Bikernet Contributor Scooter Tramp Scotty: Against the Odds

Because the three travelers portrayed here offer such a powerful message, I’m compelled to bring a piece of it to you here. By the end of this article I will have gotten to the point and hope that the idea will have bled through in sufficient quantity to affect the lives of at least a few.

For each rider I’ll offer what little I know from our encounters together. Though this may not provide an abundance of information, I believe it will be enough.

I’ll start with Rocky—who got his name because be used to travel with a raccoon.

For some years I’d seen this guy working at the large motorcycle rallies for a big outfit called Racepro. They sell a variety of motorcycle accessories such as carburetors, clutch mods, etc. Though I’m familiar with these guys because I also work for vendors and we all tend to know each other at least to some extent, it wasn’t until this year when Racepro hired me to help set up their outfit that and I came to know Rocky. It seemed impossible not to find his story intriguing.

A friendly little dude who’s quite the perfectionist, Rocky was born completely deaf. Although he has a good home and wife of multiple decades, for the entirety of his 70 years this guy has been an avid, if not obsessed, motorcyclist. In his youth Rocky was heavily immersed in the dirt bike scene and spent much of his time at the motocross track while working as mechanic for some of the largest racing outfits out there. Unable to hear the tone of a motor, it’s said that Rocky can tune an engine to perfection by the feel of vibration coming through the handlebars.