The second of our Quad Lock Features looks at Melbourne's only DIY motorcycle workshop, KUSTOM KOMMUNE.
KUSTOM KOMMUNE has created a community, simply from a love of motorbikes. From learners to seasoned racers, KUSTOM KOMMUNE is about a shared love for motorbikes and the community that comes with them.
[ Transcript ]
Jimmy: "I think the community around motorcycle culture is what actually gets me interested in motorbikes. I think that's the whole reason that KUSTOM KOMMUNE exists.
I guess I kind of started it just as a hobby. Now, six years later we've got nearly a thousand members and it's just turned into this whole new beast.
We offer all the tools and facilities and helping hands that people need to get started on a project or actually learn how to work on their motorcycle.
The idea is that you could come here and pretty much do anything you want to do to your bike. If you just want to do some basic servicing, if you want to build a new subframe... we've got everything here that can facilitate that and if you just want to learn... if you don't even have a motorcycle but you're thinking about getting your motorcycle we can get you in and you can work on one of our shop bikes."
Nina: "KUSTOM KOMMUNE is a big garage of a big group of misfits. I guess everyone is very different here and when I came to KUSTOM KOMMUNE I understood that motorbikes can actually be creative projects to people, which I really liked."
Jimmy: "So when we first launched we just kind of had this concept, we had a bit of a plan on paper going... you know... if we get this many members and they do this we'll make enough to cover our rent and expenses and hopefully pay ourselves a wage.
We decided that we'd launch a Pozible crowdfunding campaign to help us sort of reach a bigger network. Not only as a funding round but to sort of market the product and what we're doing. We managed to raise $35,000... I think it was... on our very first campaign and it was April 2014 and then it kind of grew from there. The more people who spoke about it the more people experienced that the more people that came in and decided just to be a part of the community."
Nina: "As soon as I came here I just understood that it's much more than just big guys on Harley's. It was more about the whole community here.
My main passion project here at KUSTOM KOMMUNE is to change the whole stereotype, because the balance in between male and female riders who work on their bike is still very different. Definitely much more male dominant and I really want to change that so I started the Women's Wrench Night, which is a monthly free-wrench night for females and so the girls can just come in and work on their bikes for free and we show them how to do it and I guess that just makes it a bit easier for the female riders to come in because they know there's gonna be lots more girls in here."
Jimmy: "A lot of our members are looking for their tribe as well and that's one of the things that I'm really passionate about. It's moments when I'm sitting around here on a Friday night and there's 20 members all just hanging out having a beer and ordering a big family dinner to eat together. It's moments like that that I go it's just all worthwhile you know. I love it. That sense of community that you can get out of spaces like this... there's nothing else like it." Learn more about KUSTOM KOMMUNE here
Want more Quad Lock Features? We also did a piece on our good friends at Curve Cycling: WATCH THE VIDEO HERE
