Interior dcor can be a bitch. When Christian Audigier, owner of the hip Ed Hardy apparel shop on L.A.'s trendy Melrose Avenue, needed something special to add to the ambiance of his shop, he went through the list. A Peter Max painting? Nah. A chandelier from the Titanic? Nyet. A cheese sandwich shaped like the face of Britney Spears? Nope. A Garage Company custom bobber with a hint of Von Dutch? Hell, yes. So Christian got on the horn, called Yoshi at his 5,400-square-foot Garage Company vintage bike emporium on Washington Blvd., and just said, "Yoshi, I need a bike." Three months later, he laid eyes for the first time on what Yoshi simply calls The Blue Bike. It's reported that Christian let out an 8.1 "Whoa!" on the Richter customer satisfaction scale.
Yoshi went for a totally old-school look, telling paintmeister Jim Murillo to hose it down with an unpaint scheme, going for a flat-blue matte approach as opposed to the standard shiny, blind-you-with pigment custom colors. "We also sandblasted the motor, no polish, very dull, some flat aluminum paint, even the Von Dutch-style pinstriping is matte. Then we wanted to make it low as possible. And to keep the vintage feel we gave it a kicker, and for days when you needed a button, we gave it electric start," says Yoshi standing behind one of the store's glass display cases packed with hundreds of vintage performance parts, accessories, and gear. The place is literally packed ceiling to floor with all things motorcycle. There's also a bunch of bikes for sale or on display including a '68 KR-TT, a '28 JDC Bobber, and a Yankee Engineuity XR750-framed XLCR, as well as Triumphs, BSAs, and Nortons. If it's got history and serious cool factor, you'll find it at the Garage Company.
From its its Bonneville-style wrapped pipes to just the right Paughco air cleaner, to the big Firestone muncher tires, the Blue Bike would have been a cool ride for anybody. Greatness, or coolness, is in the details, like the color coordinated Bobby Socks white grips/pegs/foot controls/sprung set combo to the speedo in the headlamp bucket. The true test, like any piece of sculpture, is how it stands up when viewed from all angles, high, low, left, right, up, down, the Blue Bike gets the blue ribbon.
It's one of 20 customs, each as different as a fingerprint, that during the last four years has rolled out of the Garage Company's very old-school workshop, the bikes gone to owners all across the country. While they're usually busy building bikes, they take time out each year to put together the Corsa Motoclassica, an enthusiast-oriented bikefest and race venue held at the famous Willow Springs Racetrack in the high desert north of L.A. Scheduled for April, it attracts all manner and makes of motorcycles from all over the U.S. and overseas for the three-day weekend of high speeds and high spirits. The vintage bike show brings out some rare machines, several debuted for the first time at the event. You'll see everything from 50cc to XXXccc competition machines and the men, and women, who race them.
Back home at the Garage Company, in addition to their high-end customs, they offer classic bobbers for around the $10-12,000. That's a complete bike with a whole lot of personality and rideability. Did we mention the place has a ton of apparel and motorcycle books, videos, manuals, signs and posters? Their collection of decals and transfers is itself a treasure trove, while the shop's shelves are jam packed with all kinds of performance parts, vintage accessories, and rare collectibles.
As far as the Blue Bike, if you see what you like, Yoshi can make more. Pick a motor, Knuckle, Panhead, Shovel, even Flathead or Evo, Yoshi can get it for you. If you're thinking of a bike, well, that's all it takes to set loose Yoshi's fertile imagination. "Just tell me old school, very low, drag race, or that you have a '57 T-Bird, some bit of information, and I can build you something unique."
The Garage Company is located at 13211 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA; call (800) 393-3766 or (310) 821-1793. Check out their website, www.the garagecompany.com, for a wide assortment of services, products, and bikes for sale.