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Motorcycle Safety and Awareness
Welcome to Think Bike, the podcast about all things motorcycle and the voice of motorcycle safety and awareness in Alberta. Your host is Liane Langlois.
Liane:Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Think Bike. This week is a very special one for me. I've got a friend of mine, we've become good friends over the last year or so. He has probably one of the most meaningful, and I'll say business, but it's kinda a little bit more than that for him and for everyone else around.
Liane:I have Brad from One Last Ride with us today. Welcome to the show, sir.
Brad:Thank you very much.
Liane:So let's start first with who is Brad and what got you into riding?
Brad:I've been riding since I was 18. I'm 44 now. I've always loved bikes. I started off with a Kawasaki, and then I had a Virago phase. I think I had five different Viragos.
Brad:I had the seven fifty, the nine twenty, few 11 hundreds, and then I got into Harleys. And, yeah, ever since I was young, I've always loved riding. It's it's a freedom. Being out on the open road is just amazing.
Liane:Where are some of your favorite places that you've gone?
Brad:The Monkey Top Saloon, I've got some good memories there, and that was, before it, burnt down.
Liane:Before the fire.
Brad:Yeah. Yeah. I've always loved the mountains. Going to the mountains is always a good trip. The the air is clean.
Brad:The water's unreal, the blue water, and especially on a bike, not looking through a car windshield, I mean, it's it's phenomenal.
Liane:Those colors, I like going down David Thompson and Abraham Lake coming up and it's like turquoise y and those are things.
Brad:Yeah. Through Nordegg?
Liane:Yeah. You feel you only get in like The Caribbean or something and yet we have that right here.
Brad:For sure. Three hours away.
Liane:Or Bow Lake on the Icefields Parkway on the bottom half of it, think is another one.
Brad:I don't think I've been there.
Liane:Oh, you gotta go do the Icefields Parkway because just do it when there's no RVs, I'll just say that. What's your Out of all of them, I mean, if you went through a Virago phase, one could say Virago was probably your favorite bike since you tried all the different models, but is it? Or is it now the Harleys? No.
Brad:The Harleys, I have a love for and I have a recently acquired 2008 Goldwing Trike.
Liane:Oh.
Brad:And, I mean, that's that's gonna be one of the bikes for the trailer.
Liane:Oh, yeah. We'll talk about that.
Brad:Yeah. But, the Goldwing, the heated seat, the heated handlebars, the navigation, the radio, I mean, it is the ultimate lazy boy on the road. And the Goldwing, a lot I'm sure a lot of people know this, but they have little vents down below on your legs. They also have these little vents on your feet, so it'll come through the venting and keep your feet warm. But I had a buddy convinced that the bike had air conditioning.
Brad:He's like, what's those vents for? And I'm like, conditioning. Serious? I said, look up. It says gullible.
Brad:I
Liane:mean, our my cofounder of AMSS, Marty Forbes, is a big Gold Wing guy, but he never mentioned anything about heated seats and vents that heat you.
Brad:It's a
Liane:big couch on wheels. Yours Oh, but yours is a trike, but his would have the little drop down wheels so he could like reverse without tipping over. They're so smart at Honda.
Brad:Oh, yeah. Well, you look at Glen Turpel. Mhmm. I believe he's in his nineties and he's still riding, But, you know, he holds the record for the thousand, the 1,100, the 1,500, and the 1,800. Richard from Paradise Strikes is telling me that.
Liane:Crazy. Crazy. Okay.
Brad:I actually saw him at the Reynolds Ride to Reynolds there. Know Yeah. He was out Yeah. It's always nice seeing Glen.
Liane:I mean, yeah, I just I can't believe people get that old and still ride, and I love it, and I hope I'm that one day. But there's the other side to riding where we have incidents or fatalities whether it's caused by collisions or not and that's why I wanted you here to talk about what you do here in Edmonton and area. I don't know how far stretched out you go, so maybe you can explain. But what is tell our listeners who aren't sure, because we have worldwide listeners, what is one last ride? What kind of started that whole thought process?
Brad:It definitely did not start out as a I want a motorcycle hearse. It started off as I was looking for a car hearse, and that bike popped up on Kijiji. I was looking Canada wide for a certain type of car, and this bike popped up. And I looked at it, and, you know, I didn't get the full understanding. So I messaged the guy, and I talked to him, and, you know, he explained it.
Brad:He sent some more pictures and, you know, I thought about it for a bit. It wasn't just an impulse purchase and, you know, we messaged back and forth. And then finally, I thought, you know, tow trucks, semi truck drivers, they all have their own way of doing funerals, you know, whether the cast could be on the back of a tow truck, the back of a semi truck. And I thought, why can't bikers have that?
Liane:I mean, obviously. And I just did did the guy that you bought it from use it for that same purpose?
Brad:So the guy that I bought it from did not. George Winnie, he's the one that started this. This is a bike that came from The States. It was converted. George was working for the Ford plant, and this was his retirement plan.
Brad:And him and Val, they created a company called Forever Free, and that was what the bike was before. They've had it on the Dragon's Den. It's been on the TV show Gangland Undercover for Foghorn's funeral. It also did, what was his name? NHL player.
Brad:I can't think off the top of my head here. But, you know, it's it's been in the media before. So George passed away in 2018. Mhmm. And when he passed away, Val didn't really wanna sell it, but she thought, you know, what am I keeping this thing for?
Brad:And John bought it. But John bought it in 2020, and this was right in the beginning of COVID phases. So, I mean, it really didn't get a lot of use. So without it being used, he put it up for sale. He didn't really think I was serious about buying it either, and I said, you just give me a second.
Brad:I went on cheap flights C A Dot C A. I got a plane ticket down to Hamilton, and I went down there and looked at it, and it ended up coming home with me. So
Liane:No regrets. No
Brad:regrets. No. This was jumping both feet in, and, you know, everybody's been so supportive, the community. It's just unreal. I don't really do any advertising.
Brad:I mean, I have my Facebook. I have my TikTok. Mhmm. But, I mean, you know, it's been on the news a couple times. CBC did an interview with me, but it's just word-of-mouth.
Liane:Yeah. So what what is the process for someone wanting to use your services?
Brad:A lot of the funeral homes already they already have my brochures. They're in most selection rooms. There's people that have called me just word-of-mouth. I just had a call the other day about a fellow that passed away on the August 13 on Highway 627. Uh-huh.
Brad:And they wanna do a service on the September 27. So it's gonna be coming up to Grand Prairie to do that. But yeah. Basically, just give me a call. Talk to your funeral director.
Brad:Send me an email. The services are completely customizable. We can handle internments like burials, cremations. I mean, I kinda decorate the casket. I do have the option for an arc, and that's that's like an enclosed container that has two claws and it basically holds the but I do suggest using one of the caskets and I kind of personalize it, you know, if they were a Harley rider, I'd put a Harley blanket in there, a couple of Harley pillows, you know, some flowers that match.
Brad:And then, you know, if the guy liked a certain type of beer or certain type of snack, throw it in with him for his last ride.
Liane:Mhmm.
Brad:So the sky's the limit. Believe it was late August. We did a first call, and usually first calls, we don't do. But the guy's last wish was for me to pick him up and take him to the funeral home. Mhmm.
Brad:So that was a first for me, but it was a beautiful service.
Liane:That was when I was supposed to be at, and I didn't get there. And it's, you know, just sometimes timing doesn't work out. I know that
Brad:For sure.
Liane:Without naming the names or anything, I know that you your connections, because of your connections, you were able to step in and help his wife in a tremendous way.
Brad:Oh, for sure.
Liane:Because I believe she was having issues with the chosen funeral home and you. How did you help her with that?
Brad:The way that that funeral home spoke to her, she wasn't comfortable. And I mean, when people grieve, everybody grieves in a different way, and she just took great offense to the way she was spoken to. And I work very closely with, Amy Carroll. She works at Park Memorial Funeral Home. She's done this well, this will be the third service that she's done with me, and she's absolutely phenomenal to work with.
Brad:She, I kinda connected her with the wife, and I got the first call from the hospice nurse at 11:00 on Friday. And by 06:00, we had everything figured out. Mhmm. And Saturday morning is when that gentleman passed away. Yep.
Brad:And we were able to arrange it that he got his last ride.
Liane:And I think, like so in this case, this was somebody whose passion was for motorcycles, you know, a big part of a certain community within the city, just a huge personality, an amazing human being who was diagnosed with cancer. And I believe you guys originally spoke at the YEG show, this goes to show that he made this plan with you, then in other cases, there's you know, a motorcycle fatality. And so are do families reach out to you? I know you've dealt with a couple around the Edmonton area where there's been a motorcycle related fatality. And so it wasn't necessarily the wish of the individual, but the family knew that's what would be the best way.
Liane:So how does that work when it's kind of a sudden and not kind of a expected passing?
Brad:So the families so I I found it both ways that some families, they absolutely adore the idea, and some families look at it as he died on a bike, and he's not getting his last ride. There's a lot of support through it, but as I said before, people grieve differently. And Yeah. You're not thinking straight. You're going through the worst time of your life, and now you have to think of this.
Brad:Right? The club that I did the funerals for for the two fellows that passed away by Slave Lake Mhmm. I actually had a little bit of a connection there. A good friend of mine, Duff, called me, and he told me about the accident, and he showed the boys. And to date, that was the biggest procession that I've ever done.
Brad:And, you know, when you drive down the highway and you've got a 127 Harleys behind you. Yeah. And at every intersection, there's people holding signs, you know, fly high, ride in paradise. I mean, it's it's very moving. And I mean, even myself, I get emotional.
Liane:Well, that that leads me into the next question. Like, you're dealing with these families and the friends and and the care of transporting this loved one Yeah. In in a casket attached to you. Like, that's gotta affect you in some ways.
Brad:Oh, it does.
Liane:Like, how do you how do you cope
Brad:with that? My feelings come after the point. I'm there to serve a family, and I'll worry about me after the fact. But it is hard on
Liane:my heart. That as an HR person when I have to deal with everybody's stuff and, like, deaths in their family or whatever. Like, I've had some pretty heavy things cross my desk, and I can't react. It's until after. No.
Liane:So how do you decompress?
Brad:Herbal essences.
Liane:Herbal essence is okay. I mean, every everybody has their way to decompress. Right?
Brad:Yeah. For sure.
Brad:I mean, it's it's more the thought that, you know, I think about the good that I've done. Like, you know, with that that first call there. I mean, seeing the post that I helped her I helped her, I guess, with her grieving that she didn't have to worry about that, and she got to enjoy the last ride with her husband. Like, it was it was it you know, she said the blockers were on point. Like, even even the funeral directors, Amy and Christie, they said that they've never felt more safe, during a procession.
Brad:And I mean, everybody takes care of everybody, and the bike community, I mean, it it's it's not just a bunch of bikes. Like, there's camaraderie. We help each other. We wave at each other. And, you know, having the service, it just reiterates that I have to keep doing what I'm doing because it is needed.
Liane:Okay. Just to just to clarify for some people because this question's been running around in my brain for a little bit, which, you know, alright, Brad. No comments on that. Jeez. Come on now.
Liane:I know I know when you bring the bike out to let's say the YG show for a show in China or something just to like give it some exposure and show people kinda, there's options there and again, that's where my friend or our friend came and spoke to you about his, when when he passed. Yeah. You have a casket on there, but that's not necessarily the one that you're transporting.
Brad:No. No. Like,
Liane:you use theirs?
Brad:Yeah. So my caskets, I have a black and a white one and an oak one, and I use those to carry the urns. So I'll personalize it, you know, for the young lady that I did last fall. She was a sport bike rider. So, you know, I'm not gonna use the Harley Davidson blanket.
Brad:It was a red blanket, two red pillows, white flowers. We got I don't know, I think it was probably a 14 by 14 square, and I got a picture printed, and we put it on cardboard, and we put it in the lid of the casket and put some butterflies, just off the ribbons there. You know, she was a female, make it, you know, a little feminine. And then I got some stickers printed, some memorial stickers, and, you know, that was the second largest ride, and that was a 119 riders.
Liane:That's that's insane. So when you don't have an then it's like, you have a way to attach anybody's casket can load onto the sidecar.
Brad:Evidently, you've been to a funeral before.
Liane:Yes. So
Brad:when they open the back of the hearse, all the rollers and the beer pins, that is essentially what I have on my sidecar.
Liane:Right.
Brad:So when I don't have a casket on there, there's rollers, and then there's a place for pins. And the casket goes on. There's a beer pin, and that's put on the, back to hold the casket on. Yeah. There's a secondary bumper post as a safety, and then there's two straps that go across.
Liane:So it's very safe.
Brad:Yep. Very safe. And there's also an electric over hydraulic cylinder on there that will raise the roller deck to the same height as the church truck. And that's the dollies that you see that with, like, the accordion dollies that go underneath the casket. Yeah.
Brad:So it'll raise up to the same height, as a church truck, so it's easier to put the casket on.
Liane:That's I mean, sad circumstances, genius technology to to keep it as calm. I would see that as making it calm for everybody. Nobody's going, oh, oh, you know, like, you you know, that's the last thing you wanna do is drop somebody's casket.
Brad:Exactly. That's that's my biggest fear. But at the same time, I mean, George really thought this out, and that's why I keep bringing up his name. You know, this this is my dream, but this is his legacy. He started this.
Brad:Yeah. And I wanna keep it going. And I still talk to Val, his wife. I still talk to her on the regular, and she said that I remind, her so much of George. Oh.
Brad:She said, you
Liane:know Nice.
Brad:It takes a certain type of person to do this.
Liane:Oh, yeah.
Brad:And, you know, a lot of people, they're like, oh, you must be used to it. And, I mean, you never get used to it. It's it's a different scenario every time.
Liane:Yeah.
Brad:It's yeah. You know, I did I did one funeral for a fella that, you know, the mom, she came from Newfoundland, and she completely broke down. That's when she realized my son is gone. When she saw the bike. You know?
Brad:So
Liane:No. It's it's tough because you're right. Every like every like you said, everybody grieves differently, so you're gonna walk into a different situation, different feelings, and different emotions. Another weird question, is there a cost for your services?
Brad:There is. Yes.
Liane:Yeah. So do you wanna explain that a little bit so people understand? Because I I I know you well enough to know that if you could do this out of the goodness of your heart, you would. But I'm I'm hearing about the, you know, those little touches and the working with the funeral directors and making sure everything runs smoothly and plus the maintenance and whatever else to make sure that everything's safe.
Brad:The maintenance is the biggest thing. Mhmm. Just this past year, I had After Dark Motorcycles rebuilt the engine. The sidecar had I had railway custom carpentry. They rebuilt the roller deck for me in Red Oak.
Liane:Mhmm.
Brad:Yeah. It's it's a lot of money, and it's it's huge when it's such a niche thing that, you know, it's not busy enough to to warrant doing it for free. You know what Yep. I
Liane:I and I'm not gonna ask you direct pricing because of the simple fact that I am not naive to realize that there would be a variance depending on the touches and the or earns Mileage. The casket, mileage, all that stuff. Yeah.
Brad:For sure.
Liane:Yeah. So we know you help a lot of friends and families on this. I've seen it firsthand through, you know, recent recent things, but I know there's another exciting post that you had put up, and man, I I really hope that you're not like super busy, but busy, like, because every time you're out, somebody has passed away and it's not a great situation. However, you posted something about what's next for one last ride. Tell me a little bit about those plans.
Brad:So Richard from Paradise Strikes, he's been helping me out quite a bit, and he's over the moon with this. Like, once I told him what one last ride was, he was 300%, you have to do more with this. Yep. So we are in the early stages of going into production of selling these units. The sidecar, we don't have plans as of yet, but we are working on a design to do a a trike and trailer combo.
Brad:So I don't have a timeline as of yet. Like I said, we're still in the early stages. Richard's been handling most of the production stuff, but, I mean, he is 300% on this. Every time I talk to him, he blows my mind. He's such a smart mechanic, and, I mean, he's got that drive that I do.
Brad:So, you know, what better person to partner up with?
Liane:And then maybe you find some Brad's all over the province and the country, and we get one last ride more accessible to other people.
Brad:And that's that's kinda where I'm getting at. I mean, being the only one in Canada doing this, you know, I've I've had calls from BC. And, I mean, I service Western Canada right from the Manitoba border right to Vancouver. The only difference is I have to charge for mileage. And when you start getting too far out, then it becomes a cost issue.
Brad:Is it really worth it? And I want every city across Canada to have one of these. I mean, it is needed. You know, when I'm getting calls from Nova Scotia, I feel horrible that I can't get there. But logistically, I mean, it's gonna take a person five days to drive across Canada.
Brad:And then how much in diesel's so expensive right now. And then traveling that many kilometers with my trailer, it's just not feasible.
Liane:Yep. So Yeah. It would be great if we could have well, I mean, can we aim for at least a Brad in every province?
Brad:We could aim for a Brad, but
Liane:I mean, you could really do one in most of the Maritimes, but like at least have one sorry Maritimes people. You're small, you're small, you're small out there. But at least like at least to start, one in BC, you're here, one in Saskatchewan, one in Manitoba, and so that takes pressure off of you. There's still the mileage issue for, you know, Saskatchewan's pretty sparse. But, you know, just being able to have that option a little closer to home would be great.
Brad:I hope
Liane:that I mean, Paradise Strikes puts out some pretty cool stuff, and I will do that, and they're fantastic. So you've got a good partner in this
Brad:for sure.
Liane:For sure.
Brad:But we're not aiming just for Canada either. Yeah. We're we're looking to get into The States as well. There was a model called the tombstone that was produced until 2018, and I've had numerous emails on people wanting me to build them one. And that's kinda where we got this.
Brad:Okay. Well, let's figure out how we can put this together
Liane:Right.
Brad:That would be feasible. So and I mean, let's face it. I mean, Harley Davidson, the batwing stayed the same for how many years? You know, with the Cadillacs, they're always updating their looks. In these funeral homes, they have to keep updating to keep up with the times.
Brad:Mhmm. But, I mean, there's guys that can't tell a 2,004 street glide from a twenty thirteen street glide because they look the same. Yep. You know, maybe you know the paint scheme or or the badging on it, but, you know, for anybody just looking at it that doesn't really know motorcycles, it looks like the same thing.
Liane:Yeah. Exactly. Until you look until those of us look a little closer.
Brad:Yes. There's a little
Liane:Same thing with Triumph. I was like, oh, your scrambler's carb. No. It's not. It's EFI.
Liane:Well, but look. I said, no. They just made it look that way. But look. It's EFI.
Liane:I ride it every day. I know. So, yeah, I understand what you're saying with that. Okay. So if anybody wanted to reach out to you with any questions or want to keep up on what your updates are with the production models, how do they find you?
Brad:So we're on TikTok. Most of the time TikTok, I just post videos of past services and, you know, maybe something happening with the bikes. Maybe I get some cool shots. But primary is One Last Ride Motorcycle Hearse on Facebook. Facebook.
Brad:I don't update the website as much as I should, but that does have all my contact information, email, phone number, and you can call me anytime.
Liane:And the website is?
Brad:Www.1lastride,spelledout,.ca.
Liane:Perfect. Thank you, Brad, for taking some time to explain this really important and very touching way to send off people who are passionate about riding. I think it's I think it's wonderful, and you you and I should probably sit down and talk about my will someday.
Brad:Thanks for having me.
Liane:You're very welcome. To everyone else, please hang tight for the mixed bag.
Kirk:Your emergency plan. Safety isn't just about what you're doing now, it's about what you'll do next. Actively maintain an emergency plan as the road changes around you. Ask yourself, is the shoulder clear if I need to swerve? Do I have enough room for a sudden stop?
Kirk:Can I safely move into the next lane? Constantly adjusting your safe route ensures you're never trapped when the unexpected occurs. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. This is Kirk with Moto Instincts.
Liane:And that's it for another episode of Think Bike hosted by me, Leanne Langlois, produced by Bryn Griffiths at Mighty Mouth Communications. If you have an idea or a question for the show, reach out to info@ab-amss.org or find us on all the socials. Always remember to ride smart, ride safe, and think bike. We'll see you out on the road.