The Art Of The Motorcycle
This blog regularly has some great motorcycle photography in it.
http://v2guzzi.blogspot.com/Be warned, there are also a few cars and a few beautiful and occasionally scantily clad ladies.
After years of building motorcycles I just love the details, it was great hear and watch in the documentary about MV Agusta on what makes them unique
wait until you see the amazing detail that only mechanics usually get to see. Amazing stuff
The title of your thread caught my eye, and I doubt that was an accident.
"The Art of the Motorcycle" was the name of a major exhibition of motorcycles and their memorabilia at the Guggenheim Museum which opened in New York June 26th of 1998.
I drove up to the exhibit at the Fields Museum in Chicago to see it in the winter of 1999, and I still have the monograph by the same title. That's where I found the dates of the exhibitions as they had slipped out of my short term memory.
Photography was aggressively NOT permitted in Chicago when I was there, I was very annoyed. The custodians were hyper vigilant about it, even if we had small pocket cameras as I did. Rats!!
You have an incredible array of images of motorcycle art. I tried to see if I could deduce where they were shot, but wasn't really successful.
Most of my museum shots are from the Museum at Barber racetrack near Birmingham Alabama or Wheels Through Time - Dale Walksler's Museum in Maggie Valley North Carolina.
I remember one exhibit several years ago in Indianapolis at the Eiteljorg Museum of Western Art "Steel Ponies" exhibit
I remember studying the board track racers on exhibit in Barber I think, and tried to imagine riding at triple digit speeds ( > 110 mph ) on quarter mile banked wooden track courses on a motorcycle with 2 or 3 inch tires and no brakes, with an engine oiled by an open course oil system, dripping through the engine out of the crankcase, and out onto the wooden racetrack. Our forebears were far braver than I, or maybe just crazier.
Notice carefully, no brakes, front or rear axle.
The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit moved to Las Vegas for a while, and the curator contacted me as he wanted my James Trails Commando I had recently done a restoration on, in the show.
He was calling from New York and when he arrived in Vegas the show layout had already been completed and the design team hadn't received his letter to include my motorcycle
Images are from all over, including Barbar and Wheels Through Time. I was at one or two shows a month in the 2000's with my motorcycles.
Based off the board track style, one bike I built for the World Championships of Custom Bike Building (yes, that's a real thing, lol) for the 2007 event where 3850 bikes competed to get one of the 100 invitational spots at the main show in Sturgis, my bike 'Epic' placed sixth overall.
What a beautiful looking sculpture representing an idea of a hardtail motorcycle. Looks really cool.
Gorgeous workmanship.
Riding it any distance might be an interesting, if a bit dangerous, endeavour, though.
Once again. I see a brake on the front wheel only this time, a totally exposed chain drive, and a rear tire very very close to the riders rear, minimal to no suspension, and no muffler whatsoever with fire coming forth from the exhaust pipe.
Thats why I called it a representational sculpture 🙂 The art of the motorcycle on display.
I assume it really is rideable, right?
It is rideable, but was built more to showcase workmanship than take a ride, there was 8000 man hours involved with the build.
Later, I was contacted by a very wealthy Austrian who wanted it for a private motorcycle collection only if I could make it unrideable! Basically drain all fluids...and then it was gone
What the pictures don't show is the size of the machine, it was truly massive and the tops of the tires was close to 36 inches
This was a couple of hours before loading for the show in Sturgis
...and while in Sturgis the Smithsonian sent a film crew to come and interview me!
Yes, I clearly saw the workmanship, beautiful workmanship. I did not appreciate the size of the machine - you're right.
The machines on display at Barber are simply decorative, fixed forever, but the machines at Wheels through Time all start, run, and many are ridden.
I have heard Dale say "Hey, You wanna hear it run?" so many times! I love that kind of a museum!
Another image of the board track racers display at Barber
I have a life time membership at Wheels Through Time and a few years ago Dale offered me a job. Sadly a non paying one!
That would be a great area to live and ride in, as am sure you know.
Is your picture from Barbers or Wheels through Time? I don't want to be in error about mine which is the same background as yours.
The last one is from Barbar
