Riders from Gasoline Alley Harley Davidson have joined the growing trend of ice stunting. The Red Deer County based organized was recently out on Sylvan Lake ripping around with their 500 lbs. Harley Davidson motorcycles.
“Technically it isn’t ice racing, what we’re doing is ice stunting,” Owner of Are You Social and PhlatOut Media, who is currently working with Gasoline Alley Harley Davidson, Adam Dawson said. “We planned on going out there to do some wheelies. We saw some other people doing it online and wanted to do it ourselves.”
Generally speaking, ice racing and stunting has been more associated with dirt bikes, however Dawson and his crew were looking to modify the much heavier Harley Davidson’s in order to make it work on Sylvan Lake.
“A lot of people wouldn’t necessarily think Harley’s could do that so there is a little shock and awe,” Dawson said. “We wanted to see how they would handle and it was a little bit of an adventure seeing how to properly stud the tires. We went around to different places looking for different ideas and did a bunch of research online to see how to make a Harley ready for ice riding. They’re a lot heavier than having a dirt bike on the ice.”
Marketing Manager for Gasoline Alley Harley Davidson, Fonda Devereaux was one of the employees helping to get this initiative off the ground.
“We got involved with it because we were getting bored in winter and wanted something fun to do,” she said. “The boys decided to stud some tires and see what’s possible. We have a group of riders that have been practicing stunting for shows and for their own curiosity.”
Many of the people looking to get involved with this new sport are people who have had a passion for X-Games style sports like skateboarding, snowboarding and dirt biking.
“I’m 28, getting a little older but my generation still loves that trend - the hoodies, the black on black, tattoos and all that stuff,” Dawson said. “This next generation of riders is taking a different approach to Harley Davidson’s. They’re using different exhausts and suspension set ups. It’s also about whether people can actually get into ice racing with these bikes.”
Modifying bikes is something that Gasoline Alley Harley Davidson is very willing to help out with.
“We have been in business for 27 years and all Central Albertan communities support us - not just Red Deer,” Devereaux said. “It’s a good thing to highlight because it’s perfect for stunting. We sponsor them as a shop for repairs, parts, the studs and labour. Our social media company creates the videos and photography. We want to try to get younger people involved with the sport of motorcycling. A lot of people see it as an old man’s game, but Harley has bikes for everyone.”
Although ice stunting is becoming popular, Dawson did warn that it’s definitely a task for more experienced riders.
“Will it be for everyone? No, but there will be certain individuals that want to break the winter blues and grab a handful of throttle,” he said. “It worked well with a deeper snow pack but with the harder pack, it wouldn’t give us enough traction to wheelie. More people want to try this after seeing it on social media. You will see more experienced riders putting bolts into there tires and ripping across the lake.”
Devereaux added that fitting into multiple demographics is part of what Harley Davidson is trying to achieve.
“It is important that people know that there is more to do then just get on big bike and cruise the streets,” she said. “The whole point of a Harley Davidson is to customize it to what you want it to be.”
“It was a blast, everyone was super excited and by the end of the day - there was 30 people,” Dawson said. “It was a great way to enjoy the break in the weather and we enjoyed what Sylvan Lake and Central Alberta has to offer.”
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com