Sunday, July 18, 2010

NY TIMES ARTICLE

never thought i would get quoted
in the NY times.

article here

--------------------------------------------------------------
in the past i would avoid speaking
of the connection between skateboarding
and motorcycles. trying to convince people
of an idea about something they never experienced
can often times be a lost cause. elitist attitudes
from both groups will deny any connection
to protect their own bubbles.
Personally I'm not one of those people that get into
trends as they come along....the two main activities
I've been passionate about throughout
my life are skateboards
and motorcyles.... never in a band, never bmx'd,
didn't get into raving, and when it seemed like all
skaters picked up a paint brush
and proclaimed themselves
artists... i passed on that too.
So it is a very strange
time in my life to see my loves converging.
The Harley ads with the metal flake helmets,
skate shoes
and flannels are too obvious.... and when
approached to be in
one of those commercials i opted out.
I don't ride those
bikes... but most of all that's HD's view,
Not mine. Mine is what you see on these pages.
I want no
affiliation with their viewpoint.
Yes i could have used the
20k, but i have to sleep at night
and that is already
hard enough.

They're are a lot of new people that are into
choppers. yes it's true. Lots of them wear vans
and are labeled as skaters cause no one knows where
the hell they came from...
usually the dude has never
pushed a skateboard down
the block.

Like anything that is awesome
people will flock to it.
Some will pour heart and soul
into it... some will just
be there for the ride, some will
follow, some will lead,
and others will just cruise
and have a good time. It's
fucked to say what is right
and what is wrong.

I'm not a biker... I'm a skater.
Luckily in the
last 10 years I've found choppers.
I dove in head first
because of one single night that
j'jessee let me ride
his friends panhead to watch
flat track races... the bike
caught on fire, i got sideways
on wet pavement in front
of the cops, and by they time
we made it back to jasons
house the $100 coat he let me
borrow was burnt with holes
and it pretty much looked like
i rode through an exploding
meth lab. It was one of
the best nights ever.
I had bugged jason a bunch
about car stuff and
could just about tell that
i had overstayed my welcome in
his world.... but around this
time i got a basket case.
It took 2 years in my garage
to build, but i did it on my own....
and that's how it started.
It's a different trip for all
of us and that's what I like about it.


I hear younger dudes just getting into
choppers say things like
" I built this bike in my garage Bro!"
like it's a hardcore statement or unique-
it just is what it is.
I did that too... so did a lot of us and
many who came before.
When i did it there was no jockey journal,
no message boards... there was not this network
like there is now. I'm glad there wasn't because
for me it made it a more personal experience.
But these days I like knowing that there are
like minded comrades all over the world.
Whining about blogs, jockey journals,
message boards, magazines and the popularity
of choppers is just showing your age and your
insecurity. It's like complaining about cell
phones, fuel injection, or the computer....
life moves on.

In the end i think it's about freedom.
About exploring who you are and having a
vehicle to take you in that direction.
The skateboard and the chopper have provided
this for me. I'm grateful that both have
taken me around the world to learn and
to live. That is the connection for me.
-Max-





44 comments:

zack said...

yep. thats all.

Jonny Pockets said...

Very well said.

Cris said...

"All press is good press."
Glad the knee's doing better, Max.
Make some more shirts, please.

Cris

Gnar Jen said...

saw that on my birthday, was so stoked to see you in there
"For some reason the death and danger are just a part of us" is the best quote ever..

Unknown said...

i wonder when harleys will come out with a nike swoosh on the tanks

drsprocket said...

Can I have a Amen? Seriously!

King Studio Works said...

Dig it man.

OcchioLungo said...

good stuff Max. thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

things like integrity are little understood these days, but it does still exist. great post.

Jbow said...

Max...I love this because you have the credibility to be bitter, but your not and that rules.....I live on the east coast and I ride a softail...I also own a skateshop for ten years....My friends build bikes , buy bikes, but most importantly , ride bikes...I love your attitude..I feel like if i pulled up to you on my bike you would be into my attitude not my fucking paintjob or weather the Vans I am wearing are Rebel 8 or J Jesse's syndicate launch...You are whats good about Motorcycles ...it's your attitude, run what ya brung.....Thanks man..

-John from Technical skateshop in Norwell Mass.

grant said...

they don't call it a freedom machine for nuthin'.


i complain about cell phones and the whacked out music the kids are listening to these days.

shiftace said...

It's a good thing skateboarding got paired up motorcycles. Fruitbooting (roller blading) got paired up with Uncle fucking, so I guess it's better that H-D is exploiting us rather than N.A.M.B.L.A .


ur guud at werdz Max! that story is legit, at least the author sounded like he had some sort of a clue, unlike so many other articles on the matter.

Throwback said...

Fuck yes and good for you for not taking that money and perpetuating there stupid fucking ad campains to get so called hiptsers to buy nightsters and crossbones.

Ricki Bedenbaugh said...

THANK YOU!

Shrewgy said...

nice work.

Mark Harris said...

WERD.

Nick Showalter said...

keepin' it honest and true. i totally dig it.

mindpill said...

cool......

Robarazzi.biz said...

right on!
ps - sailboats are the new motorcycles!

Jason said...

Nice words.

Here is another good article about the newer generation and how it fits into the bike scene as a whole... not sure if you've seen it...

http://www.bikereader.org/whatitlookslikewhatitdont.html

matt machine said...

well said mate.

Sethro said...

..well put max,indeed..and 20k isnt enough to sell yerself the motor company..not even close..i was offered a spot on that build show with the ferndale sisters here in detroit, "it will be great exposure for what you do".... fuck that, building the machines and RIDING THEM is what exposes them..i dont even have a fucking TV man..glad you stuck with yer heart brother..see you on the road brother..

Mighty Whitey said...

Amen, and that's why I'm down for anything you do.

Unknown said...

So playing music can be likened to raving or the skate-art trend?!? I wonder if Tommy G or Chuck Treece or even Ramona would agree with that. The NYT article didn't make motorcycling skateboarders seem trendy or lame...if anything did it was that emerica Wild Ride video with shirtless dudes in unzipped leather jackets trashing hotel rooms like they were rockstars.

max schaaf said...

hellof--
so i'm gonna guess your a musician...
also gonna guess you missed the point of what i wrote and made quite a few defensive assumptions.
First off i really like the NYT article... i said nothing about it making motorcycling skateboarders "trendy or lame"

Second the statement about bands,raves,bmx, and art...are just things i saw other skaters drift off too. Just stating that i did not.

what i was letting people know
is where i come from...where i feel there is a link. No i don't identify
with the emerica stuff either..but that's what they do.

Anonymous said...

Ed Roth, the Nostradamus of cool. Good work fuck the haters. The end is near.

drsprocket said...

Can I have ANOTHER Amen. Seriously!

zipperhead said...

let's go skate

rcoope said...

You can see that the NYT is a quality rag as they also got he idea that Japanese and English cafe racers are part of this deal and not just Harleys. (I'm friends with the Keddie and Frances street crew in Vancouver where it was recently noted that 85% of all actually working bikes in the shop right now are Yamahas).

On aspect of this culture that they mentioned but didn't completely explore degree to which this scene respects elders. Like that picture Max had here a few months ago of someone's grandfather on his bike back in the 50's, "cooler than you will ever be". Twenty years ago no skater would have ever put up a picture of anyone's grandpa doing anything and suggested it was cool at all. I think it shows the notion of wholesale rebellion against your parents was very much a baby boomer phenomenon. The cool guys were the returning soldiers (older than boomers) and the boomers were just annoying. It's taken their kids to realize that the whole a-historic general rebellion thing is a waste of time.

Washingstonian said...

Max, it's tough when you show up on their radar. In the 60's Tom Wolfe wrote a killer vignette on both Ed Roth and Junior Johnson in the "The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby." It strikes a similar chord.
Sleep like a baby...I would have snatched up the 20 g's and built a bowl at my house.

Screws Hampden said...

Everyone got here some way, and not everyone has the same channels or are put in the same position to arrive here in a way that's deemed 'cool' 'acceptable' or 'legitimate.'

The fact that we are here, some of us just starting out and some deep into it, means something. When the dust settles, and the next big thing comes along, some of us will still be here and others will move along.

Thanks for sharing your talents and thoughts Max. No matter what a 4Q T-shirt member is or does, they're better for having visited.

Nads said...

HD are desperate, for years they disassociated themselves from the very people that kept their doors open, I haven't bought a damn thing from them in 12 years, I couldn't even when broken down, they haven't carried anything for shovels in forever. Imagine Chevrolet not having a brake drum for an 84 Cavalier in 98?
It isn't surprising they're trying to appeal to whomever they can, and you're the demographic de jour, Max. Younger kids want Jap rockets and if I were 21, so would I.
This whole fucking bike/ skateboard thing is trendy, it's a fact and you're at the cusp of it, whether you like it or not, ask the fuckers for 60K and fuck the haters.

max schaaf said...

..yes. ever tried to by a chain from the dealership while on the road. No chains.
I'm actually not really doggin HD. They have to do what they need to do to survive. I had a 99 fxdx and i liked it. When the cam bearing exploded they fixed it. They provide jobs for people that want to work with harleys and that's a good thing. I respect the history.
Just wanted to let anyone that cared to know... I don't identify with their Skate/motorcycle view. HD has to do what they need to. And an AD company made that commercial for them anyway.

Dan said...

what was is- and hopefully always will be- i really dig what you said about the internet and cell phones-im sure plenty of your fans think bikes like mine and shrewgy's aren't what motorcycling is all about or whatever the fuck-the cool thing for me is being 38......still skating and riding all over the place just like i did when i was a kid- i hope to have this conversation again 20 years from now.

Anonymous said...

max-o...i have never ridden a motrcycle but i see the parallels ...the motion/speed and solitude ..the escape...music is similar for me...keeps me sane..
i'm too scared to ride a bike cause i like to go fast...
you have to have the eye of the street skater to survive sometimes..
right on...mucho love yo..
tg

Lonnie C. said...

Do what you love and love what you do.

slidelines said...

thats it right there

Anonymous said...

awful lot of talk. max, you got no need to explain yourself. keep makin shit. that is all we can do. head down grinding it out. wes

pug said...

Will be laughing all day at the image of your first chopper ride. I tell similar stories about why I love my busted out Triumph and my battery-exploding, parts-ejecting Indian and get incredulous looks of "but WHY?" I agree, its not really up for debate. I do my thing, other people do theirs.

-Alec MacKaye

Mighty Whitey said...

I found this today. I feel it complements this discussion.

http://www.bikereader.org/whatitlookslikewhatitdont.html

crow eater said...

fuck yeah max.
i skate. showed some dutch skaters some hospitality when they were visiting my city in australia (before people had emails. they returned the favour when i stayed with them in gemert. through that i met tilly. although he bmxed and i skated we hit it off. game knows game. thru his photography i came across your blog.... from skating back to skating with bikes in between.
love your work and attitude man.
rolling's rolling.

jonspeed said...

freekin awsome... with you 100% well said. i'm just too big to SK8 now, a little too much flex in the board..

Roufert said...

Skateboarders are Bike-Curious...

Unknown said...

Max, Thanks for sharing. Good to hear where you're coming from. Stay Gold.

rcoope summed it up for me:

"One aspect of this culture that they mentioned but didn't completely explore degree to which this scene respects elders. Like that picture Max had here a few months ago of someone's grandfather on his bike back in the 50's, "cooler than you will ever be". Twenty years ago no skater would have ever put up a picture of anyone's grandpa doing anything and suggested it was cool at all. I think it shows the notion of wholesale rebellion against your parents was very much a baby boomer phenomenon. The cool guys were the returning soldiers (older than boomers) and the boomers were just annoying. It's taken their kids to realize that the whole a-historic general rebellion thing is a waste of time."

See you on the road...