DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Zo At Dimple Records

Q: Does your bike have a nickname?

A: Yeah, but it changes with every girlfriend I get.

Q: It's named after the current girlfriend?

A: Yeah. It's kind of a dumb thing, but guys do that.

Q: Impress a girl?

A: No, not at all. She doesn't know. I don't ever tell them. It's between me and some of the guys, probably.

Q: How many miles have you personally put on your bike?

A: All of them. I have more than one bike, so it's kind of not fair. I'll ride one for awhile. I have this one and I have two others. I don't like putting a lot of miles on them, but I do.

Q: So you bought it new?

A: Yeah.

Q: Where did you get it from?

A: At the Yamaha dealership on Auburn.

Q: Why are you at Dimple today?

A: Oh, getting a video game for a little nephew that broke his leg.

Q: Aw, poor guy! Keeping him entertained?

A: He's going to keep himself entertained. He's stuck by himself. He's nine. He's not by himself, but nobody wants to play with him with a broken leg. I got him a Metal Gear 4, so he can shoot people and not feel too bad.

Q: What neighborhood do you live in?

A: Just down the street.

Q: Just down the street? What neighborhood is this, anyway?

A: Tower District. What, are you not from here?

Q: I'm from South Sac, I just don't know.

A: Oh, okay. I got a place out there, too.

Q: How old are you?

A: I'm 35.

Q: What's your bike's main use?

A: I use it to go to the gym. I use it to go to work sometimes. I have a convertible Miata, doesn't waste a lot of gas. I usually drive around in that and blast music. This has got a stereo, too, so I can get around and listen to music regardless. Or, iPod.

Q: So this is just for fun trips?

A: Yeah. I use it to go out of town, too, because it's cheaper on gas.

Q: How much time do you spend on your bike in an average day?

A: On a day? Maybe three hours a day depending on the bike and where I'm going. I'm the president of a motorcycle club in Oakland, so I do a lot of running back and forth. It takes about an hour and 10 minutes to get there.

Q: What do you do in the club?

A: I'm the president. I do whatever I feel like doing. It's a club called Black Ice.

Q: What do you like best about the commute?

A: When you're on a bike you don't have to stop when there's traffic, you can just keep going.

Q: That makes me so jealous, by the way.

A: I know. Get a bike! Stop being jealous!

Q: I should.

A: Yeah, I've seen a lot of girls on bikes. Actually, out here, there are a lot of them. There's a lot of girl motorcycle clubs out here.

Q: Really?

A: Yeah, they're just women only. They like to tag along on some of our rides. We like to watch out for them and stuff. We'll take one or two groups with us sometimes. I have 178 members in my club, so it's a pretty nice size club.

Q: What's the furthest place you've driven to?

A: Maryland. It's three thousand and something miles.

Q: Why did you go there?

A: Ex-girlfriend. Was checking on her. Her mother had passed. Me and some friends were going to ride to Chicago and I was just like, it's just another little drive. I took off by myself for a couple of days to visit her and check up on her. Me and her were together for like, three years. Then her mother got sick, so she took off down there to take care of her and was there for about four years. We kept in contact and when she passed. I was like, wow, and had to go check on her. We were already going to Chicago when it happened.

Q: How long did it take you to get there?

A: Because we stopped, about four days. Yeah, because we kept stopping, checking out clubs and stuff that we were talking to on the internet.

Q: What was your first car?

A: Car?

Q: Car, bike, whatever. First vehicle.

A: It was a 450 SL Mercedes convertible. It was beat up, ugly, used, but it was a convertible.

Q: How long did you have it for?

A: For about three weeks before they found out I had no license. It got taken from me.

Q: That kind of puts an end to that.

A: Yeah. I was in high school and I didn't have my driver's license yet. I just got into high school. I was like 15 or 16. When they found out about that, they restricted me for an extra year.

Q: You got it eventually, though.

A: Yeah. It's funny, because right after that—I think I was 17 or 18—I started driving trucks, diesel trucks, big trucks. It wasn't like I was afraid of driving. It's just I didn't have a license for that either. I was driving in the actual. You know, the docks and stuff, the piers that are in Oakland. I was driving there. It was on private property, so they didn't say anything. I was driving forklifts for them and trucks and stuff and just parking. It was a good job.

Q: What are you most proud of about your bike?

A: That everyone thinks it's a 1000, but it's really like a 1400, because I had the engine bored, I had the fuel injector re-mapped. It moves when I need it to. it's got really good control, it turns really good.

Q: What's your absolute dream car or bike?

A: I don't really look at stuff like that. I get what I can get, what I can afford, and I make it mine. Put the stereo in that I want, because it's always about music. If you have some nice tunes you can go anywhere. I like dropping the top on the convertible Miata and just going.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about your bike?

A: Just make it your own. It's not that hard. Everybody's always trying to get something new, trying to change, put rims on, and do all kinds of stuff. To me, I just want some clear music and something that's not going to have problems.