Wednesday 17 October 2012

"YANIV EVAN - POWERPLANT CHOPPERS" . . . . IS IT POSSIBLE TO BUILD REAL COOL RIDES AND STILL BE SHUNNED BY SOME OF THE INNER CIRCLE OF CHOPPER CLUB ELITE . . . . DOES CHARGING 25K TO HAND BUILD A CHOPPER FOR A PUNTER MAKE YOU TOTALLY UN-HIP . . . . CAN MAN MADE PATINA EVER BE CONSIDERED COOL BY ME . . . DOES DUMBARSE PERSONAL PREJUDICE FUCK OUR ABILITY TO ENJOY LIFE ??

Each and every one of the bikes below I have admired greatly, in some cases going back five years, I have also got off on stuff I've seen in "Two Wheeled Terrors" and other shit that's been put up on PooTube as well, there is also the fact that even the pretty commercial aspect of the "Geico Bike" was still inherently a cool lookin scoot, especially when compared to nearly every other uglier than shit on a stick 'theme bike' to see the light of day since this whole trip became public domain more than a decade ago . . . . all I know is that sometimes a bloke can be ostracised by virtue of a combination of perceived reasons that ultimately amount to nothing more than tiny minded, bullshit, personal prejudice. I realise it's a tad hard to judge from a distance but when I'm blog gawking, net surfing, magazine reading, whatever the fuck it is, I never see much of what Mr Evan is putting out . . . . I have strongly voiced an opinion about my dislike of artificially patina-ed parts on several occasions, it doesn't mean that when it's done tastefully and with subtlety, as Yaniv Evan has done in the past, that I can't find the good and the aesthetic cool in it, and, again, without knowing him at all, I'm sure that Scott Jones came away from his time at the Powerplant shop with more than he went in with, I doubt that would've been the end result if he'd been over at Big Bear, OCC or a slew of other operations producing ghastly, overdone, popout rubbish . . . . it's just a vibe though, my perception.
I reckon that the 'tall poppy syndrome' is just as prevalent in the world of choppers and custom bike building as it anywhere else in the game of life, if you're doing shit at the top tier of quality then all those who are not capable of turning out product at the same level tend to floculate together like flies on a turd to conspire against those who are doing what they can't, success breeds contempt . . . . always has and always will, and when you throw in things such as an ability to charge top dollar for the fruits of your labors, when your gig is situated in the middle of Whollyrood and a bunch of other inconsequential elements come into play in the minds of the easily intimidated and threatened, you're fucked, written off, sledged, kept at a distance and given what amounts to the schoolboy silent treatment . . . . I can tell you right now that I'd rather pay [and not that I ever would even if I had the spare folding stuff] twenty five or thirty large for a bike that is actually hand fabbed, unique, looks the total titties and is rideable on an everyday basis than I would ever consider anything coming out of 'cookie cutter' emporiums like . . . . well, you can guess the suspects from there.
What's the bottom line here ? I guess I've managed to confuse myself as I sometimes do when having a more considered rant and not just spitting napalm jelly and vitriol in a 'think it, type it' mode but I think it really just distills down to this . . . . if anyone can look at any of the pics here that I've borrowed from the net with your mind wide open and tell me that they ain't anything less than totally fucking cool, I'll eat shit for a month. The video beneath features Evan rapping about the build that he's taking to this years Yokohama Mooneyes gig and even though the whole 'steampunk' thing is a little outside of my own area of personal taste, I can still say that it looks like a beautifully executed jigger . . . . here endeth the dribble.

P.S . . . . for those who give a flying fuck, I am an observer, a voyeur, a 'chronicler' to borrow someone else's phrase, all my blurbs and dribblings are the result of one germ of a thought or a feeling/vibe, like a bull in a china shop, I then run with it, never knowing where it's gonna go or how it's gonna end up . . . . sometimes things go awry and end up in a quagmire I never envisioned, but I made a vow to myself when I began this blog caper it was gonna be all or nothing, full disclosure and nothing less, so that's where it's at . . . . if I screw shit up, misread a situation, it's not for lack of wanting it to be right, it's not my aim to offend folks and if that happens sometimes, if what I've posted is incorrect, I apologise, if the shit is correct and true . . . . then I suppose it's 'fuck you' time . . . . cheers. 

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