It was 2012. The new custom wave was in absolute effervescence. Trends dictated the status quo, and at El Solitario Ranch we’re already bored about the scene’s devenir, which we had closely monitored from a privileged standpoint since its very early steps in 2008. We felt the need to start a revolution from within. The style invented by Bratstyle, in Tokyo in the 90’s, later introduced in Europe by the Wrench Monkees, adding their personal Dark scent, was feeling symptoms of its exhaustion, and the action of commercial copycats like Cafe Racer Dreams didn’t help to its sustainability anyway.
Like knights on a holy crusade, we decided to make a statement and destroy all the tabus the recent bikeExif herds had stablished as the new cool. To hell with the cheesy paints and minimalistic disciplines. A motorcycle was supposed to be a dangerous and complex machine, intended to catapult humans at high speeds and so it should look like. We decided to break all the rules and the concept of El Solitario Petardo was born.
4 years later and with many miles on her back, we can proudly say that she has stood the test of time, and our debauchery, rather well. In the hands of our brother Frederic, countless satisfactions has given to this mad house, as the grateful child she has become. Racing on tarmac, gravel or ice ( ! ), as well as cruising peacefully on long distance rides like the last Don Papa across the beautiful Corsican country side.
Revolutions
Don Papa Ride – Corsica Oct. 2016
Photography by Laurent Nivalle©
13 Responses
love all this
Good job El Maestro
In case you don’t know you are in the same ship with CRD. Don’t fool yourselves this is not a crusade, it’s just a way to express your creativity, and in the end of the day…to feed your families…
So stop stabbing other riders/shops, we can all live under the same sun. Enough with the blood…
Mr Geokan,
after 6 long years of activity, if someone places us on the “same boat” as CRD is either not paying attention or doesn’t know better. El Sol wasn’t created to feed our families. We had way better jobs to do that than challenging motorcycle history and its gatekeepers.
Anyways, with all due respect, we would like to remind you that this blog is our temple and we spill blood if we want to.
You can always not visit us if you think we are not worthy of your attention.
Kind regards and keep on speeding Sir.
Couldn’t agree more.
Whoever thinks that CRD and El Solitario are on the same boat… its clearly not paying attention at all.
Although, until I heard you were working with Mauro, I looked at your bikes more as works of art, rather than someting I cannot wait to ride someday…
Love your work and the effort you put into every post.
Thx!
Unfortunately Art died in the reconversion but now we can go anywhere and fast! 😉
Dear all at El Solitario MC,
After discovering your ‘Big Bad Wolf’ a few days ago in Yamaha’s ‘Yard Built’, I haven’t kept my eyes off your website. In my opinion, everything you guys do is Art; from your rad motorcycles to your cool clothes. I even love your posts, which sometimes even read like poetry.
I think your ethos is bold and striking. Many have started with this kind of take and then have watered down in favour of popularity and sales. However, you guys don’t strike me as that type. I can see that your work is gut-felt and passionate, outrageous and outlandish, bold and aggressive, dark and eerie, even dangerous-looking.
I believe that your work could so easily look experimental and unfinished but it doesn’t and it isn’t. I think the phrase ‘Love it or Hate it’ suits it quite well.
Well, that’s enough idolising for one day. A big wave from here (Lleida) and I think I’ll just keep on checking out your stuff for a while longer.
Regards,
Miguel A. Lestón
PS. By the way, I noticed that El Solitario is based in Rías Baixas, Galicia. That was one of the things that led me to your website. I’m from A Costa da Morte myself but I grew up in London.
Dear Miguel,
you really nailed the description of how we want to be, and if that is your perception of what we actually are then it means that we are actually making it!
So many thx for your words and support
Galiza sempre!
Dolce ElSol….i love this motorcycle so much it makes me smile broadly. It’s everything a motorcycle could and should be.
I’m afraid the current “custom stuff” is a bit dry and safe.
Most builders, except a rare few, seem caught in a hole, perhaps concentrating on appealing to potential buyers. No problems. Buy what you desire. Make what sells. It’s Fabulous that there continues to be so much being created.
But, Petardo has a very unique functional attraction that only comes from a special place and persons with a special madness…love it, love it….!!!!!!
So, Bollocks to people who can’t see it’s beauty.
Peter.
Thank you Peter!
To be a niche inside a niche is sometimes too tiring, still we are managing the way to stay fresh and bold.
All the best Sir and thanks for your feedback
Olà el solitario,
I understand how difficult it is to break through a mass-retro-fashion initiated and propelled by fashion brands and their mood videos with something unique. Unique your bikes surely are, but new it is not. Far from bratstyle though and the AWOL-type UK streetfighters of the 80s/90s, I’d like to remind the early Mad Max desert scrap bikes as a very familiar style to yours only with the special twist of el solitario to make them an artful evolution of those. I’d like to see the first motorcycle helicopter from el solitario, the next gen Hover bike. 😉
gracias a todos.
A “chopper” will come!!!
[…] Falcon, Mark Atkinson and Mehmet Doruk’s BMW Alpha, El Solitario’s Petardro, Kingston Custom’s White Phantom, Revival Cycle’s J63 Ducati, Shinya […]