This morning, while reading my usual list of headlines, I saw this one from Kiwi-Land:
You can read the whole story here, but if you've been shopping at army surplus stores for a long time, maybe you shouldn't. It's a little sad if you're a fan of this kind of retail – and, historically, a lot of motorcyclists were big fans of military surplus. It was the first refuge and last resort of the broke rider.
In fact, several 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 US and mostly British motorcycles in Canada, I think. And these machines were not punctured mechanical trash full of bullet holes from the MG42s of the Falaise Pocket. I know people who have bought new motorcycles in the crate in army surplus stores. Certainly, sorting through the records might have been difficult, but many, many riders used these bikes as daily riders or as a basis for custom machines.
Some of you may remember The Bear's series about his own WLA surplus during WWII. So I assume that similar surplus motorcycle deals existed across the world among Allied countries after 1945.
Even if you can't find a motorcycle, you can often find other useful equipment at the army surplus store. We have already talked about that, and it doesn't need to be repeated at length, but the army surplus store was often the most affordable way to get your hands on camping gear, and even riding gear. Some stores sell motorcycle equipment for ex-military personnel. Other elements are easily adaptable to the adventure travel genre. Austin Vince has traveled the world with gear assembled from military backpacks and bags, as have many others. Back when every town had a decent military surplus store with plenty of authentic military gear at cheap prices, this was easy.
But now that's not so much the case. It's hard to find an Army and Navy store (as they were also called). They are closing everywhere. The Art of Manliness reported on it from 2016, and I think the trend has actually accelerated since then. Even back then, I remember going to surplus stores in Toronto where the owners sadly reminisced about the glory days…but at least they had competition. Now these stores And their competitors went bankrupt. The few stores that remain have essentially two lines of stock: real army surpluses which are very salvaged, essentially the rejects of the last decades, products which will not sell for a few more years… and a line of imported products. counterfeit stuff from China. It's new, it's generally cheap, and seems to generate enough business to keep the stores afloat.
Jerry cans! Camping material ! And is it a desperate KLR650 owner inside the store, frantically searching for a set of ammo boxes to convert into saddlebags? Photo: Ben Molyneux/Shutterstock.com
Sellers I speak with say it's hard to get your hands on new, real army surplus items, and of course there's a lot of competition online now. Here in North America, since Athlete's Guide, Colemans and others. In Europe, Varusteleka. These companies generally have better variety, and in Varusteleka's case, they get kits that you would never otherwise see in North America…but without the opportunity to try them first, and without that nostalgic experience of walking into a dimly lit store with smelly olive green canvases stuffed into every corner and racks of battered black leather boots. For some buyers, I suppose that's progress…
