By Lulu

A favorite destination ride for a meal with a view is 3 Bananas in Crescent City on Crescent Lake. While in town for Biketoberfest or Bike Week, or any other time, get on your bike and take a ride out to the quaint city and find Pat and Anna Finley’s place on the lake. The couple took over operation on the bar in November 2021 and breathed new life into the place. Originally from Ponte Vedra they brought years of experience to this new endeavor having been in restaurant consulting, ownership, conference & catering director at a large resort and even director of training. Years of experience must have paid off as once again 3 Bananas has quite a following under their reins. The Finley’s now reside in Crescent City. Pat rode dirt bikes as a teenager but now they are into trail/beach cruisers and enjoy Bikes on the Beach. They enjoy golfing, fishing, and visiting hole in the wall establishments. Sounds like they are living the good life, although I know restaurant bar business is TIME CONSUMING! The Finley’s are community minded and the charity they are involved in is K9s for Warriors.

3 Bananas specials include Prime Rib Saturdays and are known for their seafood. Try their hand breaded shrimp or blackened grouper dinner featured in the photos. Personally, I LOVE their quesadillas. Try some of their famous banana-based drinks Dirty Banana, Banana Split or Banana Wreck. I bet any of them will go down so smoothly you may end up acting like a monkey! They are open Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 11am-5pm,
With extended hours Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 11a-8pm. They have live music Saturdays noon-3pm and Wednesday night they feature trivia.

Coming up on October 25th 5 pm is their Yappy Hour and Howl-o-Ween Parade. Dogs in costume with prizes! So, for you guys who ride with pups you might want to check this one out! The address is 11 S. Lake St. in Crescent City or find them on 3bananas.com.

By Lulu

Out in Satsuma a short hop from Crescent City is the old Hermit’s Cove, under new ownership and a new name. The Gartenders at the Gnarly Gar are happy to serve you with a smile! The new owners Jay and Tanya Steck, along with Marcin Grucela have had the helm of the Gar since November 2022. Tanya was born and raised in Florida. Jay was born in Michigan but raised in New Jersey. They now reside in Port Orange but have a place out in Satsuma where the Gnarly Gar is located. The bar is a great destination ride for ice cold beer, seltzers, and wine with a beautiful view of the water and sunsets! Jay and Tanya are also busy with businesses other than the bar. Jay works for a construction coatings manufacturer and together they have Saltair Properties Group which manages rental properties. Jay was in law enforcement in the past and Marcin was a Marine, “once a Marine, always a Marine”! Marcin does ride motorcycles and loves the biking community. The “fish camp” (home) they own in Hermit’s Cove made the former Hermit’s Cove bar their place to stop for a drink, and when Gary the owner passed away, he left the bar to Pamela Small, who ran if for a bit. When she decided to sell, the Steck’s bought it to keep it operating for the local community, the motorcycle riders and the boaters who love this place, as they do. In Tanya’s words, “We love the bar and continue to improve on it. We really decided to buy it because we were concerned that if we didn’t, someone may come in and change the bar to something else or would tear it down and put houses on the property. We love the bar, and we also love this community, which genuinely is what ‘makes’ this bar what it is today. We embrace the Gnarly Gar as a local’s spot and the support we receive from the community of locals, bikers and boaters shows in everything we do to keep it going.” Since Gary had the original Hermit’s Cove, the bar has added live music, occasional food trucks and other entertainment.

Ride out to find this gem in the country. They are open Wednesday-Sunday 11a-to sometime after 10pm. Tanya runs the show, Jay and Mancin are never far from the Gnarly Gar. Kim, Michelle, and Ana Mira are the GARTENDERS. Ride out and tell them you saw this in Thunder Roads Florida Magazine!

The address is 482 Cove Dr., Satsuma. Check them out at gnarlygar.com or find them on Facebook too. The phone number is 386-214-1863.

By Greg Perret

Greg Perret owner of Le Duck Motorcycles was kind enough to submit the story of Le Duck Motorcycles in Daytona Beach in his own words. He has a heavy French accent, so I asked him to answer questions in print not wanting to make any mistakes. He kindly wrote the following. These guys are really nice and hard working. Stop in and check out their business. Lulu

I’m Greg and purchased the shop Crank and Chrome with my brother, Sylvain last spring. We come from France, and I moved to Florida in February with my wife and my two children, each with 2 suitcases! Now that the kids are back in school, my wife is looking for a job. My daughter is 10 years old (5th grade), and my son is 8 years old (3rd grade). They love their new life, here in Florida, and made new friends at school. They both rode a little bit in motocross when they were in France.

I sold my business in France, and I was looking for a Motorcycle Business in the USA. We had the opportunity to buy Crank and Chrome from Barry Zenn. And we did! This year we built three bikes for our showroom, and we truly want to show people that we love the work we do. We specialize in Harley-Davidson and Indians. We do repairs and service, and are Harley certified. Le Duck also sells new and used parts.

I was 9 or 10 years old when I had my first bike, a Yamaha PW80. Then, we were riding every week on the MX tracks, and spent 10 to 12 years in competition. I bought my first Harley-Davidson, and customized different bikes for myself in France. We created Le Duck Motorcycles to purchase Crank And Chrome. Now we continue the same operations with the same team. Come in and meet our team; Philip, Craig and Hippie.We have a lot of ambitious plans for the shop in the next few months, to make it the place to be, to make it a concept store.

Le Duck comes from the movie Convoy, in the French version the main character Kris Kristofferson is called “Le Duck” so, nothing about motorcycles is the reason for the name. Although, we have a t-shirt with his effigy. Le Duck also is our clothing brand and we carry Renegade Babes too.
The address for the shop is 1533 Ridgewood Ave., Daytona Beach. Phone is 386-615-1449. They are open Monday-Saturday 8am-5pm so get on the schedule to get your ride ready for Biketoberfest.

By Lulu

In July, Born to Ride Magazine put on a custom ride in bike show and hot rod classic show at Tampa Bay H-D. The band Tommy Roxx was on the Fran Haasch stage playing their hearts out. Vendors and bikini bike wash girls gave the peeps something to look at and inside I saw at least one happy camper ringing the bell for his new Harley purchase! It was nice to get out on the west coast for a minute. Thanks for a good time Ron! You always put on great bike show.

By Lulu

We weren’t able to make it up for the spring Thunder Beach Rally, but T Rex and Tony stopped in and shot some pics on their way through heading to Sturgis and the Midwest. Bike Rack on Front Beach Rd was rocking with vendors, full bar, stunt shows, burnout contests, bike and audio shows and live music. This years lineup featured The Rock Mob, Black Eyed Blonde, Frank Fletcher, JoJo Bee, Scratch 2020 and Velvet Gypsy. Frank Brown Park was once again filled with vendors and live music while Bill Grotto and the Twisted Tea girls shared their brew. With the fall rally approaching in October, I want to remind you of a great destination ride out to the Red Bay Thunder Rally (see their ad in this issue). Their rally runs from the 21st through the 27th of October. The bar is called Hideout in Ponce de Leon. It’s a beautiful 30-minute ride out to the country for a fun day away from the traffic on beachside. Thunder Beach Fall Rally is from the 23rd to the 27th of October.

In the past we would take Letters to the Editor and publish them, but as the magazine has grown over the past 17 years, we simply haven’t had space. James had a beef with my Pony Tales in August 2024 and dared me to post his letter to me. So here it is with my response. In my response I forgot to take issue with the 250,000 deaths due to Covid he wants to blame Trump for. Every country suffered deaths. The left went crazy when early on Trump wanted to stop flights from China. The liberals let people with no vaccines flood into our country illegally. I also am subjected to CNN, MSNBC because T. J. watches all the channels to form our opinions. But common sense is something the liberals running this country the past 3.5 years do not possess. And we are stuck with their poor decisions on defunding the police, the border, the prices on gas and groceries. The uprisings in cities they want to call peaceful protests, even the new VP candidate allowed in his state. Weren’t those riots a crime against our nation? Police stations and courthouses damaged, police cars burned, police officers hurt!!! Then our current Democrat running for the White House raised money to bail the hooligans out of jail after the damage they did. Form your own opinions. After all that is all my Pony Tales was…mine. And here is Jim’s!

From James Mills
Have to take issue with the August 2024 Pony Tales article by Lulu.
Such a false narrative.

Trump is a convicted felon of fraud. Convicted of sexual abuse.

Responsible for the greatest treasonous crime in American history orchestrating the January 6 insurrection. He should be hung as a traitor. He set back 50 years women’s rights.

He continues to marginalize the LGBTQ community.

He has no respect for our military. Calling John McCain a loser.

Not wanting to be around the wounded cause “it looks bad”, doesn’t want to go to military cemeteries cause they are losers that they got killed. All of this is on tape. He’s a racist, bigot.

He’s a narcissistic, misogynistic, habitual liar.

Told more lies in 4 years than Clinton, Bush and the best POTUS ever, Obama for their administrations.
Don’t believe it, fact check it.

Fact check everything.

Failed business man. Bankruptcy of his various companies. Ask any contractors who worked on his buildings. He screwed everyone and ruined their livelihood. He is responsible for a minimum of 250,000 deaths in this country because he ignored the medical experts in regards to Covid.

Oh, “drink bleach, inject Lysol! “ WTF!!!

Get your info from sources other than Faux or the other conservative conspiracy outlets.

Try BBC & PBS or some news sources from other countries if you think all channels here are spewing nonsense like Faux.

In closing. If anyone still supports Trump after all the crimes he’s committed as well as being nothing more than a spoiled rich baby you lack a very important character trait and lack intelligence.

I know you don’t have the guts to publish this.

Thank you.
James Mills
Punta Gorda, Florida

Jim,
I appreciate your input and couldn’t disagree with you more. I do fact check and the fact is women choosing their rights over the right of an unborn child is morally wrong. So, you will not win me over on that one. The border czar you support has done NOTHING in her entire career and has had 3.5 years of open border policies that we will suffer the consequence of for years to come. The sexual “crimes” you accuse Trump of, are the normal course of life in politics if you followed the Clintons from Arkansas through the White House. Should I name them all or are you aware, talk about liars! And if it hadn’t been for the evidence of the blue dress, he would have let Monica go down as a liar. As far as business dealings I personally know of several New York business contractors who said they weren’t paid in full for jobs that were either not done on time OR of substandard quality who say he was ruthless, and yet they will be voting for HIM. So, in closing Jim, I will be cancelling your vote at the polls, but Florida has almost 1 million more Republicans than Democrats. Fact check that. It isn’t our state that will decide. It will be a close race. I pray that we don’t end up with the far-left female that absolutely no one respects, except for the liberals who are just thanking God it isn’t Biden who failed this country miserably. Trump isn’t a racist. He is a brash, egotistical, narcissist. And this country needs him. But the important thing about America is you have freedom of speech and so do I. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Beth aka Lulu owner of Thunder Roads Florida Magazine

By T. J. Costa

I was recently introduced to a small bike shop doing BIG things in Jacksonville. Hardcore Cycles tag line is “performance done right” and owners Hillbilly and Sammy take that mission very seriously. They have been operating their Harley-Davidson specialized full service and performance shop for ten years. Engine builds and repairs is what they do, as well as precision dyno tuning, extended warranty issues and comprehensive tire services. High performance is the goal, so if you want it done, these are the guys to get it done right the first time.

After riding and wrenching his own bikes all his life, Hillbilly decided it kind of made sense to open a shop since that was his lifestyle anyway, and Hardcore was born. He’s a cool, laid back, self proclaimed, born and raised Florida Cracker with three bikes in his personal garage. A ’05 Dyna that he bought brand new and has 300K miles on it. WOW! Also, a newer ’22 Road Glide and a Buell. His story is about a lifetime commitment to the ride.

Sammy is an Ohio boy that grew up racing flat tracks. Knowing at such a young age that he wanted to work in the motorcycle industry, he got on at an aftermarket shop, at 17 began Harley-Davidson Tech school and became a Certified Harley-Davidson Technician at age 18. He spent the next 10 years working at Harley dealerships in Ohio before escaping the cold winters and slow riding seasons. Eight years ago, Sammy moved to The Sunshine State and brought his skills to Adamec H-D before teaming up and partnering with Hillbilly. His early start and lifetime in the industry speaks volumes about his dedication and expertise. He currently rides a 2016 Road Glide with 150K miles, a ’07 Street Bob and a ’55 Panhead.

If you’re riding a vintage motorcycle, Squirrel is there to take care of your ride. I’m told he has 60 years of experience working on bikes. Sounds to me like he is overqualified. Old to new he has you covered. Cecil rounds out the lineup of technicians and Chris takes care of procuring the needed parts to keep the shop running.

Hardcore is also the home of the $65 oil change (conventional) and if you call ahead for your appointment, they will do it while you wait. To me, that’s great service! Their labor rates are $125/hr with a discounted rate of $110/hr for military, first responders and teachers. Professional pick-up and delivery are available, and they offer financing if needed.

Hardcore Cycles is located at 8625 Alton Ave, business hours are 9-5 Monday through Friday, closed on weekends. Phone 904-329-3649. Follow them on Facebook for more info.

Give Hardcore a call and tell them Thunder Roads Florida sent you.

By Lulu

A quick 30-minute ride from Panama City Beach and Thunder Beach Fall Rally is a really cool spot with friendly staff. The Hideout is known for great food and ice-cold beer. It is a great place to take a ride and get away from the traffic of Panama City Beach. They put on Red Bay Thunder from October 21-27 with bikini bike wash, bike games, contests, and live music! I have heard the food is good too, although when we were there in July, we had just had a big meal. But both large tables inside were full, and people seemed happy with their grub! Put this in your GPS and tell them you saw it in Thunder Roads Florida. The address is 8704 SR 81, Ponce de Leon, and you can find them on Facebook at thehideoutredbay.