Bob Roll, Dave Perewitz, Nicole Hoffman, & Jody Perewitz Join Unbreakable Bonds Blog

My friends who work in offices remind me often that I work in a couple of pretty cool industries. Because of that, I get to meet some very interesting people and have a lot of fun. Today is one of the days that I know I’m pretty darn lucky to be where I am and get to tell you all this good news.

Although we only started this blog less than two months ago, we are already kicking it up a notch. Remember, I promised that it wouldn’t be just me writing here? I wasn’t kidding. I know you don’t want to hear from me all the time – that’s no fun. I’m happy to tell you that not only will the internal Kryptonite gang be writing here more often (yes, you will everyone!), but we are adding 4 other folks to our blogging crew. They will each be doing a post about their unbreakable bond to the industry they are in so you get to know them a bit and then they will write about a variety of topics. They are free to wax poetic about anything cycling and motorcycling related – and maybe a few other things, too. We’ll just have to see what they come up with.

I’m not playing favorites so we’ll go alphabetically by first name….

Bob Roll’s in the Kryptonite House. Yes, he is. Bob’s going to be writing before, during and after The Tour DAY France. Ok, during the Tour DAY France he’ll be calling in to me while he’s crazily driving between stages and I’ll type them out for him (all his words, just my typing). Some could call it ‘cheating’, but I call it getting the red hot scoop! Don’t worry, it won’t be all racing related, though, because you can hear his thoughts on that during the coverage on Versus. He’s probably going to talk about some of the observations behind the scenes, too. Oh, I can’t wait!

Dave Perewitz is on board, too. The King of Flames has been in the motorcycle industry for so long and knows so many people I can only imagine what he’ll write about here. I love going to his shop to visit and seeing celebrity bikes before anyone else – hearing what the paint will be or what custom parts will be added and why. By the way, if you are in Chicago this weekend, join Ruben Brown’s Charity Ride. Yes, Ruben Brown of The Chicago Bears (Da Bears). Dave’s built him motorcycles and he’ll be there with Ruben for the ride, too.

Nicole Hoffman is the newest member of Team Kryptonite (look for her soon on the main website). Although we haven’t officially announced our partnership with Nicole, she’s going to be our next Unbreakable Bonds profile (stay tuned next week). We are pumped to have not only a road racer on our team but a woman road racer…how’s that for cool?! She also works for NASCAR – talk about bonding with me right away! Yes, I’m a NASCAR fan. Get over it.

Jody Perewitz is going to be writing with us, too. Jody was born into the motorcycle industry, but she has very different observations and thoughts than Dave. We wanted to get the woman’s perspective on the rallys and motorcycling, in general, too. Jody hits almost as many events as her famous dad and knows all the same folks he knows. She’s also helped to build custom bikes and is in the process of another one now. And, shhh….don’t tell anyone…but she’s learning painting techniques now, too….

That’s our new writing team. Are you as excited about this as I am? Ok, I’m partly excited because I won’t be writing as much (I know, I know, you are happy about that, too). But, I’m also excited to read what these guys and gals write about myself. Between their writing and the non-stop Unbreakable Bonds profiles, I think this is going to be the place to be this summer for some really interesting reading.

All Things Perewitz

I went down to visit our friends at Perewitz Cycle Fab yesterday. I spent a lot of time with Dave, Susan and Jody talking over some things for next year. Got to see Dee and catch up with her for a bit. Jaren was on her way out the door (I'll bet she was going holiday shopping with the days ticking). Of course I got to spend some quality time with my buds Cheech, Louie & Zipp, too. Zipp even decided to take a nap on my lap. I just love that dog.

Didn't see even one of the guys in the shop because they were busy, busy, busy! But, I did pick up a few things I thought I'd share...

Dave and Susan just returned from Ft. Lauderdale where they were enjoying some warm weather and partcipating in the Toys in the Sun Run. It's a HUGE event with over 30,000 people. Can you imagine?! It's billed as the world's largest toy run. I wouldn't doubt it. They even close down Route 95, which is the main route from Maine to Florida, for hours! That's something to see. As a matter of fact, I found a couple of photos, one of the riders and one of the spectators. I'm sure there are more photos and I'd love to see them so leave a link in the comments section!

I hear that not only did Dave participate but he was also in the front of the parade of motorcycles with none other than Aerosmith's main man, Steven Tyler. It seems Steven has put his name on a line of motorcycles now. Good deal. That Dave knows just about everyone doesn't he?

And then there is Miss Jody....as most people who have ever been to Perewitz Cycle Fab or seen them on the road know, Jody is very involved with the business end of things - marketing, apparel, shows, travel etc. etc. etc. What many people don't know is that Jody builds motorcycles, too. It's not something she does all the time, but she can and she does. Well, now more people are about to find out about this talent of hers (seriously, do you doubt that there is talent in her genes?!). Anyway...Jody and Sara Liberte announced this week that they are building a Bobber for a Cure. They are going to do this live during three different Northeast Motorcycle Expos this winter/spring - Boston, Hartford and Long Island. The press release has all the dates.

Now, not only will you be able to see them working on this motorcycle - building it and rebuilding it three times - but you'll be able to buy raffle tickets and possibly win it in the end. All proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. That's very cool!

What else? Oh, I've started to write for Life at Perewitz, the "Plog" of Perewitz Cycle Fab. Since I was there last night, I'll have my second post soon so visit often and find out who is on Santa Susan's Naughty List! You might not believe who it is!

And, finally, the gang at Perewitz Cycle Fab want to wish you a happy hoilday season. Their holiday open house is this weekend from 11-4. Santa will even be there to see the kids. I'll be there in the afternoon for sure. All the details are on their website.

Congratulations Perewitz Family!

While at Sturgis the Perewitz family was presented with the 2nd Annual Chrome Heart Award from the Children's Care Hospital & School. The award is given each year to someone "in the motorcycle world whose philanthropic support and civic duty represents everything positive in the motorcycle industry". This year they chose Dave & his family. Very cool!

Since we've known them, we have seen first hand just how much this family gives of themselves to support different charities and funds. I don't know how they do it! I'm glad that the whole family was recognized because Dave is truly the front person but Susan, Jody, Jesse and Jaren help to make it all happen, too. They work the logistics and back end details of all their charity work. It's not easy, but they work together to give back and it's truly special to see. I can't think of a better family that deserved the award this year. Great photo of Dave & Susan with the award from Iron Works Magazine!

Not to mention....while they were in Sturgis, Dave played auctioneer for the annual Hamster USA auction and dinner where they raised over $200,000 for the Children's Care Center. The funds will help with physical, occupational and speech therapies to children with special needs in Western South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska.

The press release about this says..."Children’s Care of Rapid City served over 1200 children in the region last year through outpatient and outreach programs. It is affiliated with Children’s Care Hospital & School, based in Sioux Falls. Children’s Care is a private, independent, non-profit organization with a mission to help children with special needs reach their full potential. The organization as a whole served over 2500 children last year."

Pretty cool that the Perewitz family and the Hamsters help out this cause each year. Oh, what are the Hamsters? It's an international motorcycle group founded by Dave and some of his friends years ago. From what I can tell, they are a great group of guys who all give of their time, talent and monetary donations to many, many charities across the country. Clearly, they were all more than generous out in Sturgis at their annual banquet!

While we are talking Perewitz....here are some photos from this month's Bike Night.

All set up and ready....a big kudos to Tim Clifford who

was on vacation but came to work the event anyway!

All kinds of motorcycles filled the parking lot.

Perewitz Bike Build...

...but it isn't the Perewitz you might be thinking about.

Dave Perewitz, is a legend in the motorcycle industry. He's been building and painting custom motorcycles for decades and made bikes for rock stars as well as NASCAR and NFL celebrities. We are proud to partner with Dave at many events throughout the year and will have a bunch of photos here as we get into the season and even some sneak peeks of his newest creations (I just saw the latest last night - photos coming soon).

But, there is a new Perewitz getting in on the act. Dave's daughter, Jody, is no stranger to building motorcycles. Over the years she's worked on and helped to build numerous motorcycles, including her own. This coming weekend she's taking part in Gina Woods' XX Chromes at the 3rd Annual Midwest Cyclemania in Wisconsin.

Jody, Sara Liberte, Laura from Kustomcycles, Katie of Mitch Bergeron Customs and Tami of Diva Customs have a challenge ahead of them. They will be building a bike from the ground up during the show with everyone watching. No pressure, right?

The show is April 21 at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in Green Bay, WI. Sounds like it will be a fun time. If you are in that area, stop by and say hi to Jody and see how she and the her partners are doing with the bike build. We think they are going to do a great job and can't wait to hear all about it.

Northeast Motorcycle Expo

The Northeast Motorcycle Expo in Boston this past weekend was PACKED. Let me say that again...PACKED! It was so packed on Sunday, the second and last day of the show, that they extended the show by an hour.

Team Kryptonite was well represented in the Perewitz Cycle Fab booth. Obviously, the master of ceremonies, Dave, was busy, busy, busy both days. This is, after all, their home show and just about everyone "knows" Dave. And a good few were wearing Perewitz shirts and hats.

Dave signing autographs

But, there were other motorcycle builders there, including Billy Lane. Here's the chopper in his booth...

The newest Team Kryptonite member, Jody Perewitz, was working to put a motorcycle together with Sara Liberte during the show. As the "Garage Girls" they are putting together a motorcycle at each of the Northeast Motorcycle Expo stops (same bike, torn down and put back together). They do it in less than 2 days! You can win the motorcycle, too. Just buy a $10 ticket, with the money going to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Good cause, sweet bike! I bought a couple of tickets. We'll see...

New Garage Girls merchandise

Jody, working hard

Sarah, doing her part!

I spied Jody giving Pete an autograph

Whenever you go to these shows you see budding celebrities, like Jody and Sarah, but you also see the tried and true celebs, too. Here are both Susan Perewitz (l) and Barb Borowiec, owner of Barb's Harley Davidson in NJ. It was a treat to see Barb because I hadn't seen her in quite some time. You might just be hearing more about Barb here soon.....stay tuned. Maybe we can even get her to do an Unbreakable Bonds story...what do you think....I'll work on it.

Yup, they are celebs, too, in my book

I didn't take many motorcycle photos...seriously, when you are in a booth with the best why do you need to look around, right? But, this caught my eye from Irish Choppers. Green happens to be my favorite color, personally. I just love this color combination on this bike...

Yes, that's a shot glass at the top of the tank.

We hope you made it to the show and stopped by to say "hi" to Roby, Eric, Dave, Jody, Susan and myself. Maybe you even saw Louie, Cheech and Zipp. If you did, you saw that Zipp used up a lot of energy greeting people so by the end of the day he was a little pooped....

Thanks to all of you who came out. And, of course, to the Perewitz crew who are always wonderful hosts - we love being part of your booth!

Perewitz Open House

Saturday was a nice, spring day here in Massachusetts. A little chilly and a little cloudy, but the sun did break through during the day so it was a nice day for a ride. Hundreds of motorcyclists took advantage of the early season good weather and headed down to Perewitz Cycle Fabrication to join in the fun and festivities at their Open House. As I mentioned, part of the Kryptonite crew was there, too.

There were free hotdogs, sodas and bags of popcorn, music, airbrush tattoos, prizes tossed from the roof, raffles, doggies and lots and lots of motorcycles of every variety parked in front of the store. For those that came out, it was a great day.

Kryptonite raffled off one of Dave Perewitz's custom painted trashcans with all of the money going to the National MS Society (a charity near and dear to the Perewitz family). The can was won by Jack M. who was one of their first service customers when they moved to this building. But, on this day he didn't arrive on his motorcycle, he arrived with his friend and kids on their bicycles! We see that often, actually - the crossover with motorcycles and bicycles.

It was a fun day at the Perewitz kick off to the summer riding season. Here are some photos taken during the day. Enjoy!

Motorcycles were everywhere....

Every make and model you could think of.....

Being a family affair there were lots of kids on bicycles, too, including these next to the burnout pad...

Airbrush tattoos were a huge hit. Here some young, future riders show off their love of motorcycles. Even the Perewitz clan had some fun with the temporary tattoos.

And the winner is....Jack M! Congrats!

Kryptonite's Tim Clifford with Jack, kids and their new treasure. Shortly afterwards, Jack jumped on his other two wheels and took his prize home.

Bike Night & Women's Riding Essentials

MEET DAVE PEREWITZ

MEET JODY PEREWITZ

MEET NICOLE HOFFMAN ROESCH

And...some of the internal Kryptonite gang (Eric, Roby, Tim and me!)

When? Where?

There are two opportunities in some cases.

The FIRST Perewitz Bike Night of the season is tomorrow night.
Wednesday, June 18 at 6pm at Perewitz Cycle Fab
We'll all be there. C'mon down!

The first WOMEN'S RIDING ESSENTIALS is Thursday night.
If you are a woman who has questions about starting to ride or are a new rider, this is the night for you! Jody & Nicole are kickin' out all of the guys from Perewitz Cycle Fab and having a women's only night. They'll talk about their experiences on motorcycles - how they got started - some safety tips - gear tips - riding tips - simple maintenance and answer your questions. The fun starts at 6pm.

Sturgis 08 Bike Week - Chapter 1

by Craig Glab, Central Region Manager

This chapter begins with my two day road trip (towing my bike) from my home around Cincinnati OH to Sturgis SD. I got there Saturday night just in time to hang with my Hamster friends at a block party..(priorities in order). Sunday, I got up and went for a ride through Spearfish Canyon to Deadwood. Great scenery and strange looking motorcycles too. Check out this one...

During the week I got ready for two Custom bike shows. One, that we sponsored, was the Dave Perewitz custom paint show, held at Thunder Road. The show was in a large tent where I set up a booth to show off our product line. I was placed right by the entrance where people would come in and go out of the tent. What a great spot! I talked to tons of people about our locks and proper lock up. A custom motorcycle was parked in the booth for "show and tell", to show them the best place to attach a lock. I gave away goodies like stickers and lanyards...funny how much these tough riders love the free stuff!

I helped Dave Perewitz hand out the winning trophies for a bunch of really cool custom paint jobs. You'll have to come back to the blog another day for more about that. I also worked out at the Top Fifty Rally Park bike show. We gave locks to the winners of the show. We also mixed things up with the crowd giving them crazy questions to answer for a chance to win a lock from us. This was alot of fun. While the crowd was a bit more thin this year than in the past because of gas price sticker shock, the spirit of the event was as strong as ever!

My First Tattoo – Perewitz Style

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager



Dave Perewitz and I went to Acme Tattoo the Saturday of Donnie Smith’s show in St. Paul, MN last month. Nolan, the owner of Acme Tattoo, measured my arm with wax paper. When that was complete he handed it over to Dave, the King of Flames.

Dave began to draw out the flames on the paper that would eventually make it to my arm.

But it didn’t happen that Saturday because Nolan was pre-booked with all the Hamsters that were in town. Nolan is known all over the United States for being the best. A lot of the Hamsters will only have Nolan tattoo them. Dave got a new tattoo as well as Susan, Kory and Jody.

I had to come back Tuesday, April Fool’s Day. There was non-stop joking in the building. It took three nights to complete. On Tuesday night I sat for 2 hours, Wednesday night I sat for 1 ½ hours and Thursday night Nolan finished it in 1 ½ hours.

Don Shipman sat with me for a couple of nights. Talk about team support.

Tim Remus was there Tuesday and Wednesday night, too. He was shooting for a new tattoo book that he’s doing. I think mine will make the book!

When I left Nolan’s his wife gave me a bunch of temporary tattoos for my boys. We had a great time with them this past weekend. They had tattoos all up their arms, too.

I love my first tattoo. Right now it is scabby so it doesn’t look as bright and vivid as it did those nights, but it will be ready to add to it when I go back up that way in June.

Photos by Craig Glab, Don Shipman and Tim Remus

Happy Birthday Dave!

Dave and Matt Hotch last week in Indy

I'm in the UK this week, but I couldn't forget that today is a special day. Please join me in wishing Dave Perewitz a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Fall Foliage Run Weekend Raises Money for MS

It was a beautiful fall weekend on Cape Cod. The air was clear, the temperature was warm, most of the tourists were gone so traffic wasn't an issue and there was the sound of motorcycles all around! It was the Perewitz family's annual invitaional Fall Foliage Run Weekend. The FFR is for their motorcycle club, the Hamsters, and a few close friends.

It's a full weekend with a ride from the Perewitz Bridgewater shop to the Cape on Friday afternoon and a huge BBQ and silent auction at the Perewitz cape house. This year they even had a band playing in the back yard. Lots of fun and money was raised during the auction for the National MS Society.

Saturday dawned a little overcast, but still great weather for the annual Poker Run. Everyone had a great time riding with each other and enjoying the company at the different stops. The winner rec'd this sweeeeet, custom painted 'trash can'.

Saturday night was the big lobster & BBQ dinner and live auction where thousands of dollars were raised for the MS Society, which is a charity near and dear to their hearts and mine as well.

Below are a few pics from Saturday night. Enjoy.

Susan and Jesse work out some last minute details.


The raw bar is prepared....

The tables were ready to go.....

Doors Open!


Susan, Dave and Jody were at the door greeting guests.

Chef Kory & Company were in the kitchen making a great fish dish and keeping the lobsters coming!

Full house! Everyone seemed to have a great time....

....including Joe Pro in his funky hat.

We even caught a glimpse of Beach from The Beachcruiser! Train was with him. It was great to meet them in person finally!

Soon it was time for the charity auction.

There were some very cool items to bid on. Check out the custom made Converse sneakers.

I kind of liked this fun mail box on wheels.

Local artist, Greg Vaughan donated a one-of-a-kind Fall Foliage Run painted horseshoe crab for the auction and presented the Perewitz family with this one for their trophy case at the shop. Talk about unique!

No event can be done without the hard work of many. Here is just part of the crew that spent their time making this event a success. Bravo gang!

And...of course.....there was cake....yummy cake....

Thanks to the Perewitz family for being so generous, putting on a fantastic weekend and supporting this great charity.