PEOPLE : It’s a Matter of Style : You can keep your Harleys and your Japanese numbers--for this bunch, the only real ride is on a vintage British bike.
Vintage British bikes vibrate, leak oil, periodically refuse to start or generate enough light to drive by at night. They are not known for comfort or reliability and, as sports machines, are easily outpaced by modern Japanese bikes.
So why do otherwise rational, middle-aged men--and a few women--love them? For most of the above reasons.
And then there’s the matter of style.
James Dean rode a Triumph. Marlon Brando rode a Triumph in “The Wild One.” Steve McQueen rode one in “The Great Escape”; Warren Beatty rode one in “Shampoo.”
In a word, British bikes are . . . cool.
Forget the trend of a few years back that made Harley-Davidsons a chic fashion accessory. There are some people who like to ride motorcycles but choose not to ride Harleys simply because everyone else does.
“Five years ago,” says Al Baker of North Hollywood, who supplies vintage bikes to movie and TV productions, “the demand was for Harleys. But now the look people want is classic British bike.
“The new macho bike image, as seen by the studios,” says Baker, a lifelong British bike rider and proprietor of Al Baker Vintage & Classic Bikes, “has come to be classic British. I really believe that Harleys have just become too common.”
Chris Scott of Sherman Oaks, who restores, repairs and sells British bikes, agrees.
“There’s been a big resurgence of interest in British bikes,” says Scott, whose Studio City shop SuperTwins caters to the vintage (predominantly 1950s through early 1970s) British bike trade.
“It’s primarily older guys who were into the bikes when they were contemporary,” says Scott, 39. “Or younger guys who like the flash, the chrome and the sound of British bikes, but don’t identify with the Japanese bike-riding set. Or the Harley guys.”
Robert Erhard, 37, of Studio City owns four vintage Triumphs. He’d like to own more.
“Triumphs are the bikes my heroes rode,” says Erhard, 37, a cartoon technician. “When I was little, dad and his friends raced Triumphs on the desert. Triumphs were the bikes the champions, like Skip Van Leeuwen, raced at Ascot,” which was in Gardena. “I fell in love with the look, the styling, the sound. I could recognize my dad’s bike by the exhaust. It was a beautiful sound.”
Erhard and fellow enthusiasts gather for British bike rides, such as the annual Nov. 1 Hansen Dam all-British ride, or the annual New Year’s Eve British ride from Pasadena to Newcombes Ranch on Angeles Crest Highway. Both events draw hundreds of riders.
“They’re fun,” North Hollywood builder George Bouvier says of the all-British bike rides. Bouvier, 51, rides a 1974 Norton Commando.
“The Norton takes me back to my old college days,” Bouvier says. “It was a very sporty bike then; now it’s a classic. You meet a nice group of people on British bikes. It’s like a brotherhood.”
Part of the bond is a shared fondness for the shop work demanded to keep the 20- and 30-year-old machines running properly.
“I enjoy the tinkering,” Bouvier says. “It’s part of the fun, and old British bikes are still simple enough that you can actually work on them, as opposed to the new Japanese bikes.”
Disdain for modern Japanese bikes, superior technology, performance and all, is common among riders of vintage British bikes. It stems not from a lack of respect for the Japanese bike performance but from the fact that Japanese super bikes make things too easy for the rider.
“The new Japanese super bikes are just computers on wheels,” says Larry Corby of Studio City. “There’s no character to ‘em. When you ride a Japanese bike into a corner, you’re on an Apple computer.”
Corby, 50, an advertising art director, owns a 1970 Triumph 650, a 1969 BSA 750 and a prize 1956 BSA Gold Star 500. “But to get on your vintage bike on Sunday, away from the stress in your life, is like therapy,” Corby says.
Corby rode British bikes as a college student in the ‘60s, when riding them meant scorching the pavement in efforts to prove manhood and courage through speed.
Now, the pace is slower. “When I go out today,” Corby says, “I just ride. I look at the trees, enjoy being out there with the others. In the old days, it would be riding for speed. Fifteen people would go out and only 12 would come back.”
Comedian Jay Leno, another dedicated British bike lover, enjoys the low-key aspect of vintage British bike riding.
“On a Japanese super bike,” Leno says, “it’s part of the deal to ride at racing speed. Otherwise, why own it? But it’s OK to go slow on a vintage British bike and just enjoy it.”
The words and romantic irrationality of lovers of vintage British bikes make it clear that the appeal is mystique: style, sound, looks, names. “Guys see British bikes as something that’s really cool,” Scott says. He prefers Nortons but understands the charisma of Triumphs. The Triumph motorcycle was cool from the beginning.
“People getting back into vintage British bikes in their later years forgot how much of a pain in the butt these bikes can be,” says Scott, who owns four vintage Nortons. “And to get the sense of cool that British bikes represent, they’ll put up with some of the most unreliable motorcycles I’ve ever seen, all in pursuit of the image.”
Scott’s customers don’t complain. They know the cantankerous nature of the vintage British bike. They also know that there is no better vehicle to ride through midlife crisis.
Information
Following are businesses that specialize in British bikes:
SuperTwins (Norton, Triumph), 4851 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. (818) 508-5474.
Casey’s Cycle Repair (BSA), 10249 San Fernando Road, Pacoima. Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. (818) 899-9519.
Al Baker Classic Motorcycles/Al Baker Triumph, 10420 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood. Open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. (818) 760-1831.
British Motorbikes, 10422 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. (818) 506-4022.
