'BEHIND THE TON UP BOYS', A 1964 FILM
YouTube provides endless opportunities for your motorcycling entertainment! This film, from the BBC's 'Look at Life' series, dates from 1964, and while it denigrates the 'Ton Up Boys', they certainly...
View ArticleGESTALTEN'S 'DO THE RIDE THING'
Shot mostly in Biarritz during Wheels+Waves last June, this short film includes many of the machines featured in the the Gestalten/BikeExif book,'The Ride', which arrived at the publisher's offices in...
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'TON UP!' - CAFE RACERS IN STURGIS
When photographer Michael Lichter invited me to co-curate a show of Café Racers for Sturgis Bike Week, I immediately said yes. I'd met Michael while he was the official photographer of the Motorcycle...
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'MAD' JACK'S CLUBMAN TT WINNER
Lt.-Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, otherwise knows as 'Fighting Jack', or simply, 'Mad Jack'Motorcycles have always attracted 'characters' - people with the courage to live as they...
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'STANLEY WOODS: The World's First Motorcycle Superstar'
Stanley Woods aboard a Cotton-Blackburne in 1923. Hew won the Junior TT that year by steady riding, but got excited when he learned his was in the lead, and ended up in someone's door, bending his...
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE VINTAGENT!
St.Nicholas, giver of winter gifts since ancient times, is too kind to punish bad children, so he leaves the task to his faithful companion Krampus, who is known by many names. The question is, does...
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ABSOLUTE SPEED, ABSOLUTE POWER [PART1 - 1896-1930]
A Short History of the World Motorcycle Speed Records, Part 1 1896-1930(Originally published in the excellent French magazine Café Racer'Speed' special issue)Sylvester H. Roper, inventor of the...
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"THE FASTEST AND MOST POWERFUL AMERICAN BICYCLE", 1906
A reader recently asked if there was any contemporary evidence to support the story that Glenn H. Curtiss rode at 136mph on Ormond Beach Florida in 1906. A little research revealed this article, from...
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ABSOLUTE SPEED, ABSOLUTE POWER [PART 2; 1930 - 1940]
A Short History of the World Motorcycle Speed Records, Part 2 1930 - 1940(Originally published in the excellent French magazine Café Racer 'Speed' special issue)THE WORLD'S FASTEST WHITE LIEJoe Wright,...
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LAS VEGAS 2014: THE RECAP
The first shocker of the week; a factory mis-match, original-paint 1940 Harley EL Knucklehead fetched $159k at BonhamsThere are several de facto motorcycle conventions around the world, but none quite...
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'CAFE RACERS': THE BOOK VERSION OF 'TON UP' STURGIS
'Cafe Racers' cover by Michael Lichter, of Yoshi Kosaka's Rickman Triumph Bonneville...The home page of Motorbooks now lists the book I've recently finished with photographer Michael Lichter, now...
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ANKE EVE GOLDMAN: SOVIET RACING WOMEN
A portrait of Anke-Eve Goldmann taken in the mid-1950s by her then-husband, a journalist and television producerEveryone's favorite vintage moto-heroine, Anke-Eve Goldmann, is best known today for...
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THE RAILWAY ENGINEER
Valen Zhou on the 'ER', his second custom build on a 1986 Kawasaki 125ccLast year I had the pleasure of introducing the work of photographer and custom bike builder Valen Zhou of Chengdu, China to a...
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'KESH ANGELS' - MOROCCAN WOMEN RIDERS
A border of soup cans - shades of Warhol - mixed with Lolita's heart glasses and a polka-dot veil...this is not your mother's burqa!London artist Hassan Hajjaj was born in Morocco, and returns...
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BROUGH BEFORE SUPERIOR
My favorite shot of William E Brough, father of George Brough, enjoying a beer in his retirement, in 1927They're at the top of the money tree today, as evidenced by filling 6 of my 'Top 20' Auction...
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THE WORLD'S FASTEST VELO - EVEN FASTER
Stuart Hooper with his ultra-fast single-cylinder Velocette-based 732cc special, with his record speed of 183.37mphStuart Hooper of Australia has been featured several times on The Vintagent via his...
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'THE PLEASURES OF LIFE'
While every sign and security guard says 'No Foto', I couldn't help but document the surprising discovery of a motorcycle on the floor of the National Gallery. I suppose that puts me in the camp of...
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THE FUELIST: CHANGING THE GAME
The gearheads behind TheFuelist.com; Matt Hamilton, Dr.Thomas Rand-Nash, and Eric Maas, here with a Ducati 175 in their Berkeley warehouse/officeMy old friend Matt Hamilton contacted me recently to...
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1000 WORDS WORTH: BONNEVILLE 1953
It's true there's an essay in every photo, but the story's always better when the image is packed with exceptional machinery and good clues to the date.. The 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible in the...
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WELCOME TO THE MACHINE
Readers of BikeExif and other custom bike blogs are already familiar with the name 'Matt Machine'; his Moto Guzzi LeMans Mk1 was voted a 'Top 5 Moto Guzzi Custom' by that blog, and the work from his...
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