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Drop Seat Sporty for Kristie

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

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1941 Indian Dispatch-Tow

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

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Amazing Blue Vincent Story

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.

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1913 Henderson Four Cylinder

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

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Bud Ekins Final Triumph:

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

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Doing the Ton Down Under:

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

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The History of Calamity Jane

My maiden name was Marthy Cannary. I was born in Princeton, Missourri, May 1st, 1852. Father and mother were natives of Ohio. I had two brothers and three sisters, I being the oldest of the children. As a child I always had a fondness for adventure and out-door exercise and especial fondness for horses which

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Fem Flyers

The Battle of the Sexes has entered every category one can think of…there have been female Pharaohs, a female Pope (oh, yeah) and female astronauts so the idea that motorcycling is a man’s domain. Well, that old bit of chauvinism went out the door decades ago minus a few countries where women are still not

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1911 Minneapolis Tri-Car

If you haven’t noticed, the prices recently garnered by vintage, classic and antique motorcycles have gone through the roof…and blasted past Saturn and beyond. Case in point the recent Otis Chandler Museum and Steve McQueen auctions where several motorcycles passed the $100,000 mark, make that the $200,000 mark! Ounce per ounce vintage iron is definitely

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Rare 1923 Neracar

Original ads and shots from the Bob T. collection. Here's the bike Rick Krost scored from an antique bike collection auction. Deals come along from time to time, if you keep a briefcase fulla cash under the mattress. Excerpt from “The Art of the Motorcycle” Guggenheim Museum “The Ner-a-Car was an oddity in the field

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The Indian 45/45 Controversy

There she sits, one of 50-factory race Indian 648s built in 1948, with a chromed frame. That frame bothered me. Who would restore a factory racer and chrome the frame, reminiscent of Captain America glitz? Researching the history of this rare, race-winning flathead I asked and read about the model and its history, but kept

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