Author Archives: james

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About james

hoyden will follow the free tendencies of desire hoyden is a pill dropped in a glass of water hoyden is an illusion on a surface of memory hoyden is a finger resting on the controls of a broken machine hoyden turns as she pleases toward all horizons hoyden is perfect sadism, at least as a method hoyden is a beautiful chimera hoyden crouches to intercept shadows hoyden is not in the habit of saluting the dead hoyden will always find buyers hoyden is at most a thinking reed hoyden writes sad and ardent love letters hoyden is a door someone opened hoyden is a dark intention hoyden never waits for itself hoyden leaves an exquisite corpse

cafe bikes in the southwest

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I moved out here from the Midwest to this city on a desert almost three years ago. In Chicago there is a hopping vintage and café motorcycle scene. In Milwaukee the café bike culture is solid and eventful. One thing I noticed when I started investing myself in the bike world here in Phoenix-land was that the aesthetic leans to the cruiser and the chopper.

Why is the vintage and café scene so thin here? There are a lot of vintage bike aficionados here in the Valley, but they seem to keep to themselves. There are also a lot of people caught in-between: they have some kind of custom or bobber or rare bike, but it isn’t exactly a café and it isn’t exactly a chopper, so where do they belong?

Cultures vary from locale to locale. For some reason, café culture cemented itself in the Midwest and places in northern California, but a more chopper “kulture” tied itself to so.Cal and the Southwest.

I am one of the people caught in-between. I have a somewhat rare bike that is not a sport-bike, not quite vintage, not exactly a café bike and not a chopper. I have had café bikes in the past and built some fun rides, but I don’t have one presently. So, where do I fit? I gravitate to the vintage bike crowd because we share a philosophy and relationship to motorcycles. People who get their hands dirty and understand what it’s like to have to figure out a way to bend metal to make a part fit from a wholly different bike. The motorcycles themselves are often somewhat laborious to ride. There is no traction control or modern suspension. Riding a vintage bike is a physical, visceral event.

Café bikes have a unique aesthetic. Hard, uncompromising, fast. There is a toughness to their straight line build: head bracing into the wind, legs back on rear-sets, arms reaching for the clip-ons. I like tough.

But the Southwest’s idea of tough is housed in a lanky, leaned back, arms reaching upwards to hold the bars of the raked out front end. I appreciate the style, but it’s not my taste. The choppers don’t handle well, you can’t run twisty roads with that awkward frame. I like my form with  function and café bikes are created to handle well and race around twisty roads.

So, why is there not more of a café and vintage scene here? It is not for lack of love of the style. This question has perplexed me since I arrived and I still have no answer.

freight train, freight train, go so fast

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There has always been something very forlorn and sad in the freight train night low whistle. On road trips, I watch trains moving across empty miles through Utah and Nevada, hauling their cargo long stretches through the night and day. They carry their burden alone and their only complaint is that desolate horn sounding to the void.

sisyphus

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Here is the question du jour:

You are in a situation you can’t win. It is not intolerable, but it is definitely not functional. You have small victories, but each day is more of a sisyphusian effort than any kind of actual forward motion.

I generally live my life where quality of life is most important. Money comes and goes but you can’t get time back.

I am learning how to play the game – and I honestly don’t know if that is a good thing or not. You know what game I’m talking about: the one called Cover Your Ass. You kind of have to kill something in yourself to play this game because some of it involves throwing other people under the bus to save your self.  I greatly dislike that.

Do you continue to CYA because you need to make a living, but in the meantime it whittles away some core part of your self? Or do you move on and eat beans and rice for an indefinite period of time but keep your self-respect in tact?

There is survival of the fittest and that isn’t just for lions and tigers and bears. We are always compromising and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but how much compromise is healthy?