In a corner of Detroit’s west side, Rashad Madarani is on a mission to create a haven for artists and free spirits in the community. The 22-year-old owns the Weed Whacker Motorcycle Garage at 18743 Joy Rd., where he combines mechanics with creativity.
Inside the space, old and new motorcycles are lined up, a skeleton sitting on one. There’s also a yellow sailboat; a little red car; a stage with a microphone, drums, guitars, and amps; art on the walls; and a couple of cats that can sometimes be seen roaming around.
At 13, Madarani started working at Tony’s Auto Tech, the car shop attached to his space, and this current journey began. “I’d be in this building with WD-40 and a lighter making a little flamethrower,” he reminisces.
While he grew up in Dearborn Heights, Madarani spent much of his formative years working and skateboarding in Detroit. He was always interested in the idea of being an artist in some or many forms, but people around him never made it seem like an option.
As Madarani grew older, he became “infatuated” with the craft of motorcycles and purchased his first one, a 1981 Kawasaki KZ 305 CSR, when he was a teenager. The bike wasn’t in the best shape though, and when it often broke down on the side of the road, Madarani was quickly innovative, using random trash to fix it.
“People liked it and they were like, ‘Dude, make my bike look disgusting like that,’” he says.
So, he started uniquely fixing motorcycles for other people and convinced the owner of Tony’s to turn his storage area at the time into a monetized space where Madarani could open a motorcycle garage.
The road to success has been a long journey of learning from mistakes and pushing through doubt, as initially, Madarani says he had the business skills of a high schooler, and the motorcycles he fixed weren’t very safe.
“I have a text that I want to print out. One of my customers texted me, ‘I almost died’... The picture he sent me is the fender sideways stuck into his wheel, and I’m like, ‘Oh shit, I gotta get better at this,’” Madarani says. “I smile about it now because I did get better and the bikes I build are safe, but that picture, I saw it and I’m like, ‘Damn, maybe I should stop doing this, this isn’t safe,’ but I just kept at it.”
His early missteps served as stepping stones toward creating not only safe motorcycles but also preserving the edgy, “nasty bike” aesthetic that distinguishes his work.
The shop, once named “Nasty Bikes,” has evolved into the Weed Whacker Motorcycle Garage, and Madarani’s ambitions have expanded beyond motorcycle work. His space now serves as a hub for the community to come together, where he has held art exhibitions, raves, and small concerts.
“I have a lot of that creative nature inside of me that stems from being alive and I can’t really express all of that through one single avenue,” he says. “If there’s any leftover I’ll just find an avenue that works.”
He adds that he was inspired by his “best friend Austen Brantley,” who is an internationally recognized sculptor from Detroit. “I would just watch him do the things and I’m like, ‘This is possible,’” he says.
For him, motorcycle work is an art form; he doesn’t see himself as just a mechanic. Old license plates, chains, cans, and other miscellaneous materials transform the motorcycles fixed at Weed Whacker Motorcycle Garage into functioning sculptures.
One motorcycle in his shop, which he calls “The Phoenix,” is a prime example. Broken parts from the motorcycle were repurposed into artistic components.
“It’s called the Phoenix because it was crashed and I bought it for $400. Rather than replace all the broken parts, I augmented them into functional things,” Madarani says. “It’s also shaped like a phoenix, it’s got a pointy tail, I mimicked the body style of a bird how it comes to a point and then has a chest.”
When Madarani initially decided he wanted to start sculpting himself, he thought he would have to find space at a friend’s studio. But, a chance encounter changed that plan and sparked new ideas.
“I was at this bonfire and I met this girl who gave me a lovely compliment. She said I’m the most cinematic human she’s ever met,” Madarani says. “Then she asked if she could rent some space in [my shop] to sculpt some stuff and I’m like, ‘Oh, shit. You could sculpt stuff at my shop.’”
So, he put together his first sculpture outside of the motorcycles, called “The Industrial Bouquet,” at the garage, tying together a bunch of old car bumpers from a junkyard down the road into a flower-like bouquet. He sold the piece to a place in Ferndale for $1,200.
Now, the Weed Whacker Motorcycle Garage is open for community artists to host events, and Madarani emphasizes that he is more interested in fostering a creative environment than profiting from it.
“If you want to throw an event, it’s rather cheap,” he says. “I don’t want your money, I just want to see this place become something.”
For art galleries, Madarani says he only takes 5% from artists to cover costs, rather than the industry standard which is often around 45%.
During events, he uses the motorcycles in the shop as barriers to separate the partying from the functional workspace. His goal is to create a clean, organized, self-sustaining space where creativity can thrive.
Madarani sees his venture as a beacon of creativity on the west side of Detroit, a place where artists can find a home for their work and ideas. He believes in the power of a supportive community for creative people.
“It’s lonely being an artist because to be an artist to a certain level, you’re actively deciding to be dissatisfied with the mundane, and the mundane is all around, so a community of other artists helps you feel less lonely,” he says.
In the coming months, Madarani hopes to focus on expanding his reach as a venue space, as most people now solely know about it from word of mouth.
“If you’re doing something, I’m going to help you do it if you want me to help you do it,” he says. “That’s what I want to focus on this winter is more of the venue space, building a following, so that way I can use that to monetize this place further, not only for events and galleries but also for motorcycle work.”
The venture is even more important due to the scarcity of an art community in this specific neighborhood of the city.
“There’s no other haven for creativity on this side of Detroit, period. It’s all monetized,” Madarani says. “I don’t know surely if it’s important to have here yet, because I don’t know if there are any artists worth such a haven under the surface here, but if they are here, they need this place. If they’re not here, being on this side of town acts like a veil. All the heathens and party animals who we don’t want at these events are scared of this side of town anyway, so it’s only if you’re in the know.”
For Madarani, it’s not just about the space he’s created but the spirit he’s fostering, which he envisions as exciting but homey.
“It’s nurturing enough to feel like a home, you’re not in any sort of danger here. You are safe being yourself, there’s no aggression. But, it’s a cool guys motorcycle shop, like I’m going to be doing fucking burnouts and we’re going to be drinking the shit out of some beer and maybe we’ll have a boxing match,” he says. “It’s a place that’s full of metaphorical firecrackers, but you are in no danger of getting hurt.”
Anyone interested in more information or setting up an event at Weed Whacker Motorcycle Garage can reach out to Madarani through a direct message on Instagram @weedwhacker_moto.
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