Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

NJK Leathers By SCOTT ROUSSEAU PHOTOS BY BLAKE CONNER f you hate your job, then it's a safe bet that you won't give it your best effort, it will show, and no amount of money will satisfy you in that career. On the other hand, if you truly love what you do, chances are that you will dedicate yourself to being really good at it, it will show, and money won't be a big issue. NJK Leathers owner Kelcey Gordon definitely falls into the latter category. Not that Gordon, a 32-year-old Southern California native, has any aversion to making money. But as his notoriety grows as the originator of some of the most eyepopping, out-of-thisworld leather designs to be found in the motorcycle industry, he refuses to compromise his principles in search of a quick buck. "I've probably hurt myself more than I've helped by not wanting to take the easy way out on anything, but that's just me," Gordon said. "Compromising my beliefs to get to where I want to go is not an option." Having lived his whole life in Southern California, you might expect Gordon to be more mellow and laid-back. For the most part, that's true. Take, for instance, the time that he graduated from Cal State Fullerton and wanted to spend a season snowboarding in Mammoth. He 36 MAY 15, 2002' c: Y c: I e ended up staying for seven years. But even then he continued his borderline psychotic obsession with building hip custom leather suits for motorcycle racers - mostly of the speedway variety. It's an obsession that began when he was a junior speedway rider growing up in San Clemente. "NJK Leathers actually started with my mom," Gordon said. "We didn't want to pay what leathers cost. We had gotten a suit from a major manufacturer, but I grew out of it too quickly. So in '85, we had to get another set of leathers for me, and we decided to make our own set because we didn't want to spend the money again." Gordon recalls that, while mom's suits got an A for effort, the finished product left lots to be desired in terms of style. In the meantime, he continued to expand his own leather-making skills by learning to work with the sewing machine while making his own speedway-bike accessories, such as fork guards and seat and carb covers. Gordon simply graduated toward building his own suit by using the existing patterns that his mom had made for him. It was just a natural extension. "It didn't seem to be too big of a deal when I first started," Gordon said. But what Gordon quickly found out was that making leathers provided a n e _ s tremendous outlet for his own creativity, which was fostered by a love of art and So Cal pop culture. "I had been into art my whole life drawing and painting," Gordon said. "And you know how it is when you're a kid, you sit in class and doodle. I loved speedway, and Bruce Penhall always had these super rad leathers. So, when I was a kid, I'd sit in class and draw leathers that I thought were badass." Gordon admits that his skills were hardly first-class when he started, but his artistic vision was too strong to be hindered. "If I wanted to create a design, I just gave it a shot," Gordon said. "If it looked terrible, well, it was just for me anyway, so I'd make myself a new set. It just kept evolving from there." Practice made perfect, aided by Gordon's ideology that, while most people might look at leathers as motorcycle safety gear, he was inspired \to view them as a sort of . canvas for the wild designs that sprang from his obviously fertile Imagination. "Everyone's stuff looked the same," Gordon said. "I want to do stuff that looks different. I don't like straight lines. I don't like square lettering or pinstripes. I like graphics. I want to do something that is different and exciting, yet functional. I want people to look at a rider in my suit, and when they see that rider, have it [the suit] be his identity. In speedway, the riders' identities have always been reflective of what they were wearing. Mike Bast was always the Justice Brothers guy. Alan Christian was always the STP guy. I always want to give guys an identity that no one else has."

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