Since when did motorcycling get so darn pretentious?

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You know things have changed from your youth when the latest bike shop to be opened is actually labelled an “atelier.” Now, just so I could be completely accurate about the meaning of the word before I started lampooning its seeming snootiness, I looked up the definition of what an “atelier” might be.

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Since when did motorcycling get so darn pretentious? Back to video

On the less-cavalier side of things, it could be defined as a simple studio, a designation only slightly more pretentious than, say, a “workshop.” Fair dinkum, as the Aussies like to say. But, the far more common definition is a “workshop where an artist creates,” which, for someone who grew up on a steady stream of Marlon-Brando-like chained leather jackets and Doc Martens, is as traitorous to motorcycling’s historic appeal as riding around on two wheels while wearing a dinner jacket.

Oh, but wait, that’s a thing now, too—

My complaint at the top stems from the news that Norton, newly reinvigorated with Indian money, opened up a new storefront in London. Yes, the one in merry old England. “Toney” doesn’t even begin to describe the shop, or its hyper-expensive wares, not surprising since the whole thing was designed — I think they wanted me to say “curated” — by a Savile Row fashion designer named Nick Tennis.

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So, if you like your motorcycle stores to look like the interior of a Gucci shoppe, by all means visit 386 Old Street — even the address sounds pretentious — when you’re across the pond. There might even be a motorcycle — Norton does make a very nice 961 — in there. Don’t come in, however, if there’s any oil on your boots — that is to say, if you’ve been riding any British motorcycle made before about 1990.

The second motorcycle company putting on “airs” is Triumph, which just announced a new edition of its Bonneville T120 to commemorate its partnership with something called the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR). Basically, it’s a bunch of hipsters who don silk vests and tweed jackets and otherwise channel their inner T.E. Lawrence.

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You might know T.E. better as “Lawrence of Arabia.” Of course, Lawrence was a bona fide biker — racing about (and eventually dying) on various Brough Superiors — who was famously quoted as saying “A skittish motorbike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on Earth.” On the other hand, I suspect the typical DGR rider never ventures much further afield than the local watering hole. Or atelier. At least the ride is in support of a good cause, namely prostate cancer, and has reportedly raised US$37 million for prevention research.

Anyway, the bike itself is pretty much a standard T120. Other than special paint, hand-laid pinstriping, and a stitched seat, the DGR Triumph is no different than any other Bonneville. Oh, but the company is only making 250 of them, so no doubt Distinguished Gentlemen around the globe are salivating at the prospect of paying what is certainly a healthy markup. It’s a Brave New World indeed.