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MOTORCYCLES ON THE EDGE ONE SMALL SHOP, A WEALTH OF IDEAS
WORDS/PHOTOS THE BEAR

The shopfront styling fits in perfectly in Melrose Avenue.

Once it was Disneyland or Universal Studios, Santa Monic Pier or the La Brea Tar Pits. Now (for anyone even marginally interested in motorcycles),it’s 7414 Melrose Avenue that forms the tourism centre of Los Angeles. There might be nothing more than a small shop at that address, but For The Love Of Motorcycles embodies everything that’s so wonderful about southern California’s motorcycle culture.

The shop is a joint effort between two of the most highly respected bike builders in California. They are Roland Sands and Powerplant Choppers’ Yaniv Evans, who are good friends despite taking a very different approach to their custom builds.

I went to have a look at the shop when I was in LA recently on my way to the Ducati Scrambler launch. I’d have to agree with an American mate of mine that the location is perfect: Melrose Avenue was the birthplace of Southern California’s punk culture,and it’s always attracted the edgier, independent retailers who would never set up shop in a mall or a high fashion shopping strip.

Roland Sands explained his linkup with Evans by saying, “We both build motorcycles, so we got to know each other through custom bikes. I think we met in 2008 at a show in Beverley Hills. Then we both ended up in Japan for the Mooneyes show, and spent a lot of time there together, drinking and getting in trouble.”

Each brand has one of the display windows at the front.

The store, he says, “is something we’ve always wanted to do. I have a small store at my [workshop] that does really well.

So we thought, if we do the same thing but bigger and in LA, we should kill it.”

Melrose, he adds, is all about walk-by traffic. “Yaniv had an opportunity, and I was looking for a location. He called me one day to see if I had any interest. It was something I’d wanted to do for a few years—and with our apparel and hard parts offerings, it just made sense.”

We’re pretty sure that they don’t have dancing here. But only pretty sure.

Even the concrete floor is stencilled with bike art.

Now this is one seat that really invites you to plant your backside.

Beautiful work on this powerplant, by Powerplant.

Sands says that the most popular products in the store are RSD jackets and apparel as well as motorcycle parts. Power plant does well with their own P16 label t-shirts, hoodies and vintage stuff. “It’s a great mix,” says Sands.

So enjoy the photos and remember, next time you’re in LA, to take a cruise down Melrose Boulevard. But remember also what my American buddy recommended: make your visit during daylight hours. At night, it seems, some… odd people come out down there.

And they’re not necessarily motorcyclists.

The inside is an eclectic mix between goods for sale, display bikes and old… stuff.

You’re never sure what’s for sale and what’s simply decoration.

Some interesting ideas in apparel, like this jacket, line the shop’s walls.

Out the back of the shop is a fully equipped workshop, where bikes are built.

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