Artisanal Toast

ARTISANAL TOAST

UP FRONT

EDITOR'S LETTER

THE GROWING APPETITE FOR CHARACTER

I recently read a story out of San Francisco about the burgeoning craze for artisanal toast, a movement that sees customers paying something like $3 for a hearty square of excellent bread spread with choice organic almond butter or locally grown orange marmalade.

It was nicely written by a fellow named John Gravios and posted on a website called Pacific Standard. The only reason heard about the toast was because of my friend Pete Young, an engineer from San Francisco who, along with his wife, Kim, have raised their two kids on Velocette rallies riding in their prewar MSS sidecar outfit. Pete’s also a machinist and makes his own castings, doing lots of fine work like fully restoring one of the first Velocettes, a 1913 Veloce, then shipping to England to ride with other like-minded old-bike fans on several rallies.

I bring up Pete and the toast because, of all the places I’ve ridden motorcycles in the States, San Francisco tops it all in terms of mechanical character. Portland is weirder, New York more frantically diverse, Milwaukee grittier, but San Francisco has character locked up.

In fact, whenever I need a strange motorcycle or car that has what I covet in terms of character, there is no richer hunting ground than sfbay.craigslist.org. Triumphs, Zündapps, Daimler 2.5-liter V-8 engines (designed by Edward Turner of Triumph fame), Nortons, Scotts, Ariels, MGs, Jaguars, Humbers, you name it, whatever drug you need will pop up there more than anywhere else.

For example, about six years ago, I had a(nother) knee surgery, and while I was sitting around with my leg elevated, cruising along on pain meds, I found a 1958 MG Magnette sedan on San Fran’s Craigslist. I bought it with the help of my friend Ray Nierlich before the buzz wore off. Ray’s a character’s character himself, who later bought the Daimler V-81 mentioned above and picked it up in his 1961 Thames Freighter 400E, an English Ford van used by countless Grand Prix racers in Europe and in which he occasionally hauls his 350 Manx.

Look at any period paddock photo from England or the Continent after 1957 (first year for the 400E) and it will likely have a Thames van in the frame.

What’s this got to do with toast? Technology and performance have elevated almost beyond comprehension, and artisanal toast speaks to our desire for something more natural, simple, and personal. Motorcycle culture has embraced this, too. Guys like Pete and Ray are the unknowing evangelists of character-filled living.

But we can’t all restore Veloces or haul Manxes in our Thames vans. Which is why we gathered together the selection of “Characters” starting on page 42.

These machines are our versions of artisanal toast and merely a sampling of the kinds of bikes finding customers today. Some are retro, but others are completely modern. All have that extra something more people are looking for.

Especially younger riders. Many longtime enthusiasts have taken to calling our new kids in skinny jeans on café or rat bikes “hipsters” using a derogatory tone.

But the 2014 twentysomething rider with the handlebar mustache and CB550 café bike is the enthusiast who will fuel the motorcycle market and riding culture in the coming decades.

And he’s really no different than the 1981 twentysomething I knew with a bleached-white mohawk on a Yamaha RD250 café with stinger exhausts.

Like the RD kid, our hipster friend will graduate to something cool and new.

Gravios’ thoughts on his artisanal slice? “It was pretty good,” he wrote. “It tasted just like toast, but better.”

A character bike is like a motorcycle, but better, because we allow it to have a human touch.

MARK HOYER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

THIS MONTH'S STATS

2

NUMBER OF TWO-WHEELDRIVE MOTORCYCLES IN THIS ISSUE

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF ELECTRIC BIKE WHEELIES PERFORMED

1

POTENTIAL BEST SUPERBIKE WINNERS MADE IN AMERICA