There are a few things in life that will always be true: the sun will always rise in the east, old people will always tell the best stories, and motorcycles will always be cool. Riding a motorcycle is a hell of a lot of fun and customizing whatever ride you have is almost a requirement, especially if it’s a Harley. But building a chopper is a whole different thing.
For the last three years, The Ton has held Rally in the Valley at (appropriately) The Valley on Puyallup Ave. The Valley is a great bar to hang out at with possibly the best cheap burgers in town and it would be hard to find a better spot for a motorcycle rally.
This year had over 30 choppers competing for prizes and bragging rights. Whenever you gather a collection of custom-built machines like this you’re guaranteed to find a diversity of styles. From the ultra-polished-chromed-out beauty to the I-took-a-welding-class-in-high-school rust monster, this show had all of it and then some.
The other point of diversity was the people there. If you stood in the dirt parking lot and looked around, you’d be forgiven for not immediately pegging it as a diverse crowd. They were mostly men, mostly white, wearing a lot of similar clothing, and a lot of tattoos. But subtle as it may have been, there were huge distances between the types of bikers represented there.
I saw a guy with a 14/88 patch on the bottom seam of his MC vest and another guy with a very prominent FUCK RACISM patch right on the chest of his jacket. There were plenty of the antagonistic/provocative symbols that the SPLC and most reasonable people associate with hatred and white supremacy but are nonetheless commonplace in biker culture.
And then there was the chopper that won Best in Show. It had a peace symbol welded to the top of the sissy bar and a sticker on the oil tank that said WARNING: If you value your life as much as I value this motorcycle, that’s really beautiful man. Maintaining high self worth is important to your spiritual well being. Namaste, a spinoff of the more common and more threatening version.
I won’t get into any justifications or condemnations of the controversial aspects of biker culture. That’s a story for another time. The takeaway here is that regardless of how welcoming or intimidating a chopper rally may look to you, it’s 100% worth checking out. Whether you’re into motorcycles, photography, or just meeting people you don’t usually bump into every day, you won’t regret going when it comes back again next year.
Be sure to follow The Ton on the socials at @thetonmag and check out their print magazine too.
