Once in a while, you stumble across a bike that stops you dead in your tracks.That’s exactly what happened to me at the Victoria Hotrod and Bike Show back at the end of May this year. I was wandering around the show checking out all the cool rides and not so cool barges, when I […]
The Canadian Warbird Read More »
Over the years, I’ve interviewed motorcycle brothers and sisters all over the world. We are all members of a passionate breed. In each case, specific feature bikes represent vast undertakings in a mission for love, freedom, or artistic expression. To Roy Gregory, this motorcycle represents overcoming a life of alcohol and drug abuse. It was
The Spirit of the White Devil Read More »
Several years ago, when Discovery Channel was exploiting the bike builder as a conquering hero and reaping monetary benefits off of his back, Indian Larry was finally getting his just due. People around the world were being introduced to one of the premier bike builders as well as a first class human being. Sadly, in
Indian Larry is Alive Read More »
I have a lot of full custom bikes and love to ride them but when you’ve got that much money and time invested in something it’s hard to take it out and beat it up on a daily bases. When you leave a $50k bike on the street in front of the bar its hard
Bonneville Adventure Unfolds Read More »
“My wife wanted something legal,” said Todd Silicato of Todd’s Cycle. Todd is a nondescript builder’s builder. He’s not a celebrity type. He’s a biker who works his ass off building anything from modified stock bikes to world-class customs and billet products, to speedway racers, and now he’s tempted to roll to Bonneville. He’s also
First Ever Speed King Read More »
The man with his creation. Bob Carrillo is the quintessential bike builder: part renegade, part Renaissance man. He is a man of many talents. Trained as a stone mason, Bob’s family hails from the East San Fernando Valley area of metropolitan Los Angeles. Bob started riding dirt bikes at a very young age. His grandfather
Maybe it smacked you at a local bike night, maybe it occurred at a bike show, or maybe you were out for a ride. We all run into bikes that stick in our brains like the first touch from a gorgeous woman after a hazardous tour in Iraq. In this case, “Peckerhead,” the motorcycle, slapped
The Peckerhead Wins Read More »
Lodi, CA~August 24, 2009 – Bryan Schimke, the immensely talented custom bike builder and owner of TPJ Customs out of Lodi, CA and his good buddy Satya Kraus, owner of Kraus Motor Co. from Cazadero, CA, hit the road for Sturgis this year on badass custom steel with a pocket full of optimism and a
TPJ Custom Sturgis Delivery Read More »
Click on any image in this feature for a chance to win this beauty. Have you ever wanted to roll on the throttle while riding down the twists and turns of a back country road on a pure American classic — say a pristine 1947 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead? Easy question, right. What if I told you
Wheels Through Time Lucky 47 Read More »
This all began 38 years ago on the Big Island of Hawaii. Chris Calicdan’s dad, a phone company lineman, rode a raked-out Panhead at the time. Chris, at 2-years-old, stumbled into the garage as his father’s engineer boot kicked the starter lever and that rigid, with upsweeps, fired to life. It was the first time
Drop Seat Sporty for Kristie Read More »
US Choppers is alive and well. Rick Krost, the boss, knows business. He has a degree in finance, but his heart belongs to vintage motorcycles, so he designed something new that would make new shit look old, the US Chopper Board Track Chassis. He focused his love for vintage bikes and built a frame configuration
US Choppers Racers Read More »
People work for it, people steal for it, people dream of winning it, people sell their bodies for it, folks killed for it, people sell their souls for it, and songs have been sung about it and in these days of legal thievery and corporate greed, the world spins on it ! You all know
The Root of All Evil Read More »
On the way to a motorcycle photo shoot starring his recently award-winning bike build; a funny thing happened to Pat “Mongo” Kelly. He was aboard his daily ride, or should we say a road-ripping terror that passes for a street bike. In truth, it is a highly modified 2005 Harley-Davidson Dyna FXDXI Super Glide Sport.
Sacramento Easyriders Bike Show Aftermath Read More »
I ran into Ross Suderno at the Grand National Roadster show a couple of years ago. His bike was a standout for several reasons. As it turns out, we share a lot of biker- linked history. He built a bike for a giant Los Angeles black weight-lifter in the early ’70s and I featured two
An Old School Classic, An Original Shovelhead Read More »
Interestingly, when this Ironhead Sportster motor went down the line at Harley-Davidson’s Engine Plant in Milwaukee some time in 1967, carbon fiber hardly existed. Sure, it was back in the 1950s that the first carbon fibers were developed for use on missiles, but they were primitive compared with today’s product. And it wasn’t until the
Carbon Fiber Sporty Custom Read More »
Indian’s venture into three-wheeled territory began in the late 1920s with so-called “traffic cars,” commercial three-wheelers that over the ensuing years produced several variants. As the story goes the genesis for the Dispatch-Tow seen here occurred in 1939 when Indian and a local Springfield, MA Packard dealership teamed up to find a way to have
1941 Indian Dispatch-Tow Read More »
I've got a little story to tell you that I think you will find interesting. I am a retired airline pilot (for the time being) who met a pilot for Air France at the Harley dealer in Salt Lake City in the summer of 2005. Since we both flew the B-777 we had an instant
Rare Iron Discovered In French Countryside Read More »
For immediate release. 15 September 2008 – San Francisco – Certain competitors, once in the saddle, put an indelible stamp on events and, similarly, there’s a select group of racers who create an affinity with a single brand. There is no finer example of this than the long-standing link between Marty Dickerson, Vincent and Bonneville.
Amazing Blue Vincent Story Read More »
In a not so hostile takeover, bicycle mogul Ignaz Schwinn acquired the vaunted Excelsior company in 1911 and then in 1917 acquired another “trophy” company in the form of the Henderson Motorcycle Co. purveyors of the now iconic Henderson Four seen here. Detroit-based Tom and William Henderson had started building their four cylinder machines in
1913 Henderson Four Cylinder Read More »
This could be a 1919 Single H-D model the precursor to the first Peashooter in '26. Photo from the Bob T. collection. Hill Climbing like jazz is an American invention. The idea is to get to the top of a very steep hill faster than the next rider. And you and the bike must arrive
Rare 1931 OHV Hillclimbing Peashooter Read More »
Everybody knows him as the ultimate stuntman who achieved the famous motorcycle jump (and that on a Triumph made to appear like a German bike) in Steve McQueen’s “The Great Escape.” Others remember him as a daring-do racer. In addition, Bud Ekins also enjoyed tinkering with time machines. Case in point this totally stock, “original
Bud Ekins Final Triumph: Read More »
What’s a rare 1930s vintage German BMW doing in a 21st century Boss Hoss dealership in Harbor City, CA? That’s the question we asked Victor Vert owner of California Boss Hoss Motorsports. “I had gone up to Don Whalen’s place to look at an Indian Four he had restored and had up on eBay. I
Two-Wheeled Wunderkind: 1931 Beemer Restoration Read More »
Curator's Note: The following story is an excerpt from the handwritten 1901 Summer Journal of Edward I. Horsman, Jr., age 27, the son of a prominent New York toy manufacturer. Edward spent his summers, as did many high society members, in Europe and rubbed elbows with the elite of the Old World. Edwin Lemare and
Rare Motorcycle Journal Discovered Read More »
Canonball Bakers and crew. Whenever one writes anything about Australia, it should begin with a song, probably the country’s most famous. I first heard it as a kid watching a movie made in 1959 called “On the Beach.” Gregory Peck played a submarine commander heading for Australia hoping to find some survivors from a nuclear
Doing the Ton Down Under: Read More »
