During a recent conversation with some of my chopper building buddies from Europe (Sweden and the U.K. to be specific), the topic of old-fashioned American craftsmanship, or rather the lack of it, according to them anyway, was brought up. It was all in good fun and being the only Yank in the room gave me the pleasure of becoming the "target."
We were talking about how creative and influential the Swedes have been when it comes to chopper design and fabrication, and how the market is seeing more products imported from Sweden. Then the conversation turned to guys like transplanted Englishman, Russell Mitchell, owner of Exile Cycles in California, and all the good work that rolls out of his shop door each year. One of the guys pulled out a stack photos showing some extremely cool bikes by guys I've never heard of with names I could not possibly pronounce without taking a trip to the local emergency room to undo the knots in tongue. I knew they were just trying to play with the only American in the room at the time and I went along with it, and even tossed out the name of Marty Harrison, another Brit who does great work and happens to be the head motor builder for STD. Then I remembered seeing a simple brake lever that had over 100 hours of meticulous work done to it by Lars Lufmark of DM Customs that was nothing short of amazing. The more I thought about it, I almost convinced myself that they may be right.
Then I thought, hey, just a &%#@ minute and asked them, "OK, so what are guys like Nasi, James, Perewitz, Ness, Keim, Smith, Hotch..." pausing for a few seconds before tossing out another half-page of names their way. "...are they not true American craftsmen?" I added. Things were starting to get a little hot (people bagging on your fellow countrymen tends to do that, even if it is all fun and games), before one of them stopped me and said, "Hey man, we're only kidding" and the whole room, myself included, burst out in laughter.
We all switched back to "fun-mode" and took a look at the contributions to the bike world made by people placed all around the globe.
The Asian population is well represented by guys like Chica of Chica's Choppers. And, if you've ever had the chance to view a copy of one of our sister publications, HOT BIKE JAPAN, you know these people are incredibly creative and turn out tons of really cool "old school" inspired bikes. One of us mentioned a company down in Mexico called Choppers Unlimited that is receiving recognition for their long and lanky jockey-shift bikes that look like something straight out of the early '70s. When you add Warnecke-Faust and Walz Hardcore Cycles from Germany to the mix, what started as an American bike phenomenon, begins to look like a veritable United Nations of bike builders.
What does all this mean to you and me? Well, I've been all around the world and lived in some strange places, and I can tell you people from other parts of the world have very different ways of looking at the same thing. In this case, it just happens to be custom motorcycles. The good thing about it is that, just when you think you've seen everything and there is nowhere to go from here, one of these "furinners" comes up with something totally new and refreshing, adding yet another facet to the scene. We say keep 'em coming and if you know of some shop doing great work in some far away and exotic location, please pass it on to us so we can share it with those in our neck of the woods, will ya? n
Just when you think you've seen everything and there is nowhere to go from here, one of these "furinners"comes up with something totally new and refreshing, adding yet another exciting facet to the scene.