Outlier’s Guild motorcycle show cruises back to downtown L.A.
The second annual Outlier’s Guild Custom Motorcycle show will convene Saturday, slightly less than a year since its somewhat inauspicious inaugural event.
The second installment will not conflict with the prestigious Quail Motorcycle Gathering, which in 2017 occurred at the same time and siphoned off some of Los Angeles’ key motorcycle designers, collectors and enthusiasts.
This year’s events will draw those participants in abundance. Scheduled to display are local artisans Max Hazan, Michael “Woolie” Woolaway and representatives from more than a dozen other notable Los Angeles design shops.
Designer-entrepreneur Roland Sands will be a participating sponsor, as will manufacturers Royal Enfield and Indian Motorcycle.
Other sponsors include shoe company Vans, apparel maker Alpinestars, Bell helmets, online moto merchandise vendor Rev’It, and the motorcycle world’s go-to lubricant, WD-40.
Also on display at the new downtown Los Angeles event space will be 20 vintage and classic bikes from the Moto Doffo collection — Southern California’s only combination winery and motorcycle museum.
The Outlier’s Guild show was originally designed as a local version of events such as the One Moto Show in Portland, Ore., and the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin, Texas.
First conceived by Long Beach designer Jay La Rossa, of Lossa Engineering, the concept evolved into a partnership among veterans of the motorcycle, automotive and art worlds.
“The goal was always to showcase Los Angeles and the lifestyle and the culture that we have here,” said founding partner John Pangilinan. “There was no show like Handbuilt or the One show. We wanted to fill that gap.”
This year’s event will again feature homegrown motorcycle designers and builders, helmet artists, street artists, graphic designers and photographers.
More than 150 motorcycles will be displayed, including the Moto Doffo machines, and several are custom designs making their public debuts.
Last year’s event, held at the Container Yard, drew 3,500 attendees and participants, Pangilinan said. The count at this year’s one-day show, to be held at a new, 30,000-square-foot Arts District venue known as 6th Anderson, should be higher.
Ticket prices will be higher, too — because last year’s admission was free.
Tickets can be purchased in advance online for $5, or at the door for $10. A select number of $75 tickets will also be sold for a private Friday night preview.
“Last year we did lose money, because we didn’t charge at the door,” Pangilinan said. “We didn’t want to charge this year, but the only way to keep this thing going is to make it profitable. We’re not trying to become millionaires, but it can’t be just a passion project or it won’t survive.”
The Saturday show, which will include food and drink vendors and live music, runs from noon to 9 p.m.
It could whet the local appetite for custom motorcycles, as the Petersen Automotive Museum is in the final stages of preparing its first-ever “alt custom” motorcycle exhibit. That extensive collection will open to the public April 14.
Both shows will leave plenty of time for everyone to attend and still make it to the Monterey Peninsula for the Quail, which this year will be held on the weekend of May 5.
For more information, see www.ogmotoshow.com.
