PROUVE, ENNUI, AND THE PROBLEM OF CASH

[Note:  I now write a monthly column for the revamped Classic Bike Guide, which is a Morton's Media publication.  New Editor Gary Pinchin was my 'connection' at MCN for years, and has moved into the world of Classics, where he belongs.  Check out the new magazine; here's my inaugural column from from Feb.2013]Not Yves' house, but an example of a Jean Prouvé table being used at home...I have a friend in Paris – Yves - with a lovely Jean Prouvé dining table he found cheap at the flea market (les Puces!) years ago, when Prouvé was iconic to connoisseurs, but not especially valuable. That changed; Prouvé is dead, his work is brilliant, and greed-panic is symptomatic of our 21st Century consciousness, so Yves’ dining...

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A VISIT TO VERRALLS

I don't often get the chance to stop in Verralls in Handcross, just south of London, but it's a venerable place with a great selection of older motorcycles, and a great pleasure to visit.  Ian Hatton, who took over the business when Brian Verrall died a few years ago, has been a pal since 1987, when he was a lowly mechanic on Brian's machines (and about 19 years old, while I was a lofty 25).  Ian liked my painted-up Velocette jacket, and I purchased an MZ 250 from his father, which I then rode to the Soviet border and back in a great loop around Western and Eastern Europe, a trip of many thousands of miles - all on back roads, with zero mechanical trouble.  That's another story, but we've since remained friends, and I've long...

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LEWIS LEATHERS

Proprietor Derek Harris outside the Whitfield St, London, home base of Lewis LeathersOn a recent whirlwind trip to London and Paris, I had a chance to catch up with Derek Harris, proprietor of Lewis Leathers, the oldest motorcycle-clothing business in the world - founded in 1892.  Derek is a breath of fresh air as proprietor of an internationally recognized 'brand', and the very opposite of today's capitalist-opportunist-vultures who snag a dead name, creating Franken-brands stitched up from skins of the 'cool' dead, in the feverish pursuit of money money money.  (Ask me how I really feel).Trying on an all-Lewis vintage racing setup - jacket and pants from the late 1930s, boots from the 1940s, outside the Whitfield St. shop.  Photo...

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BICYCLES AND A PIERCE 4

Original paint 1911 Pierce 4 to be auctionedA massive private collection of bicycles from the Pedaling Through History museum in Buffalo, NY, is being liquidated following the death of founder Carl Burgwardt two years ago.  His was the largest bicycle museum in the world, and included a few motorcycles.  The auction on April 19th, the second of three big auctions selling off the bicycles and related parts and ephemera, has over 600 lots of interesting stuff, quite a bit of it related to early motorcycling.Pierce racing bicycle poster ca.1902 showing the current American champion, Frank KramerStar of the show will be a 1911 Pierce 4-cylinder motorcycle in original paint, running condition, which has only seen its tires and handlegrips...

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STARTING SMALL

The as-yet unnamed electric moped from Dr.Nathan JauvitsI bumped into Nathan Jauvits on a San Francisco sidewalk, and was intrigued by his moped, the first home-made electric two-wheeler I've run across.  The chassis is based on a '78 Puch Magnum, but an off-the-shelf electric motor and a power pack built by Nathan transforms the machine into something far from the buzzy, smoky original - an example of which I 'accidentally' purchased at the Bonhams Las Vegas auction - that will teach me to gesticulate in the front row!I'd consider this conversion for my Puch Magnum...Dr. Jauvits, an engineer for product designers New Deal Design (who packaged the Lytro variable-field camera), also added a regenerative braking system to the moped, which...

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'THE QUAIL' IS GROWING

The most welcome news for the upcoming Quail Motorcycle Gathering (May 4, 2013) isn't just that the Quail Lodge is open for business (with rooms at very reasonable prices given the locale)...the best news concerns Gordon McCall's new relationship with Quail Lodge, following the retirement of former President Lawson Little.  While Gordon isn't taking the mantle of President, he's become more involved in scheduling new events at the Quail, and making the existing events better, which means the visibility and outreach of the Motorcycle Gathering is already increasing.  I noted a nice full-page ad in Cycle World this month, and that CW is sponsoring an open 'after party' on Saturday night, post-Concours.McCall, who organizes the best...

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