Toronto "SuperShow" part 1 Jan 2 - 4 2015
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Happy New Year! If you have enough cash - or credit - left over from Christmastime, come spend it on new stuff for your bike. So you can stare at it in the cupboard or garage and dream of warmer weather.
The Toronto "SuperShow" motorcycle show, held usually the first full weekend of the New Year - mark your calendars now! - attempts to be a buffet of motorcycling. Indeed there is a giant cross-section of the sport/pastime/hobby/obsession/lifestyle.
It's amazing how people can complain.
Toronto is very lucky as it hosts 3 to 4 major motorcycle shows, depending on your definition, annually.
A big part of the show is the display and contest for builders/customizers. I am always mixed about this. Part of me appreciates craftpersonship, the creativity, and respects artistic expression. Another part of me feels certain styles, themes and motifs have been "done to death". Some people agree, it would seems, because the boundaries in terms of materials etc are certainly being pushed. Some sport bikes and cafe racers are starting to show up.
Why the done to death styles still persist is constant source of fascination for me and I haven't found an answer yet.
Having said that however, I know many of you do appreciate abundances of chrome - it must be recognized as an endangered metal by now, surely - so please enjoy the following.
Cheers!
(I apologize in advance for blurriness... not intentional I assure you!)
Welcome!
Intricate
Long and Low
Low Bagger
Is it a bird...?
Bobber
Appreciate the Paint...
The message is...?
Oooo Sparkly!
Yes, that's wood...
Wood show?
Turbocharged!
Wood spokes
Woody
Headlight or Chrome Art?
Low and Long
Beer Time!
Drag V-Rod
Always one...
...or two...
Nice job
Suicide Shift
Gas Station (V-twins only!)
Fast and Good Looks
Fast and Looks Good
This used to be a Virago...
Cafe
Clean Cafe
Unusual Understatement
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112 months ago
@Teramuto
Hi teramuto
Thanks for commenting on the post! Maybe I should have elaborated on "part of me feels certain styles, themes and motifs have been "done to death" ".
The sentence before that I mentioned that I appreciated the craftsmanship and artistry that goes into the bikes. I can appreciate lines and form.
But enough of the skulls, vampires, devils, gargoyles, snakes, barbed wire, naked or semi-naked women, spikes etc already. How many more times can it be done?
I find a good what to test the veracity of an argument is to turn it around. So, let's go silly and argue it the other way: "Well what do you want? hearts, flowers, rainbows, unicorns and 'Hello Kitty' ?" Of course not... that's not the point.
So this begs the deeper question: why ARE these 'dark' themes (for the lack of a better phrase, for the sake of this discussion) used again and again? The only answer I come up with is it is prolonging the "bad boy" biker image. That image has been around since "The Wild Ones" in the 1950's and boosted by the Hells Angels in the 1960 - 70's and is carried into today. But why do we cling to it? What image are we trying to project by dressing ourselves and bikes up with these motifs? "Toughness" "Manliness" "Virility" "Look Ma! I'm I rebel! King of the World, Ma!"
And if you went with a pink "Hello Kitty" theme etc I can hear the comments now: "Gay."
Then you realize these are just images. They are worn the same way people wear t-shirts with brands or slogans or sports teams logos... to make it seem like we are associated with them. So they are misleading and only have value in our imagination, if we let them.
People assume the images to be outward expressions of who the person sporting them really is. But images are ultimately camouflage; more an expression of what we wish we really were. We are afraid to be judged based on an image - can you imagine a Hells Angel riding the aforementioned "Hello Kitty" bike? Not likely. Why wouldn't they? Because they are afraid of being labelled by the associations of the colours and themes. The last thing a "biker" wants to be thought of is "cute and cuddly". Or Gay.
There were some very fine machines at the show. But how many choppers, bobbers, lowriders and baggers can there be? It feels like it has come to extreme paint, chrome, wheels, accessories etc to differentiate them all - it's like the builders themselves are reaching the end of their imaginations. (Not to say they aren't imaginative within the confines of the "genre" so to speak).
That's what I mean by it's been done to death - with an appreciation of what has come before. I don't know what will be, but I am looking forward to, the next iteration of custom builds. Where is the next generation coming from? What will be their inspiration? That's exciting and challenging.
For the record, I, like you, have never built anything as awesome as those guys. I lack a garage, an abundance of metal working tools and welders and years of machine-worker skills. To be honest, I lack money, artistic vision, determination and patience too.
What concerns me is the lack of opportunities for a youngster (or oldster for that matter) to develop the manual skills that make that vision, determination and patience become art on two wheels. They need someone to hand them a wrench, tell them "have at 'er" and then stand back.
Cheers!
(p.s. i'd be glad to meet up at the spring show and compare points of view - in a friendly way!)
113 months ago
Not sure I agree with the "done to death" perspective. Sure....from your pics and the "too much Chrome" remarks I suspect you are referring to the abundance of Harley/Big Twin based bikes. But what you fail to see, in my opinion, is the creativity and skill required to put something together like that gold Shovel Bobber in your pics. Each of these bikes are unique and from the looks of it there are many cool one off parts on that Bobber for instance that the builder would have fabricated him/herself. While the basic "style" or "genre" is similar to others the craftsmanship is unique on each of those bikes. I fancy myself an amateur bike builder and anything I have ever built wouldn't hold a candle to even the worst of the lot in your pics.