Moss Landing Moto Art

By Joe Berk

If you’re on the Pacific Coast Highway and you’re riding through the little fishing village of Moss Landing, it’s nearly impossible to miss the moto art at the J&S Eagle Iron and Leather Shop, although that’s exactly what I did on a trek north a few years (no doubt because it was raining so hard).  On the way back, though, the sun was out and I when I saw these I knew I had to stop for a few photos.  I shot these photos about 5 years ago and I don’t know if these moto sculptures are still there.   It might be worth a ride to check it out.

Ernie Buck, the store manager, told me these gigantic bike sculptures are Hecho en Mexico and go for about $20K each.   I guess that’s not that far-fetched considering what a new Harley or BMW costs these days, and these things are easily three times the size of those bikes.

The first moto gigante was constructed mostly of license plates.  Bear in mind that all three of these sculptures use giant tractor tires (that will give you a sense of their size).  Like I said above, they’re huge!

The next one  was fabricated from horseshoes.   Horseshoes!  Imagine that!   Where do artists get their ideas?

It was cool.  I liked the gangster whitewalls.  I had a set of those on my ’92 Softail.    You know, the top of those tires was about the same height as me!

The third bike was fabricated almost entirely of shovels.

Maybe the bike above is a Shovelhead (you know, the one that came after the Panhead).  It was cool.

You know, the bikes above make for interesting displays, but I wondered where I would put such a thing if I owned it.  You’d need a huge lawn or a spacious home in which to display this kind of art, and even then, I’m pretty sure Sue would have none of it.  They sure were interesting and they made for cool photos.

The Pacific Coast Highway is an amazing road and it’s always been one of my favorite rides.

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