Everyone knows that motorcycling is anti social. Bikes with loud flame spitting exhausts, heavily modified and racing around at high speed. The tattooed freak riders with unruly beards making a nuisance of themselves. So what’s this ‘Motorcycle Social’ about? Well luckily for the squares all the naughty bikers were in one place with their machines last weekend in an old brick built mill in Leeds.
Motorcycling is whatever you want it to be and all the cliches can be true. It’s a form of transport, a medium of artistic and engineering expression and a main line trip to a world of excitement and adrenaline. Riding bikes is bloody good fun. It doesn’t matter what the bike is, it’s all about your state of mind man. Ride to escape the mundane and ride to get into the thrill zone. Be whatever you want to be baby.
Custom bike building by professional outfits, as well as incredibly clever individuals in their sheds, workshops and kitchens is a booming phenomenon right now. And it’s not just a London thing. There were exhibitors from all over the country and it was great to see them come together up north. Clothing, photography, graphic illustration and  engineering as well as music, food and drink were all part of the mix in addition to the fantastic bikes on display.
We were pleased to launch our new Moto Boots at the event. Set up in a shipping container shack with our full range of trousers, belts and boots, it was the first time that we’ve had all our stuff in one place on show.
As an online company we receive orders for belts, get them made then ship them. The trousers come in from manufacturers in batches of the different types of cloth, as and when we need to restock. Boots are a new addition, with the first batch having only just been collected from the bootmaker a couple of days before the show. All put together on the stand and it was starting to look like we have a collection.
HebTroCo has been a busy place this year as we’ve expanded. We’ve only had time to do one other pop up event and so it was good to chat to people and see what their feedback was about what we’re doing. Bigger orders are going in to our suppliers and the companies who are manufacturing for us are increasing in number. Everything that we sell is British made and the people making for us are all based in the north. This means that we’re able to visit them easily which helps with developing the products and helps us to ensure that quality stays high and consistent. There’s a lot of story to tell, so thanks if you came to see us to find out more, have a chat, try stuff on or place an order. Sorry for the bad jokes and the continued trouser puns.
It’s always good to bring out the decks and the HebTroCo sound system. We were sited outside along with the food vendors and a load of seating, which made for a great social hub. We had a grand time and we got some nice feedback from people. Sorry to the annoyed looking lady with the dog though. She didn’t seem to be a fan of early nineties dirty acid house.
Kev organised the event and he is the most unflappable bloke we’ve ever seen. It’s a daunting prospect to bring together a lot of people with precious machines. It takes balls to put your money down and commit to do something that you hope will be good, whilst all the time being the one who will get it in the neck if it isn’t. There was beer involved as well as petrol and several dogs in the place and yet Kev maintained his friendly face and seemed chilled no matter how many questions were being asked of him. It seems to be true when they say that the people of the north east are the most cheery of all the northerners. As we packed up at the end he asked us to come back next year which we are definitely going to do. There is talk of a marquee. Maybe even some lasers.
Ride free or die.