15 Years of The One Motorcycle Show

The eclectic custom motorcycle show celebrates a milestone

Recently up in the PNW (Pacific Northwest), we arrived in Portland, Oregon excited to attend The One Motorcycle Show. The custom motorcycle show celebrated its 15^th anniversary this year and it did not disappoint! The One Moto Show is a gathering of all things motorcycle. There is something for everyone: race bikes, vintage bikes, handcrafted customs, electrics, restored bikes, motorcycle art, gear, live bands, beverages (cold brews-coffee and beer), and the folks from all walks of life that love belonging to the motorcycle family.

Keith Young’s Custom 1975 Honda 550; “Hey you guys”, Goonies never die! (if you know, you know)

In addition to the main show held at the Zidell Yards on the Portland waterfront, there were other venues. Shooting this event really gave us a workout as photographers. There were such a variety of subjects to capture, everything from pro wrestling, custom bikes, live music, and racing. On Thursday, load-in day, there was a free pre party held at Pro-Tek Automotive and across the street from the main, See See Motor Coffee Shop on NE Sandy Blvd.

The original See See Coffee Shop. Note the poster in their window. The One Show truly is a community-wide event.

There was a bit of everything to get the party started. Food trucks, minibikes, skate ramps, flash tattoos, live music inside the Pro-Tek garage, and pro wrestling energized the fans after work and into the evening. If there is wrestling, you know that someone is going to be wearing a luchador mask! It was Mark Marx in the máscara facing off against 100 Proof, to the cheers of the fans. Campy? Of course, but a whole lot of silly fun for families and pre party attendees. Who says wrestling and motorcycles don’t go together?

“And in this corner,…” Some Thursday night kickoff fun.

Wandering among the crews and vendors setting up on Friday, Geoff and I talked with industrial artist Jeffrey Meyers and his business partner Sandie Simone. Their business, Modern Artifacts, created a sign to be on display for the weekend. The One Moto Show is a place for creatives to express themselves and we appreciate the opportunity to shift our focus from racing to listening to others tell their motorcycle stories.

Jeffrey & Sandi with their sign, and in place at the show.

New ways of thinking are celebrated at the One Moto Show and Ryvid electric bikes caught our attention. Congested urban areas like Portland that are not planned on a grid make travel a challenge. Ryvid electric motorcycles, based in California, are a great solution to getting around. We had a chance to talk with Larry Au, Director of Design and Technical Development and Dong Tran, CEO and Founder, about Ryvid’s latest offering coming this summer, the Outset. This talented team is designing, building, and selling their bikes to riders who want an affordable blend of form, performance, and function. Electric bikes are coming to a town near you and where there are e-bikes, there will be riders wanting to race them!

Larry Au and Dong Tran of Ryvid, their display, and Nicole Andrijauskas customizing a bike.

We met some friendly exhibitors whose motorbikes made the cut to be displayed at this year’s show. They all had interesting stories to tell about their bikes and how they came to be. First is Bill Oswald of Portland and his modern Whizzer. This bike is 138cc, but Bill has parts for a 188cc “Big Bore”. At a whopping 3.5 horsepower, 8,000 RPM, and the limited fuel capacity, it will run for about 10 minutes. He has plans to ride at 75 MPH and break the Whizzer land speed record of 68 MPH, but the challenge of finding tires for that speed is a concern.

Bill Oswald’s Wizzer; the coveted 2024 Championship belt; This year’s trophies.

Our second builder was Jack Huisinga whose 1970 Ducati 450D is a race bike he converted from an R/T Enduro. Jack grew up on a farm in Minnesota and learned to weld and fabricate at an early age out of necessity. In 1966, at 16, he and his brother rode their Ducatis to Los Angeles to visit family, but after changing oil in Colorado Springs the detergent in the oil gunked up the oilways and it took 3 days for him to tear down the motors, get replacement parts, and have a local machinist do some other work before they were back underway. After working for 25 years and raising a family, Jack got back into 2 wheels because motorcycles have preference when loading onto the local ferries in Seattle. His bike on display is special because, “The R/T was not designed for street use, so it didn’t have rear passenger peg mounts. The stock footpegs made tucking in a bit clumsy for a track bike. This bike has custom rearsets and foot controls, including a folding footpeg and brake pedal allowing the kickstart lever to pass.”

Jack Huisinga and his 1970 Ducati 450D, and some closeups of his mods.

Finally, we had a chance to meet Grayson Hurd and his brother in-law Zack Smith. What began as a question about their display backdrop that looked like a Price is Right Plinko board, but said Drinko, turned into a wonderful conversation about their “pseudo barn find” vintage mopeds and their 50 active member group called the Thunder Tribe. Grayson has been a brew master for 10 years and is Seattle based. He works for Cool Crafted Beverage that produces “a kinder, gentler cold brew”. He designed the See See’s cold brew coffee can for this year’s show and last year too. Grayson and Zack started modifying vintage mopeds from garage sales as a winter project. Because the 50cc engines bikes are street legal, members of the Thunder Tribe can get creative with modifying their bikes and enjoy getting a group of 15-20 folks to go locally for a ride. Their club slogan is “Fabricate / Destroy/ Rebuild”. We loved their story and their coffee.

Grayson’s & Zack’s display; The Thunder Tribe 50cc creations; Club helmet.

Our long weekend in Portland at The One Moto Show was a blast. Very little sleep, great See See coffee, good conversations, interesting people, and some seriously enjoyable indoor flat track racing left us quite happy with our trip. We hope to be invited back again next year.

Barb & Geoff Nickless