June 2011 ~ Motorcycle Fashions

June 28, 2011

SALON PRIVE CONCOURS, 2011

3:42 PM

The ex-Steve McQueen 1931 Indian Scout

The Vintagent is proud to début correspondent Julian Balme, legendary English graphic artist and gearhead, enthusiast of both cars and motorbikes, whose album art for The Clash and other British bands is legendary. Julian sends his perspective on last weekend's Salon Privé Concours d'Elegance, which for the first time included motorcycles in the judged display. This is a watershed year of high-end car shows realizing that two wheels are fascinating and sexy.

Egli-Vincent with custom alloy bodywork

"Truth be told, the British are much better at using their toys than standing back and admiring them…a cultural flaw where Concours events are concerned… yet there's no doubt that for the size of this island, the quality of kit that resides here punches well above its weight. Thus, the content of our Concours isn't, and never will be, an issue…but the staging and motive behind such events remain unconvincing.

The Louis Vuitton Concours, started in the Nineties at the Hurlingham Club, had a simple agenda - get as many pictures in the celebrity press as possible. Everything else was a bonus. After LV packed up the show, Salon Privé took over the vacated venue, with less focus. Yes it was full of glamorous women and desirable machines, but so is the car park at most Premiere League football clubs. Now, after 5 years, Salon Privé has moved to Syon Park on the outskirts of West London, where its goals appear, if anything, even sketchier.

While Syon House is a beautiful pile, there are no glimpses of Lake Como (or the Thames) through the trees surrounding the site, nor are there blazer-wearing officials guarding every inch of their golf course. Instead there are 2 lawns of exhibits, the first inhabited by purveyors of contemporary, high-buck frippery, the second tucked around the back, and badly sign posted, containing various classes of classic cars and bikes, all luxuriating under the Heathrow flight-path.

Very rare Cotton with JAP PTOR v-twin engine

Luckily for the organisers (and anyone interested in motorbikes), the two gents who assembled the 2-wheeled classes, Malcolm Clube and Mike Jackson, know exactly what they are up to. While all around them might devolve into chaos, they remain rock solid. The bikes of Steve McQueen class were a bit pony (hasn't this guy’s currency been run dry yet?), but the ‘100 Years of the Isle of Man TT’ class was inspired.

Apart from the breadth of history covered in their impeccable choices, how great was it that they included this year’s Senior TT winning Honda? Complete with fly splattered fairing (above), all of whom died at an average speed of 131mph, under the guidance of the 'Morecombe Missile', John McGuinness. Sammy Miller scooped the main award with his amazing 1939 watercooled V4-powered AJS, but every entry was a contender. Notables included a 1930 Cotton-JAP ohv v-twin and an EGLI Vincent.

Mike Jackson was justifiably proud of his contribution and thought he and Malcolm Clube were well on the way to eclipsing their work for the Louis Vuitton Concours… whereas 'Cluby' was simply grateful to “get out of the house and look at the [synonym for cat]'..."

All photos c.Julian Balme 2011, except the bottom photo, courtesy Fluid Images.

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June 26, 2011

THE UNIVERSAL RACING MOTORCYCLE

9:50 PM

You need four different motorcycles to road race, motocross, trials, flat-track, and hillclimb...right? There was a time, not so long ago, when it was possible to have just one motorcycle, and race in any event with a chance of success in all of them. Those days have passed in the world of serious competition, but with Vintage events cropping up all over the world, it's still possible to have serious fun - with a chance of winning - in every category, with a single bike.

That's the vision of photographer Dimitri Coste, who is gradually traveling eastward in the US with his Triumph special, competing in events along the way, in his own version of 'Then Came Bronson' (a 70s TV show in which Bronson's HD Sportster magically became a Husqvarna when it touched dirt!). Dimitri has already won first in his class at the Catalina Grand Prix last year, and today, he's in Colorado, competing in the Pike's Peak International Hillclimb.

The organizers of Pike's Peak made a special exemption for Dimitri to ride, not because of his bike, but apparently the Vintage class refers to the riders! As he is under 50 years old, it took a bit of string-pulling to get an entry, but he's already there, and had practice blasting up to the 14,110' peak, which is still covered in snow.

The tech inspector commented, 'I haven't seen drum brakes in a long time...'

The first Pike's Peak Hillclimb was a bid for publicity, after the first highway to the top opened in August 1916; a race was staged for cars and motorcycles over the tortuous, snaking dirt track with dramatic views and vertiginous dropoffs in many areas - the race is not for the faint of heart. The road is 12.42 miles long, partially paved (at the bottom), with graded gravel and dirt towards the top, and the weather can change dramatically from the 9400' start, over the 156 turns and 4700' climb.

Dimitri's gear is worth noting; as his brother Jérome Coste is the designer of Les Ateliers Ruby, most of his riding gear is a Ruby prototype; they will shortly launch a line of leather jackets, and
'I spy' a Ruby badge on that full-face helmet...something they will release next year.

Photos provided by Dimitri Coste on his blog Le Motel Coste, and the Pike's Peak International Hillclimb.

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June 20, 2011

DEMONSTRATE YOUR LOVE: PARIS

6:39 PM

Nearly 15,000 motorcyclists in Paris swarmed on June 18th to demonstrate against repressive 'safety' laws targeting our favorite mode of transport. The French Federation of Motorcyclists, combined with Moto Magazine, made the call, and the response was enormous. While it may seem like 15,000 scooters mass at every stoplight in Paris (especially in summer), such a gathering of motorcyclists demanding their rights is unprecedented in the city.

Riders started at the Chateau de Vincennes in the east of the city, and blocked traffic for half an hour by the sheer mass of their numbers, as they rode to the Trocadero, and parked their machines.

While we motorcyclists might find inspiration with so many machines filling the Place Vendome or the Eiffel Tower, the ride seems to have worked as a political tactic, as the government is rewriting the proposed policy of enforced safety vests on all riders, compulsory A4 license plates, the removal of speed camera warning signs, making radar alerts illegal, etc...the gradual process of infantilization in the name of 'Safety', even as the number of road fatalities on bikes has dropped significantly in France.

The 'manifestation' was a reminder that motorcyclists, whether riding hyperbikes or classics, are voters too, and prefer to to manage their own risks, rather than the State attempting to manage for them.

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June 16, 2011

SILK FOR SALE AT BANBURY

5:59 PM

Bonhams' Banbury Run sale next weekend in Oxford has a little-known gem in the ranks, a true connoisseur's machine, and the end of a long line of English two-strokes. There was a time when most UK manufacturers had a 'smoker' in their lineup, even the esteemed Velocette built only quality two-stroke lightweights for many years before introducing their overhead-camshaft 'K' series in 1925.

The first Scott of 1908

But the Scott was always something special; a remarkably advanced design when introduced in 1908, genius engineer Alfred Angus Scott created a water-cooled, twin-cylinder two-stroke, with a rigid, fully triangulated frame, two speeds, and telescopic forks! Scotts were always very quick and handled beautifully, a fact borne out by making the fastest laps at the Isle of Man TT from 1911-14, and winning the event outright in 1912 and '13. Very few English motorcycles had multiple gears and all-chain drive at the time, and the 'spec' of the Scotts was streets ahead of anything but the Indians which were imported for these early IoM races.

A late two-speed model ca. 1927

The original Scott two-speed system used a two primary chains on different sized sprockets, with a clutch between, giving two different ratios, the gears changed via a distinctive 'hi and low' rocking gear pedal. Easy to use, the early two-speeders were very smooth, light, and handled beautifully. Having only two gears is less a problem than one might imagine, while riding up hills and around bends, as corners could be taken as quickly as you dared, with no braking required! It sounds like a boast but I've experienced it firsthand on mountainous California backroads (on the 'von Dutch' Scott, no less). A charming and endearing quality for any 'scratcher', Scotts made friends and kept them.


A late 3-speed 'Flying Squirrel

AA Scott left the company after WW1, and the range was evolved over the years to include 3-speed gearboxes and clutches, becoming gradually heavier with added sophistication, although a Flying Squirrel Clubman in the late 30s, weighing a scandalous 400lbs, could still top 90mph. They never won another TT, and never won a 'Gold Star' at Brooklands, but they were fast and fun on the road, and easy to maintain.

A postwar 'Birmingham' Scott with teleforks

After WW2, the Flying Squirrel with telescopic forks was launched, but the thrill had gone, and Matt Holder bought the company in 1950 (he later bought the remains of Royal Enfield, Vincent, and Velocette). Holder manufactured Scotts in Birmingham until the late 1960s, and the Holder family's Velocette Motorcycle Company still has stacks of triangulated frames in the old Triumph despatch warehouse at Meriden.

The last of the Silks, with Lester mags and Lockheed discs, ca. '79

George Silk was a serious Scott enthusiast and a talented engineer, and as he watched late 60s two-stroke racers challenge the top of GP racing, he felt a Scott could be fitted with modern cylinder barrel and heads to increase power, and be competitive in racing. Silk's original racing machines, using Scott crankcases and Silk's own top end, had respectable horsepower, and their Spondon racing frames echoed the old Scott frame, being completely rigid, ultra-light and triangulated, with exceptional handling qualities. These Silk/Scott racers were underfunded and underdeveloped, typical of a solitary builder working at GP racing, but they were fast and held promise.

More importantly, by 1972 George Silk announced he would begin production of road-going 'modernized' Scotts in Spondon chassis. Apparently he made his announcement before informing Holders of his plans, for he did not receive permission to use the Scott name or Holder crankcases, and prospective Silk owners had to supply their own 'cases! Amazingly, as the basic design of the Scott engine hadn't changed since 1908, it was possible to use 60-year old crankcases on a new, 50hp sporting Silk in a racing chassis!

The Silk for sale at Bonhams is the last of the line of 'owner provided' machines, (#23 - clearly this was a low-volume effort), as George Silk manufactured his own engines in their entirety by 1975. The last Silk left the factory in 1979, by then with a disc brake up front, the last of the Scott family, produced for just over 70 years. All Silks are rare, and are coveted by 'those who know' for their remarkable handling, ultra-light weight (305lbs), and super-smooth power. Silks aren't revvy and nervous like their contemporary two-stroke cousins from Japan, but used old-fashioned 'deflector' pistons which generate torque at low rpm, while sacrificing the screaming, wheelying, light-switch powerbands of its rivals. A gentleman's two-stroke!

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June 15, 2011

THE BLITZ BOYS

8:03 AM

Fred and Hugo from Blitz Motorcycles in Paris brought two of their latest creations to Toulouse for a ride, and managed to park themselves in front of The Vintagent's camera so many times, and so successfully, that a Blitz photo album basically created itself.

While this portfolio certainly looks like an advertisement, are we selling custom motorcycles, rides in the French countryside, beer, or handsome young men with beards?! Perhaps all of the above. Of course, a little advertorial ambiguity never hurt commodity fetishism...'selling the lifestyle'... (and if you haven't read your Kapital, just remember Karl Marx famously quipped "I am no Marxist.")

I did toss the little Yamaha SR-based special around a gravel road near the village of Milieu de Nulle-Part, and found the bike light and extremely manageable while machine-gunning pebbles into the blue fluffy-cloud skies of southern France, fishtailing madly down the lane on full throttle. While this machine is intended to battle traffic on the gladiatorial streets of Paris, its flat-tracky visual cues were borne out on the loose stuff - big fun.

I didn't ride the BMW special, but heard it described by another rider as 'a Punk bike', which is a far cry from the 'rubber cow' nickname given the early R75/5. Perhaps Blitz is onto something; inexpensive, low-sheen, vintage-based customs meant to do well in modern traffic. Fred and Hugo certainly thrashed the beasties along the gravel-spotted country roads of the Midi-Pyrénées, proving at the very least, faith in their own handiwork.

In the 1980s, such stripped-down and punked-up bikes were the hot ticket for Tavern to Tavern racing in San Francisco, but you could never buy such a machine, unless a friend was upgrading (often to a '60s Britbike), then usually the 'stock' parts were bolted back on, as there was zero resale value for a stripped motorcycle. Scrounged together on very limited budgets, we rode them everywhere, hard and fast, cherishing our youth and the erotic possibilities of speed, pack riding, and harmlessly transgressive behavior. Bikers, in short.

Blitz has taken this concept - the urban custom - and run with it, pushing what was originally a junkyard aesthetic to new and occasionally controversial places. At their core, these Blitz machines are 'biker's bikes', built to be ridden.

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June 12, 2011

A RIDE FROM TOULOUSE...

4:42 AM

After so much talking about, thinking about, and writing about motorcycles, I think its time for a ride. Can we go for a ride now? Let's go for a ride.

Motorcycles are for riding...

Okay, let's go, how about a big loop from Toulouse, with a bunch of characters, the usual kind who bring all sorts of crazy bikes, and who make you laugh all day, one way or another.

Thanks to the Southsiders M.C. for organizing two days of fun in the south of France, to Vincent Prat for loaning his beautifully-sorted Norton Commando, to Derek at Lewis Leathers for the loan of one of his 'archive' jackets from '62, and Jérome Coste of Ruby for the loan of one of his fantastic (and super-light) helmets.