~ Auto Buzz ~: RIDE, AND RIDE AGAIN Why ‘The Ride: 2nd Gear’ makes sense.

Way back in 2013, the Berlin publisher Gestalten, best known for its high-quality design-oriented coffee table books, decided the contemporary “alternative custom” scene fit within its design sphere. Working with Chris Hunter (BikeExif) and a team of writers (Sideburn’s Gary Inman, former Cycle World editor-in-chief David Edwards, and myself), The Ride collected the best of this funky new scene in a fat tome, dense with great bikes and photography. The Ride sold incredibly well, all over the world, and was on every hip biker’s coffee table last year. So why on earth, a whole year later, did I sign on for a completely new version – The Ride: 2nd Gear? Because the alt.custom world has changed enormously within two years, and in 2015 it’s clear what started as a home-grown, independent movement of motorcycle builders has become a major force in the motorcycle industry. After laboring for years in an insular scene, alt.custom shops suddenly found the multi-billion dollar Original Equipment Manufacturers—i.e. BMW, Ducati, Yamaha, Harley-Davidson, etc.—knocking on their doors, and borrowing their ideas. The big factories had obviously noticed that their website traffic was dwarfed by several blogs about strange new customs, and more importantly, a little research revealed who was looking at these motorcycles: young people. For the motorcycle industry, this was far more interesting than the style of the bikes, their build quality, or the fact that most of them were built from salvage-yard wrecks. Youth itself was the miracle, because for decades the industry had utterly failed to appeal to kids.

The Ride: 2nd Gear features a completely new set of builders; some who’ve recently opened their doors, others who’ve been around and upgraded their skills. What in 2012 seemed a consistent alt.custom style has evolved in different directions, each more polished and distinctive than was the norm three years ago. There’s also a new breed of slicker, more technical customs emerging, where high design and intense fabrication artistry are merged with function as a top priority. It’s a vibe different enough to call this new breed ‘alt.custom 2.0’, which is best exemplified by machines like Revival’s J63 and Jeremy Cupp’s #7. These builders have taken up the seemingly impossible challenge thrown down by Ian Barry’s Falcons; it seems clear that next-level skill and craftsmanship are not be the sole purview of a single LA builder. When The Ride was published in 2013, most of the featured builders (professional or not) were working toward specific styles. Café racer culture was the biggest influence, and inspiration was taken far beyond London’s Ace Café scene to include Italian styles from the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese street racers, and 1980s rat bike speedsters. A fascination with 1970s off-road machines—dirt trackers and street scramblers—led to a huge trend for tough-looking dirtsters, which in the end were cheap and durable.

Honda motorcycle photo from the book The Ride 2nd Gear

They’ve been reinterpreted for urban riding, without the extreme suspension of off-road bikes, and ended up being easy to handle, nimble, and fun to ride in the city. Ultimately, these builders, perhaps out of financial necessity, created bikes that they could repair and maintain themselves, and actually ride to work, to school, or to bars. These machines, while labored over, weren’t labor-intensive, and carried the whiff of freedom, fun, and self-expression. Two years later, while this spirit prevails, the aesthetics have evolved. The alt.custom scene has become a culture in itself, and its evolving style is spreading outward to fashion, photography, film, graphic design, and publishing. These other fields definitely feel the weight that youth bike culture is swinging, and is naturally integrating a new visual language into their work. It goes both ways, and some in the custom scene also produce merchandise reaching beyond just motorcycles. While Deus ex Machina still sets the standard, smaller shops like El Solitario are catching up, designing gear based on their very particular vibe, carving their own niche and building a unique fan base. Plenty of other shops are doing the same, and their fashion and gear give people who don’t even ride motorcycles a chance to identify with and support alt.custom culture. And in many cases, it’s the sale of gear that keeps bike shops in business!

The Ride: 2nd Gear is a better book than The Ride. The bikes are better, the layout is better, and the writing is more comprehensive in discussing the place of the alt.custom scene within the wider world of motorcycling. There’s a choice of two covers; a black “gentleman’s edition,” and a white “hooligan’s edition,” although as a gentle hooligan, such a choice seems impossible. Typically with Gestalten, there’s a special slipcover version available only via their website, which will cost you a little more than from Amazon, but it’s the better bet. Christmas is right around the corner, time to drop the hint.