This tale will hit home for builders all over the globe. It’s basically an artist’s efforts to delicately touch the waters of an industry he’s dabbled in for years. Japanese Jay, as I call him, has been around Bikernet for over six years representing various Japanese custom motorcycle magazines from Easyriders of Japan to the current Hard Core Choppers. But this is Jay’s first effort to step forward, manufacture parts, build a bike and show it to the myriad of world class builders he helped publicize in magazines for almost 10 years. A scary thought for some, including Jay.
“I’m nervous,” he told me recently as we discussed his first project bike. “You helped me a lot. I watched you build bikes in your little San Pedro garage with limited tools, then I knew I could do it.”
Jay, for his squeamish, sensitive artistic style, is a can- do sorta guy. He had the balls to leave Japan 18 years ago and move permanently to the United States. Before, at 22 years old, he surfed in Hawaii for a couple of months them ventured to the mainland to surf the west coast. “I was a crazy kid,” Jay said about his USA adventures.
He came to the states with some experience as an exotic car mechanic, then stumbled onto a gig inspecting European cars for Japanese export. At the time the dollar situation afforded overseas dealers grand profits, and he raked in the coin for several years, staying in the states for six months on a visitor’s VISA, then returning to Japan for a short time. He was the Tokyo family bad boy, although his father raised the three kids surrounded by Western philosophies, music, contraptions and notions. He was comfortable with the American lifestyle. Still Dad was a square, banker and Jay had to hit the road.
He moved to the states, inspected cars, surfed, rode motorcycles and went to school to learn the language. “I was in school in downtown LA,” Jay said. “We were constantly hit up by panhandlers. I made them teach me English for coins.”
He met Mako, a Japanese journalist, who was hired to edit Easyriders Japan. Mako spoke no English, so Jay became his liaison in the states. I first met him in the Easyriders offices almost 10 years ago. Jay and I worked together with Mako on Hard Core Choppers, Mako’s start-up, beautiful Japanese magazine, about four years ago. I supplied material and articles for several years. Jay was always the link to the staff in Japan. (We sell an example of this slick, but Hard Core publication in the Bikernet Black Market.) The mag is cool, but you can’t read it.
During that stretch, the Japanese dollar dried up and exorbitant profits selling cars and motorcycles shipped from the US died. A doctor told Jay that if he continued his current lifestyle, he’d die. He suffered from excessively high blood pressure, was over-weight and faced additional heart problems. His girlfriend split. “I had to do something to make some money,” Jay said. The pressure was building.
Almost three years ago he built the handmade taillight and grips on this bike, but he was constantly working with major builders and intimidated by their supreme workmanship. He set the parts aside, then brought them to the Bikernet Headquarters one night. We encouraged him to build a bike and we weren’t alone. Knucklehead Mike, Rick, from U.S. Choppers and Mako put their seal of approval on his efforts. “I had to start thinking differently, watching my diet and pulling my life back together,” Jay said, “but for the first time I felt the confidence to approach the art of building a motorcycle.”
Jay, like many of us in the ‘70s, still wants to be a pure artist while he builds. With this machine he faced a number of concepts/challenges, mainly three:
He wanted to feel pure inspiration. “Like liquid metal flowing from my pores,” Jay attempted to explain. “I ignored magazines and wouldn’t watch Biker-Build-off Shows. I joined the Museum of Contemporary Art.” He tried, in an artistic fashion, to research art without following the contemporary bike builder. A tough, but interesting formula.
Next, he tried to stay away from mass produced parts catalogs and dig through the boxes of old parts in the Bikernet headquarters. “I learned from you, man,” Jay said. He basically made his parts from junk he found around the shop.
Finally, he wanted to build a bike that handled well, wasn’t radical. “It’s a no-torture bike,” Jay said, “with a stock front end and rear suspension.”
Jay faced another obstacle to his purest artistic notion, the delicate balance of being true to a man’s art yet still making a living. “When I think about money, no ideas come,” Jay said. “Burt Munroe is my hero (World’s fastest Indian). He was all about the passion to go fast, not money.”
Many artists face this dilemma constantly, from Arlen Ness to Roland Sands. This weekend Jay, for the first time is stepping into the mainstream with his art. “I’m nervous,” Jay said. This bike, as a roller, will be on display at the Edgewater Hotel, in Laughlin, in the Hi-Low Rider booth. Stop by and check out the J-Bird Studio workmanship on the headlight brackets, the tanks, the rear fender, belt guard, taillight, pipes, heat shield and more.
He obviously has a knack, the eye of an artist and the mechanical skills. You will see this project take shape and come to fruition on Bikernet over the next couple of months. His plan is to unveil it at the LA Calendar show. Hopefully, from that point on you will witness another builder come into his own.
–Bandit
J-Bird
JBirdstudio@hotmail.com
