Every bike show has its character. Some focus on a specific style, like choppers, performance bikes, cafe racers, or art bikes. Others point to a particular brand or perhaps a specific model. The One Motorcycle Show in Portland, OR often referred to simply as “The One Show” or “1-Moto,” takes a different approach. Consistent with the creative spirit of Portland, or the broader Pacific Northwest region it is part of, it accepts every possible style, brand, model, and approach. It places just as much importance on the stories behind the bikes, their owners, and their builders as anything else.
In past years, the show has experimented with both more bikes and fewer, but for the past two years, it has settled on slightly more than 300 to display. Given the massive and amazing venue, Zidell Yards, a 33-acre former shipbuilding industrial site on the Willamette River in Portland’s South Waterfront neighborhood, it seemed the perfect number. This one-hundred-plus-year-old site has been home to the 1-Moto for five years now. It is the seventh location for the show over its sixteen-year, eighteen-installment history, and is not only the right place for what the show has grown into, but it fits it like an old glove, with its well-worn patina adding to the character of the show.
The Zidell Yards location also works in that it is covered, which in this part of the world and at this time of year, the first week of May, can make a big difference. Fortunately, this year, as has been their luck most years, the weather was good, with just a little sprinkle here and there. For the big day, Saturday, I’d go so far as to say it was ideal, with the sun out most of the time, and it was warm, just like a summer day, which brought loads of people out to ride their everyday bikes to the show.
When you consider that this show receives over 450 submissions from people who want to display their bikes, that’s a lot of stories to go through. Tori Drake, one of the promoters behind the show, whittles these down to a little more than half that she accepts. Along with some invited builds that she believes will round out the show’s look, and customs brought in by sponsors and vendors, you can expect over 300 bikes on display. Tori explained, “In curating, while I appreciate what they do at other shows that focus on performance or the art of the motorcycle, I want to hear the stories behind the bikes in addition to seeing the craftsmanship that goes into them. I want to know why they are doing what they are doing. This is where the energy and passion of the builders can be seen, and it highlights the distinct differences between them. And this energy and passion have everything to do with the character of the entire show.”
The excitement is particularly evident in how the bike owners and builders often stay by their bikes to talk to people and answer questions throughout the three days the show is open. There are people like Gina Olson, who purchased her mostly stock Ironhead Sportster in 1995 with money from a divorce settlement when she was just 31 years old. She proved her first husband wrong for believing she couldn’t handle a motorcycle as she made this Sporty her daily rider. Working on it for years, she laced the wheels herself, upholstered the seat, applied gold leaf, and did all sorts of things to personalize it. Now, thirty years later, it is just one of many bikes that she and her husband, Morto, ride and participate in land-speed racing with (Morto displayed his 1952 “Nortang” Mustang with a 1964 Norton engine in the show this year).
Lloyd Smith was another interesting character with his 1967 Honda 305 Dream that he bought new, still in its crate, in 1969. This never-restored example, still in impeccable condition, was on display, accompanied by framed advertising photos from the day for the same year and model, as well as his original bill of sale for $398. All weekend, Lloyd was busy telling the extended version of this story to any interested passersby, and there were plenty of them.
Corey Mauck’s bike, which won the one-off hand-tooled Grand Champion wrestler belt made by Sandwitch Leathers’ Kindra Adair, garnered a lot of attention. This 127 ci board-track style Harley-Davidson he calls Medusa, for the forty-five feet of twisted metal art that went into it, was deserving of the accolades.
While English isn’t Putu Ajus Mulyawarman’s native language, he was also on hand, all the way from Bali, Indonesia, to talk about his artful, raw metal Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650, featuring hand-beaten and formed aluminum bodywork, a modified chassis, and hydraulic suspension. The bike was prominently displayed inside the large booth for Royal Enfield, one of three original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sponsors, along with Harley-Davidson and Indian.
David Chang of CROIG (Cafe Racers of Instagram) had a very fitting entry into the show with his Harley-Davidson XR1200 named Kury Sauce. This Bosozoku-style bike, one of two in the show, is as creative and out-of-the-box as it gets. While the literal translation of “Bosozoku” is “running-out-of-control tribe,” in the motorcycle world, it has come to represent a style of bike that most notably features a cafe racer fairing mounted so high that it appears to block your vision. (David says it doesn’t!) The One Show is special to David and one of his favorites since, as he explains, “I had always ridden sport bikes and wasn’t very aware of the custom motorcycle scene until I attended for the first time in 2015, just a few months after starting CROIG. Everything was fresh, fun, all-inclusive, and welcoming, and the bikes were truly diverse. And there was such a great vibe with all the quirky and creative people who were so happy and excited to meet each other.”
Some others who particularly enjoyed talking about their bikes included Michal Szymanski of Poland with his custom 1983 Yamaha Virago 920cc Cafe racer that he hand-engraved with inspiration from the Wild West revolver, Mike Aldridge with Darla the Dyna, his 2001 Harley-Davidson Low Rider built in memory of his mom, Keith Young’s 1975 Honda 550 Super he calls The Holy Bike since he added 550 holes in it during the customization, Brian Cox with his mostly period-correct 1977 Wheelsmith MX 250aw for which he did the aluminum fabrication, Gary LeGendre with his two-wheeled drive 1969 Rokon Trailbraker MK3 offroad bike that they still manufacture in basically the same configuration today, and the super proud Jenna Forstrom with her 1969 Aermacchi Rapido 125cc bike with dual rear sprockets that she will be racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats. (Jenna’s parents flew in from Boston to see the bike and support Jenna at the show.) Truly – for each of the 300+ bikes at the show, there was a great story ready to be told and ready to be heard.
As you would imagine, creativity plays a big part in the show today. In addition to the imagination of the bike builders displaying their work, the venue features the work of many artists. For the most part, it hangs on chain link behind the bikes, so it isn’t as prominent, but it adds a wonderful ambiance to the show. Some artists opt for vendor booths for larger displays, and then there is Kindra Adair, who, as mentioned above, is the artist behind the riveted, hand-tooled, and painted leather Champion of Champions belt. Having attended almost every One-Show since its inception, and it being the place where she truly developed her craft and elevated it to a professional level, she creates elaborate award belts every year as a token of her appreciation. It’s her way to give back to the show that has given so much to her. She loves all of it, but what really stands out is how “all walks of life come to the show with so much creativity and so much passion about bikes. While it has grown significantly, it has managed to stay close to its grassroots origins, possibly because The One Show is one of the most organically grown motorcycle shows anywhere. There is something for everyone and anyone who is into motorcycles.”
Photographer Jeff Klaum, who shoots for Progressive Insurance and is also part of a team responsible for many of their event activations, brings his unique perspective to the table, attending many bike events across the United States throughout the year. Like everyone I spoke with, he was struck with the open and accepting attitude of the PNW. “You can see it in the people. There’s a camaraderie that makes everyone seem like old friends or family. Compared to many events I attend, it’s younger and has a different kind of energy. I’ll go so far as to say it’s the hipper side of the motorcycle crowd.”
For this event, Jeff helped Progressive with a big setup, as they were again a title sponsor, only this year, they keyed into the creative art aspects of the show by presenting a Secret Walls live art event. For this, three regional artists took to a side stage on Friday, and another three did so on Saturday. Each had ninety minutes to paint a huge mural with just black, white, and blue paint. Then, at the end of the allotted time, the crowd voted on one artist to move to the finals on Sunday, where the two semi-finalists battled it out head-to-head. It was totally engaging, with the crowd cheering and especially tuned in as the timer got down to the last ten minutes of the countdown.
Also on the art side of the Show was Theresa Contreras of Real Deal Revolution, which is dedicated to changing the perception of skilled trades and women’s roles in them. Theresa presented a one-hour hands-on workshop on stamping and tooling leather, as well as another on pinstriping. The idea behind it is to get people excited about doing something they didn’t know they could do before. It was so successful that there was always a pages-long list of people waiting to join in. For Theresa, the “Funky family-friendly vibe in such an amazing building was the perfect fit” for her creative offerings.
Another person at the show who is deeply embedded in the industry was Adrian Sellers, who flew in from England just for the show. His perspective is a bit more international from traveling the world as Head of Custom and Motorsports for the Indian-based Royal Enfield. Adrian thinks the 1-Moto is most like the Bike Shed show in London, which is also an indoor May show with a similar number of bikes. But since the Bike Shed is more focused on cafes and scramblers, he does say the 1-Moto is more diverse. In the States, he likens the 1-Moto to Mama Tried, but as open as Mama Tried is to different types of bikes, he finds that there is even more diversity in Portland. He went on to describe the show as being “a really fun gathering of people in a non-denominational gallery of motorcycles, and as such, you’ll find yourself having chats that you wouldn’t have anywhere else, all because of a simple shared enthusiasm.” I can imagine it is also the perfect place for Royal Enfield, which, despite having sold more than one million motorcycles worldwide in 2024 alone, is not very common in the States. Perhaps the openness of the Pacific Northwest is especially attractive to the brand as it could very possibly make this region Enfield’s best market going forward.
Professional snowboarder, illustrator, custom motorcycle enthusiast, and self-professed art nerd Janessa Bork was at the show, but just as a spectator. She didn’t have any of her amazing art on display, nor did she bring the 1977 XS650 that she customized herself. Instead, she just came to enjoy the show and the people, and to be inspired. She chalks up much of the creativity and new ideas she sees to the locals being surrounded by so much beauty and nature. And she believes their industriousness can also be attributed to this. Whether considering the art scene, the food, or the motorcycles, “it’s the weird, eccentric, and super rad Portland vibe that is the One-Show.” She also gives kudos to the creative genius behind the event, Thor Drake, whom she first met when she was in art school, and Thor was an intern at a marketing company while working construction back in the early years of the show. “Thor has been manifesting the One Show for so long that it is hard to compare it to anything else. He is still holding on to his authentic ideas and his authentic self. He has stayed true to himself, and it shows in the event.”
So, who is this guy Thor Drake? For starters, he created the One Show in 2009. Some know him by his alter egos, Bert Furnace and Freakin’ Randy, characters he used in his 2013 TedX talk titled “Push yourself to think differently,” in which he presented his Scientific Method for Solving Problems. Thor claimed, “Typical methods equal typical results, but I’m after new and different results.” His MO is to start with a knee-jerk reaction to a problem and put it aside while he takes all the other possible solutions, throws them into a blender along with a nap, some beers, some friends, and some time, and he lets them marinate. He’ll then see what comes together and act, typically very late at night and just in time to meet a deadline. And this is how the One Show has operated, both creatively and successfully, for sixteen years. Over the same period, Thor started See-See, the brand and coffee shop, created a community, got into a relationship and got married (to Tori), had two kids, and went through a rollercoaster of ups, downs, and ups with his brand. He also saw the One Show evolve from a small, free gathering of his local moto-community into a globally watched event that attracts 20,000 people through the gates each year. He has had to deal with a lot of change and problem solving, and as he always sought new and different results, he continued to succeed.
Perhaps The One Show is just one big creative exercise and has been this way since the beginning. Still, it doesn’t matter because we are all the beneficiaries of Thor’s creative and storied life, as well as this storied event he has put together with friends, family, and community.
For more info and to watch for dates for next year’s show, visit the1moto.com and @the1moto on Instagram. You can also catch Thor’s fascinating TEDx talk below.
In 1979, Easyriders started to publish some of Michael’s motorcycle photography. He photographed a number of smaller events and features specifically for them, proved his abilities and then was off on his third trip to Sturgis in 1981, now on assignment for Easyriders, for whom he has returned there ever since. Also in 1981, after a solo exhibition of his work at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin, Ireland, which was boycotted by the League of Decency, Michael became disillusioned with the “art world” and again changed course. He stopped publicly exhibiting his photographs in favor of publishing his motorcycle work in Easyriders and simultaneously began developing his career as a commercial advertising and corporate photographer. By 1982, his studio was open in Boulder, Colorado. It wasn’t long before he developed a clientele that included companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems and Kraft Foods.
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