See See Motor Coffee Co. (photo: Dillon Turner)
By Megan Cole
Hands firmly grip the handlebars as the vibrations of the motor rises up from the motorcycle ripping down the road. Breathtaking landscapes scroll past with nearly 360-degree views. It’s hot on the road as the summer sun is soaked up by the pavement the bike moves down. The rider becomes increasingly parched, and the perfect finish to a day on the back of a bike is just a little further down the road.
“When you’re on these trips, you can’t take a lot of stuff with you, but you can take along what you need to make coffee,” says Chad Hansen, motorcycle rider and sales and marketing for Nelson Brewing Company. “Great coffee starts the day, and then at the end of the day, wherever you’re are at, you set up camp and make a trip to the local bottle shop.”
Motorcycles will often be stocked with so much beer that Hansen says it’s like a scene you’d expect on the streets of Bangkok.
“Then they haul it back to the campsite,” he says. “These two, coffee and beer, bookend the day of a motorcycle trip. This is a huge part of the culture.”
With a passion for motorcycles and craft beer, Hansen and the Nelson Brewing Company recently launched their Hooligan Pilsner, which proudly sports a vintage motorcycle on the label.
Hooligan Pilsner
Not only does the beer itself pay respect to the motorcycle culture, Hansen says the flavour of the beer itself was made for being enjoyed after a long, hot, dusty day on a motorcycle. In fact, more and more people seem to be enjoying motorcycle culture while seeking out craft beer, coffee and great food.
Even though most non-bikers associate food and drink establishments for motorcyclists as being grungy and scary biker bars, Hansen says a new generation is using coffee shops, breweries, brewpubs and local eateries as necessary destinations on a road trip.
“Beer tourism ties into the motorcycle culture really tightly,” he says. “I’m doing a trip in September and I’m going to Montana, Wyoming, Utah and down to Colorado, and all along the way I’m going to make sure that I’m aiming at different brewpubs and breweries. It’s going to be a motorcycle and beer tour, and I’m going to end every day at a place where I can sample and taste world-class craft beers.”
While breweries and brewpubs are becoming popular destinations for bikers, there are businesses who are paying respect to the biker bars of the past, but are infusing them with locally sourced food and drinks, and they are becoming hubs for everyone, including non-bikers.
See See Motor Coffee Co. (photo: Dillon Turner)
See See Motor Coffee Co. in Portland, Oregon has drawn together motorcyclists of all kinds, from older Harley Davidson riders to scooters and vintage European and Japanese bikes. While combining food, coffee and bikes under one roof may seem like an innovative new approach, Dillon Turner, manager of See See, says it’s worked before.
“In England there is the Ace Café, which is kind of the famous one,” says Turner. “Back in the ’60s and ’70s when British punk rock, mods and rockers were around, Ace was kind of the hub. The rockers and mods would be at the Ace Café. Every coffee shop I have ever worked in has been a meet up spot for motorcycle people, but in Portland we never really had a place where motorcycle enthusiasts would always be welcome. When you go to certain coffee shops in particular parts of the city people will turn up their nose at the loud noise, leather and grunginess, and See See is sort of a safe spot.”
Dillon says because of how the motorcycle community has changed from only including the hardcore biker types that go to biker bars, in Portland, where everyone rides motorcycles, it’s good to have a place that is all ages.
“We have a lot of customers that don’t like alcohol and don’t want to be in bars, so this is a great place for them to come together,” he says.
Delicious food, beer and coffee on the road is essential for fuel, but the stops along the way are also important for the community and camaraderie that comes with the motorcycle culture.
“We definitely plan our trips with great food, beer and coffee along the way,” says Dillon. “It’s a lot to be sitting and so aware the whole time. It is good to take breaks every couple hours. When you’re riding it’s individual. You’re riding around people but you don’t get to hang out and have that camaraderie. When you have a good stopping point in the midway it gives people a time to catch up, meet up if they got separated, grab something to eat if they got hungry, and talk and hang out. That’s what it’s all about at those places you stop at on rides; it’s all about camaraderie.”
Wheelies Motorcycles (photo: Megan Cole)
Like food, riding seems to be more about the experience and enjoyment shared with others, and in the compound of Victoria, BC’s Wheelies Motorcycles, groups of friends gather on a shaded patio enjoying a cold drink, a sandwich and each other’s company.
In the parking lot of Wheelies motorcycles of various kinds and vintages are lined up, and in the café the decor channels the passion for the road that inspired the business.
The decision to open a motorcycle-inspired café came with some concerns from some potential customers and Jay Pincombe, co-owner of Wheelies, says the biker bar stereotype had people wondering about safety.
“When we first opened we had a few people calling, mostly women, asking if it was safe for them to come here,” says Pincombe. “Our biggest thing was to get that negative stereotype out of their heads. This is more about food and community, and having people come in, rather than creating a Sons of Anarchy-style biker bar.”
With a solid customer base of women, the owners at Wheelies have overcome any doubts, based on the model of good food and an inviting atmosphere with a good vibe where people feel comfortable.
Like Hansen and Turner, Pincombe was inspired by the need for a good place to stop and eat while travelling.
“My business partner Joel [Harrison] and I would get on our bikes and then go, ‘Well, now what?’ We’d essentially do a lap and it would just be a coffee shop, but there was never a shop or something you could visit, especially on a Sunday, that was comfortable and you could go and hang out and have something to eat and continue on. But it seems like that’s starting to change.”
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