Downtown Long Beach, in Southern California.

I’ve been riding off and on for 25 years. I’m originally from Hawaii and Micronesia, and my uncles and cousins always had motorcycles as inexpensive ways to get around. Safety was definitely not what it is now! I learned barefoot then, with flip-flops and no helmet. They welded surfboard holders to their bikes and things would randomly fall off. I still have family in Hawaii but I haven’t ridden there since 2010. It’s the one place I don’t have to rent when I visit because they all still have their bikes and I can jump on and go.

I have two bikes. One is for longer trips when my wife comes with me. It’s a bigger bike with bags and a sissy bar and trunk. The other one is so new that I haven’t broken it in yet. It’s a smaller bike with a bigger engine and it’s more lightweight so I can zip through town. And since splitting lanes is legal here in California, I like to say that it’s my city bike — the other is my travel bike. I like having both. In fact, I used to have a sports car and a 4x4.

Yes! I actually stepped down from a management position and am in the process of starting a real estate business with my wife. We redo all homes that we buy; we fix them up and rent them out. That takes care of my creative side. And then I actually teach moto riding. I still recommend that everyone takes the safety course, but for people that want to work on certain skills, I offer one-on-one training to do that. Don’t worry though, I definitely don’t teach them the way I learned — everyone has to wear real shoes, gear, and helmets!

I have four bikes on the site and I also assist with my neighbor’s bike — as a favor, I put his bike on for him. He’s had a couple of rentals.

Definitely the people I meet. I’ve been really fortunate and have had pleasant, awesome people that have rented from me. Actually, that reflects the majority of the bike riding community. I’ve met people from Russia, England, Holland — and we’re all still in communication today. I’ve made new friends; apparently, I’m pretty likable (according to my wife). Definitely, when I go to any of my new friend’s cities, I will ride their bikes and they’ll help me with lodging, etc. In fact, my Holland renter is a tattoo artist (he was actually a bonafide artist first), and when I met him, his wife, and daughter, I found out that it is his dream is to work five days a week doing tattoos then the other days dedicated to women who have had breast cancer. He tattoos 3-D nipples for women who have had mastectomies. He even has my name on his visa application so he can come here and do that good work. I’m spreading it to my biker sisters so that he can provide this service that not everyone can provide. I also love that my favorite picture of all time of my bike is one that Austin (founder of Twisted Road) took. He rented my bike and it wasn’t until we were talking at pickup that I even knew he was from Twisted Road.

Honestly, I live in the middle of amazing beauty. You can’t really see the coast as you’re riding but just south and north of me you can ride along the coast. Thirty minutes inland you can ride through the mountains. Long Beach is really centrally located — I can direct you to no matter what you want: mountains, ocean, canyons, it’s all close by. I always tell riders from out of town, if you fly into Long Beach, I’ll pick you up at the airport. If you come in through LAX, there’s a shuttle that will take you to downtown Long Beach and I will pick you up there. I want to make it easy and fun.

Before you rent a motorcycle in LA, make sure that you read our guide on How to Travel with Motorcycle Gear and more importantly, our Guide to Lane Splitting.