Okay, I'll try not to take way too much credit for foresight, but with Harley's release of the Cross Bones and their subsequent marketing aimed right at the gen-x/gen-y former or current skateboarders, I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Harley has a pretty solid history in the last couple decades of coming in a couple years after a custom trend starts and offering the watered-down factory model at a reasonable price with a factory warranty and making big profits. Nice work if you can get it. Well (and not to be juvenile), duh.
The Harley-Davidson juggernaut has been doing a bang-up job of recruiting former scooter riders from the '60s into the ranks of the custom bike elite as their golden years approach, but struggling to shift that magic onto a younger, sustainable demographic. Even with the most sophisticated marketing department in all of motorcycling, they lagged behind a simple silk-screen printer/skateboarder who made the connection in 1988. That's right; my personal theory of the skater-biker connection goes back about 20 years.
I worked at the legendary Dog Town Skateboards during the Inglewood-era of the company. Between its birth in the '70s in Venice and its renaissance since the Dog Town movies came out, Dog Town had its headquarters in the low-rent semi-ghetto of Inglewood, California. It was a summer gig between 11th and 12th grade, working in the screen-printing shop doing apparel, and in shipping sending decks and clothes around the world. One thing I noticed right away was that all the "old" (30ish-year-old) skaters who came by the shop were bikers. At the time, I had no idea that Jay Adams was a living legend, and as a 17-year-old punk, not sure that I'd care if I did. I had some vague idea that my boss, Reddog (aka Jim Muir), was someone special, if only because his brother was the lead singer of Suicidal Tendencies. It was a perfect setup: I got to work in a teen skater's dream job with cheap (or free) t-shirts and decks, while Jim and Jay could tap me for Harley parts for their Shovelheads, as my dad owns a H-D dealership you might have heard of.
Jim and Jay each had bikes I like to affectionately call "chrome ponies." The same basic style that the Heritage Softail carries to this day: long and low, with 16-inch wheels, some chromed pieces, some black pieces, probably a light bar. In the '80s it was different and cool. In fact, it wasn't "the thing" until the early '90s. These guys, who revolutionized the way people rode a skateboard by integrating styles and concepts from surfing onto their skating, were doing the same in their transition from four foot-powered wheels to two V-Twin-powered ones.
Styles have changed, but the same innovative spirit remains with today's crossover rider. And they have the same relationship to their bikes as they once did with their boards. This is about way more than transportation. These are loved machines, the owners are familiar with just about all the parts on them, and they scrape together the cash to keep them rolling and add personal touches both practical and vain.
You come from a simple machine that you tinker, tweak and modify to another one equally loved. The lessons learned about balance, traction, and the importance of having the right equipment remain.
With more and more synergies and crossover between the two becoming more and more clear, you not only have companies like Harley cashing in, you have other cool mash-ups. A skate park that previously closed to host various Bike Week vendors for years now actually combines the two as the Limpnickie Lot, with skating and skaters welcomed. Check out our profile on Max Schaaf as yet another example of a skateboarding professional taking the next step into professional bike builder.
The bottom line is this: It's not that skaters are just now taking up riding; we've always been the same. Sure, the generations of each sport change, but the same can be said of anything. The only difference between the 1980s and now is that there were a lot more skaters in the '80s and '90s than in the '70s...and there's even more now. If you want a surefire way of knowing where your next generation of bikers is coming from, don't look at motocross kids or sportbike riders, or anywhere beyond you're local scruffies at the nearest drained pool or schoolyard curb.Billy Bartels
Editor at Large