Easyrider mag is Back..

[confab]

Details:

https://classiceasyriders.com/?fbclid=IwAR0oVHKLT-N5XsHJydFrtppf3LzJu34sX3Hj3cI0P4a_0m9-YWE16Kqqzs4

Serious Question: Have they been gone too long and missed too much to reclaim their former glory?

Media has changed. So has the culture, and the motorcycle culture subset within it. They've been gone a long, long time..

OTOH.. Few others are doing biker mags well.. So, there's certainly a niche for someone to fill.

?

[docmel]

Good points

I was a fairly faithful reader until about 2000. I also liked OL biker back in the day. But times changed along with the staff of most of the biker type mags. Basically I havent picked up any biker mags for about 15 years now. No appeal for me.

[JBinNC]

Good points

I was a fairly faithful reader until about 2000. I also liked OL biker back in the day. But times changed along with the staff of most of the biker type mags. Basically I havent picked up any biker mags for about 15 years now. No appeal for me.

There are still motorcycle magazines?

Jim

[DazedandConfused]

It was a product of its time. Those times are past and it's a different world than it was back then.

"Biker culture" was a genuine thing back then. And it was one of the few publications that spoke to that small niche audience that loved bikes and lived their lives just a little bit different than mainstream proper society, in an era before the internet and social media.

It wasn't just about the bikes either. They talked straight up about drugs (i.e. "The Straight Dope" articles), music, being hassled by the cops and the establishment, tattoos, how to make a set of weights to workout with from used flywheels... I'm babbling, but you get the point.

And I think what made it so successful was that the crew of Paisano Publications were real. They were genuine. They were "one of us". I remember going into the bank once about 25 years ago, wearing an Easyrider t-shirt, and the teller at the counter asking me about it, do I ride, yada yada. Then she said "I used to work for them 'x' years ago when I was in California... those guys really WERE like that".

And I saw the magazine change as the audience changed. As much as I lamented the HD landscape changing right as I was coming of age, it really was an accurate reflection of its time. They went from being about sex, drugs and rock and roll and wild ass home fabricated chops, to cookie cutter builds with as many high cost chrome plated billet manufactured parts as possible. I remember the one page article they did featuring the Baker (?) 5 speed gearset (pre-HD 5 speed tranny) and how they were very deliberate in stating that they didn't officially endorse any product, and the piece was simply to confirm this did in fact exist. And I remember later on when the "Parts Box" started appearing every month to basically advertise the latest overpriced gaudy Arlen Ness bolt on bullshit.

Those days are gone, and what I see today is nothing but an attempt to prepackage and market an experience and a lifestyle that used to be organic and genuine. It's why I can't stand to go in to the oldest and most established Harley dealer in town. I remember when it was nothing more than a small dirty steel shack where the owner was helping customers at the parts counter, and knew the regular customers by name, and the shop was an impromptu hangout because odds are when you went in there, you were going to run into at least one or two people you knew and end up hanging out and bullshitting for an hour, and if you were there towards closing time you were probably going to be having a few beers with the crew. Now, with that owner having passed and his daughter having sold the business, they try like hell to pretend that is what they still are and have people buy into the "experience".

Maybe I'm just a cynical fuck, but I feel that CheesyRider would probably unironically be an all to accurate reflection of our current time

[Guest]

I never really got into easyrider mag, I always thought it was too over produced & had a plastic, made up feel to it all,
with most bikes featured being non runners just built for the issue then recycled for the next,
bullshit 'Bro' talk all produced to part ya from ya hard earned,
I preferd Street Choppers & biker lifestyle & the two British bike mags 'Back Street Heroes' & 'AWOL'.

[DazedandConfused]

I never really got into easyrider mag, I always thought it was too over produced & had a plastic, made up feel to it all,
with most bikes featured being non runners just built for the issue then recycled for the next,
bullshit 'Bro' talk all produced to part ya from ya hard earned,
I preferd Street Choppers & biker lifestyle & the two British bike mags 'Back Street Heroes' & 'AWOL'.

It definitely morphed into that vibe by the early 90s. Which, like I said, made it an ironically accurate reflection of the times.

[DazedandConfused]

And now that I actually read that, and just because I'm not done talking shit about this yet... Ghost Rider was NOT "the most iconic David Mann painting of all time".

[Hoghead]

And now that I actually read that, and just because I'm not done talking shit about this yet... Ghost Rider was NOT "the most iconic David Mann painting of all time".

I've got one thing to say, the first decade of Easyriders rocked. I've got most of them. But as the song said, 'those days are gone forever, I should just let 'em go, but...'. Life , the world , 'lifestyle' it's all changed, technology has made us slaves.

[Tattooo]

I've got one thing to say, the first decade of Easyriders rocked. I've got most of them.

I totally agree, I have them all and many doubles..........

[DazedandConfused]

...it's all changed, technology has made us slaves.

I think these are two separate statements. And, I agree with them both.

[rockman96]

It was a product of its time. Those times are past and it's a different world than it was back then.

"Biker culture" was a genuine thing back then. And it was one of the few publications that spoke to that small niche audience that loved bikes and lived their lives just a little bit different than mainstream proper society, in an era before the internet and social media.

It wasn't just about the bikes either. They talked straight up about drugs (i.e. "The Straight Dope" articles), music, being hassled by the cops and the establishment, tattoos, how to make a set of weights to workout with from used flywheels... I'm babbling, but you get the point.

And I think what made it so successful was that the crew of Paisano Publications were real. They were genuine. They were "one of us". I remember going into the bank once about 25 years ago, wearing an Easyrider t-shirt, and the teller at the counter asking me about it, do I ride, yada yada. Then she said "I used to work for them 'x' years ago when I was in California... those guys really WERE like that".

And I saw the magazine change as the audience changed. As much as I lamented the HD landscape changing right as I was coming of age, it really was an accurate reflection of its time. They went from being about sex, drugs and rock and roll and wild ass home fabricated chops, to cookie cutter builds with as many high cost chrome plated billet manufactured parts as possible. I remember the one page article they did featuring the Baker (?) 5 speed gearset (pre-HD 5 speed tranny) and how they were very deliberate in stating that they didn't officially endorse any product, and the piece was simply to confirm this did in fact exist. And I remember later on when the "Parts Box" started appearing every month to basically advertise the latest overpriced gaudy Arlen Ness bolt on bullshit.

Those days are gone, and what I see today is nothing but an attempt to prepackage and market an experience and a lifestyle that used to be organic and genuine. It's why I can't stand to go in to the oldest and most established Harley dealer in town. I remember when it was nothing more than a small dirty steel shack where the owner was helping customers at the parts counter, and knew the regular customers by name, and the shop was an impromptu hangout because odds are when you went in there, you were going to run into at least one or two people you knew and end up hanging out and bullshitting for an hour, and if you were there towards closing time you were probably going to be having a few beers with the crew. Now, with that owner having passed and his daughter having sold the business, they try like hell to pretend that is what they still are and have people buy into the "experience".

Maybe I'm just a cynical fuck, but I feel that CheesyRider would probably unironically be an all to accurate reflection of our current time

Well said.

[47str8leg]

Well said.

Ditto.

[10scDust]

Sleazy-Rider

[farmall]

There is a digital collection of older Easyriders but it's got heavy DRM so it's locked to devices (thus lasting for most people for only the life of the device which is a shit thing to do) so I won't recommend it. Perhaps one day some foreigner or creative geek outside the US will properly scan their collection as the pre-extreme-bullshit (there was always a lot of bullshit but that catered to a larger audience) early era has so many classic chopper photos it really is historically valuable.

DazedandConfused fucking nailed it.

The old biker culture was unique because it was borne of a real requirement for mutual repair and maintenance support. Reliable motorcycles killed that culture except for chop builders and vintage collectors.

The dealers and independent shops had their customers by the short hairs (I do NOT miss that shit) which is why so many of us learned to wrench (including my indy shop mentor who tired of getting ripped off in the 1950s....). That made Harleys (designed for easy field repair and never underestimate the influence of their engines designed for pre-CNC machine tools and their roller bearing crankshaft which is easily overhauled to "zero time") a great choice for bikers wrenching their own. That community helped make up for having to order parts only through shops which could make the minimum dealer order (many were lazy fucks who let parts orders sit longer than necessary) because if you didn't have a part one of your bros (or extremely rare sis!) probably did.

There is nothing new to do to an old Harley other than modern machining, repair and finishing processes (often awesome) because everything that can be done with that particular Art Deco classic big twin engine family has been done. Art really does have rules (proportions etc that always work visually) and those have been exhausted which is why many modern show bikes look like ass BECAUSE they use HD engines instead of modern powerplants.

The Japs have it (generally) right and treat choppers as a way to re-create classic two-wheeled folk art rather than thrashing then failing to make something new. They have new bikes for that and bosozuku however bizarre lets them trip out their way.

The good side is with everything done it's a simpler task to preserve the knowledge and images. (Chop Cult should sell archived site downloads for a modest fee to cover bandwith and make a few bucks, so should Jockey Journal since web scrapers ain't that great and the content is paid for. Downloads can be simple since geeks will figure them out and those not motivated to learn don't really want them enough.

[toglhot]

I was a reader way back when, only for the bikes as I'm into show bikes. Miraculous Mother and the rest of the rubbish was just that, rubbish. Although, I didn't mind the girls, no tattoos or pins stuck in them back then, girls tried to look attractive, now they just look like pigs! It's all on TV these days with the Teutels and their ridiculous buy and bolt customs and their feuds.