Well said. If we were all the same, how dull would life be? Let's celebrate difference, it's what us Brits excel at. And.. 55quid for a tee shirt.. Have you seen some Ducati prices?
It looks fantastic. I can see now where I've been doing motorcycling wrong this whole time... and I'm going to correct things. From now on it's going to be much more authentic for me. Where do I pay please?
Dontb get me started on youz fizzy boys back in the day with yer quo backpatches and fake leather jackets. At least my garb was the real thing. Plastic fizzy knobs.
IMO, nothing should ever move on and all bike shops should follow the same theme of soulless strip-lit supermarket (J&S) and bike cafes should all be slightly shabby greasy spoon type places where any patron under 50 and God forbid not white or male is looked at askance. I'm not really into the hipster look, probably cos I don't have enough hair left to grow one of those quiffy styles, but I think the Bikeshed culture for want of a better word is fkn awesome. I don't know the Bolt folk apart from George the mechanic who runs their courses (who I know from the Ducati Indy, Ray Petty Meccanica) but I know a fair few people in that "scene" generally who are all proper bikers, not Johnny Come-Lately bandwagon-jumpers, including the Bikeshed peeps. Incidentally, the female half of the Bikeshed owners would probably show many guys on this forum up on track as she's a solid upper Inters group rider on what I think is a customised Honda Dominator. She also doesn't have a crew cut and weigh 19 stone like most biker chicks. The Bikeshed venue has now also become popular with the non-biking crowd, but they still remain true to their two wheeled roots and put on umpteen shows/exhibitions, track and off-roading days, the annual weekend festival and the Cafe Racer Cup (both cancelled last year due to Covid unfortunately), not to mention that the bi-weekly big screen MotoGP race showings have an amazing atmosphere. These venues and biking sub-cultures are a breath of fresh air into what was becoming a pretty stale scene with a parochial outlook and ageing demographic. More power to them, I say.
I`m just a simple country boy so I know nothing of these Hipster types but surely Johhny Come Lately is a prophylactic brand designed to slow down those who frequently finish before they have started.
Now we have been granted Boris bail we should take a ride into the glittering metropolis together and you can gaze in wonderment at the horseless carriages, women wearing trousers and Mr Edison's new-fangled electric lighting. And as a man who still has a healthy and bounteous head of hair you may even be able to fashion it into one of those hipster styles that make them look like they're an Edwardian gentleman who is about to mount an expedition to the South Pole.
I would rather pass a pineapple sideways than risk anything remotely hipsteresque. I have even burned (in the incinerator bin) the signed lumberjack shirt that Michael Palin gave me all those years ago.
Strange that it has not been adopted as an anthem by the gender fluid . I wonder why not ? They are a queer bunch aren`t they. Note the traditional use of the word queer for those of a sensitive or permanently outraged disposition.
I didn't realise that it had been adopted as an anthem. I was just looking at it for what it was when it came out (forgive me phrasing!).
I was quite excited by Bikeshed until I went and clearly wasn't trying hard enough, as I was in my work clothes and fresh from the office didn't look edgy enough... so the staff ignored me in favour of flirting with the better looking customers. Must admit to having a bit of a chip on my shoulder about that, but I gave it a second chance another time and had tea there... it was alright but very generic in terms of "craft" beer and "artisan" food... and certainly the pricing wasn't as inclusive as it could have been. You can't bottle a scene, and everyone that tries fails IMO. Scenes are mercurial, spontaneous and brief... from music to bikes. The Bolt thing is no different to Death Machines of London or El Solitario or Pacoima Motorcycles... each catering for a little niche and flogging a bit of merchandise in support of their custom builds or whatnot. Good luck to them, it looks cool in a slightly samey way, grinding on the same cliches and selling the same unrealistic dreams. I'm going to mock a little... maybe I feel left out or maybe I'm too old and unfashionable to get it. Live and let live... I grew up thinking London dispatch riders looked cool, Hong Kong backstreet tuners on GSX-Rs were ace and watching Yorkshire farmhands try to ape Essex Gixxer boys in bleached jeans and paddock jackets. Motorcycling is inconvenient and daft most of the time, when perfectly capable cars are available. Fun though. Most motorcyclists are bell ends, which ever way you cut it. Internet forums and Facebook groups are evidence enough of that... all we do is bicker and wall ourselves into our ghettoes
I hear what you're saying and tbh, the service at the Bikeshed was terrible when they first opened, as was the then very limited menu. However, they either trained or replaced their staff and now I have to say, the opposite is true and the service is exemplary, though it can be a bit confusing whether you find somewhere to sit or wait to be seated. I too was somewhat cynical about the whole nouveau retro scene, which I thought was about to go the same way as other biking fads such as supermotos. Tbh, I thought the owners were mad to sink oodles of their own cash into a massive venue located in a prime Shoreditch location in 2015, but not only are they surviving, they are thriving, or at least seem to be as they've recently opened a branch in LA. I know one of the guys behind "Death Machines" pretty well (Ray Petty of the aforementioned Ducati indi). He's the real deal and a skilled mechanic whose expertise gels well with the other partner, who is very artistic. I've seen a lot of their creations in progress, up close and the attention to detail and craftsmanship is out of this world, where almost every part is hand made, right down to brake levers and handlebars and even the wheels on a mad Guzzi based bike. One of their bikes is Pete Boast's Monster 1100 based flat tracker and their last bike, a Goldwing based thing that looked like it had landed from outer space was incredible (the speedo alone has to be seen to be believed) and so I don't really see how their work can be described as samey tbh. Last time I spoke to Ray, who unfortunately I don't see as often nowadays since I moved out of London + lockdown, I think they had a buyer for it, so they're not just show pieces. https://www.designboom.com/design/death-machines-london-kenzo-samurai-armor-11-21-2019/ https://www.motoguzzi.com/ca_EN/news/Airforce-tribute-to-Giovanni-Ravelli/ Each to their own though. I flit between biking cultures and don't see that being into racing, sports bikes and a tight leather one piece means that I don't also also love me a chopper.
I guess by samey I was referencing the cultural markers of the look (e.g. beards, selvedge denim, tattoos, redwing boots etc) rather than individual bikes. I saw the DMOL Guzzi at a show in Barnsley (I think it was) and it was well executed, and Ray's work is very good. If you (and others) enjoy it and their business is doing great then happy days.
I can't see any difference between Bolt and the venerated Deus, just another thinly veiled merchandising effort taking bikes as a theme/inspiration. My two London-based adult kids both live close to Shoreditch and by complete coincidence, no conferring, have each bought me a Bolt t-shirt (my daughter bought me a white one for my birthday and my son bought me a black one as part of my Christmas present). If I wear either of the tees in non-bikey circles what little reaction there is borders on, 'Cool t-shirt', with bikey pals, the reactions are much the same as on this thread, either sneery, or laissez faire. They're all OK with me.
Go to motorcycling live at the NEC and look at the average age of visitors, I feel quite young and I’m in my mid fifties, by comparison if you go to the Bikeshed shows at Tobacco Dock the average age is probably 30 with lots of twenty somethings, for better or worse they are the future of motorcycling. Its a totally different scene, And probably partly responsible for the R nine T, Scrambler, style of bikes, I’d really recommend a visit to the show, the quality and quantity of custom bikes on display is fantastic, food and beer is great, just ignore the barbers and beard treatment products!
Seemingly each generation brings its own stamp of identification Back in the fifties ( well before my time) they sported knee high white socks and applied Bryl-Cream to their well coiffed hair!
