Brooklyn: Where American Motorcycling Was Born
Most people know Brooklyn for its pizza, its bridges, and its swagger. What fewer people know is that Brooklyn is also the birthplace of organized American motorcycling — and that history runs straight through every design we make at Brooklyn Motors.
September 7, 1903
The year Harley-Davidson produced its very first motorcycle, something equally significant was happening on the other side of the country. In Brooklyn, New York, the Kings County Wheelmen — one of the borough's most storied cycling clubs — gathered with motorcyclists from across the region to establish the Federation of American Motorcyclists, the organization that would eventually become the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA).
That's not a footnote. That's the founding moment of American moto culture, and it happened right here.
A Borough Built for Riders
Brooklyn has always attracted people who move differently. From the early 1900s through the mid-century golden age of American motorcycling, the borough was home to legendary riders and host to some of the country's most celebrated motorcycle events and rallies.
Names like Evel Knievel, Mike Hailwood, Bob Hansen, and Dave Campos all have roots here. The streets of Williamsburg, Red Hook, Canarsie, Flatbush, and Crown Heights didn't just watch the culture develop — they shaped it.
The Clubs That Built the Culture
Long before motorcycling became mainstream, Brooklyn had its clubs. The Kings County Riders. The Red Hook Motorclub. The Williamsburg Wheelmen. The Canarsie Cruisers. These weren't just social groups — they were communities built around mechanical skill, brotherhood, and the freedom of the open road cutting through a very dense, very loud, very alive borough.
The names live on in our designs because they deserve to. Wearing a Brooklyn Motors tee isn't just a style choice — it's a nod to the people who built something real.
Why It Matters Today
Motorcycling culture has been exported, commercialized, and commodified everywhere. But Brooklyn's version has always had something different: an edge, a rawness, a sense that the machine is just another tool for carving your own lane through a world that wasn't built for you.
That's the Brooklyn Motors story. Born here in 2010, inspired by a history that goes back over a century, and made for the two kinds of people who get it — Brooklyn natives who know these streets, and riders who recognize the real thing when they see it.
