one bike that suffered a cracking effect in the  powder-coating, but Dirico assures us this was the result of an improper finishing process that has since been rectified.
The Pro Street’s suspension works surprisingly well for a fat-tire bike, aided by the long wheelbase and a well-damped fork. But the massive weight of the rear wheel and tire makes it impossible for the rear to smoothly follow bumps in the road. Although the brakes are just standard Harley items, they offer decent power and feel though braided-steel lines.
Unlike the more docile Flyer, the Pro Street uses a 103 c.i. Screamin’ Eagle motor that produces bigger bangs which can be easily felt on the butt dyno. The 1690cc V-Twin feels vigorous when the throttle is pinned, yet it also reacts coolly when just puttering around thanks to H-D fuel injection.
A revelation was found when I experienced a Baker Drivetrain 6-speed transmission for the first time. It shifts with much more precision than the 5-speed Harley tranny in the Flyer, a ka-click rather than a ka-clunk, and is a pleasure to use. Harley, call Burt Baker!

The Pro Street looks great and works well, but it might be held back by a shrinking market for riders looking for a $39K bike.

The Pro Street is a nicely finished, bad-ass-attractive scoot that will appeal to anyone in the market for such a machine. But at a list price of $38,900, it’s hard to figure out why it costs $14K more than the similar-themed Big Dog Coyote we recently tested, even though that Dog is more of a chopper than the hunkered-down Dirico Pro Street.
And this high-end price tag is what will hurt Dirico the most in these trying times. The days of a quick re-fi to fund a chopper fascination are behind us.
“In some respects we may have missed the bus,” says Talarico, “but we don’t care. We never designed this business to make money. This is a passion for all three of us.”
That passion, and presumably some deep pockets, are hitting a certain market. Dirico has already put 47 of its bikes in the hands of well-to-do riders, and one of its current customers is the wife of Russia’s Minster of Fisheries, a six-foot-one model. A custom Boston Bruins theme bike is also in progress, and a distributor has been set up in Japan.

This Pro Street will be sent to the wife of Russia’s Minster of Fisheries. We’ll guess she didn’t have to pay the extra $250 for the autographed matching guitar.

We’ll leave you with a statement from Dirico about the positioning of the company: “Designed and hand-built for seamless function, Dirico motorcycles are statements of craftsmanship, style, detail, and innovation, expressed through modern-age components yet assembled with old-world skill. Clearly not for everyone, Dirico motorcycles are designed to resonate with the more experienced rider who wants to be distinctive but not entirely different.”
The lingering question only you can answer is, how much is that (and a Steven Tyler autograph) worth to you?

Five Minutes With Casey Stoner

Like most top MotoGP riders, Casey Stoner holds a press briefing every afternoon during a race weekend. At Valencia, on the eve of his retirement, the 27-year-old outgoing premier-class world champion was asked several questions, to which he provided forthright replies.
Cycle World Technical Editor Kevin Cameron was first to raise his hand. “When you were at Ducati,” he began, “you said the rider had no role in development, that the engineers gave you a motorcycle and you were obliged to ride it. Was that the same situation at Honda?”
“No,” replied Stoner. “Toward the end at Ducati, I had the engineers working with me a lot better. But, unfortunately, the people above weren’t giving us the funds to push things forward more.
“At Honda, I haven’t found that at all. Since the first moment that I went there, everything I asked for, every bit of input, everything we thought would move us forward, they’ve tried to produce it, to get it to us and help us through these seasons. They’re very much about working with the rider.
“If you don’t work with the riders, then you can’t really move anything further forward because the rider has all of the input. There’s only so much data that you can pull off a bike that actually makes sense.”
Unlike the wet morning practice, conditions were such Friday afternoon that only 11 riders lapped the newly repaved track within 107 percent of the time set by Aspar Aprilia’s Randy de Puniet. Stoner was one of five, including newly crowned world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who skipped the session.
“Disappointing day?” asked veteran writer Michael Scott.
“Yeah,” replied Stoner. “Big time. The surface sucks, especially in the wet. It doesn’t drain away at all. It’s very slippery. There’s no traction whatsoever. And, in general, I don’t feel the bumps are gone. There are a few major bumps that are better than last year, but, in general, I actually feel a lot more consistency of smaller bumps around the whole circuit now.
“There are also a couple of big joints in critical braking points that are not in the best position. And [the track] holds a lot of water in that place also.”
Asked if his retirement has “sunk in,” Stoner once again stressed he was not second-guessing his decision to leave the sport. “I make realistic decisions,” he said. “I’m not going to get to this point and think that I’ve made the wrong decision or a whole run of emotions are going to overtake me. I think a lot with my head and not always with my heart.
“It feels a little different that I’m not speaking about next year,” he admitted. “But, in general, it’s still the same once I’m in the box.”
On Monday, when other riders are preparing for Tuesday’s test, Stoner will be “packing up.”
Stoner described his injured ankle as “average. In the wet conditions, it wasn’t good today. I couldn’t really get myself off the inside [of the bike] as much as I’d like. So, it was a little bit difficult. We didn’t push at all this morning; I didn’t want to take any risks.”
“What do you think makes Lorenzo world champion?” asked another writer.
“Extreme consistency,” replied Stoner. “He was either first or second when he wasn’t taken out in a crash. It hasn’t necessarily been raw speed—Dani [Pedrosa] and I have been faster than him quite often this year.
“He rode a fantastic season and would have been very difficult to beat no matter what.”

Where Is The Motorcycle Going?2013

Big motorcycle shows like EICMA always raise the big questions. It was easy to answer them at similar shows held right after WWII: People needed transportation, they needed it cheap and they needed it now, and motorcycles were the answer.
Today, it’s harder. Before the present economic downturn, motorcycling had enjoyed its longest-ever boom years; but now, only the well-fixed folk can buy what was hot back in 2007. For the rest of us, any bike that costs more than a decent used economy car could easily be too much. Manufacturers have responded slowly, with lower-priced and more-utilitarian hardware such as Honda’s NC700X.
But as we marched through the great halls of EICMA, we saw endless choices in every shape, color and intended use. In the old days, motorcycles came in good, better or best; today, the simple idea of two wheels, an engine and a place to sit has multiplied into commuter, tourer, sportbike, enduro, adventure, standard, cruiser. They are all competently designed from basic principles.

What this tells us is that motorcycles have come so far from their original basis as minimum transportation that they are now as various and as style-driven as clothing. How does this bike make me feel? Does this one make me look fat? Does this color go with my eyes? In more prosperous times, motorcycles evolved into free-choice additions to our rich, complex lives, alongside a hybrid car for socially responsible commuting and an Armageddon SUV with blacked-out windows for towing the boat. And then, the depression of 2008 hit.So, there we were at the Milan show, surveying motorcycling’s still-dizzying richness of choice and hoping economic recovery soon brings it all back within reach of the many who could last afford it five years ago