Saturday, January 18th - Lucky Wheels Garage
There has been plenty of industry hand-wringing lately about motorcycle sales being down, and a fear that Baby Boomers may have all bought their last new bike. Of the demographics that marketers look at longingly, women are number one, with minorities and younger people right behind them. Had any industry insiders been at Motolady Alicia Elfving's third annual Women's Motorcycle Show (and there most likely were some) they would have been happy to see the huge turnout (est. 1500+), and offered her a big consulting fee for her insights.
Two very different modern V-twin motorcycles
Bikes lined up along center of street
Airhead boxer BMW with custom paint
Oilhead boxer BMW of TV personality Jessi Combs
Early airhead boxer BMW
Custom modern Triumph Bonneville with hounds tooth seat
Panhead Harley with 50 years of Patina
Vintage Triumph Daytona with vintage purple paint job
Suddenly it seems like 1975
Old school paint technique meets new school carbon fiber fairing
Two very different modern V-twin motorcycles
Not only were there plenty of enthusiastic women there, but there were plenty of African-American, Latino and Asian riders, and the majority of them were under 40. The media goes on and on about young people today spending all their time on their phones and all their money on video games, but there were quite a few at Lucky Wheels Garage in East L.A. actively taking part in welding and blacksmithing demonstrations. The whole point of the show is to celebrate woman riders and their bikes, and most people would be surprised at how willing these ladies are to dive right in and get their hands dirty.
The event took place at Lucky Wheels Garage, a shop where nearly anyone with a bike and a little money can roll up and get to work. When they aren't hosting the occasional event like this, there are walls covered with tools, and a whole lineup of bike lifts. They also have fabrication and other equipment that even a lot of people with a garage don't have access to. Membership is $100 a month, but for just $35 you can get a day pass and take care of a lot of deferred maintenance. Every so often they offer classes in various motorcycle related skills, and there is almost always some helpful person around with guidance or assistance if you get stuck.
Lucky Wheels relies heavily on Haynes and Clymer manuals specifically because they are aimed at the amateur do-it-yourself mechanic, and the language and pictures make everything less intimidating. To help Motolady and the show, Haynes/Clymer donated three manuals to the huge pile of raffle prizes, one manual covering the Harley-Davidson Sportster, and the Clymer Collection manuals covering vintage British bikes, and Hondas and Kawasakis.
It doesn't take a market research genius to see that many young riders like the affordable older Japanese bikes, and relatively modern, but still understandable to a novice mechanic, Sportster. Everybody loves old British bikes too, but their scarcity and current market price make them more of an aspirational bike. That old luster, however, does make the modern Triumph Bonneville very popular among this crowd as well.
Motolady is currently on a long tour of the country with her trusty, tricked out, Toyota Tacoma with a motorcycle on the back, but check her site for all her latest exploits. Lucky Wheels is still right there in East L.A. waiting for you to come down and work on your bike. And of course, your friends at Haynes and Clymer are working on the latest and greatest manuals, with updates coming on the Dodge Ram pickups, and Suzuki cruisers, and a new manual for the BMW RnineT coming soon.
