Lowside Magazine Unleashes Issue #11, Buy It Now

Constantly we hear about the death of print, when it comes to graphic design and marketing. Yes, we agree that print is slowly disappearing and less quantity and quality of magazines are able to stand the test of time, but there are a select few that are making headway. 

Lowside Magazine out of Baltimore has been growing steadily over the last few years and their design style exudes a presence that speaks volumes. They don't try to hit you over the head and talk about their cool factor, they are making it happen with ease. It is a refreshing approach and the subtlety allows for the artistry within the machinery to scream, as loud as their pipes will allow. Congrats fellas on what looks to be another great issue. Can't wait to receive our copy in the mail.

Get your copy of Lowside Magazine Issue #11

Lowside Magazine releases Issue #11

"So you hold in your hands the new and improved Lowside Magazine. Pretty sweet right? I thought so too. One of the reasons we decided to switch formats was because people always seem to think the mag is free. Like they walk up to our table at events and pick up the mag, then look at us and say thanks as they walk away. So, to me, that always said that our mag seems like a free pamphlet or something.

So for your reading pleasure we are bumping up our content and mag quality so you have something a little bit more tangible to leave sitting on the back of your toilet. We hope you dig it because we’re putting twice the effort into it and giving you more bikes to drool over.

That being said, did you ever notice how awesome the movie Easy Rider is? It’s a super out there movie, but it’s really all about two dudes just riding. There's no club bullshit, no tough guy biker image stuff or anything like that. You actually see them fix stuff that breaks on the bikes. Its about as true to life as it gets. It was always my favorite movie from that era for that reason. I can see myself in their shoes, I can look back on past rides and feel the feelings that movie portrays.

You really get a positive feeling about a man and his bike, everything else is just a detail or story along the way. As cheesy as it sounds it really shows how free Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper’s characters are, and how the bikes give them that freedom. I mean of course they were running drugs, but that's really a small detail in the story. I guess what I’m trying to say is, Easy Rider rules, do your own thing and don’t get shot in the face by two hillbillies in a truck while you’re riding."

FTP - TW

8.5" x 5.5"
100 pages
Matte coated cover
Glossy interior pages

Split Rocker Box Shovelhead paired with great design for a solid magazine cover

Clean Triumph featured in a clean and modern layout

Panhead featured in Lowside Magazine Issue #11

How To Ruin Our National Anthem, Just Ask The Fray

If there is one thing that will unite many Americans instantly, it is when the Star Spangled Banner is sung at an event. With all the hacks that have been butchering this great song of late, such as The Fray, why don't you learn a history lesson and see exactly where it stems from. Better yet, why don't ya read below from the song lyrics and understand the story as told and written by Francis Scott Key during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the Baltimore harbor in 1814. Please leave the song alone and sing it the correct way with absolute bravado and reverence for our country.

Cover Sheet for the Star Spangled Banner lyrics

"O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

The Fray butchering the National Anthem from Presswire on yahoo

Here is how the Star Spangled Banner should be sung

Damn Great Time At The Timonium Motorcycle Show

This past weekend we were up in Timonium, MD at the huge motorcycle show and swap meet. Never quite made it over to the big chrome show next door as we had too much of a good time hanging with friends we don't get to see all the time. Hell, we barely left the area of our booth as it was such a great crowd rolling through. Looking forward to going up again next year and doing it all over again. Huge thanks to Lowside Magazine for making all of this happen!

Palerider Ironhead

Jeff of Independent Choppers with paint by Robert Pradke

Monster Craftsman were great folks, looking forward to working with them

Really dug the paint on this bike by J&B Moto Co.

Add caption

BSA bike for sale at swap meet

Dime City Cycles Brass Cafe

Jefe and his lady in a reflection on one of Dime City's bikes

Vintage Speed Machines by Dime City Cycles

Carburetor cone on a shovelhead

1980 80 inch Shovelhead motor for sale

Lowside Magazine poster for the Timonium Bike Show

Living The Life - QBall Photos - Santa's Helpers

“Santa’s Helpers” circa 199? from “Living The Life”, biker photography book.

Tis the Season to be? This time of the year brings out the best and worst in folks. Point in fact is Toy Runs. Here in our neck of the boon docks one local club blocks the main thorough fair to collect toys and money for local children in need. Some years it’s freezing cold and wet, while other times it can be quite balmy like this photo where the Club’s defense lawyer was dressed as Santa in flip flops.

Those trapped in this traffic ambush reacted in curios ways. The town’s newbie’s and uninitiated driving high dollar cages would roll their windows up tight. They wore faces of disgust and fright, dialed 911 on cell phones, and wondered if they could escape unharmed. The long time locals where prepared and looking forward to help. Some drove up in old ratty pickup trucks loaded with toys. Others dug deep into their worn out jeans and gave all they could. Friends would stop in the middle of the street to talk creating an opportunity for cub members to smile and offer candy canes to fearful cagers impatiently blowing their horns. Ya gotta love the holiday spirit.

Long May You Ride,
Q-Ball

Get the book, Living The Life

QBall's photograph of "Santa's Helpers" - Living The Life

Qball Photo - Living The Life, Cover Photo

“Ricky’s Beach” circa 197? from “Living The Life”, biker photography book.

I’ve been asked many times where the cover photo was taken, and what significance it has. Well here ya go. After a miserable, cold, wet, nine day ride, fraught with break downs, mishaps, and some damn good times we arrived at to Daytona Beach Florida. Most of us were dog tired and looking forward to just kicking back in the sun. Ricky on the other hand was like a kid at Christmas. Shortly after hitting the beach he was running his sidecar rig up on two wheels down the beach. I grabbed my camera and documented his display of youthful enthusiasm. Ricky was always in the fast lane, right up until the day he died. I never planned on selling or publishing any of these photos until recently when the pressure/encouragement from friends became more than I could bear. When going through my photos looking for a cover, this image stood out as the personification of why we all ride. It was also my way of honoring, and thanking Ricky for all he showed by example.

Long May You Ride,

Q-Ball

Living the Life - Buy the book

Living The Life - The Infamous Photography of Doug Barber aka QBall

Life on two wheels just seems to be that much more fulfilling than sitting on the sidelines and talking about where our paths will take us. Ya gas up and go, its quite simple. People come and go in life and we have friends that are merely acquaintances, but the relationships we have with our machines and or those that have a similar mindset, form a bond that others can never understand. Events are planned around the next run or batch of trouble we can get into and those times are etched into the memories like a family photo.

These great times are consistently remembered by an individual such as Doug Barber or as we definitely prefer to go by, QBall. While looking at his book and photos in Living the Life, you can see folks living on the fringe and truly enjoying their time. Bikes and Hot Rods to all of us are a means of escape, not necessarily from a bank heist, but one in which are thoughts are allowed to run free and be passengers along the trip of a lifetime. While diggin' through his photos, that departure point is on every single page. This book is now forever sitting somewhere close by so we can look over and experience wander lust while grinding away through our daily workload. 

Qball is also taking things a step further for us, we asked him if he wouldn't mind contributing some photos and notes on the randomness that is life to post here on the blog and he obliged. Be on the lookout for more posts from him and in 2012 plan on all of us hittin' the road to numerous events or just idlin' up to a bar to shoot the shit.

In the words of QBall, "Long May You Ride."

Go ahead and purchase the book now, click here

Living the Life - The Photgraphy of Doug Barber, aka QBall

Lowside Syndicate - Issue 4

Issue 4 of Lowside Syndicate is about to roll off the press. Do yourself a favor and dig into what the fellas up in Baltimore have cookin' as these are some high quality gems of a read.

Lowside Syndicate