The art of BUILDING, REBUILDING & CUSTOMIZING is still alive tru the hands & vision of HUGH MACKIE from the SIXTH STREET SPECIALS
It’s good to find those places that we know are true to their roots.
We chatted with Hugh Mackie back @ his garage in the East Village of Manhattan, the Sixth Street Specials. This is a place that has been doing it for a long time: Keeping the biker culture alive.
Hugh Mackie founded his shop back in 1986 and he has been building, rebuilding and keeping the British motorcycle classics breathing on this side of the world since then.
Old vintage motorcycles are no longer seen as they used to be and almost nobody wants to try to understand the feeling that riding an old Triumph can give you. We are talking about a subculture, formerly completely bohemian and not only that but also as a bonus we get noisy, big, sturdy motorcycles crossing the streets of the Big Apple.
This is about custom bikes. That's Hugh Mackie's magic and he's been doing it for some good time now. It's not about how cool it looks. It's about a lifestyle.
“New York City does not like motorcycles.” . When we asked Mackie about the relationship of New Yorkers with motorcycles nowadays, that was his direct answer.
It seems people today are looking for a different kind of atmosphere in a city other than the 70s, 80s vibes when bikers were everywhere. Nowadays we have buses, the Subway, bicycles, and all these means of transportation cost you less money.
Sixth Street Specials and Hugh Mackie, who is there everyday cuz he also lives there, are a unique case in our era. It's a place that exhales originality between a flat track black jacket, old trophies, helmets, photos and his mechanical equipment.
A place where your hands find the grease. It’s hard to keep the originality of a culture alive & it’s hard to keep those bikes alive in this modern scenario that we live, in but there are a few people who are still trying not to surrender.
Some people still believe in keeping those original stories, cultures, identities, and movements of an era alive. Our advice is: go! Look for that! But really look for that. Truly. Or you can also go with Mackie’s word:
“Put down your phone or pad, buy a motorcycle, fix it and ride it. That’s what’s missing in life!”