Why We Ride: Kyle's story

Kyle. The first voice you hear when you enter the showroom (or should be if he isn’t running around like he is searching for his head). Kyle is the enthusiastic and knowledgeable entry point for purchasing a motorcycle here at Moto Julia, yet his descent into the world of motorcycles started not too long ago.

In 2013, Kyle saw the movie Tron: Legacy, which came out in 2010 and is the follow up to the cult classic Tron (1982). I know your first question is “why did he wait so long to see Tron: Legacy?”, and honestly there is no good answer. In Tron:Legacy, the Ducati 1000 Sport Classic is featured prominently as the main protagonist’s mode of cool guy transportation. Kyle instantly fell in love at the sight of the character Sam Flynn cruising around on it. Kyle had no previous experience with motorcycles nor gave them much thought, but there was something about that Ducati that inspired him, awoken something deep within that he had never felt before (insert trashy romance novel cover in your mind). He dreamed of that motorcycle. He spent hours pouring over the internet- diving into the pseudo-intellectual world of forums. In his search, he found a local dealership that sold Ducatis and was excited to see these beautiful machines in real life.  

After much internet deliberation, he settled on a Ducati Monster as his first motorcycle, and made his way to TTRNO (now Moto Julia). Engaged in a vibrant discussion with Zach Materne, his interest diverted from a Ducati Monster to the Triumph Street Triple. He left needing to research. He tripped down another rabbit hole of forums, reviews, opinions, and concluded that the Triumph Street Triple was the motorcycle for him. He sold his car for the down payment on his motorcycle and returned to TTRNO and purchased a brand new Triumph Street Triple. This was not only the start of something, he became absolutely obsessed. Now his only source of transportation, he rode everywhere as often as he could. Finding roads, practicing in parking lots, wherever he could, he would ride. 

Towards the end of 2013, he decided to move to Denver, Colorado. There he entered the business side of motorcycles. He obtained a job as a porter (basically an assistant to the technicians) at Erico Motorsports, which was being run by a certain Operations Director for Moto Julia (this industry is small). It was there that he finally obtained proper gear. In retrospect, he acknowledges that he feels lucky that he didn’t get in any accidents with only a helmet and improper gloves. In Colorado he found amazing roads, thus falling deeper in love with motorcycling. It was exhilarating for him as the roads there are much better than anything around New Orleans. 

As life would have it, things did not work out in Denver, and he planned on returning to New Orleans. Unfortunately, right before his return home, his Triumph Street Triple was stolen. It was recovered the next day, but it was damaged past the point of repair. He returned to New Orleans with a check in hand but no motorcycle; this was the impetus for an opportunity for him- to reenter the business world of motorcycles.  

Kyle returned to TTRNO for a new Triumph Street Triple and  as seen previously, when Kyle went to TTRNO he entered with the intention of purchasing one bike and left with a different one (I’m sure some of us can relate to that). This time he purchased a new Triumph Thruxton. It was also around this time that Kyle was looking to leave his current job and TTRNO held one of its large “Casting Calls” for positions throughout the dealership. He was less interested in working on motorcycles and more interested in talking about them. Furthermore, having dealt with Zach Materne on two separate occasions (and Kyle being a Chatty Chaty) he had built up a bit of a rapport with him. He applied for a sales position, was hired and the rest is history.

In the past 2 years he has bought a 2020 Street Triple RS (trading in his Thruxton) and a 2020 Vespa Primavera for his wife. He does not ride for pleasure as much for ease of getting around and parking. There is a certain level of convenience to riding a motorcycle around in the city, depending on what you are riding, and he really appreciates his Street Triple and Vespa in that regard. We all ride for different reasons, and Kyle is all about the easy lane.