Gift Shopping for the Rider Who Has Everything: Scottsdale's Scrap Cycles Offers Motorcycle Art Made From Chains, Bolts and Pipe

Scottsdale, Arizona

Riders tend to have strong opinions about their gear, and the jacket, helmet or gloves they want are usually ones they would rather choose themselves. Scrap Cycles, a Scottsdale-based company offering handcrafted motorcycle sculptures, is giving gift buyers a different option this season: a piece of metal art built from the same kind of hardware found in any garage.

Each Scrap Cycles sculpture is hand-welded from everyday industrial materials, including chains, nuts, bolts, pipe and steel. Pieces are built one at a time, so no two are exactly alike, and each is designed to capture the stance and attitude of a classic motorcycle in a size that fits on a desk, shelf or mantel.

The audience for that kind of gift is large. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, about 8 percent of U.S. households, more than 10 million, owned at least one motorcycle in 2018, the highest share recorded in decades of the council's polling.

"Riders are some of the hardest people in the world to shop for," said a spokesperson for Scrap Cycles. "They already have the gear they love, and they're particular about it. What they usually don't have is something that celebrates the bike itself, sitting on a shelf where they see it every day. That's the gap we set out to fill."

The sculptures have found a following online. Scrap Cycles has completed more than 900 sales on Etsy, where it holds a 5.0 rating across more than 300 reviews, with many buyers describing the pieces as gifts for riders, Harley fans and collectors. The company now also sells through its own website.

"A lot of our customers aren't riders themselves," the spokesperson said. "They're spouses, kids, friends and coworkers trying to find something that shows they really know the person. When someone opens a box and sees a motorcycle made out of chain and bolts, the reaction is usually the same. They laugh, they pick it up and they start looking for all the parts."

With the holiday shopping season approaching, Scrap Cycles expects gift orders to make up a growing share of its business through the end of the year.

More information is available at scrapcycles.com.

Company announcement, published as provided by Scrap Cycles. Its claims are the company’s own and have not been checked by Alamo 24 News.