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Gears Missed

Christopher Green | May 5, 2020

Topics: Bikes and Breakfast, British Standard Motors, motorcycles, Patriot Harley-Davidson, Urban East, vintage motorcycles

At a time when expensive corporate products are less than hugely popular, Virginia’s motorcycle culture is finding new life in vintage shops around the state.

On a side road in Virginia, the reflective façade of high-rise office buildings breaks into a dusty sun-soaked street, where the sidewalk briefly gives way to a dirt shoulder lined with classic British sports cars and motorbikes, most of which have seen better days.

The source of this transplanted slice of 1970’s British charm radiates out of a nearby shop, British Standard Motors LLC. Here, polished showroom floors and salespeople take a backseat to dust-covered boxes full of motorbike parts and walls covered in photos of friends with their machines, each with a unique story – and someone around to tell them. While titans of motorcycle industry have reported plummeting sales as they scramble to pin down today’s motorcycle culture, that culture intuitively exists here. 

Is the disinterest of younger generations sending motorcycles to an overdue grave? “Not quite,” said Mick Webb, director of operations at BSM. “They’re just not buying $20,000 Harleys.”

Photo by Sam Bosley, via British Standard Motors/Facebook

John Esposito, cofounder of Bikes and Breakfast, seems to agree. “Younger generations have a good turnout at Bikes and Breakfast,” he said. The monthly meet up at The Main Street Pub in Clifton, VA regularly attracts hundreds of riders and enthusiasts across all age groups. 

The generational gaps that were thought to be a death sentence for motorcycle culture might just be a death sentence for shareholder return.  

“People don’t have the money for bikes that cost that much,” said Brian Audet, owner of Urban East, a local motorcycle shop in Lorton, VA. When Audet opened his motorcycle shop in 2016, he thought a car lift might come in handy to help make ends meet while waiting for cyclists needing repairs. However, now it collects dust. “There’s plenty of bike work,” said Audet.

Audet, who handles a lot of vintage motorcycles, says the style is changing. “It’s moving towards café racers and scramblers,” he said. “That style already exists in a lot of vintage bikes, and, when you can find that in an older Honda on Craigslist for a few grand, it helps out with cost too.” 

“This generation’s expensive bikes are $5,000 to $6,000 — not even in the realm of buying something new,” said Audet.

Resorting to the used market doesn’t require financing to find quality either, yet another shot at today’s big manufacturers.

“What was cheap 30 years ago, that they made loads of, and had the quality to withstand getting put in a shed for a few decades?” said Webb. “How many of those are around – that’s the next thing.”

Photo via Bikes And Breakfast/Facebook

A redefining of the fundamental value of freedom that initially put big motorcycle manufacturers in the cultural driver’s seat might shed some light on their demise as well. Randy Borchetta, sales manager at Patriot Harley-Davidson in Fairfax, VA and a 17-year veteran of the industry, says the taste for adventure is dwindling in younger generations. “Yeah, they’ll go out for events, they’ll go out for dinner and things like that,” he said, but “more and more of the younger generation spends time indoors on their computers, on their cell phones. It makes life a little different.”

Freedom, once a mobilizing idea, may no longer be in the spirit of adventure. For many, urban traffic provides more than enough incentive to avoid the burden of driving and owning a car. “Sure, it’s bad, but I can walk everywhere I want to go,” a DC customer recently told Borchetta. For some, freedom now means freedom from instead of freedom to.  

However unfortunate their position as they lose revenue share, big manufacturers aren’t the innocent victims of a changing lifestyle.

“Dealerships have lost their personalities,” said Esposito, describing the results of car dealership owners buying up motorcycle dealers in northern Virginia. “They’re selling motorcycles the way they sell cars, and that’s wrong. Someone might come in four or five times before they buy a bike, whereas an aggressive car dealer will try to sell you one that day.”

“People aren’t having a good time there,” Audet agrees. “A lot of people come here and say, yeah, I went to this dealer or that dealer to talk about my bike, and I felt like I was inconveniencing them.”

“These places used to have a small-shop vibe,” said Audet. But corporate mandates appear to focus on cultivating dollars instead of culture. “When manufacturers finance, they make a lot of money, so they focus on that instead of serviceability,” said Webb, explaining the growing disconnect with enthusiasts. 

“Look at Harley deciding dealerships need to be at least 25,000 square feet,” said Esposito. “Now you walk into any dealership and it’s like walking into a Macy’s.”

Photo via Urban East/Facebook

Manufacturers attempting to capitalize on vintage popularity has come across as soulless within the community as well. “The market they’re trying to capture is neither here nor there,” said Esposito, describing the way new throwback models fresh off the assembly line are perceived. “I’m not sure what people think they’re riding, but they’re not even close to experiencing the bike of yesteryear.” 

These remakes come with more tangible costs, too, ultimately reflecting little more than the silhouette of their original inspiration. “They fit the scene, but the price point is still high, and someone can pull up right next to you on the same bike,” said Audet. 

Nevertheless, the missteps of corporations appear to operate as cultural fertilizer: sparking creativity, providing opportunity for passionate creators, and paving a path for new riders.

There is a sense of community that exists in the oil-stained gravel leading to an open bay door that doesn’t have to close at 5:00 p.m.; where a conversation about a bike doesn’t cause dollar-sign eyes to glaze over, but instead builds a relationship.

“When things get bad, vintage gets big,” said Webb. And in the world of motorcycle culture, vintage has endured not just because of its physical quality and accessible price, but because of the all-but-forgotten human qualities that come with it.

Top Photo via Urban East/Facebook

Finding Freedom

RVA Staff | November 15, 2019

Topics: art, artists in virginia, chopperchug, community, Harley Davidson, liam kennedy, mass communications, mechanics, motorcycles, nikon, Norfolk, photography, photojournalism, richmond, us navy, Virginia Beach

Through his camera lens focused on motorcycles, photographer Liam Kennedy makes his home on the open road and inside the bike community.

Candid but clear, and often colorful, the photos of Norfolk’s Liam Kennedy tell a visual story of life on the road in modern motorcycle culture. His photos follow Virginia’s subculture throughout the Old Dominion and across the country.

“I think motorcycles attract someone who wants to be free,” Kennedy said. “A motorcycle, from the outside, looks like a violent activity — but in reality, it’s nothing like that. It’s the closest you can get to feeling like you’re flying.”

Kennedy came to the profession through his background in the military; he was a photojournalist for eight years, and did his formal training as a Mass Communications Specialist in the U.S. Navy. On the heels of his years in the service, he’s found a calling for his work within his own subculture of motorcycle enthusiasts. Between planning cross-country trips and traveling back and forth to Richmond, he’s made a place for himself in the statewide community of riders and builders.

“In Virginia, people are very interconnected with each other,” Kennedy said. “The culture is the same from Norfolk to Richmond. We all know people in each area, but there isn’t one scene over the other — there’s a competitive aspect to what we do, I suppose, but you’re hard-pressed to find that around here. There are no real bike shows where people are winning big awards (at least with our kind of choppers, anyway). It’s hard to explain; we enjoy riding, we like unique bikes, and there are a lot of talented people in Richmond, Portsmouth, and Norfolk. I don’t build bikes, but I can appreciate what some of these people are doing.”

Kennedy plans to make his official move to the River City within the next few months. While he’ll make Richmond his home base, much of his time will still be spent on the road, working as a freelance photojournalist and documenting his travels from coast to coast.

“It just so happens that Richmond has been my landing base for the last two years. I really found a sense of community there,” Kennedy said. “I wish I could tell you what it is about Richmond — in my whole life, I’ve never lived in a place more than five years, but for what I enjoy doing, for my lifestyle, Richmond fits the bill. It’s a very transient town, so someone coming and going is not unheard of.”

It’s been five years since Kennedy found his love for motorcycles, and he purchased his first bike shortly after in 2015. While he’s started learning the mechanics of the bike and doing its maintenance work in the last year, the main thing he operates on a motorcycle will always be his camera.

“I am operating my motorcycle while I’m shooting photos. I’m shooting from the hip, I’ll take my arms off the bar. I’m an idiot,” Kennedy laughed. “I grew up in Indiana, I took high school film and digital classes and was big into filming skateboarding when I was 16… I still skateboard, and I’ve been skateboarding since I was five years old. I do photo and video work for Cardinal Skate Shop down in Norfolk.”

Filming skateboarding videos was Kennedy’s introduction to working with photo and video media, and he pursued it through his younger years until he came to the end of high school. When he was faced with the decision to either be kicked out of his house during school or join the military, he chose the latter — and with an interest sparked by high school photography classes and filming his friends skateboarding, he joined the Navy with a rank concentration in Mass Communications. Later, through the military, he enrolled at Syracuse University in New York.

“It’s funny how much art you actually see when you’re in the military,” Kennedy said. “For instance, all the command logos — somebody had to make and design those. And generally, they’re by someone in their command, or someone who does my job. We’re trained to do photo, video, AP Style journalism, and graphic design… The military is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. I learned a lot about life, not just in my job, but with the people and where they come from.”

Kennedy’s professional equipment of choice is usually a Nikon D4, and he uses a Nikon D610 for personal use as well as a Nikon f100 for 35mm shooting. His name carries award-winning photojournalism with his work, which has taken him from the continental United States to many small corners of the world.

“I did an article in the Philippines in 2013 after a bad typhoon hit the area, Operation Damayan. We went there to deliver relief aid,” Kennedy said. “I’m probably more reckless with gear than I should be, but the hardest part of those situations is having to detach yourself from the reality of what’s happening. Photographing people who may not be alive anymore, or who may have just lost their house; being respectful to them while getting the story, and trying to relay that information to people who have no idea what’s happening. Photographing protests is natural. I become detached when the lens goes up to my face — like I’m just watching a movie. I’m not happy or sad, I’m just there.”

These days, it may seem like Kennedy’s passion lies in the motorcycles themselves, but in reality it’s the people who ride them that provoke his affinity for the bikes. He rides a 1999 1340cc Evo Big Twin chopper.

“Choppers are so stripped-down and basic. Choppers are teaching me patience and how to work with my hands. We’re losing craftsmen every day,” Kennedy said. “We’re losing people who know these machines and how to work on them. [In photography], I’m trying to preserve these men and women who work on the machines in some sort of fashion. I don’t want some kid to forget and think everything is automated; sometimes you’ve got to work with your hands and get dirty.”

The adventure comes with the ability of a motorcycle to turn a simple means of transportation into a wilder experience of motor freedom. When society has come as far as it has in technology, Kennedy notes, we have a tendency to forget where we’ve been, and the foundation that was laid many years ago which allows modern tech to thrive as it does today. The functionality of older and antique motorcycles — especially Harley Davidsons — is simpler, but temperamental in ways unique to each bike.

“Breaking down is part of the fun,” Kennedy said. “It’s not really fun when the vehicle does it all for you. The motorcycles — I could take them or leave them. It’s really the people I enjoy. Without the people, we wouldn’t have the bikes. We wouldn’t have this kind of folklore around it.”

Kennedy’s Harley has seen many miles of open road, not only in Virginia but in trips across North America. He’s had breakdowns that forced him to leave his bike on the side of the road in Arizona overnight, and he’s been stuck on a mountain in San Diego as it started to snow. Riding cross-country from Virginia Beach to Mexico, he teamed up with a group of friends to begin a major trip crossing national borders.

“We were in New Mexico, and my buddy lost his gas cap. We had already pulled over four or five times that day, people were breaking down and losing stuff,” Kennedy said. “We couldn’t get out of Albuquerque for whatever reason, and while we were looking for the gas cap, my buddy Ethan found a $100 bill. So we ended up buying a new gas cap. We were trying to make it back through New Mexico, and the sky split in two — pitch black on one side, and bright daylight on the other. We were about to have a very bad time in a few minutes… everything just opened up with hail, wind, and no shelter to stop at. So we just had to keep riding through it.”

As long as there are folks still out there willing to take something apart in order to learn how to put it back together, craftsmanship stays alive. It’s kept by those with the due diligence required for the impressive skills, and Kennedy is one who keeps this brand of freedom alive and well-documented — providing proof that society might not have changed as much as we think. When it comes down to these individuals, after all these years, some still prefer to hear the pull and chug of an antique chopper over the hiss of modern mechanics.

Kennedy is set to head out on another cross-country trip in June, seeing the Pacific Northwest and traveling back through an outline of the United States. 

“I just do my own thing. I go wherever the wind takes me that week.” 

Below, find a collection of Liam Kennedy’s photos from the road. More of his work is available to view on his website and Instagram.

Written By Ethan Malamud and Caley Sturgill. Photos by Liam Kennedy

Classified Moto Revs Up New Web Series, ‘Restricted’

Malik Hall | December 5, 2017

Topics: bike shop, Classified Moto, motorcycles, Restricted, upcycled bikes, web series

Richmond’s best kept not-so-secret custom motorcycle shop, Classified Moto is known for their signature Franken-vehicles simply called “Classified”. This Richmond business is shifting gears and expanding from just working on recycled, custom motorcycles to their own web series, “Restricted”.

About a year ago, with their steadily-growing number of Instagram followers, Classified Moto owner John Ryland saw an opportunity to give their fans, customers, and bike geeks everywhere an in-depth, up close and personal look into what goes on at their secret headquarters.

“We just made a decision to make fewer bikes and focus on bikes that had more of a story to them,” said Ryland of the newly launched series. 

Ryland started the bike shop after being laid off from his 11-year advertising job at The Martin Agency back in 2011 and hasn’t looked back since.

“It started out as a necessity at first, I haven’t been into motorcycles for that long, and I just wanted cheap stuff I wasn’t going to mess up, so I just got whatever was cheap on Craigslist,” he said. “That just turned into the style of taking old bikes like that and upgrading them with modern parts and the look kind of caught on.”

“Restricted”, which launched Nov. 8 on YouTube, is a fusion of American Chopper and House Hunters without the script, bringing you into an actual day in the life of the Classified team.

The first episode titled “The Last of the XVs”, focuses on souping up a Yamaha XV.

“That bike was sort of a staple of Classified bikes for a while so it made sense to start with it{XV},” said Ryland.

At its heart, “Restricted” is still a build show, but with the combination of the cinematography and passion from the Classified team, it manages to stray from a simple instructional video to a beautifully-shot story, telling the tale of a shop that rose from the ashes of one man’s garage.

Photo by Matt Crane

For you gearheads and bike enthusiasts, it includes plenty of cool clips of the guys at the shop building bikes, doing wheelies, and getting into other shenanigans, and the first episode shows off some of Richmond’s beautiful city as well. Local band Washers even provided two tracks to help unfold their story.

With the series being hosted on Youtube, the team only have themselves to answer to and everything is done in-house, keeping “Restricted” a pure embodiment of what actually occurs in the secret lair.

Photo by Matt Crane

Classified Moto has a studio space that used to be a mule barn, where they film, making everything more accessible for the team, as they can always come up with ideas on the fly and make it a reality.  

“Its cool with Matt {Crane} being here, we can just say ‘hey man we’re doing this thing’ and he just pops downstairs and just films. It looks killer as opposed if Matt was at his own place across town or another city,” said Ryland.

Crane, Videographer and Director of Photography for “Restricted”, said he’s usually ready to shoot on the fly whenever an opportunity sparks.

Photo by Malik Hall

“John would come in like, ‘hey, we’re trying to start this bike, “get the camera”,” Crane said. “It is all real, the stuff in the episode with the bike, nothing was rehearsed or anything.”

Classified Moto has taken fewer projects since starting the series, in hopes of getting sponsors for the show to help fund it without compromising what they want “Restricted” to be.

Image may contain: 1 person, motorcycle and outdoor
Photo by Classified Moto

“The main idea is to get sponsors down the road for certain episodes, because it is expensive,” Ryland said. 

The crew shouldn’t have too much a problem as their craft is always recognized, even by those who aren’t even motorcycle aficionados.

“We were loading one of the bikes and a guy literally stopped out in traffic, he was just staring at it, saying, ‘that looks just like Mad Max’,” said lead technician Danik Herashchanka.

Their Mad Max-style “Frankenbikes” even earned them an opportunity to build a bike for Norman Reedus’ character Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead.

Image may contain: motorcycle
Photo by Classified Moto

“We built the bikes for TWD, we actually built two of them. He{Reedus } only uses one on the show, but it’s actually two bikes that they use,” said Ryland.

The Classified team has also have been featured on the Cafè Racer TV series to build a bike for Battlestar Galactica actress Katee Sackhoff.

“It was a cool episode, but they kept trying to make us act,” Ryland said. “They would ask us to come in and act like you’re seeing everything for the first time. We’re not actors.” 

Photo by John Ryland

But don’t expect all of the dramatics from the TV or a typical reality show to appear in Ryland’s “Restricted”.

“We’re really trying to stick to no acting{for Restricted} unless we’re doing it to be funny,” he said. 

For those eager to check out what Classified Moto has to offer, visit their website where requests can be made for your own custom bike. Maybe it will lead to an invitation to their mysterious headquarters when the bike is done.

They don’t have a strict timeline, but Ryland and his crew are shooting to release a new episode once a month. Be on the lookout for episode two the last week of December.

Image may contain: one or more people and motorcycle
Photo by Classified Moto

 

*Cover photo by Adam Ewing

The Candy Cars of Stunt Sunday

Jason Lappa | August 31, 2017

Topics: bikes, Cars, Culture, motorcycles, richmond, Stunt Sunday, Sub-Culture, virginia

There is no question Richmond, Virginia is a dichotomous place with a story to tell. Yet picking the right story is always the challenge for any photojournalist or writer. Part of this challenge is balancing the obvious with the not so obvious, and exposing it in a way people can connect with as they go about their daily lives. In a perfect media climate, one not beholden to advertisers and sponsors, Stunt Sunday would have been covered by every press outlet in Richmond. Not only does it represent a critical subculture (among many) that is thriving just beneath the surface, it’s one of the main faces of the city that remains undervalued. The reasons for this are obvious to anyone who casually observes Richmond, and I wasn’t surprised when one of the participants, speaking about downtown Richmond, told me dryly, “We used to be very present, but they ran us out of there too.”

Nonetheless, on August 27 at Broad Rock Park – Stunt Sunday – organized by Michael Thompson, known as Black Mike, brought together car clubs from all over the mid-Atlantic, some as far away as Baltimore. Yet it would be a disservice to this community to assume that the cars and motorcycles were the focal point of this event. While they factor prominently into this photo essay because of their visual characteristics, the event itself was one to promote unity, civic responsibility, and to encourage kids to make positive decisions. The participants in the event were diverse, hospitable, and full of camaraderie, even toward us as outsiders. JP, one of the promoters of Stunt Sunday, told us, “We come out there and do community work. We do back to school drives… pass out bookbags, school supplies for the kids out here.”

Stunt Sunday is one of the many untold stories of Virginia, one that remains on the margins for all the reasons Richmond and the Commonwealth continue to struggle with. At a glance, one could be forgiven for being intimidated by the cars, bikes, music, and tattoos, but only for a minute. Connecting communities and coming together as a city can sometimes start with realizing that we all celebrate our own unique cultures in our own unique ways. That should be worth something to all of us.

“We formed this club last year. We got a couple hundred cars in the area.” 

“We got support from VA Beach, Maryland, DC. We drive down there, they come here.”

“Richmond is deep. Richmond is way deep.” 

“This is to show the kids you don’t have to sell dope to have nice things.”

“We don’t have as much space downtown. We have more freedom out here [Southside].”

“Cars are a way to get people on our real focus, which is taking care of the community.”

“When I got free time, I put it in the car. I work a regular job and still get what I want.”

“We are showing the kids there is another way.”

“Come together, put aside the differences we got, and do it for the love of everything.” 

“You don’t have to go out and run the streets to get things you want.” 

“Love of cars, love of music, and love of the community. That’s what it is.”

*Words by Landon Shroder. Quotes by JP and Peanut, organizers of Stunt Sunday.

A local motorcycle charity ride event is gearing up for its second fundraiser this Sunday

Amy David | September 11, 2015

Topics: charity event, Chop Cult, choppers, Connors Heroes, fundraiser, Hardywood, Harley Davidson, Heroes Run, motorcycle riding, motorcycles, rva charities

A local fundraiser is gearing up to bring motorcycle enthusiasts and the community together for a ride and good time at a brewery all for a good cause this weekend.

[Read more…] about A local motorcycle charity ride event is gearing up for its second fundraiser this Sunday

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