JEFF DECKER AT DOUBLE RL ~ Motorcycle Fashions

February 16, 2012

JEFF DECKER AT DOUBLE RL

8:00 AM

The 'Bathing Suit' Vincent of Rollie Free

Sculptor Jeff Decker has collaborated with Double RL to sell a limited-edition line of belt buckles from his Hippodrome Studios. Jeff also collects, and sometimes modifies, some very rare motorcycles, a few of which he brought to the Melrose Ave RRL store in LA for a post-Inspiration party.

Jeff Decker with Ian Barry of Falcon Motorcycles.

I wrote a brief article about Jeff for Motorcycle News (MCN) in England last year, for their 'Retro' (Sep. 2011) special issue. To give a little background about the man, here's the article:

Decker's customized Crocker; unafraid to make controversial choices, and built to suit his tastes

"Jeff Decker is as famous for being a strong character as much as for his art, which is a shame, as he’s a truly gifted sculptor. Watching Decker shape clay is a quick dictionary lesson in ‘talent’; little blobs of nothing magically cohere under his fingers, and suddenly a shirt is rippling in the wind, cheeks pressed against a skull, a Cyclone cam drive -right down to the nuts- is released from its prison of moistened dirt. From humble clay and wax, later cast in bronze, come a the heady tang of exhaust, sweaty determination, the roar of engines and crowds, an evocation of lost eras of men wrapped over primitive machines, racing for their lives, sometimes losing them. As Frederick Remington did for the cowboys, so Jeff Decker does for motorcyclists.

'West Was Won'

His prodigious gift for sculpting men and motorcycles earned him an exclusive deal with Harley-Davidson to ‘represent’ HD in bronze, and a monumental flailing hillclimber greets visitors to the HD Museum in Milwaukee. His sculptures of Rollie Free’s 150mph Vincent stretchout and battling board track racers romanticize a lost era of dangerous masculine competition, a man-credo Jeff embodies with his gruff, opinionated persona and patch-wearing membership in the Sinners cycle club.

A 1916 Harley 8-Valve Board Track racer in miniature, at the moment of victory

Decker’s moto-streak runs deep, and his passionate knowledge of the subject extends to a profound collection of biker club 'cuts', paintings, and actual motorcycles, which he’s been collecting since they were cheap. He grew up surrounded by mechanical torch-bearers like his father, a collector of flathead hotrods and parts, a man with a good eye in the early SoCal hotrod scene, and whose buddies nowadays bring awe to young wannabes. Decker is the real deal, and isn’t afraid of anyone’s opinion, customizing revered brands like Crocker and Vincent to express his own lines. As expected for a talented artist, the results are harmonious while respecting the past, and lend the old warhorses a renewed super-cool."

Directing traffic in the retail-cum-gallery space

The Crocker in the hay

The Crocker engine was its genius, plus the styling of the original. What made Al Crocker famous - even though a mere 100 of his powerful v-twins were made from 1936-42 - was his powerful engine, pumping out 55hp when an HD or Indian made do with 40hp. Decker has built a custom frame, using an AMC 4-speed gearbox.

The Hippodrome belt buckles for Double RL

This sculpture of a hillclimbing Harley ('By the Horns') was commissioned by Willie G. Davidson for use outside the new Harley Davidson Museum...but life-size.