Graydon Gordian has been one of our members from day one. He has a really unique story about how he got involved at Brother Moto and it’s been really great to see him become such an integral part of our community. He laughs a lot and has one of those laughs that is really infectious. He lives in Atlanta in an old school house converted loft. I promise we didn’t style anything in his apartment. It just really does look this cool.
Where are you originally from?
I grew up in Austin Texas but spent a ton of time in New York City. I was there on and off for around 10 years and went to college up there so I feel like I’ve been there long enough to consider myself a New Yorker in that regard.
What brought you down to Atlanta from New York?
My fiancé got a promotion at her job at Patagonia and her new role required her to move from NYC to either Atlanta or Washington DC. We picked Atlanta because it just seemed like it was going to be more awesome.
Your story is pretty interesting in that you signed up to be a member at Brother Moto before you moved down to Atlanta and before you even owned a bike. What prompted you to make that kind of leap?
My grandfather was always into motorcycles and specifically old vintage hondas. When I was a kid I used to ride on the bike of my Grandfather’s hondas with him and so I always felt that the notion of motorcycles was really alluring. While living in New York though I never really had an opportunity to own a bike because I was intimidated by driving in the city and found city driving wouldn't be the most ideal to learn how to ride. You know, and with the move to Atlanta I did not really know anyone in the city but my Fiance followed So Worth Loving and they posted about your opening party. She told me that you guys were doing cool things but I did not want to join up without actually owning a motorcycle, so she agreed I could buy a bike when we moved down to Atlanta.
I had not even moved to the city or really even rode a bike but I signed up to be a member. You know and now I’ve been riding for a little over a year and have multiple bikes… that don’t really run at all ( lots of laughter here )
I guess that leads us to the next question, in your collection of non-running motorcycles, do you have a favorite?
I would have to say of my motorcycles that my Ducati Paso is my absolute favorite because it is a ridiculous motorcycle to own. I really like it because it's such a departure from what my tastes were even a year ago. When I first got into motorcycle I went out like a lot of people do and bought an old vintage honda because It looked cool. And by no means was I the first person to think this or take this path, but the more information I absorbed about motorcycle culture and riding I found myself looking for something more quirky or weird or idiocentric. I love the idea of riding around on something that no one else has even though that is almost always accompanied with problems. ( more laughter here )
And nobody has something like this Paso. It’s a really quirky early fairing Ducati. I love the history of the bike and the development of super bikes that came out of this bike. It’s just a great and fun bike.
What has been your favorite ride so far?
The Brother Moto ride we did to South GA was a ton of fun. I really loved that we were gone for 10 hours and we rode a lot of great roads. And despite the fact that we had to stop about 10 times to fix people's bikes, it was still a ton of fun because at least we were all together.
I also really love just riding by myself. Getting up extra early and just riding outside the perimeter of Atlanta is always great.
Outside of motorcycles what are some of the fun things you like to do?
The two biggest things that I love outside of Motorcycles would be following the NBA and Jazz music. I have a whole secret life away from motorcycles that revolves around the NBA. With Jazz music I collect a ton of Jazz records and spend hours at record stores looking for Jazz records. Oh yeah and reading too. I combining all of those elements. Well I mean Jazz and reading not reading and motorcycles. (laughter)