1930 HENDERSON CUSTOM

The machine is apparently based on a 1930 Henderson—presumably the 100 mph (160 km/h) Streamline model—and was built in 1936 by a gent called O. Ray Courtney. Today the bike is owned by Frank Westfall of Syracuse, a motorcycle collector and local identity, who was seen happily riding this extraordinary motorcycle around the showgrounds.

According Mortillaro, “The craftsmanship is absolutely stunning and it’s surely more of a museum piece than a daily rider. Frank has obviously spent an incredible amount of time meticulously restoring and rebuilding the bike to its current state.”

As a marque, Henderson is unfortunately buried in the sands of time, despite a short-lived attempt to revive the name in the late 90s. But until its demise in 1931, the Excelsior Motor Mfg. & Supply Co.—the owner of the Henderson brand—was one of the ‘Big Three’ American motorcycle manufacturers, along with Harley-Davidson and Indian.

[ Texts from BikeEXIF. First four images by kind permission of Grail Mortillaro, © Knucklebuster. Final image located by Pete Plassmann. Thanks also to Bill Tikos, Benjie Flipperboi, Scott Ruffalo and Twitter denizens Fuzzygalore and qcmw. ]

Shinya Kimura @ Chabott Engineering

shinya kimura @ chabott engineering from Henrik Hansen on Vimeo.

A short film about custom motorcycle engineer shinya kimura @ chabott engineering, directed by Henrik Hansen www.henrikhansen.net, shot on the Canon 5D and 7D.

KILLERBOBBERS COPENHAGEN

Dr. Ray's Safety Tips For Motorcycle Riding

Make your first ride your best ride. Take the MSF Basic RiderCourse. Find a course at msf-usa.org or call (800) 446-9227.

If you are a new rider or a veteran motorcycle rider, Dr. Ray has a wonderful guide called "You and Your Motorcycle - Riding Tips".  Dr. Raymond J. Ochs is the director of training systems for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Ochs has more than 30 years of experience in education, training and leadership functions. Ochs joined the MSF in 2002 where he develops and maintains national curriculum and training functions related to the MSF Rider Education and Training System. Ochs has owned multiple motorcycles in his 35-plus years on the road and currently rides a touring bike. He became an MSF-certified instructor in 1973 and a chief instructor in 1980, and has conducted motorcycle safety training programs and presented papers and presentations all over the country and overseas including Germany and Japan.  

Dr. Ray's guide is in PDF form so you can download it and print it for free. Share it with your club members, friends, family or any one that rides a motorcycle.  It has a lot of helpful tips and insights.  We all can learn something cause no one knows it all.

Here is a brief description of some of the tips you will read in his guide:

• Learn to smoothly squeeze your front brake lever. Practice smooth braking even while rolling your bike out of the garage, so the skill is there in an emergency. 

• The best riders control their bikes to within six inches of their desire line, every mile and every curve of every ride.

• All the levers and pedals should be adjusted so they're easy to reach and operate.

• Practice hard stops when and where it's safe. If you ride with passengers, tell them to hold on and practice some hard stops with them. Just do it with care. 

• Don't tense up. Keep your elbows relaxed and slightly bent. Use a light grip on the bars. You need to control the bike, but you also need to let the steering do its job, not fight it. 

• The front tire of a sport bike can handle braking loads even when leaned over, but not abrupt braking loads. Words to live by: Load the tire before you work the tire. 

• Sport bike riders: Get used to holding yourself up with your core muscles and legs, gripping the tank with your thighs. This takes the pressure off the handlebars. 

• Your front brake has most of the stopping power. But develop a good feel for using your rear brake as well, to further shorten stopping distances. 

• Sport bike riders: Forget tucking in and hanging way off to drag your knee UNLESS you're on a racetrack, where you can safely explore your limits.

• Be smooth whenever you are moving around on the bike. Aggressive, abrupt body movements can be just as wrong as grabbing the brakes or stabbing the throttle. 

• Whichever line you are using through a corner, use all your vision and think and plan. Scan side to side and near to far, keeping eyes up and looking through the entire curve. 

• Remember: Weighting the inside axle of the gyro (aka the foot peg) helps turn your bike into the corner.

• When cornering, don't let your eyes linger.  Jump them to what's next and any possible hazards. 
  
  
  FOR MORE TIPS DOWNLOAD DR. RAY'S GUIDE CLICK HERE
  
  

INTO THE DARK

OPEL MOTOCLUB 500cc

This machine was one of the highlights of the 1928 Berlin Automobil und Motorrad show: designed by Ernst Neumann-Neander, one of the pioneers of pressed-steel construction, it looked like no other motorcycle on the market. The metalwork was cadmium plated, and most of the leather and rubber was red—right down to the tires.

Even more strangely, Fritz von Opel built a rocket-powered version too. According to The Vintagent, “The rider activated the rockets with a foot pedal, after using the motorcycle’s engine to reach 75mph; Opel calculated that 220km/h (132mph) was then possible”. Opel’s plan to break the world land speed record was unfortunately thwarted by the German authorities, but the more sedate, regular Motoclub lives on.

If you’re tempted, there’s a lovely 1928 model for sale at the Dutch dealer Yesterdays for €24,500—around US$33,000.

Opel Motoclub is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

Image from Motor-Talk.de.

Vespa 150 TAP from Bike EXIF

By guest writer Scott of Pipeburn.

Many times I’ve wished I had a Bazooka attached to my bike, usually after almost being killed by someone who didn’t check their side mirrors. Luckily for them, all I had to unload was my middle finger. So when I first saw this Vespa, I knew most motorcyclists would love the concept—even if it was made for a different purpose.

It is named the Vespa 150 TAP (Troupes Aéro Portées) and it’s an Italian Vespa scooter modified by creating a hole in the legshield to carry a M20 75 mm recoilless rifle. The recoil or ‘kick’ from the rifle was counter balanced by venting propellant gases out the rear of the weapon; this eliminated the need for heavy mounts, and enabled the weapon to be fired from the Vespa frame.

Due to the lack of any kind of aiming devices, the recoilless rifle was supposed to be mounted on a tripod, which was also carried by the scooter. Primarily built for the Algerian War in the 1950s, five parachutes could carry a two-man gun crew, weapon, ammunition, and two scooters. Then the men would load the weapon on one scooter and the ammo on the other, before riding away to find their enemy. Although rumour has it that the drivers were seen more often pushing it rather than riding on it …

Vespa 150 TAP is a post from Bike EXIF - Classic motorcycles, custom motorcycles and cafe racers.

1934 BMW R7 from Bike EXIF

After over seventy years languishing in a box the BMW R7 has been restored to its former glory by BMW Classic. Although the motorcycle, manufactured in 1934, was only ever a prototype and never went into production it is one of the most important, innovative and visually stunning motorcycles ever produced.

In 1935 the telescopic front fork was introduced. Initially it was tried on the R7, which never went into production. It was many years before customers were ready to accept this sort of 'styling'.

The 1930's was a time of engagement with the fabulous and expressive world of Art Deco. The integrated design of the R 7, with its extravagantly valanced mudguards, clean flowing lines and extensive use of chrome and steel, perfectly encapsulated this era. It was a motorcycle like no other that had preceded it or, in many ways, has been produced since. Motorcycles had developed from the humble bicycle and that is what, at that time, they still very much resembled.

The visual presence of the bike and the sleek and beautiful casting of the motor were enhanced by the lack of the usual frame tubing. The motor hung in position from the pressed steel bridge frame - something that was completely different to other motorcycles but again similar in concept to modern machines.


SOURCES : Bike EXIF | BM Bikes

There’s more information about the project on Phil Hawksley’s BM Bikes.

Special thanks to Chris Hunter, owner of Bike EXIF

RSD HARLEY CAFE SPORTSTER - from Bike EXIF

EXCLUSIVE

Courtesy of BikeEXIF

Top US custom builder Roland Sands Design has taken a long, hard look at the evergreen Harley Sportster, and put together a very sexy package of modifications. Here are the very first pictures of the RSD Café kit that will be on sale soon—a kit that’s designed to be affordable, so owners will be able to buy the parts in stages to spread the cost. The basics will include pipes (built by Vance and Hines), moto pegs, a coil and key relocation bracket.

Also on the list are wheels, some very slick brake discs, a new pulley and a fork brace. At the moment, the café seat, gauge/headlight relocation kit and velocity stack are still at the prototype stage, but they should be in production by mid 2010. The result looks stunning to our eyes—check the full set of images on Bike EXIF's Facebook page—and there’s even more good news to come: in the New Year, RSD is turning the XR1200 into a fully functioning race bike that’s still street legal.  [Thanks to Rodney Aguiar.]

Special thanks to Chris Hunter, owner of Bike EXIF - possibly the best motorcycle blog in the World. 

BEN SCHKADE PHOTOGRAPHY

http://benschkade.com

BSA AIRLINES

GLIDER FLYER BIKER

THE HARBORTOWN BOBBER

MOTORCYCLE HIBERNATION IN CRYOGENIC SUSPENSION

So... It's that time of year again, the biting Scandinavian Winter is closing in rapidly, which makes it just too little fun to be sliding around on the black-ice covered, stormy backroads of Denmark, so it's time to put the demon to sleep for a couple of months, which, as always, is a bit of a wrench....

And, strangely enough, it feels the same each year, when we geographically-indesposed unfortunates located high in the lowlands of the Northern hemisphere have to go 'cold turkey' until the sun starts shining again, ( - you guys in Canada know what I'm talking about - ) but I try to look at it as an opportunity (!?!) like, "now there's time to get it back in the workshop", or "can plan next year's bike trips", or..... BOLLOCKS!

So anyway, this year I'm taking NO chances as regards security... it's bolted to the floor with 5 (five) different Tungsten-bolt locks, (one is alarmed), in an airtight vacuum chamber with a pressure sensitive floor, laser triggered alarm system, with moisture, pressure and bodyheat sensors, aerial bear traps, swinging spiked tree-stumps, and CS-gas canisters hooked up to the ventilation system, for good measure......... there's also an overly-proportioned Vodka-soaked Russian man with a big dead fish for slapping with..... (a Russian Slapper?) .....

On the Titanium armoured vault door to the 'bunker', is a voice-activated multi-directional deadbolt, with a dual-retinal-scan-combined-with-fingerprint recognition system for simultaneous scanning of both my retina, while alternating individual scans of 4 different fingers on each of my 3 (three) hands (otherwise, the alarms go off)....

Surrounding this impenetrable structure, is a top-of-the-range-not-off-the-shelf-but-out-of-the-box CCTV surveilance system with SAT uplink to Interpol, CIA and NASA, consisting of 12 (twelve) discreet yet highly-sensitive night-vision cameras... this is six of them...

.....connected to the panzer-glass searchlights and 4 (four) motion tracking 50mm Gattling cannons (the motorway cleaners, off the front of the bike), which are fed from underground magazines....

As if this wasn't enough of a deterrant, (which you'd imagine it would be), I have a great shot lined up through a 50-Cal M-107 LRSR from a concealed and elevated position 30 meters away, so look, I really can't miss....

And, just so that it can't be said that I'm taking any unnecessary chances, the reserve weapon of choice is the HELLCAT, a brutal, savage, vicious, fierce cold killing machine...

But he really only comes into his element AFTER we've tranquilized and dragged the thief down to the cellar, where we slowly tear strips off skin off with a blunt instrument, scrubbing the surface occasionally with onions and vinegar :)

All that's left now, is to have myself encased in Carbonite until February, but I'm REALLY not looking forward to hibernation sickness :)

MARLON BRANDO - THE WILD ONE

MARLON BRANDO

(3.4.1924 – 1.7.2004)

Marlon Brando's iconic performance in The Wild One (1953) as outlaw Johnny Strabler, gang leader of Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, dressed in a classic leather jacket and riding his own 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T, caused consternation to Triumph's US importers of the time.

According to the book, "Triumph Motorcycle In America", Triumph's US importers, Johnson Motors, objected to the prominent use of Triumph motorcycles in the film, as the subject matter was renegade motorcycle gangs taking over a small town. Ironically enough, however, the current Triumph factory now uses images from the film to advertise their motorcycles.

Apparently, Elvis Presley was highly inspired by Brando in The Wild One and imitated his looks, thus sparking off the whole sideburns craze.

James Dean was also inspired by The Wild One and Brando and based his persona much on Brando's role as Johnny. James Dean bought a Triumph TR5 Trophy motorcycle to mimic Brando's own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle from the film.

Appearing opposite Brando was Lee Marvin as a rival gang leader. One story even maintains that The Beatles took their name from the motorcycle club led by Lee Marvin, the Beetles, as referred to in the Beatles Anthology.

So I watched The Wild One again last night, I've seen it maybe 5-6 times over the last 3 decades, and it still retains the same element of cool, even if the characters don't seem as 'bad-ass' as they did when I was a kid :)

FOR SALE - Steve McQueen's 1940 Indian Chief

1940 Indian Chief

This iconic American motorcycle was used by Steve as his personal “Hollywood bike” and was originally sold as part of the McQueen estate in Las Vegas in 1984. 3 items previously owned by legendary Hollywood actor Steve McQueen have been consigned to Bonhams’ annual Classic California auction at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles this Saturday.

Bonhams’ auction at the Petersen Auto Museum on Wilshire Boulevard in LA will take place on Saturday, November 14. Buyers interested in participating in this renowned sale, either remotely or in person, may register to bid by contacting usacars@bonhams.com.

P120 FIGHTER COMBAT - CONFEDERATE MOTOR COMPANY

Photograph by Randal Crow.

The Fighter clarifies opaqueness and nullifies hype with straight-forward true to concept certitude.  At the source is a classic right triangle.  Proportion is classically derived.  Scale is middle way.  Bearing exudes structural permanence. Human integration deploys yang energy, vitality, and power in the most simple, pure and direct form.  Geometry is optimized for the medium and/or long disciplined journey of sensory heightened motion.  Torque to weight is maximized.  Engine, suspension and ergonomic luxury and ease of use is optimized.  Materials utilization is the finest. Individual piece and component specification is highest and best.

Craft preparation and specification is uncompromised.  The aesthetic is fresh, industrial, sculptural, holistic and honest.  The saddle of the Fighter is your place for those outings which require extended time, geography, meditation and distance.  Personal liberation will result!

The new Confederate Motorcycles P120 Fighter Combat is here, producing 160 horses at the rear wheel. Add this to a dry weight of 460 lbs and you start to appreciate how amazing this machine really is! Production of this model is limited to fifty motorcycles: 25 Roman numeral and 25 Arabic numeral models will be produced.

HARLEY DAVIDSON EURO FESTIVAL 2009

HD EUROFESTIVAL 09

Grimaud, Golfe de St. Tropez,
May 7th - 10th 2009

LARRY GROSSMAN - HOT NIGHTS & HOT PURSUIT

Larry Grossman’s professional art career began at age 15 when he purchased his first airbrush and began painting wild designs on T-shirts at car shows, occasionally working for the famous “King of the Kustomizers” George Barris. This early income enabled him to buy his first car, a Chevy powered '29 Ford hot rod. Moving from L.A. to Berkeley in the psychedelic 60’s, he studied film and photography, graduating from the California College of the Arts. “Rude Vagabond”, an animated film he single handedly created won the Grand Prize at the joint CCAC/San Francisco Art Institute Film Festival. He also wrote, directed and produced the feature film “The Big Sleeze”. Both films have toured extensively on the national “Midnight Movie” circuit.

In 1981 the Disney Studios enticed Larry back to L.A. to work as a designer on their landmark first computerized film, “TRON”. Freelancing in the 80’s and 90’s he created many logos, illustrations, and merchandise designs for major studios including Disney, Warner Bros., and DreamWorks. He also illustrated three album covers for legendary musician Frank Zappa, and one for Hank Williams Jr.. Through his firm "Art Attack" Larry also designed and sold innovative giftware, furniture, and other interior decor.

In the early '90’s Larry became enthralled with the creative potential of the computer, and as a result put his airbrush and paints aside. His current digital work combines his love of architecture, design, and photography with his passion for the styles of the 1920’s-50’s (he drives a '32 Ford hot rod and a self-restored '61 Nash Metro convertible, and collects vintage clothes). Over the years he has amassed an extensive catalog of his own photos, which he is now using (exclusively) to create his art in an entirely new and imaginative way. Combining these photos with state of the art digital painting techniques, he has created a look and style which is uniquely his own.

Larry’s artwork is distributed through his company “RetroVisions” and is becoming quite collectable. It is currently exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide, including the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Museum in Pomona California, and the famed Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. His images are also being published as calendars, puzzles, mouse pads, and much more. Recently Larry was thrilled to have been commissioned to create custom pictures for two legends of hot rod culture, one for his old pal George Barris, and one for Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s widow. Both of these pictures are available on this website.

www.retrovisions.com

BARDOT - BIKES AND BOATS

Brigitte Bardot grew up in a wealthy, conservative French Catholic family. She was named for her mother's favorite doll, and as a child wore braces on her teeth and glasses to correct astigmatism. Bardot began studying ballet at the age of five, and at 13 she danced alongside Leslie Caron at the Conservatoire Nationale de Danse. At 14, she was photographed for the cover of Elle magazine. At 15, Bardot met her future first ex-husband Roger Vadim, and attempted suicide when her parents refused permission for her to marry until she was 18. They married when she turned 18, and divorced five years later.

"I am leaving the town to the invaders: increasingly numerous, mediocre, dirty, badly behaved, shameless tourists."

  Brigitte Bardot, 1967.

She moved from modeling to acting, and played a 17-year-old nymphet (at 22) in Vadim's And God Created Woman, a role that made Bardot known internationally. She embodied a natural yet innocent sexuality that was a precursor to the sexual liberation movement of the 1960s. The actress eschewed the Catholic principles of her childhood, saying "It is better to be unfaithful than to be faithful without wanting to be."

Long prone to depression, Bardot has attempted suicide multiple times. "I really wanted to die at certain periods in my life. Death was like love, a romantic escape. I took pills because I didn't want to throw myself off my balcony and know people would photograph me lying dead below." On her 26th birthday she attempted her most publicly known suicide attempt, swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills and slitting her wrists.

Bardot retired from films at 39, to focus on her love of animals and her increasingly odd political activism. She sold her home, her jewels, and other personal effects in 1986 to start the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which works for animal rights across the world. She has been outspoken to the point of causing international offense on the behalf of animals, and once stole a mynah bird on a French street because its owner, whom she beat with an umbrella, was "abusing" it by giving it a hamburger and fries.