Easy Riding

This is not your average motorcycle club, says Boulder Street Moto (BSM) cofounder Adam Morley. “I didn’t grow up around cars and motorcycles. My dad and grandad were carpenters and could literally build anything, but engines were not something they worked on,” he says.

His love of vintage motorcycles began in 2010, right when social media was really taking off. “I was poking around online and kept running into old pics of Steve McQueen and James Dean with their bikes. Not only was I curious about the bikes, but I loved their style—totally ’60s. I adopted those tweeds, hats, and even the filterless cigarettes. It’s really my genre (just a little early for when I was born),” Morley says. “Then, I started researching their motorcycles.  Vintage now is considered anything pre-1985.”

Morley says he had no idea how to ride or how to work on a bike but nonetheless bought his first Honda Gold Wing (1978) off Craigslist in 2010. “It was a pretty big bike to start off with,” he says. “I called a friend who rode it home for me, and then, I just started learning how to ride on my own street. I fell in love with everything about those old bikes.”

Morley started riding motorcycles with a few friends; all owned early ’70s vintage bikes. “There was a whole genre of motorcycles called café racers in the 1960s and ’70s,” says Morley. “The bikes were smaller and quicker—made for racing between coffee shops and bars.” That’s what Morley’s group started doing. Their love of vintage motorcycles evolved into working on the bikes at each other’s homes and garages. “We were using YouTube and good old-fashioned elbow grease to teach ourselves what to do. It was pretty cool.”

In addition to Morley, the original founders of Boulder Street Moto included Davin Neubacher, Ian Lee, Matt Chavez, and Nerissa England, the lone lady rider. The group was running out of room and places to work on their bikes and decided to create a true riding club and add more riders. They also wanted space for a real clubhouse.

“We found our first building in 2015, and our clubhouse became a reality,” says Morley. The group had tools and space for events and even an area to store bikes. BSM’s first clubhouse started where Peak Ride is currently, just across the parking lot from the current location. BSM’s current clubhouse is adjacent to Morley’s “real job” as he calls it, Wolf & Key Marketing, in a coworking space called the Wolf Den.

“In 2018, we had 20 members and moved our business into this building,” says Morley. “Our 70+ members now have access to four workbenches and plenty of community tools. It costs members $60 a month to join. BSM is registered as a 501(c)7 membership organization, and we even do collaborative rides with a local vintage scooter club.”

There is no in-house mechanic at BSM, and the group does not service bikes for the public in any way, says Morley. “We created BSM because we wanted the friendships and the community. The bikes were just a catalyst.”

Although the group is mostly men, Morley says they are always looking to recruit more women. The group currently has five female members. Ages run the gamut as well, he says. “We have one older gentleman who has been working on bikes for more than 40 years. Then, we have people like me that had no clue how to ride or work on a bike and wanted to try it,” Morley says.

He adds, “We’re introducing people to a new hobby, making friends, and building connections. My own company, Wolf & Key, works in the social media realm, but I feel like we’ve all seen how social media has caused us to lose actual human contact and connections with each other in a lot of ways. Working on physical machines with like-minded people helps offset the computer work many of us do day in and day out, too. Boulder Street Moto is much more than a bike club. It’s community. That was our goal first and foremost. It just keeps getting more fun.”

Ongoing Events

In addition to the members-only monthly Wrench Night when members work on bikes, exchange tips, smoke cigars, and help others diagnose and fix problems, BSM has several scheduled events that involve connecting with the community.

Vintage Moto Show & Swap Meet: BSM hosts an annual swap meet for cars and motorcycles—vintage style. Vendors offer everything from parts to clothing and even vintage advertisements from the 1960s.

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride: Coming up on six years of age, this annual ride attracts more than 100 riders and has a special cause: men’s mental health. The group dresses up in a dapper fashion (think bow ties, fedoras, tweed) and rides around on vintage motorcycles to raise money for the November Foundation.

Thursday Throttle: This monthly ride around Colorado Springs welcomes members and nonmembers alike.