Mooneyes

I have to preface this post by saying I'm pretty serious fan of most of the Japanese custom bike and hot rod scene. From what I've seen I'd have to say they are by and large they are kicking our ass in terms of execution. Most of what comes out of the Mooneyes show is nothing short of a wake up call. Even the stuff that's not really my taste is pretty damn cool. That said, as much as I love to see any old bikes get ridden something about bikes like the ones below just rubs me the wrong way.



I guess the idea is to look like they were farm fresh farm-boy butchered... just pulled from a barn. If that was really the case, cool. I suspect in fact they are super original survivors being butchered in the name of hipness. Awesome. You've done the equivalent of turning an original paint Jaguar XK120 into a rat rod.

I could be wrong. If you know the real story please fill me in.

Maybe the objective is to offend purists (have I become a purist?). There ARE cool ways to do that, just look at Jeff Decker's Crocker or Vincent.



I love bikes like Pete's BSA BB34 (above), built from an incredible parts stash to complete an esthetically amazing bike. He didn't butcher an impeccable original survivor to piece it together though. Maybe I'm just missing something...

It all just reminds me of when Boyd Coddington bought a restored Model T to cut up and build into a butt ugly rat rod. What an a-hole.