Second Annual OG Moto Show Rocks L.A. — Literally!
World-class custom show is the new kid on the block, but it already rivals the best that New York and Austin have to offer.
In only its second year the Outlier’s Guild Custom Motorcycle Show, or OG Moto Show, as it is known informally, has really made great strides towards bringing a world-class, new-wave custom show to Southern California. Portland has The One Show, New York has the Brooklyn Invitational, Austin has the Handbuilt Show, but until last year, Los Angeles did not have a celebration of motorcycle as art to rival them. The Outlier’s Guild Custom Motorcycle Show was created for exactly that purpose. And, as seen at its newest get-together on March 31, it’s not put on in a muddy field or dusty dirt track but in the hip Downtown L.A. warehouse district, where artists share the neighborhood with still-productive industrial shops.
When most people think “custom motorcycle,” they conjure up images of a chrome and candy colored raked out chopper, or a slammed and blinged out bagger with a killer stereo and neon, or a ridiculously over the top O.C.C. theme bike, that is not what this new wave of custom builders is going for. Taking their cue from builders such as Roland Sands, Deus Ex Machina, Brat Style, and El Solitario, this is a younger urban custom scene that revels in pounding metal and bending minds.
This bike is based on an Indian flathead from after WWII, but styled to look like a 1920s boardtracker. The frame is all custom bent, lugged, and brazed, with raw metal finishes you’d expect on a bike of that era; brass, copper, and nickel, and not chrome. The tank is hand made out of aluminum, like the rest of the custom metal, by SOSA Metal Works. You really can’t appreciate how small and light this bike is, until you see someone ride it, like in this video.
