Each year Twisted Tea builds a custom bike that they giveaway to thank all the loyal Tea drinkers that have made the brand so popular. We caught up with Bill Grotto their “man on the street” at the motorcycle rallies and Chris Callen of Cycle Source via Zoom to get the low down.

TR: Hey guys what’s been happening lately?

BG: Hey Beth! Not much I’ll tell you that! With all the spring and summer motorcycle rallies cancelled I’ve been at home in Florida staying busy with things that I never get a chance to do since I’m always traveling. Equipment maintenance, organizing stuff, throwing old crap away that kind of thing. Oh, and lots of video conferencing with the home office since they’re on work from home as well. Normally planning for the next string of bike events would be on this list but right now it’s unclear.

TR: How about you Chris?

CC: Over at Cycle Source we’ve been just as busy and even busier with the stay at home. With rallies dropping like dominoes we realized we wouldn’t be getting in front of ppl anytime soon, so we ramped up our digital efforts in a major way. We’d been pretty successful in the amount of views our weekly digital broadcasts get but the stay at home has taken it up a notch.

TR: Cycle Source had a virtual bike rally a few weeks ago so tell us about that.

CC: Back in April we’d all only been on the stay at home for a few weeks and we’re hearing from all sorts of ppl how they missed seeing their friends and weren’t sure when they’d see them again since the future of rallies was so uncertain. So, the idea was simple; create all the sights and sounds of a motorcycle rally and bring it to the people digitally in the comfort of their own homes. We had a bike show, a bikini contest, a wet t-shirt contest and several bands played all set up from their garages; we just clicked a button and put them on air when it was their time to be a part of the show. We even had everyone’s favorite rally bartenders telling us what it’s like to be a rally performer and making drinks to boot.

BG: Yeah, the sights and sounds were awesome I’m glad you weren’t able to re-create the smells!!

(laughter)

TR: That is a really cool idea how was it received?

CC: It was a huge success- so much to the point that we’ve added a weekly virtual bike night every Thursday where we follow the same model; we have live entertainment, garage tours from the viewers who want to join in and we even have a cooking with Tea segment with Billy. People can check it out on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

TR: Really? What’s that about?

BG: I enjoy cooking and baking because I was a cook in the Navy, so I’ve been doing more of it now that I’m home. We have some cool recipes for Twisted Tea, so I figured what the hell they do it on the Today Show right??!!

TR: Now tell us about the Twisted Tea Sweepstakes Bike

BG: We’ve done a sweepstakes bike for the past 5 years. The first 2 (a 71 Shovel Head and an ’05 ultra-classic) were pretty much stock bikes with Twisted tea paint scheme and pin striping by Dave “Letterfly” Knoderer. In 2017 with Cycle Source acting as the general contractor so to speak, we got together with several builders to build a one of a kind custom build which was the Tea Chopper. It really set the stage for what was to come because the bike was unbelievable. In 2017 we did a flat track called the Tea Tracker, in 2019 we did a chollos inspired low rider called the Tea Low Rider and this year’s bike is a bobber style bar hopper kinda like an Exile because I’ve always like that style.

TR: Wow that’s so cool I didn’t realize you’ve done that many bikes. Who comes up with the inspiration for the different builds?

CC: Usually when Sturgis is over and we’re all still out there, Billy, myself, Heather and whoever happens to be left standing go to a place called Pizza Ranch and get a bunch of fried chicken and talk about what would be a cool bike to take on. It’s that simple; no board room no bullshit just people who love motorcycles wanting to build a kick ass bike to give to the Tea fans

TR: Wait a minute, you go to the Pizza Ranch for fried chicken?

BG: Yup…it’s a kind of a best kept secret that’s not really a secret for those “in the know”. It’s a pizza buffet and the pizza is great but they also have a cafeteria style buffet and the main thing is fried chicken- it’s killer! I always loved the look of the Exile bikes; squatty stance, stripped down, internal components, big fat tire on the front. They looked tough kinda like Mack truck or a bulldozer.

TR: Is that how you came up with the name Tea-Dozer?

CC/BG: There was nothing else more fitting especially when the bike was done- it really fits.

CC: The primary builder this year was Flat Broke Chops and Rods which is Mark Persichetti and me. It started out as us just wrenching on bikes because I’ve known Mark forever and it just built from there. We call it Flat Broke because we’ll never get rich doing it, but we love it and that’s all that counts!

(Laughter)

TR: What made this bike so special? People were totally digging it when you did the reveals in Daytona during Bike Week.

CC: I’d say the biggest thing was probably the tank where we took 3.5-gallon fat bobs and split them down to make a rubber mount chopper tank. That and the rear fender struts came out really nice.

BG: Yes, all that plus Curt Green from Barebones leather did the seat and Casey @ The Paint Chop did the pinstriping again which was really cool.

TR: You guys always bring the bike around to the different rallies so how can people see it or enter to win it?

BG: Yeah that’s another casualty of the COVD-19 pandemic. Since we aren’t able to bring the bike to the rallies, we’ve been promoting it on social media, print and any way we can really. If anyone wants to enter to win the bike, and it’s totally free to do this, visit twistedtea.com, or cyclesource.com and enter. Another way is to text the word “TEADOZER” to 24587 and you’ll get a link on your phone that prompts you through entering.

TR: Wow that’s cool that Twisted Tea does this for the drinkers and bikers

BG: It’s the least we can do to thank them for being our customers, plus I get to ride it at rallies…Come to think of it there goes another thing I can’t do thanks to the pandemic…damn it!

TR: Well thanks a lot you guys and we’ll see you on the road before too long- If not we’ll be seeing you online