1936 Art Deco Motorcycle

I can't be the only person to have connected these two designs, but I haven't seen any other website or bike magazine comment on this yet. What we have here is an Art Deco concept Henderson motorcycle built in 1936 by O. Ray Courtney. It has an inline 4 cylinder engine longitudinally mounted in the frame, which must make the rear cylinders extremely hot with all that bodywork covering it. The more modern motorcycle is the Yamaha Gen-Ryu hybrid concept of 2005 which seems to borrow most of its styling elements from the Henderson. Notice the vertical grill has been turned into a vertical headlight array of LEDs. I love the way they modernized the design while keeping the retro theme. I wonder if James Parker had anything to do with this design as I see his front suspension ( Yamaha GTS ) on the front of this bike.

The Harley Davidson Sportster is going through a resurgence of sorts in regards to its popularity.
A number of custom bike builders are taking a new look at an old classic and seeing lots of new opportunities. Currently the hipster crowd are into vintage looking customs of the cafe, bobber, or scrambler style and that leaves two bikes at the top of the heap for that market. Triumph is seeing major sales from its T100/ Bonneville line and the Harley Sportster is as well. No longer just for girls getting into the Harley fold, the Sportster is now becoming a cult classic in its own right. Witness this video of Roland Sands Designs' new line of products to help turn your "chicks bike" into a cool manly custom cafe racer. Note the MotoGP under-braced swingarm to deal with all the extra power.

The electric motorcycle seems to have been around a lot longer than I thought. This Harley Davidson electric seems to be from the early 1970's as evidenced by the ill-fated boat tail rear fender and drum front brakes. What I find interesting is the chain sprocket is underneath the motor hinting at a transmission which is just now being implemented on electric bikes by Brammo. The cafe styling is a nice touch, but makes me wonder how fast this thing was expected to go and what kind of electronics were hidden underneath the faux gas tank. I can't imagine it would be very fast with those heavy lead-acid batteries. This is the only one I have ever seen, so I believe it is just a prototype. That is assuming it was actually built by Harley and not some home built special with Harley logos on the tank.

I'm sure very few people ever knew this existed. This video shows just what kind of rare motorcycles will show up at Pebble Beach. Also an interesting history of the Opel brand which I thought only made cars.Jay Leno may not be my favorite late night host, but he is definitely my favorite motorsports educator.

Bill Phelps

      Brooklyn based Bill Phelps is a renowned photographer and bike collector with an eye for classic beauty. Most of his images are in black and white, which seems to give his photographs a timeless appeal just as his subjects do. Around the Harley Davidson corporate offices his images are known as "the Holy Grail" because they remind the executives why they ride and what it's all about. He also owns a cafe in Brooklyn called Moto which is a haven for classic bike enthusiasts in the area. Check out his website at:billphelps.com

Motorcycles as Art

Yamaha XS650

     From cafe racers to brat-style bobbers and dirt trackers, Yamaha's iconic XS650 is fast becoming the ideal japanese platform for customization and performance upgrades. It even has it's own cottage aftermarket industry ready to supply an array of products that covers everything from frames to electronic ignitions and re-phased engines. Originally designed by Hosk in 1955 as a 500cc powerplant, the design was enlarged to 650cc to compete head on with the British 650 twins of the time. Considering when it was designed, the engine was surprisingly advanced using unit construction and horizontally split cases to prevent oil leakage. Single overhead camshafts were also considered fairly new and this technology truly established Yamaha as a major motorcycle manufacurer of larger bikes, rather than the smaller 2-stroke motorcycles for which they had previously been known for. If it had not been for the Honda CB750, this motorcycle could have sold millions instead of the 250,000 it did sell during it's 15 year lifespan. It now stands as a cult classic and is finding new life in the customizing scene as evidenced in this video by Deus Ex Machina. A couple of subtle modifications has changed this bike from UJM to cool cafe racer with loads of character.
Photo source: Bike Exif

Best Bar in America

     Road trips always seem better with a motorcycle.The sense of freedom and sense of where you are on the planet can't be replicated in a motorized box on wheels. Traveling in a car always made me feel as though I was watching the world pass by through a television screen. Traveling on a motorcycle allows me to feel and smell the area through which I am traveling. People are always friendlier and curious about your bike, as well as being helpful giving directions to good roads and places to stay. Combining them with alcohol always ensures an entertaining trip as long as you aren't riding drunk. So far my favorite motorcycle movies seem to combine road trips and alcohol to a certain extent and this new film looks to be a future classic. Perhaps not as culturally significant as Easy Rider or Motorcycle Diaries, I am hoping this movie will help educate the public about the joys of  motorcycling and perhaps make them a little more aware of us on the road.Cool looking BMW too.

aprilia v-4

Aprilia's RSV4 was a long time in the making with the 65 degree V-4 engine being shown years before the complete motorcycle was unveiled in 2009. It went on to win races and magazine comparisons until the BMW S1000R was released. Since that time it has won 2 of the last 3 World Superbike Championships and yesterday won the first 2 opening races of the season in Phillip Island. Not only did it win, but the Aprilias swept the podium of the first race and took the top two spots in the second race.This same engine is the engine of choice for the privateer teams in the MotoGP Championship and has even beaten a couple of the prototype motorcycles.What is it about this engine (which was designed 6 or more years ago) that allows it to keep winning? The 78 x 52.3 cylinder dimensions are not even close to the most radical and the 65 degree engine requires a counterbalancer which uses a certain amount of horsepower to help quell vibrations. The power it produces is almost 20HP down on the class leading BMW and yet it continues to win comparisons against it. I believe Aprilia has found a near perfect balance between weight distribution, power, and handling to create a competition motorcycle that may finally break the Ducati stranglehold on the World Superbike series.

Magnificent Bastard

The 1986 VF 1000R is the great grandfather to many Honda V-four motorcycles.This motorcycle was a higher specification model than the VF1000F, and was intended for endurance racing. Gear-driven cams and anti dive forks were just part of the sophistication that added to a price tag worthy of  an Italian exotic. At 524 lbs it was too heavy for the price and for racing purposes. At a time when Suzuki was promoting their lightweight GSX-R line, the 524lb (dry) Honda was never going to be a sales success. With 998cc and a bore/ stroke ratio of 77mm x 53.6mm, this 90 degree V-4 is not too out of spec from current production racebikes. However, it was never intended to be a dual sport motorcycle, until the guys at ICON (no relation) decided this beast needed some customizing. I think it is an inspired choice, and am curious as to how that bike would handle some dirt roads. A look at the numbers puts it very close to the current crop of adventure-touring motorcycles. If you want to check out more, here's the link:http://www.rideicon.com/bikes/magnificent-bastard/
Photo source: ICON

New Hypermotard

 

2006 MotoGP champ Nicky Hayden does a promotional video for his employers at Ducati. Notice the security guard is the man responsible for the promo video for the first Hypermotard. The new 821cc motorcycle looks even more entertaining than the last version and should probably be a bit quicker and less maintenance intensive thanks to a liquid cooled engine. Interestingly, the original designer (Pierre Terblanche) stated that using an air cooled engine was the only way to keep the size of the bike close to an actual supermoto. This new Hypermotard looks just as small if not smaller than the original, and still uses liquid cooling and the associated radiators. I think this is a well done video and it is the kind of promotion needed to keep this industry alive and to bring new riders into the fold. Hope you enjoy the video.

1910 Silent Grey Fellow

 The 1910 Silent Grey Fellow is one of the last Harley Davidson single cylinder motorcycles with any sales success before the iconic V-twin emerged as the quintessential engine of the American motorcycle industry. Originally a 440cc engine, these were later enlarged to 564cc. These motorcycles were named for the grey paint and the quiet reliable engine and were one of the motorcycles that cemented Harley's reputation as a major manufacturer.
If you can't afford one  for yourself you can always build one. Check out: http://thekneeslider.com/honda-50-powered-vintage-bicycle-project/