I know with your latest bike purchase (Your GS1200SS) you are getting away from the custom bike style that you had with your FXR and your Triumph… but what are some of the things, people, magazines, books, or movies that influenced you and the rest of NFK when you built your bikes now and in the past.
I’m going to guess that like me… Mad Max, The Road Warrior and Akira is right up there at the top for you guys!
Yan:
Actually, I don't think I am done with the custom bike society. I will definitely be back! I am broke right now, but I will be back.
My next bike will be much more of a streetfighter. I wanted my FXR to be a streetfighter Harley.
But with stock gas tank and fenders though.
And yes…as you know, my biggest influence is the Mad Max movie.
Bird:
So is the core NFK group in Tokyo getting more into the air-cooled musclebike/race bike and streetfighter scene too, or is that something you guys have always liked?
Yan:
Oh yeah, most of the guys really just love motorcycles. Any motorcycles.
We really got into Harleys for, like 7, or 8 years. That’s enough! Ha, ha!
You will see an all new NFK in the near future.
Bird:
A lot of the NFK now own fixed gear track bicycles, but I know for a long time a lot of you skated and you actually owned a skate shop. Do you guys still skate, or have you moved onto bikes only now?
Yan:
I am a very stupid guy. I can do only one thing at a time. I quit skating now since I am a messenger.
Some of the guys still love to skate. I still want to do downhill skating too… but when spring comes. It’s way too cold out now! Ha, ha!
Bird:
You told me after the S&S 50th that you really loved Iowa and riding there. You loved the high speeds and the long stretches of open road… do you prefer that to Tokyo city riding, or is it not very exciting after all that crazy traffic battling that you have to do every day? I get rather bored of it after living here in Nebraska for so long… I love riding in the city traffic.
Yan:
I really liked Iowa a lot because of how great Jeff treated us Man, he is fuckin nice. We had so much fun with him.
The roads out there are completely different from Tokyo. Totally straight roads, with absolutely nothing in front of me.
I realized that choppers would be very nice in this situation.
And also no helmet law. That's fuckin nice! I felt freedom!
But yes, I got easily got bored on the flat, straight roads with no traffic. I realized that I love traffic wars.
Bird:
We all know about how the riding that the early chopper riders in San Francisco changed how they customized their bikes so that they could survive the police purists the high speeds, and lane splitting without crashing… (Slightly longer front ends for more ground clearance, higher frisco pegs, narrow everything, lighter weight, ect. ect.)
And we know that the BASARA MC have followed some of the early Frisco bike ideals with their high speed mountain road Harley choppers…
How has the NFK and other Japanese riders changed their bikes to keep up with the demands of your riding style in your environment?
Or does it not affect your bike customizing at all?
Yan:
The only thing I needed to do to my FXR was to raise my pipes up higher with my Thunderheader and get more ground clearance.
I also ran a lower handlebar. Basically a Superbike bend. I guess I did also lower my front forks a bit to turn intersections at higher speeds.
That’s probably it for me.
I can’t say for the other guys.
Most of the guys took off their mirrors for lane splitting.
Some Shovelhead guys got strokers for more acceleration on the street. And most of Evo guys bored out the cylinders for better top end on the highway for the cannonball runs.
Bird:
Ok, we are going to go out on a limb here and hopefully the Church of Choppers readers will follow along with us here and not snooze off… lets talk about photography for a bit:
You and I are big photography geeks, and I LOVE your photography.
Photography is a huge part of my life and whether the readers realize it or not… theirs too...
That’s one thing that I love about the CoC blog , Jeff and the COC contributors can always round up some great photos.
You have a fantastic style to ALL of your photos Yan and you are RIGHT there in the middle of everything. You are always out of the streets at night, or riding in the middle of the pack of bikes, at the right shows, in the right places, 3 inches from that tattoo needle, or in everyone’s face. I follow your Flickr page pretty religiously and you continue to score big every day.
So first I guess I want to ask you about your influences:
Who are your favorite photographers?
Yan:
Thank you man! I think you have your own style too.
I wanna be right in front of everything. Front line wannabe.
My favorites are Mattias Westfelk. Masayoshi Yoshinaga, Keisuke Nagoshi,
and Magnums or all photographer contributing to National Geographic or news papers.
Bird:
Ok then…did you always want to take photos, or did you become a photographer by accident?
Yan:
No, I have always loved taking photos for long time.
Bird:
Do you have some blogs and sites that you follow regularly?
Yan:
Yeah, Bubble visor, Ottonero, RxKxBx, and sometimes the Flickr blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment