A group of men roar down Canon Drive, interrupting an otherwise peaceable Sunday afternoon in Beverly Hills. Windows rattle with the basso profundo reverberation. Leather fringe flies from jackets and chaps. Startled bystanders stare, aghast, as the men in black leather roll their wildly decorated bikes to a stop near their destination, a cappuccino bar.
Meet the RUBs-Rich Urban Bikers, the Hollywood Harleys, the Gold Rolex Riders. With their customized $20,000 bikes and flashy leather jackets, these riders have captured the attention of bikers of all types.
The RUBs are the men who find an escape from ”grind-to-five” society, executive jobs and predictable hobbies to find friendship, identity and permission to be bad boys on big, nasty, expensive, customized bikes-at least on the weekends.
Riding a fully ”tricked-out” Harley is not only a personal statement, a declaration of a lifestyle, but a fashion statement as well.
”It is one of the hottest fashion items today,” said Tom Roach, a Harley rider and former chief executive officer and chairman of Robinson`s department stores who has temporarily retired.
The glitzy, high profile of RUBs is what many fashion experts credit with taking the Harley image upscale, making it the look of choice not just for men on machines, but young women in nightclubs, musicians and fashionable dressers who never have cruised the boulevard with both baffles blaring.
The nightlife look
”Go to some of the nightclubs, and you will see bike clothes,” said Roach. ”All the young men and women dress like us, but they don`t have bikes.”
It may be fruitless to try to define the Harley look because, invariably, wearers personalize it.
”You just can`t put a tag on who the Harley rider is today,” said Arthur Gompper, a spokesman for Harley-Davidson. They buy a range of attire available directly from the Harley catalogue, MotorClothes and Collectibles, but the company has no breakdown on who buys what.
A good portion of the Harley look comes from Willie G. Davidson, a grandson of one of the company`s founders and its styling vice president. His Willie G. collection reeks of black leather. A spin through the catalogue reveals a few key items: Willie G. chaps ($300 to $345, depending on size), Willie G. jackets ($370 to $415) and the only item that remains from the original garments offered more than 60 years ago in the company`s first catalogues: gauntlet gloves ($55).
The clothing is an important part of creating an image as a Harley rider, say many aficionados. Interpretations of the Harley look usually are based on leather, with an addition of fringe, silver medallions, beads and patches. It`s rugged. And it may be worn by women, too. While it has its beginnings in function, its endings are in fashion.
A handful of fashion industry executives are at least partly responsible for bringing the Harley look to the world at large. One longtime rider, Peter Mahmet, created a Harley-Davidson fashion division in his company.
Logo tennies, too
Mahmet, president of IXSPA 2000, an East Coast activewear company, and a self-described road rider, launched his updated H-D sportswear and shoe line less than a year ago. He and designer and co-biker Jamie Sadock created bold T-shirts, logo-embossed high-top tennies and baseball-style jackets with Harley patches.
”We`re doing clothing for the guy who likes unique clothing, not just the hard-core biker or the RUBs,” Mahmet said. His company has sold more than $1 million worth of Harley clothes to skateboarders on the sidewalk, to brokers on Wall Street and everyone in between.
”There was a void in the market,” said IXSPA 2000 spokeswoman Karen Doerr. ”Pete went for the new biker, the businessman, not the Hell`s Angel biker.”
The influx of new bikers, particularly of the RUB variety, has miffed some longtime, road-tested riders, such as Mike Babel, a telephone installer from Los Angeles. He rides a 1974 black Harley Sportster, and his look is similar to that of many other road riders: jeans, heavy industrial boots or cowboy boots, a black leather jacket and a Harley T-shirt with a dealer`s logo.
Even Mahmet admits that RUBs aren`t exactly what Harley is all about-in fashion or on the road.
It`s fashion, but . . .
”In the fashion world, they (the RUBs) are definitely a part of fashion,” said Mahmet. ”But from a biker point of view, it`s all the wrong clothes.”
”You look at them from the air,” said Babel, Mahmet`s riding partner,
”and it looks like a bowl of Christmas candy.”
That`s the attraction to some RUBs, who find joy in the search for new ways to outfit their bikes, jackets or boots.
”You can have everything in the world, and you`re totally happy,” said Russ Reiland, an executive in suburban Calabasas. ”And some guy comes up with a new pair of boots or something on his jacket, and your life is destroyed. You have to have it.”
The same goes with the bike. Customizing is a must; a bike without personalized detailing is a rarity.
”Today, if somebody buys a Harley and they don`t change it, it`s a one-of-a-kind,” said Ron Hirshberg, head of two accessory manufacturing companies, Agron Inc. and Soxess Inc. Hirshberg wears a custom-made fringed leather jacket and a Harley headband when he rides his customized bike.
One of the largest Harley dealers in the country, Bartels` in nearby Culver City, is practically being taken over by its burgeoning fashion business.
”As soon as you put the T-shirts on the hangers, they`re gone,” said Brian Berkholtz, a store spokesman. ”People don`t even let us get them out of the box.”
Matching the bike
Berkholtz and others deeply involved with Harleys speak of riders with boots, vests and $5,000 jackets that match their bikes, which may cost $25,000 when the customizing is done. Some of the fashion industry`s executives are among the best examples of the look.
”I have a wardrobe that would just kill you,” said Angelo Anastasio, executive director of entertainment promotions for Adidas.
Anastasio`s bike, which was recently on the cover of American Iron magazine, is not to be described as understated. The details: handmade leather saddlebags trimmed in rhinestones; piping on the seat and saddlebags to match the custom pistachio-green paint job; and lots of fancy doodads only a Harley fan can identify. Anastasio buys leather in Italy for his jackets, then seeks artists to customize them with hand-painted scenes or patches.
”I call it art on wheels,” he said.
Clifford Alsberg, a Hollywood television executive, added Harley bikes to his collection of sports cars about two years ago.
”First, I got the jacket. I put so much stuff on it, I couldn`t wear it out of the house without a bike,” Alsberg said. ”Then I got the Harley.”
Guided by a mental picture of what his Harley would look like after intensive customizing, Alsberg created a biker jacket with fringe, chains, red rhinestones, patches and pins of skulls and bats. His 1988 bike is tricked out in red and black paint and coordinating saddlebags.
”This is a total fashion statement,” he said. Even his brake levers sport a wrapping of fringed leather.
Beaucoup de braid
Allen B. Schwartz, fashion designer of A.B.S men`s and women`s clothing, owns a new Harley customized to look like a 1940s bike. Schwartz designed his own leather jacket, which has bands of gold-studded braids across the shoulders, in back and in front, like a sash. As a designer, he did the work himself, as have many of his clothing industry friends. Most Harley-Davidson dealers have names of leathermakers who can customize jackets and bike accessories.
Schwartz also has confidence that the look will expand to more quarters of the fashion world.
”I think Harley is a reflection of the `50s and `60s, which is what is happening in fashion right now,” he said.
The style of his bike and clothes have meaning beyond attention-getting.
”It`s definitely freedom,” said Schwartz.
It`s more than that, according to Alsberg: ”This is like a little Walter Mitty-esque fantasy. We look scary, and we run around making lots of noise.” In reality, this group of Beverly Hills riders is more likely to be headed to brunch-in style.
”It`s not how fast you go,” said Alsberg; ”it`s how good you look.” –
