Welcome to Classified Moto!

Rather be Rippin’

I got my first job in the summer of 1983 — washing dishes at the Jamestown 4-H Camp just outside Williamsburg, Virginia. It was brutal, but in my 14-year-old mind it was worth every minute. For every unidentifiable mess I cleaned up, every fork I fished out of the trashcan, every second-degree burn I got , I was one step closer to my dream of building the ultimate BMX bike.

What I ended up building was a Hutch Pro Racer. What I really wanted was a “P.K. Ripper“. But as it turned out, the Ripper was above my pay grade and no amount of scrubbing and mopping could fix that.

As a kid, I couldn’t care less about team sports (Ok, I liked soccer) but was obsessed with bikes. And when I took notice of the BMX craze in the late 70′s, that was all she wrote. I would tag along to the grocery store to read copies of BMX Action and BMX Plus magazines in the aisle while my parents shopped. On special occasions when I actually got a copy, I’d read every single word and scrutinize the photos. Everyone in the pictures — even the people standing around watching the riders — was pretty much the coolest person I’d ever seen. It was hard to even imagine that Southern California was a real place, inhabited by all these fearless BMX warriors…

Fast forward to a few months ago when Classified Moto client Timothy McClellan and I were having one of our friendly boxing matches over the design of his Classified XS650. I would say no paint, he would say metal flake paint. He would say all black. I would say why? Me, tomato. Him, potato. Until finally he said, “powder blue.”

To look at the Classified portfolio, you might think pastels wouldn’t fly. But PK’s were powder blue (a lot of them were, anyway) and the coolest ones had black mags. Just like Timothy’s bike. Hmmm.

So we struck a deal. I would embrace his powder blue if he would let me pay tribute to the might Perry Kramer, SE Bikes and their game-changing P.K. Ripper.

The folks at SE Bikes have been great, sending us tons of historical references as well as factory graphics files so we can incorporate some of their iconic typography into the finished product. Be sure to check out the SE Blog to see what all the fuss is about.

As inspirational as the legendary PK is, it’s harder than I thought to do it justice. The blue frame on the XS helps, but there’s just no getting around that 650cc engine smack dab in the middle of the bike. Never fear, though. With any luck the “CM Ripper” will have all the attitude and presence of the original, even if it never drops in to empty pool.

Stay tuned for an oldskool photoshoot featuring both bikes in all their glory. Meanwhile, look for updates on the Classified Moto Facebook page and on Twitter (@johnryland). — JR

PS: Thanks to Greg Ownby and our dashing intern Manny for all the hours lately. And also to photog extraordinaire Patrick Biedrycki for stopping in to document our Monday. Much appreciated.