The army surplus store was often the go-to for a rider on a budget. Photo: Derick P. Hudson/Shutterstock.com
This morning, reading my usual slate of headlines, I saw this one from Kiwi-Land: Outdoor Cold Weather Gear
You can read the whole story here, but if you’re a long-time shopper at army surplus stores, maybe you shouldn’t. It’s a bit sad, if you’re a fan of that retail genre—and, historically, a lot of motorcyclists were big fans of army surplus. It was the first refuge and last resort of the broke rider.
In fact, decades ago, the army surplus store was a great place to buy a motorcycle. For a long, long time after World War II, American and Canadian surplus stores sold motorcycles—mostly Harley-Davidsons in the States, and mostly Brit bikes in Canada, I think. And these machines were not knackered pieces of mechanical trash full of bullet holes from the MG42s of the Falaise Pocket. I know people who bought brand new, in-the-crate motorcycles at army surplus stores. True, sorting the registration might have been challenging, but many, many riders used these bikes as daily riders, or as the basis for custom machines.
Some of you might remember The Bear’s series about his own WW2 surplus WLA, so I presume similar surplus moto deals existed across the world amongst the Allied nations after 1945. WLAaargh! Pushing a Flathead
Even if you couldn’t find a motorcycle, you could often find other useful gear at the army surplus store. We’ve talked about this before, and there’s no need to rehash it at length, but the army surplus store was often the most affordable way to get your hands on camping equipment, and even some riding gear. Some stores do sell ex-military motorcycle gear. Other stuff is easily adaptable to the adventure travel genre. Austin Vince has ridden around the world with gear bodged together out of military rucksacks and bags, and so have many others. Back when every town had a decent army surplus store with lots of genuine military-issue gear at cheap prices, this was easy.
But now, not so much. It’s hard to find an army-navy store (as they were also called). They’re closing down all over. The Art of Manliness was reporting on this as far back as 2016, and I think the trend has actually picked up steam since then. Even back then, I remember going to surplus stores in Toronto where owners sadly recalled the glory days… but at least they had competitors. Now those stores and their competitors are out of business. The few stores that remain have basically two lines of stock: some real army surplus that’s much-picked-over, basically the rejects of the past few decades, stuff that won’t sell for another few years yet… and a line of imported-from-China knock-off stuff. This is new, it’s mostly cheap, and seems to turn over enough business to keep the stores afloat. Jerry cans! Camping gear! And is that a desperate KLR650 owner inside the shop, searching frantically for a set of ammo cans to be converted to panniers? Photo: Ben Molyneux/Shutterstock.com
Jerry cans! Camping gear! And is that a desperate KLR650 owner inside the shop, searching frantically for a set of ammo cans to be converted to panniers? Photo: Ben Molyneux/Shutterstock.com
Flannel Shirt The sellers I talk to say it’s hard to get their hands on fresh supply of real army surplus, and of course there’s a lot of competition from online now. Here in North America, from Sportsman’s Guide, Colemans and others. In Europe, Varusteleka. These companies typically have better variety, and in the case of Varusteleka, they get kit you’d never see otherwise in North America… but without the ability actually try it on for fit before-hand, and without that nostalgic experience of going into a dimly lit store with smelly olive green canvas stuffed into every corner, and shelves of battered black leather boots. For some shoppers, I suppose that’s progress…