With a background in building airplanes, boats and even custom furniture, Max Hazan has an endless list of references to pull inspiration and ideas from. Through this varied experience Hazan has found motorcycles to be his…
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by Kate Erwin Founded in 2010 by Thor Drake of Portland’s See See Motorcycles and coffee shop, The One Motorcycle Show stands to highlight interesting bikes with an equally…
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by Katharine Erwin The smell of race gas fills the cool dry air at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. As the first MotoGP held by the track, the paddock is filled with fit…
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Despite its Japanese core and status as one of the oldest denim labels, Edwin has been a relatively slow burner in the raw denim, heritage area of the market. Even while sporting one of the most visually arresting selvedge lines—the rainbow selvedge—the brand as a whole has felt like…
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Built to accomodate the daily commute or a bare bones cross country ride, the V7 Wayward from Hammarhead Industries is your minimalist’s dream motorcycle. Unveiled in late January of this year and based on the Moto Guzzi V7 Classic, the V7 Wayward is a loud, powerful mid-sized bike designed…
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Our interview with Jordan Hufnagel on building camping supplies and the story behind his new brand
There comes a time in many peoples’ lives when things just seem to be moving too fast, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. This overwhelmed feeling spurred Portland-based bicycle builder Jordan Hufnagel and motorcycle maker James Crowe to start the adventure outfitter brand West America. A passion project for the two, West America makes handmade camping supplies and apparel capturing the free spirit that brought the brand to life.
While the product line itself is fairly basic, the story behind West America is a rich one filled with countless stories of friendship and travel with a genuine, pioneering spirit. To learn more about the young brand, we recently caught up with Hufnagel before his upcoming motorcycle trip for which the brand was formed.
West America is about that constant evolution that we all go through, and being true to ourselves. It’s about not being scared of the changes you want in your life and working hard to make them happen. A couple years ago James and I found ourselves buried in a mountain of work that only seemed to keep growing, while not getting us any closer to the lives we really wanted. After some big challenges were overcome and some rough conversations between the two of us, we committed to making those changes and somewhere along the line we thought up West America.
West America makes whatever James and I are stoked on at the time—currently that means a small line of camping gear, and paraphernalia—while simultaneously creating an outlet for James and me to document our work, good times and travels.
We both make the camping gear. James and I really yin each other’s yang here in the shop, so working together designing and making things works out great.
It all happens very naturally around here. Having a full metal shop, we have the privilege to make the things we want exactly how we want them. We are going to be on the road a long time, camping most of the nights. So we wanted gear that was going to pack easy in our limited space, but also create comfort. After bouncing around some ideas of what we wanted to make, we landed on these items to start.
At this point we’re just scratching some sketches out as ideas pop in our heads and showing them to each other to get feedback and make refinements to the plan. Then one of us will make a prototype that we can beat up and get a feel for. Sometimes one prototype is all that happens and the product gets dumped. But, if we’re happy with what we’ve come up with we’ll make some final repeatable plans, order materials and will work together producing a limited run.
We started planning this motorcycle trip to South America a couple years ago when we made that commitment to change and started thinking up West America. Like I said earlier, we had found ourselves buried in work. Me with bicycle orders and James with three different and very important full-time gigs. I was spending every waking hour at the shop and going a little crazy. I felt like I’d been stripped of the privilege to act on my spontaneous nature, and also had this huge drive to be doing more than one thing with my life. At the same time, James was being pulled in every direction too. Between our shop, a hot rod shop he worked at that was sponsoring his green card application, and having to be in school full time to maintain a visa here in the US (he’s Canadian) he had no time to do anything besides work. Only sleeping a couple hours a night, things came to a tipping point.
At the time, I wanted to move away from Portland. The only thing keeping me here was sharing a shop with James. He’s my best friend and ultimate shop partner. But life here was beating him down pretty hard and it looked like a move back to Canada was just around the corner, so I also felt like there was no reason to stay. It honestly was a pretty crazy emotional time. Then real late one night at the shop, we just broke it all down and committed to making this trip happen. Leaving all the stress behind and going off to have the awesome journey. You know, just hit the reset button and find out who we really are with out all the expectations and stress again. Now here we are a couple months from going. It’s a crazy feeling, knowing that it’s happening so soon.
Totally. For the trip south our only plan is going, and letting the rest just take shape on its own. West America is the same. We just want it to be whatever we are into at that time, or whatever we want to make. Right now, it’s camping and motorcycles. At some point we both want to build homes and I can totally see us making house wares as we want them, or bike stuff, or backpacking gear. You know, whatever is rocking us at the time. Also, I think it’s important to keep in mind here that destinations are just a part of a journey, not the reason for them.
We have a few other things in the works, but we also have tons of work to finish up before we take off so we’ll see what happens!
Keep an eye on West America to stay up with the product development and the eventual documentation of Hufnagel and Crowe’s South American adventure.
Philadelphia’s custom motorcycle outfitter’s new stripped-down city slayer
Built from a beefy 2007-08 Triumph Bonneville body, Hammarhead Industries‘ new Ninety-Two model falls firmly in line with the bad ass, bare-essentials aesthetic HHI has effortlessly grown to own. Originally designed and built as a one-off for the founder of Swedish workwear brand Dunderdon as part of their recent collaboration collection, the Ninety-Two turned out so well James Hammarhead and the crew decided to introduce it as a new model.
Designed to battle the streets—and come out on top, unscathed—the Mad Max-esque motorcycle is outfitted with Marine-grade materials for the fenders, seat and matte-finish paint. And as the unofficial HHI saying goes, “you can have any color you’d like, as long as it’s black.” The Ninety-Two is murdered out accordingly, and better off for it.
Stripped of all non-essential elements, the Ninety-Two gets the special treatment from HHI intakes, Keihin FCR carbs and a wide-open Zard exhaust to boost performance and make sure it’s ready to hit hell from the second the gun sounds. On top of the internals, the performance-driven, 865cc Twin Triumph features aggressive suspension, wheels and tires that stand up to cobblestone streets or cross-country trips.
As the newest model to be introduced, the streamlined Ninety-Two is now available from Hammarhead Industries exclusively for $16,500 with a lead build time of 90 days. Visit HHI online for a closer look at the Ninety-Two and other equally impressive offerings from the Philadelphia-based builders.
Custom motorcycle brand Deus ex Machina takes on Venice, CA
by Mark Buche
“The Emporium of Postmodern Activities” is the US foothold of Sydney-based custom motorcycle maker Deus ex Machina. The Venice extension is a move to establish a beach presence where people are able to move through the space and experience the Australian brand firsthand. True to the company’s familial vibe, the beautifully designed building is full of art-covered walls, and the community of local surfers and riders are often found basking across the sunny patio.
Purity of purpose is the Deus way of life, and under this design philosophy the brand has become best-known for their simple and minimalistic custom motorcycles. While that industry is often full of frivolous decoration, Deus deliberately subtracts and boils down their bikes to performance essentials. Each of the hand-built bikes aims to achieve functionality as an art form.
“We originated this idea of combining elements and it came out of the era where surf culture defined that all you could do was surf and nothing else, motorcycle culture said you could only be a motorcyclist. We’ve pioneered and pushed this idea that you can fuse interests and make a fun, rich, and exciting culture,” says Dare Jennings, founder of Deus ex Machina.
A large pane of glass splitting a gallery wall looks into the workspace of head motorcycle designer Michael “Woolie” Woolaway, revealing the true brand ethos. From the Deus retail shop you can watch Woolaway’s continuous tinkering as he perfects the design and construction of their beautiful hand-built machines.
Deus has quickly become a hub for the laid-back coastal lifestyle in Venice. On any given day, the parking lot is filled with every type of motorcyclist and bicyclist, from surf bums to actors meeting for hours to talk shop or to start a morning ride after an espresso from Handsome Coffee Roasters.
Like their other locations, The House of Simple Pleasures in Sydney and Bali’s Temple of Enthusiasm, Deus’ new spot in Venice also holds all sorts of events and gatherings to help introduce and share their passions with both the newly curious and longtime fans of the brand.
Look for Deus to take on Milan next year, where they plan to open another hub of motorcycle culture with the help of former Ducati CEO, Federico Minoli.
Deus ex Machina
1001 Venice Boulevard
Venice Beach, CA 90291
Hammarhead Industries’ heavy duty backpack meant for motorcycle commuting
Known best for their beautifully bad ass repurposed motorcycles, Philadelphia’s Hammarhead Industries recently unveiled their newest custom creation—the HHI Day Pack. The easy to open roll top bag finds its inspiration in everyday use, designed as a “minimal bag suitable for riding and capable of holding the tools of modern life.” Brooklyn’s d’emploi constructs each bag entirely with American made materials, making this paired down pack your perfect no-frills bag able to take a beating and only get better with wear.
When a client asked for an all purpose bag that’d match the rugged aesthetic of his custom Jack Pine motorcycle, Hammarhead’s designers realized they couldn’t recommend one, so they made it instead. After dissecting over 30 old military bags to see how different materials held up over time with little to no upkeep, they decided on a 15 oz Martexin waxed cotton canvas shell partially wrapped in salvaged leather from a NYC bootmaker for support and protection. For hardware they chose an unbreakable buckle originally made to hold a parachute and nylon webbing from a racing harness manufacturer in the Midwest.
When worn the waterproof bag sits perfectly into the small of your back for a comfortable riding position no matter how heavy the load, and the nylon straps are impressively easy to adjust with a quick pull. Inside the bag you’ll find a large main compartment the exact size of a full bag of groceries—or a 24 pack—and three padded pouches ideal of a laptop, iPad or notebook.
While this beast was specifically built to withstand the abuse of motorcycle commuting while avoiding the over designed look of most messenger bags, it actually works quite well as a bicycle bag as well. The lower leather side pouches are the perfect size for a medium sized u-lock and are conveniently placed in the right position for accessing miscellaneous things like lights, keys or even a water bottle. The HHI Day Pack is available now directly from Hammarhead Industries for $290.
Images by Graham Hiemstra
Two budding designers turn a classic motorcycle into a modern work of art
For their final year project while studying transport design at Northumbria University in Newcastle, budding English designers Roy Norton and Tom Kasher wanted to create a bike that would borrow from the past while looking to the future. The result—an exceptionally sleek take on the classic Triumph Speed Twin, kitted out with girder forks and signature quilted Barbour fabric on the seat.
The duo met with Triumph Product Manager Simon Warburton, who not only gave them the utmost support in creating the concept, but sees the project as an inspiring foundation. “Some elements may have an influence on some of our future projects,” he says. Triumph gave Norton and Kasher the frame of a production Bonneville to build from, which they reconstructed for a more contemporary aesthetic before adding Firestone tires, inverted levers, Thruxton brakes and a redesigned filler cap.
Warburton says Norton and Kasher’s take on the Speed Twin is like “the bike the Bonneville might have evolved into in an alternative universe.” Now graduated and fully employed by bike manufacturer Xenophya, the two are likely to be shaping the future of numerous machines to come.
via BikeExif
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