NGC: Good article about the one motorcycle shop hanging on in NYC

[knockerjoe]

I guess every town has one shop like this but I have seen too many close up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/style/motorcycles-sixth-street-specials.html

[lti_57]

To bad i can't read the whole article

[TodkaVonic]

Thanks. Good read.

Nate

[oldbike54]

To bad i can't read the whole article

 Hugh Mackie is an ex pat Brit (if memory serves) who has been operating a funky little shop in a long narrow space under a freeway in NYC that specializes in older English motorbikes . At least that is my recollection , same paywall problem you have . The article might just mostly be a reprint from a story in CW years ago , at least the lead picture is from that article . Still a cool story 

 Dusty

[Roebling3]

But is there still bike night at the   www.earinn.com   Spring St. Manhattan?
It's the big city. Survival of the most fit prevails.
Try Brooklyn for mc shops. I know of 7. One for & by women. Hurry b4 they are all gentrified out of business. I not much for this kind of sob story.  R3~

[Moto]

... The article might just mostly be a reprint from a story in CW years ago , at least the lead picture is from that article . Still a cool story 

 Dusty

That's a very good article, with exceptionally artistic black and white photography. I would enjoy hanging some of them on my wall.

All the photos are credited, "Daniel Weiss, for the New York Times," so I don't think they were in Cycle World, but I don't subscribe to that. It looks to me like the owner is flipping off the photographer as he rides up the FDR past the Manhattan Bridge. (Quite a departure from the old NY Times.) I count 18 high-quality photographs.

The article itself it is also a good eulogy for a time gone by. I used to live in the City in the late 1970's, and remember it well.

Maybe there is a free trial membership option for the paper for any wanting to check out the photos.

Moto

[bodine99]

Great guy!! Always has time for a chat down here during Bike-week in March. He's at Volusia Speedway flat track'n with the  boys and girls.

[larrys]

Wow! Still hanging on with the old British twins. I gave up on them fifteen years ago. The never ending maintenance issues killed 'em for me. Plus I had starting running Guzzis by then.
Larry

[knockerjoe]

Growing up around NYC thru the 60s 70s and 80s there were countless independent
motorcycle and speed shops. They are mostly all gone now. It saddens me to see something
that I lived for in my youth just going away. Will the advent of electric motorcycles bring in a new era
of enthusiasts? Will the current trend of smaller bikes continue? Are we the last of the Mohicans?
Time will tell.......

[Testarossa]

The author/photographer Danny Weiss appears to have a long-standing relationship with Mackie and the shop -- look at the photo of the damaged brick wall. Apparently Weiss once raced flat-track with some kind of sponsorship from the shop.

I left Manhattan in 1984 and I can think of half-a-dozen independent dirtbag moto repair shops from Canal Street to the Upper West Side. This article reports that the cops have adopted a zero-tolerance policy for motorcycle parking and other minor violations so bikes get ticketed and towed far more frequently than cars. The city wants to drive bikes out in part to promote a zero-fatalities goal and reduced mid-town congestion.

In my day the city had motorcycle-reserved parking areas, for instance at the southeast corner of Madison Square Park and under the viaduct south of Grand Central Station. It was safe to park though you could have parts stolen. Parking at the curb was legal but like the author, I constantly had to repair minor damage inflicted when park-by-braille drivers knocked my bikes over. So it was a hostile environment, but the cops weren't hostile.

[Huzo]

I perceive a certain irony, in that here on WG we can read about the massive savings to be had by buying stuff on e bay and pocketing the piddly few bucks  saved and then read about the genuine charm inherent in fabulous places like that wonderful bike shop.
The last line of the story is quite prophetic...

[bad Chad]

Good article, sad to be.   Nothing lasts, enjoy everything you can while you can.

[john fish]

All photos--  Daniel Weiss for The New York Time

[Bob Wegman]

Hugh is a friend of mine.  I visit his shop a few times a year and follow his racing activities.  Fumi works with him and was racing Hugh's triumphs until he injured himself last year while practicing at Cuddlebackville, NY.  They are the salt of the earth guys.

[Lannis]

I perceive a certain irony, in that here on WG we can read about the massive savings to be had by buying stuff on e bay and pocketing the piddly few bucks  saved and then read about the genuine charm inherent in fabulous places like that wonderful bike shop.
The last line of the story is quite prophetic...

And I thought I was old-fashioned.   You mean you've never bought any motorcycle parts or supplies on-line?   That's good work if you can get it ...

Lannis

[zebraranger]

You're kidding me, you have to register and log in to read it...I'll pass.

[Huzo]

And I thought I was old-fashioned.   You mean you've never bought any motorcycle parts or supplies on-line?   That's good work if you can get it ...

Lannis

Now now..
Only if it’s not procurable in store. These blokes who go in and try on helmets until they find one they like then buy one on line..
Or..
Buy some crappy Shitco tyres then have the audacity to ask a bike shop to fit them for peanuts..
I think the sum total of my on line purchases in 41 years are a couple of Tom Toms, two Behr rims and and a Staintune muffler..
And yes Lannis, you are commendably old fashioned, but you could do better..

[Huzo]

Oh sorry..
And an Ohlins shock..

[Rough Edge racing]

 The article, whenever it was written, mentions the small bike shops have moved to Brooklyn...And that's because all the bikes are now in Brooklyn...I told the story of picking up a 79 Triumph 750 in Booklyn a few years ago...I saw more bikes than you might expect...

[Lannis]

Only if it’s not procurable in store.

Oh, well then.   By that standard, very many of us are pristinely pure in the "support your local sheriff" area.   How many Sixth Street Specials do you think there are within two day's drive of the normal person?   

Lannis

[adaven]

You're kidding me, you have to register and log in to read it...I'll pass.

I suspect that the writers, editors, photographers, and others involved in putting this piece online think that their work has some value. Or would you like they should do it for free?

[Lannis]

I suspect that the writers, editors, photographers, and others involved in putting this piece online think that their work has some value. Or would you like they should do it for free?

We're sorta kinda going by the fact that there are literally millions of sites where we can read excellent, informative stuff and don't  have to sign in and pay money (although we likely pay for it with ads and such).

99% of the time when someone posts a link, we just go there and read it or look at the pretty pictures.   When 1 out of 100 shows up as something where we have to spill our guts about our life and credit card numbers to see it, just about all of us respectfully decline. 

How the folks who wrote it get paid is not really any of my concern.

Lannis

[bad Chad]

You're kidding me, you have to register and log in to read it...I'll pass.

Right, imagine the stones it must take to ask for something in return for access to your content!  Since the inception of newspaper they have always been totally free, that’s how they stay in business, right?

[bad Chad]

They are not asking for money to view the article.

[adaven]

When 1 out of 100 shows up as something where we have to spill our guts about our life and credit card numbers to see it, just about all of us respectfully decline. 

How the folks who wrote it get paid is not really any of my concern.

Lannis

Sure, I agree that it is, in fact, a fine idea to "respectfully decline" while avoiding spilling your guts about your life and handing over your credit card number. Which, as you pointed out earlier that most of us do with stuff that we care about (reminder: online shopping).

Is it also "spilling your guts " when you buy something online? Somehow, the "respectfully" adverb smells funny.

 

[Lannis]

Sure, I agree that it is, in fact, a fine idea to "respectfully decline" while avoiding spilling your guts about your life and handing over your credit card number. Which, as you pointed out earlier that most of us do with stuff that we care about (reminder: online shopping).

Is it also "spilling your guts " when you buy something online? Somehow, the "respectfully" adverb smells funny.

Can't get any more respectful than just quietly not going to the site.  They don't have to put up with anything from me at all.

And I do spend money on line, but I try to be a bit discerning who I send it to....

Lannis

[Moto]

The author/photographer Danny Weiss appears to have a long-standing relationship with Mackie and the shop -- look at the photo of the damaged brick wall. Apparently Weiss once raced flat-track with some kind of sponsorship from the shop....

Very interesting. I'll bet we're looking at the result of a long series of photographic sessions. Consider the composition, lighting and exposure of the Triumph welding photo. That's not a snapshot or the result of a single afternoon's visit, I think.

Good stuff, NYT! I'm proud to subscribe.

Moto

[Motormike]

No disrespect to any current or former Big Apple residents, but reading that article makes me wonder why anyone (that rides a motorcycle, at least) would live there.  They'd have to pay me 7 figures a year to put up with all that BS.  Nice place to visit and all...but ride? No thanks.

[Testarossa]

I read the Times online every morning and am happy to pay for the privilege. You used to be able to read up to 10 articles a month for free, and I assume that's still the case.

[knockerjoe]

Disclaimer: it was not my intent to send a bad link as when I first clicked on the link
it opened with no caveats. Sorry if that’s not the case with some people here so go ahead
and flame away at me    I can take it lol