What is so special about motorcycles?

I was thinking about this last night. What is it about motorcycles that make them beautiful and so attractive? Even the biggest chrome barge and the shittiest rat bike - if they run - still have an underlying beauty - style, or lack there of, aside.

I think what makes motorcycles so beautiful and fascinating is that they are the simplest form of powered vehicle and yet they are reliable and powerful.

Look at the gas tank - no pump is necessary to make it work... gravity, the simplest force, makes it work. The gas goes to the back of the tank and drains out, if you go up hill, it gets the gas back there, if you go down hill, it doesnt matter because you dont need gas to go down hill. You dont need a battery to make a motorcycle run, you can kick them or even roll them down hill.

Motorcycles require little, if any, suspension - a little air in the tire and some springs on your seat. And in the end, two pulleys run the whole show - one to the transmission and one to the wheel. Hell you dont even need the transmission.

Motorcycles offer little protection - maybe a fender to keep the mud and water off, or maybe not. If you want to protect yourself, you wear goggles and a jacket....

Sure, we all know or see people with dvd players and cup holders and heaters and probably air conditioners on their bikes. In a sense, that merely reinforces the utility of the vehicle. And underneath all that interesting crap, there is still a simple machine that will start and go even if you pull all that off.

The simplicity makes the machine a great platform for power and artistic innovation. It is literally one man, one machine. Personal, yet universal.

So next time you see the billet barge lumbering down the lane, go ahead and admit that you love it -- you love what it is in its soul.

Technorati Tags: motorcycle, chopper, panhead, beauty, art, asthetic, function over form

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Of Fetishes, fetishists

I love women.  Not a shocking statement.  But let me be clear.  I love women in the sense of appreciate them and, maybe, worship them, in a way.  Women are so unique to men in their personalities and thoughts and worldview.  Physically they are beautiful in ways men can never be - even Ricky Martin or Brad Pitt.  Men may be the prototype, but women are perfectly engineered.  When you combine this physical beauty with the intellectual beauty and unique-ness of women, you get something beyond sensory or sensuous.  A truly beautiful woman is more beautiful than an other beautiful object or scene around her.

As men we cheapen everything.  We exploit people for our own enjoyment.  Supermodels, actresses, stewardesses (not really stewardesses) are most successful when they are pandering sex.  But they would never admit they are pandering sex.  It is beneath them.  Women in porn are exploited, but again, many are in denial  Which brings me to one of my favourite categories of sex symbols - the fetish models and pin-up models. 

Whenever you see pin-ups and kustom kulture girls, and fetish models, you see a woman who knows exactly what her role is, but she is in on the game.  There is almost a good natured sense of fun where we all know it is kind of a joke.  You don't really get that idea with the supermodel or the porn star or even the stripper.  Or even the girl working at hooters. 

The fetish model knows she is a model.  She represents something and in a way over-acts to emphasize some aspect of the role/fetish.  This bit of over the top, is ust enough to kind of keep us all honest.  Does that mean it isn't arousing and sensuous? No, absolutely not, in some ways they are more sensuous in a kind of exhibitionist way.

I love the pin-up models because the represent that kind of repressed wanton-ness we imagine was surging through the veins of the girls in the 30s, 40s and 50s... The pin-up and the fetish model are in the business of teasing us.  But it is a good natured "we're all in on it" tease.  Even strippers dont get to that point mostly because at some point they are naked when everyone else has their clothes on.

So here is a salute to some fetish/pin-up fun, hope you enjoy

~Reverend Mike

Train Crushers (yeah serious)

Smoking bad girls...
...  literally

Darenzia



And our modern take on the pin-up



Gee, thanks ladies....

~Reverend Mike






Technorati Tags: fetish, fetish models, pinup, pinups, pin ups, chopper, garage, kustom kulture, lifestyle, sex

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Working in a van Pt 1

Used to be cool.  I had a nice 3 car garage to work in.  My parts were scattered from hell to breakfast.  Frames and bikes were everywhere.  Didn't matter what I kept or what I threw away or sold or bought.  Everything was in a nice insulated, dry ass place.

Then I moved.  Upgraded houses, or so I thought.  Actually I had to move for family reasons - not because I wanted to.  So we found a nice house, in a not too bad place, with some extra land/property.  But no garage.  And it was quite a bit smaller.

In the course of moving we found out that we were WAY short of storage space.  So we bought a shipping container.  That is cool but it hasn't worked out yet because we haven't really properly planned how to utilize the space.  The bikes were left out and all the workshop gear was crammed into our wonder bread van. 


So ultimately the bikes got covered - duh - after some surface rust and most of the work takes place in the criveway with no work bench, grinder, vice, etc.  SO the quest now is to get the van going as a workshop.  It can be powered, does have lights, etc and some workspace.  Oh and 2 years of fucking clutter.  So the FC has to be moved somewhere (container?)  which FIRST has to be arranged to accept it.  Then comes the challenge of creating usable work space.

More to come, no doubt...

Rev Mike

Technorati Tags: van, bonneville, bub, motorcycle, workshop, living on the edge

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beyond vintage

Been an interesting few days.  I picked up a donor, but it wasn't what I intended, it just all came about at once. 

I was bound and determined to build a nice sporty hardtail.  I had it all worked out as well, but days of fretting and figuring ended up playing against me and I decided to let it go.  There were a lot of reasons.  I love sportsters but messing with chopping something new and expensive is sometimes a bit daunting.  I'm sure it would be no big deal, but it just doesn't seem as much fun. 

So I was sitting pondering how I was going to make this sporty thing work when I just decided it wasn't going to happen.  Too many factors.  One of the big factors was that no matter how you look at vintage Honda CB750 choppers, they are just bad ass.  Nothing says chopper more than a stretched, chopped, CB750.  Nothing like the contrast between long skinny bike and that huge, wide engine.  That fat heavy but nimble, powerful mill.


So all this time, it's like "that Sporty isn't REALLY what you want".. no matter how cool you make a sport custom bike, it is still a sporty and they are pretty common.  What I wanted was still the anti-harley.  It's been the theme continuously and why I have a Triumph and a Moto Guzzi.

So instead of thousands to buy a Sport to tear apart, I spent a couple hundred. 



I wasn't expecting much for the price.  The owner said that it ran, but that there were problems with the charging and battery ... blah blah blah...

I didn't expect it start, esp after he had to put another battery on it to crank it.  But it fired up immediately.  And it was music.  Not many bikes have that much character out of the box.

So now it is home.  Waiting for the time I can devote to getting it going into something.  I know what I want and it is lurking just about.  I just have to get it to that point...

Speaking of vintage.  Some people were posting cool photos on the Jockey Journal, so I thought I would add a few.  These are beyond vintage and really demonstrate what even the early motorcycles could do.  I thought I would add a couple because they are interesting and great shots of the detail of the bikes to a small degree.  These were in Mexico chasing Pancho Villa...




And of course, to give equal time, the great guerrilla himself....



Be good






















Technorati Tags: honda, cb750, cb 750, vintage, harley, pancho villa, villa, pancho, mexico, pershing, indian

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Evo Bastards? What's wrong with sportys?

Funny.

I've seen a lot of posts on some boards that kind of poke people who chop, wrench or ride Evos because they aren't riding some 'classic' engine or bike.  If it is new, it must not be worthy of running because it doesn't require constant maintenance just to get to the grocery store....

I've never owned a new, or even current model Harley, while the model was actually current.  It wasn't until a few years ago I could even afford to buy a new motorcycle.  I bought a Triumph for a lot of personal reasons, not the least of which I have owned Triumphs before, they are a little more unique, and my old man owned and wrenched them back in the day.

Sure 45s are cool.  I spent a bunch of cash trying to get a 45 together and frankly, trying to find every blessed piece and part gets tedious.  If I really wanted one that bad today, I'd just buy one that is running.

But back then, the boys weren't riding and cutting 45s because they were classic or bad ass, in fact, until just a few years ago, you could still pick them up for a pretty good price.  They have only become more 'classic' now that other models are out of reach.

But the boys were wrenching them because they were cheap, parts were plentiful and there was a lot of info out there and experience, based on the military and gov't use.

The simple fact is that popular means available.  Right now, there isn't much out there that is as plentiful and inexpensive as an Evo Sportster - in the sense of used US or European iron.  The Jap stuff is holding its value pretty well these days and isn't much cheaper than used Evos, if it even is.  Of course, the used Jap stuff will probably net you more bang for the buck as far as displacement and horsepower goes.

But the guys who think that you must ride a pan just because that's what the guys in the 60s and 70s rode are missing out on the whole point.  At the time, the pans were the evos, twin cams and shovels of their day - cheaper and more plentiful and a good parts base. 

There is probably nothing 'classic' about the Evo look - although I'm starting to think maybe there is a classic look sitting in there.  But there is something to be said for the idea that you can get a running bike as a donor or rider that is both inexpensive and fairly reliable.  I know there is nothing more sexy than a bike that has to be wrenched on every time you fill up the tank, BUT, I have news for you... there is nothing LESS sexy than a bike that doesn't run.

Once I decided I was going to go over to the Evo side, I started noticing just how common they were amongst builders and chop-ers.  I would even bet, in a related way, many of the current new builds using shovels and some pan heads are actually new mills built as shovel heads and pan heads, as S&S sells these days. 

Panheads are of course, about the most classic design there is.  Sure knuckleheads are cool just because they are rare and take some skill to make run and keep running.  In fact, most knickles have to be restored to get to the hard running bike.  That process of restoration and rejuvenation is a huge part of what makes the knuckle beautiful.  But for sheer styling and retro cool, it's the Panhead.

I would love to buy one and love to ride one.  I'm sure I can afford one these days.  But the cool that I could garner from owning and riding one, would only be a bit more than the generic cool of building/customizing your own ride, regardless of what it is.  So for a lot less money and a lot more riding time, the Evo seems to be the one to beat these days.

When I get my Evo going and have what I want, when I want it, I think then I will probably start to look for something more classic to hobby with.  Not because I won't be cool until I get one, let's face it, my cool days are probably passed... but because I would like one.

But it won't be long before the next generation comes along and they will be looking for that Evo look, well just as soon as we can get a cool movie with the type of influence that Easy Rider had, to showcase the Evo and make us all leaving the theater wanting the bike and forgetting about the other lessons of the movie...

What matters is riding, not what you ride...  unless of course youre at Panstock - and then it matters...










  Technorati Tags: 45, 74, 61, evo, sportster, flathead, panhead, sporty, harley, evo bastards

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German triumphs - TWN

Cliffy on Choppertown Nation posted this photo of a German Triumph at the TT Centennial on the Isle of Man.  Personally I never heard of Triumph in Germany, but some research turned up some interesting info.  Seems they started out early in the century copying British Triumph.  The logo has the flourish line above the name, opposite of British Triumph, which is below the name.  At some point, after the war, there was a pissing match over trade names, of course, and the German firm changed their name to TWN. 

Now look at this bike.  It seems like it is leaning opposite the kick stand, but possibly it just comes down on both sides...  The interesting thing, besides the salami, is the left side kicker...  Looks like many of the wartime production/military TWN bikes had a left side kicker.  I also saw some picks with right side.  Cliffy also says they had a reverse ignition (?) which allowed the bike to be started in reverse and run in reverse.  I noticed the right side on one bike has a kind of shifting lever by the gear box.  Could be this is what he means, you throw the switch and now start the bike and it is going in reverse!?!  K maybe not, who knows....???



Also, I looked at a lot of pics of these on line and most, even the smaller engines had dual exhaust.  So this is interesting in that as well.



 Dunno....  who knows?  You tell me.   Finally, they had a bitchin solid girder.  When this comes back, I get the credit... you heard it here first folks....



Take it easy




Technorati Tags: girder, triumph, german triumph, triumph germany, kickstart, motorcycles

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Custom chops, bobbers and knobbers

First, I promised a picture, this one has always been popular.  I called it the world's ugliest Indian.  I caught this at Smoke Out West I.  It has subsequently been featured in a couple magazines, I believe Cycle Source, but hey, I was mistaken once before.



This one pic has made my server go over quota more than once on traffic, so much so that I had to move the picture and change my web server plan.  Too cool.  The bike is an awesome example of the clever use of parts and the marrying up of diverse parts from "incompatible" (?) bikes.  Not to mention a good dose of style and a little humor.  I dont know how far he rode it to get to Cottontree/Cottonwood (WTF) AZ, but it must have been interesting.

I hear SOW is going to be in Santa Rosa NM this year?  Somebody did a WTF comparison and noted that Santa Rosa was 1000 miles from LA and 1500 miles from Rockingham, NC.  How is that WEST?  I mean are they trying to make it easier for the Easties to show up?  West is west.  Needs to be in AZ or CA.   Just they way it is.



 


Technorati Tags: indian, ugliest indian, smoke out, smoke out west, SOW

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