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894 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller – world’s first production motorcycle sells for GBP 86,200– 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller – world’s first production motorcycle sells for GBP86,200The rare appearance of an 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller on the auction block on April 25 caused considerable excitement across the world in the preceding months. Gizmag covered the history and heritage of the machine in great detail prior to the auction and we’re not surprised that a far-from-pristine example of the world’s first production motorcycle should fetch an above-estimate GBP86,200.
Despite travel difficulties resulting from the volcanic eruption in Iceland, buyers from all over the world packed the saleroom of the Bonhams auction at The International Classic MotorCycle Show, Stafford on Sunday 25th April.
Less uncommon but considerably more useable, the 1938 Brough Superior 982cc SS100 v-twin on offer turned in the sale’s best result. A restored,matching numbers, example that had been in its late owner’s possession for 40 years, the machine had been test run occasionally but not licensed for the road since 1959. The Brough sold to a UK private collector for GBP157,700 against a top estimate of GBP130,000. An older British v-twin – the 1913 Zenith-JAP 6hp forming part of the Basil Keys Collection – achieved the best result among the Veterans, selling for GBP20,125, bang on top estimate.
The sale’s other top-performing production racers both came from Italy: the 1938 Moto Guzzi 500cc GTC/L Condor fetching an above-estimate GBP41,100 while the 1974 Laverda 750SFC sailed past its GBP20,000 top estimate, finding a new home in the UK for GBP27,025. Among the memorabilia highlights, the collection of competition trophies amassed by the late Marjorie Cottle, Britain’s most famous lady motorcyclist of the inter-war years, sold for GBP1,955 against a top estimate of GBP1,500, while the huge collection of mainly 1940s and ’50s racing photographs fetched GBP1,840, comfortably outstripping the top estimate of GBP350. Any memorabilia associated with Britain’s most successful motorcycle racer of all time, Mike Hailwood, is always keenly sought after and the two silver-plated trophies on offer proved no exception, selling for GBP1,380 and GBP1,495 respectively.
— By Gizmag Team
www.gizmag.com.
REEVU REAR-VISION MOTORCYCLE HELMET GOES INTO PRODUCTION– Eyes in the back of your head: the Reevu MX1 motorcycle helmet
We first covered the Reevu helmet, with its built-in rear view mirror for motorcyclists, back in 2005. It’s an excellent idea – a rider’s vision and situational awareness are huge components of road safety. The more you know about what’s happening around and behind you, the more options you’ve got in an emergency or a simple lane change situation. Well, it’s been a long road to the market, but Reevu has finally announced that its RV MSX1 helmet has passed European standards testing, and is now available for distribution. It should be homologated for use worldwide in the near future, and if the final price is right, we’re sure these guys are onto a real winner.
The idea behind the Reevu is as simple as the brand name – a helmet with a built-in rear view mirror panel that delivers the rider a constant view of the road behind. Reevu achieves this by using a rear-facing panel that takes in light, then bends it around the head using lightweight polycarbonate mirrors, finally directing it toward the eye in a small mirror positioned at the top of the rider’s field of vision.
The effect is reportedly much like looking in your car’s rear view mirror. That is, it doesn’t replace the venerable headcheck (what was it they said in driving school, a mirror only says “no” – it can’t say “go”) but it gives you a load more information to work with than the typical mirror setup on a motorcycle.
Kuryakyn Takes the Guess Work out of Performance with the Perfect Storm– Within the first few months of owning a bike, most riders start thinking about a new air cleaner, aftermarket pipes, and even a fuel injection controller. If that sounds familiar, you may be left wondering which combination of the three will work best. With all the different manufactures boasting about what their particular unit will do, it can be overwhelming to sort though all the noise and get to some real world data on what actually works. Enter Kuryakyn and the Perform Storm.
Lucky for all of us, Kuryakyn has done all the heavy lifting for, putting together a combination of kits with actual research and development time behind them to deliver what they believe is the best combo for your late model touring bike.
Perfect Storm Kits by Kuryakyn include a set of Crusher true duals with either Slip Stream or Trident mufflers, an option of the Street Sleeper or Hi-Five air cleaner, and all come with the ultra adjustable TTS Mastertune FI controller. And the best part of all this is, it works. With Kuryakyn supplying the custom maps for each specific application, there is no need for extra tuning or dyno time.
Tuning and dyno time have been done/calculated for you, ensuring not only an overall performance increase, but also a more efficient motor that consumes less fuel.
So, feel free to stop the Sherlock Holms routine because Kuryakyn has taken the mystery out of putting together a trio of performance parts that actually work and work well together. What more can you ask for? Looks, sound, performance and the piece of mind that what you purchased actually works.
— By Patrick Garvin for J&P Cycles
Kirk Taylor and Custom Design Studios Creates Helmet for Olympic Athlete, Jonny Moseley–Novato, CA (April 28, 2010) – Custom Design Studios, notorious for their award-winning ground up customs and innovative paint work and parts have taken on a new type of project. Kirk Taylor and the crew at CDS are pleased to announce that they have teamed up with Olympic skier, Jonny Moseley to create a custom-painted helmet for the popular athlete.Moseley, Olympic Gold medal winner and recipient of multiple World Cups for skiing, has amassed an impressive list of titles and medals.
He has successfully combined the discipline required of an Olympic athlete, the ability to thrill and entertain required of an X-Games athlete and the creativity and imagination of a free-skier making him an innovative force in the skiing world. It’s Moseley’s penchant for versatility that originally drew him to Custom Design Studios.
The helmet that Taylor created for Moseley is Brilliant Black and Yellow Pearl with the Sprint Logo, to be worn by Moseley during a shoot for an upcoming Warren Miller Movie.
For more information about Custom Design Studios, please visit www.customdesignstudios.com, or call (415) 382-6662.
–Sarah Wozniak
ANOTHER HARBOR TOWN SEDUCTION REVIEW–K. Randall Ball, one of the most trusted and influential writers in motorcycle literature has kick started a new series of books centered on the fictional character Chance Hogan. In the first of the series, Harbor Town Seduction, we are introduced to Chance living the ultimate male fantasy.
He is a hard living, hard loving biker who doesn’t punch a time clock and women can’t get enough of him. But behind the facade are eviction notices, empty pockets and not knowing who is knocking at the door. When things go bad in San Pedro he and his hot headed friend head for the peace and solitude of the desert. But when death and destruction follow his only hope is to return to the harbor town and clear his name.
As the body count rises Chance’s greatest possession, his freedom, hinges on an unlikely ally, a rookie cop in a corrupted police department.
Like a stretched out chopper Keith Ball’s writing is straight forward with no excess to distract. He has managed to grab a full throttle of violence and lust and hurtles the reader through a twisting canyon road of plot full of interesting characters. Highly entertaining, well written, and well supported by the author who has lived the life and is willing to share it with readers Harbor Town Seduction is worthy addition to your saddlebag.
-Wayne Wuschke
Published by 5-Ball Inc., Harbor Town Seduction retails for $19.95 and can be ordered from just about any reputable book store on the planet or in the Black Market.
THE STEALTH CLASS IS OPEN, The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same– While attending a local bike night last week it came to me that years ago myself and my friends held a bike night weekly.First let me give you a little back ground leading into this story. I grew up in a small town in northern Virginia, Culpeper, Virginia, 60 miles outside of Washington D.C. There was a small group of us who had Harleys and we would get our looks from the locals when we rode. Everyone knew everyone and they swore we were going to destroy the town.
This group of bad asses consisted of Neal, he was our leader and he rode a bright yellow ’65 Panhead in a swingarm frame. Neal was cool, the kinda guy we all wanted to be, and he was a ladies man and was smooth when it came to his bikes. Mike was my mentor, he really took me under his wing and taught me the ropes. Mike rode a ’61 rigid Panhead. The main thing he taught me was to listen and learn not to talk and let everyone know how much you had to learn! Mike was a very smart guy.
Then there was Wesley, he rode a wicked black ’72 rigid frame Sportster. Wesley was laid back and once in awhile would have a great joke. Wesley could turn a pretty good wrench.
Then there was another Mike, Mike R. we will call him, there were three Mikes including myself in this group. Mike R. rode a bad ass ’67 slab side Shovelhead, black with California six-bend handlebars. Mike R. was the main mechanic of this group, the guy could fix anything!
Then there was Will, he rode a ’77 Lowrider, the first year for the Lowrider, grey with the red Harley decals. Will and I played baseball together, went to school together, he passed away a few years back. Will was a little different but cool in his own way.
Last but not least there was Oakley, he rode a 70 swingarm Sportster with a thunder storm paint scheme and whenever we would get caught in the rain it was blamed on this bike. What can I say about Oakley? Well Oakley was just Oakley, down to earth, straight forward. Me, I rode a bright red 79 Sporster, I loved that bike and to this day I have great respect for Sportsters. O.k., there is your back ground. Lets move on.
Every Friday night, sometimes Saturday night we would all meet at Neal’s house, I should say his garage. We would gather there around 7pm. Back then we never called it BIKE NIGHT but looking back that is what it was. Our bike night consisted of a couple of cases of beer, Easyriders magazines, Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild” bouncing off the stereo speakers, and an occasional smoke. Not the kind of smoke you buy at your local convenience store! Nothing serious just some fun. We would go over each other’s bike to see what changes we had made and then it would start. We would each take a turn it seemed and tell what we had planned for our bikes. If you scored a compliment on a change you had made to your bike, well it was like hitting the jackpot! Most of the time our plans outweighed our wallets, but we still had the plan! Then around 1 or 2 in the morning we would head home. No one ever left drunk and no ever got hurt going home.
If bike night was held on Saturday night that meant we all got up and met at Neal’s garage to ride to Skyline Drive(Blue Ridge Mountains) about 20 minutes away. We met at 4a.m! That’s right 4a.m., so we would see the sun rise at the top of the mountain! Ever try drinking beer at 6a.m? Those were some GREAT times!
Bike nights as we know them now are nothing like our little bike nights back then but some things have stayed the same. Bike nights are about friends and even though ours was small back then we had our own little bike show going own even though we never realized it. Every bike night is a BIKE SHOW, think about it, a hundred bikes in the parking lot, all different, all unique, a bike show! We still talk about what is next for our bikes, because really a bike is never finished. We always add something, take away something. That’s what it is all about.
Man, I loved those guys and I still do. Those were great times for all of us even though we had no idea they were at the time. The riding, the friendships, the brotherhood, the laughs, the tears, we all shared all of this and we all went our separate ways, but you know what, every once in awhile when I go home to visit, we manage to get together for a bike night reunion, not a Neal’s garage but a local bar. The little town has bars now, it grew up with us.
Yeah bike nights, THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME?
Until next time, RIDE!
–STEALTH
NEGOTIABLE DEAL OF THE WEEK–1973 chopper runs good 3500.00. Arizona title.
E-Mail negotiableparts@aol.com
UNCLE MONKEY MEETS SUB SANDWICH–The wind was brisk and I was following a cage nonchalantly. Through the rear window I could see the driver shuffling around and out the side window came the wrapper of a sub sandwich. In the strong wind I bobbed and weaved but the wind knew what I was thinking. Smack. The wax paper covered in mayo and sub sauce caught my FatBoy fender, smeared across my chrome headlight before splattering onto my chest.
The sad thing was that it wasn’t deliberate (well at least I don’t think so). The driver was simply tossing piece of trash out the window. As I pulled to the side of the road to pull the sticky goo from my chest I see all the trash that littered the side of the road. Papers, gum wrappers and a plethora of fast food wrappers. It is something that seems to be limited to our caged friends.
In driving a big rig I, like most truckers have a garbage can in close proximity to the drivers seat. It is our home away from home and we do our best to keep it clean and tidy. I know few wives are shaking their heads in disbelief, but yes, we do pick up after ourselves when we know you won’t be around. While riding a motorcycle, I am too busy watching for cages hurtling towards me, packed with preoccupied drivers struggling to apply eyeliner, answering texts, or blithering that winning sales pitch to a passenger, to stuff candy bars in my face. No, it would seem a lot of the trash, strewn along the side of the road, comes from our four wheel caged friends.
Keep that in mind the next time a burrito wrapper comes flying your way. The bastards!
-bad Uncle Monkey
SHAKEDOWN COMING–We had a great time at the first Shakedown last year…should bigger and better this summer. Vintage bikes are welcome…this is a real grass-roots kind of fun event in Central Wisconsin.
–Charles Plueddeman
BIKERNET BETSY COVERS LAUGHLIN–It’s late, and I was trying to stay up and finish my article on the Laughlin River Run, but I have run out of gas. I will finish it up in the morning and get it off to you. It was a flop as a rally, but as always, I truly had a blast. Here’s a pic from a day ride down the back side of Oatman on Route 66 with me & Gevin.
I am planning on doing a whole bunch of trips in the months to come. Yosemite, the Redwood Run, PCH to Big Sur, maybe for Hollister, and of course, Sturgis.
–Betz
Car Kulture DeLuxe #40 goes on sale May 11– This issue features some of the coolest hot rods, gassers, and custom cars anywhere. Among the customs are a ’56 Chevy built by the Alexander Brothers in 1962 and a ’49 Mercury by Gene Winfield. There’s an update on Alan Mayes’ ’64 Buick Riviera radical custom, which is being built at Masterson Kustoms in Lynwood, California.
Gasser Reunion, Mooneyes Xmas, and the Sacramento Autorama are some of the shows featured. There’s also an artist profile on wacky Australian, Sir Lluis Fuzzhound.
Car Kulture DeLuxe is sold at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-A-Million, Waldenbooks and thousands of other newsstands nationwide.
LICKS EXTREME, SUPER, BEST-OF TOOL BAGS–After many requests, it’s finally here!!! We are pleased to announce the launch of our brand new Licks Tool Bag. This baby is the perfect companion to our incredibly popular Solo Bag line. The Licks Tool Bag is simple, sleek, useful and has a hardcore, kick ass look!! Sometimes you just need a place to stash that little stuff you gotta take and the Licks Tool Bag delivers!!
The Tool bags are hand crafted one at a time with highest quality in mind. We don’t cut any corners on these and you won’t find another tool bag on the market that even comes close to the craftsmanship offered with this product. The bag has a universal fitment and is perfect for all styles and model bikes. If you already have one of our solobags, the Licks Tool Bag is manufactured with the exact same black or distressed leather and will match perfectly.
The Licks Tool Bag features:
Hand stitched piped flap edgesHigh quality tanned leather
Slick quick release buckles so you can get in and out without fighting with the straps.
Specs and Measures:
10″ wide at bottom
5″ deep
Made in the USAGet Yours Today!!
Click here for more information.
BIKERNET UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT WORD OF THE DAY SPONSORED BY BARTELS’ H-D– billingsgate BIL-ingz-gayt; -git, noun:Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language.
Chaney would yell at him in his own particular patois — an unapologetic stream of billingsgate far more creative than Marine drill instructors or master rappers.
— George Vecsey, “Learning at Temple: Se Habla Chaneyism”, New York Times, March 19, 2000
Its style is an almost pure Army billingsgate that will offend many readers, although in no sense is it exaggerated: Mr. Mailer’s soldiers are real persons, speaking the vernacular of human bitterness and agony.
— David Dempsey, “The Dusty Answer of Modern War”, New York Times, May 9, 1948
The campaigns of the two Roosevelts were colorful and gave the press plenty of material but, generally speaking, deft humor seems to have replaced outright billingsgate.
— George E. Reedy, “When Vilification Was in Flower”, New York Times, July 15, 1984
Billingsgate is so called after Billingsgate, a former market in London celebrated for fish and foul language.
FXRS ARE ALIVE AND WELL–Here’s a few pictures of my 86 FXR that I bought from Mike Osborne. Here’s a few shots from Daytona Bike Week.
–Thad Cranford
CentralCal Bro saves a whopping $1,217.20 on his Special Construction Motorcycle Insurance– Every once in a while all the stars get aligned and money just comes back into your pocket. Just ask 33 year old biker, Michael Torell II, from Central California. Mike had just finished building his custom. Everything was going according to plan until he tried to insure his new 2-wheel masterpiece. After getting the bike registered with the DMV, he hunted all over the internet and secured a annual policy for a whopping $2,200 from an insurer who said they loved “special construction” motorcycles. Given the appraised value of this beauty was only $11,500, Mike panicked about paying such a large bill for simple motorcycle insurance. Further investigation on the net lead him to Bikernet.com’s Insurance Department, Home of the Bikernet Insurance Center LLC.
As you know, the insurance pros at Bikernet Insurance are on a mission to save bikers money and they mean business. Bike builders themselves in their free time, they know special construction motorcycles and what it takes to insure them properly. They reviewed Mike’s motorcycle insurance application, secured appraisal docs and key receipts, underwrote the actual value of each key part and prepared documentation for the insurance companies.
Within a week, Bikernet Insurance pros offered Mike an annual policy for the full appraised value of the his new custom, less a $250 deductible, for only $982.80. Needless to say, brother Terell was one happy bro. When asked about dealing with Bikernet’s insurance department, Mike said ” Unbelievable, you guys saved me over 50% on my motorcycle insurance. Thank you so much. I’m going to tell all my biker friends about Bikernet Insurance.”
Bikernet Insurance BossMan, Marc B., said, “There is no reason to pay more than you have to for motorcycle insurance. No matter what type of motorcycle you ride, we know how to find the best combination of price and coverage for bikers.”
Any questions, just contact us anytime.Email: >clientservice@bikernet-insurance.com
Toll Free: 888-467-8703
RIDE SAFE OUT THERE. WE CARE ABOUT YOU.
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