Jordan5 Featured on Scooter World Mag

Chicago based Vespinoy Jordan Cinco was recently featured in the Scooter World Magazine. This was during the Mods vs. Rockers II event this year.

Read the full article here.

For mods and rockers, England’s 1964 Brighton Beach riots are ancient history. During the 1960s, leather-jacketed rockers rode motorcycles and designer-suited mods scooted through the streets of England. Both groups had fueled their own political and musical agendas and didn’t get along.

The event was brought to life in the 1979 cult-classic film Quadrophenia. Over 40 years later, the mods and rockers have formed camaraderie instead of an animosity for one another.

The Ton-Up Club Chicago, a vintage British motorcycle organization, celebrated the bond as well as remembered the tragic Brighton Beach riots by having vintage motorcycle and scooters zoom through Delilah’s during the Mods vs. Rockers II event in June.

The all-day festival brought the radical U.K. ruckus to the windy city which included a ride to the Museum of Science and Industry, a bike show, dueling mod and rocker DJ’s, psychobilly band performances by the Skeet Balls and the Ringtones, grub and motorcycle flicks. Later that night, a Brew-haha was held at the Liar’s Club that ran into the wee hours of the morning.

Bike show winners included Joe Block’s 1953 Ariel Square Four (Best British bike and Best of Show) and Patrick Odea’s 1964 Lambretta LI 150.

“We had the largest show yet with well over 400 bikes that showed up through the entire day,” says Larry Fletcher, Ton-Up Club Chicago founder and president. “Delilah’s was chock-full of people and the street was packed full of riders. It was a big success.”

Out of all the Ton-Up Clubs in the U.S., the Chicago chapter held the biggest event. “This was probably the number one event in the U.S. as far as numbers,” exclaims Fletcher. “I think this was the largest one yet.”

Fletcher grew up with motorcycles and has always had a fondness for British bikes. “I remember seeing Steve McQueen in The Great Escape with my dad when I was 4 or 5 years old,” he recalls.

Today his fascination with the British bikes has become a reality. He owns a 2004 Triumph Thruxton, 1968 BSA Rocket 3 and a 1961 Triumph Bonneville.

In 1997, Fletcher took his passion for British bikes to another level by organizing the Mods vs. Rockers event at the Ace Cafe in Chicago’s Roscoe Village with his group the 59 Club. After the group disbanded, he formed the Ton-Up Club Chicago and resurrected the event last year.

Besides enjoying the 1960s sound and ska beat, local mod and MayDay Scooter Club member Jordan Cinco keeps the scooter spirit alive. Cinco rode his 1963 aqua-green Vespa GS 160 during the event. He’s a purist when it comes to scootering. “Supporting the old-school and traditional two-wheel riders is important,” says Cinco. “In Chicago, there are a lot of motorcycles and new scooters popping up in the city. It’s nice to see a vintage motorcyclist and scooter rider riding together on the same route.”

Cinco started riding a scooter more than 15 years ago. While other high school kids were driving a car, Cinco preferred to ride his black 1972 Vespa Rally 180. “It was beat up, but I managed to ride it around in school,” he recalls.

During the late 1980s, Cinco was a member of one of the first scooter clubs in Chicago, “It was an all-mod ska and skinhead scooter group called the Alley Cats,” he exclaims. The group celebrated its twentieth anniversary in May. “It was a reunion to get together and see old faces.”

In addition to MayDay, the Heck’s Angels and Screw City scooter clubs participated in the fest. There were also 30 scooter enthusiasts during the festivities.

Fletcher says the hodgepodge of cyclists is a natural fit. “It’s kind of an English sub-culture that has been adopted by America in many places as the mod and rocker cultures.”

For Cinco, the event was about the mods and rockers coming together. “The cool thing about it was that everyone united in one group,” he says. “It’s all about respecting unity, so people got together and made this thing happen. It’s like a brotherhood of old-school traditionalists that are keeping the scene alive.”