Moving away from Europe to the sun-kissed beaches of Los Angeles, we stumble across artistic, custom bike building extraordinaire, Max Hazan. Much like Shinya Kimura, Hazan is a lone wolf in the custom scene, spending months upon months expertly engineering, designing and building one-off custom bikes, and they’re truly breathtaking.
The Hazan style is quite unlike anything else on the scene. Seeing motorcycles as an artistic medium, much like an artist or sculptor, Hazan doesn’t adhere to a specific style – bobber, choppers, café racer’s, brats style – it all means nothing to him, he simply has a vision, and once he starts building, nothing but beauty is created.
Perhaps this is why Hazan has a freedom that radiates the past. It appears the image of biking is of little importance to him, he wishes only to propagate true aesthetics and the culture of old. So it’s little wonder that he’s been winning design competitions across the globe and featuring heavily at many of the largest bike building meets.
In a refreshing change from the rest of the custom scene, Hazan embodies the raw fundamentals of biking culture. Take aside the classic styling of motorcycle culture, reminiscent of the Ton-Up boys and the original custom bikes – 1950’s café racers – and you’re left with the core adventurers, pursuing nothing but the bike, the ride and the engineering.
Taking a dedicated approach to building, regardless of cost and time, is what sets Max apart. His philosophy is firmly based on the imaginative process, with a headstrong belief that anything is possible – and his builds reflect this. Now the protagonist for numerous short documentaries and videos, Hazan has solidified himself as a global bike-builder with an electrifying future to come.
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