Amador County – The Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel this week announced the commission of a custom-made motorcycle to be named and designed to honor the Miwuk heritage.

Jim Giuffra of Amador Fine Tune Customs of Martell, world class custom metric bike builders, will build “Asumati,” a 750 cc Honda Street Tracker-style custom bike with race inspired suspension. It will be a convertible with a passenger seat/tail section and passenger pegs that can be added with a few bolts.

The bike is the latest creation by Giuffra and AFT Customs for Jackson Rancheria, and will be displayed on tour around the country. “We have known the local builder for years,” said Chad Lewis, Promotions Coordinator for the casino. “This build between AFT and Jackson Casino will be a fun project for everyone involved.”

Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel is owned and operated by the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians.

Lewis said the name selected for the bike is “Asumati,” a Miwuk word meaning grizzly bear, the monarch of the forest. In Miwuk stories, the bear is a symbol of great strength and courage. There is a tale of a young brave who fought a long and furious struggle with a grizzly bear, finally killing the huge animal with a tree limb.

His accomplishment was so remarkable that his tribe called him Chief Yo Semitee – the name for a full grown grizzly – and this name was passed to his children and eventually to the entire tribe and even the valley in which they lived.

Lewis said “Like most Native Americans, the Miwuks had no written language until they came into contact with white men. Theirs was a spoken language and their history and traditions were passed down through the generations by elders repeating stories as they had been told them.”

He said “white men took it upon themselves to write down the words the Indians spoke, so the written vocabulary was necessarily phonetic. The Indians had no use for these writings. For them words were sounds that lived in the memories of the people.”

There are many spellings of the word, various white man’s spellings, the more familiar being Yosemite. But the Jackson Rancheria Miwuks prefer asumati. Lewis said “this word, meaning a creature of strength, courage, intelligence, and a kinship with man, is the name they have chosen for this very special custom bike.”

Asumati is scheduled to be unveiled at the Los Angeles Calendar Show in June, then go on to the American Motorcycle Dealer World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Sturgis, South Dakota, and the Rat’s Hole Custom Bike Show. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.