MINNEAPOLIS - THE FIRST AMERICAN GEARBOX

A c.1910 Thor-engined Minneapolis board track racer

The brothers Jack, Walter, Anton and Paul Michaelson, while not the first pioneers of American motorcycling, still managed with their small Minnesota company to introduce significant innovations to motorcycling, all of which were later adopted by the industry. Innovation doesn't always equal success, though, and while their 'Minneapolis' and 'Michaelson' brand motorcycles are very rare today, they deserve a place in the motorcycle history as important contributor to the progress of technology.

'THE CHOPPER: THE REAL STORY' REVIEWED

Speedreaders.info, which features 'authoritative reviews of transport books and media', has seen fit to review my most recent book 'The Chopper; the Real Story', and to their great credit they've clearly read it cover to cover (and noted its 60,000 word content).  They also grasped my intention for the book; to provide a new context for understanding the chopper thing, as a uniquely American phenomenon akin to Jazz, Rock n' Roll, the Beat scene, and Abstract Expressionism. The chopper can be understood as a Folk Art movement with deep roots in a multi-racial American counterculture, as my research demonstrates in the book.  I'd be honored if you'd give it a read; 'The Chopper' can be found on Amazon.com, or from the publisher Gestalten for slightly more, but with a limited-edition slipcase and groovy '99%er' patch.

Read the review on Speedreaders.info here!

ROAD TEST: 1928 WINDHOFF 4-CYLINDER

A drying barn mimics the bold finning of the Windhoff's 750cc oil-cooled OHC 4-cylinder motor

The creations of Hans Windhoff began in Berlin with radiator production for cars, trucks, and aircraft. In 1924, he entered the burgeoning motorcycle market with water-cooled two-stroke machine of 125cc - an excellent although expensive creation, with the engine built under license from a design by Hugo Ruppe, whose ladepumpe (an extra piston used as a supercharger to compress the fuel/air mix) design was used most successfully by DKW in their GP bikes.

THE BEST EXCUSE FOR PARIS - RETROMOBILE 2016

Celebrating the odd; a selection of 'rhomboid' cars, with wheels in perpendicular axes, was a highlight of the 2016 Rétromobile show.  The 'Automodule' of 1968...

The august Parisian vintage motor show had a period of shrinkage when it changed hands a few years ago, when motorcycles virtually disappeared and it dropped to a weekend event.  The good news is Rétromobile has returned to a full 5-day exhibition of the world's most intriguing cars, and motorcycles are back, to a limited degree.  I stopped attending after my utter disappointment in the 2013 show, but returned this year as an adjunct to a research trip for my next book (hint; it's all about Zeniths). I was pleasantly surprised at the vigor, increased length, and much increased size of the show - it's grown into two enormous halls, with a unique mix of club displays, dealer booths, parts suppliers, autojumblists, factory spreads, specialist clothing booths, and art dealers.  Whether you're looking for a perfect 1890s Belle Epoque poster of a Léon Bollée trike, a pair of headlamps for the same, or the actual machine in the metal, you're likely to find it all at Rétro.

THE LAST GREAT BROUGH HOARD?

Rarest of the bunch; the 3-wheel Austin-engine Brough Superior 'BS4', built for sidecar work.  This one is ex-Hubert Chantry, and subject of a famous period press test.  They can be ridden solo, but feel odd!  Note the driveshaft between the rear wheels.  

I've heard rumors of this collection for years; a fine collection of Brough Superiors, including SS100s and a 1-of-8 Brough/Austin 3-wheeler, sitting outdoors in a south England yard, and slowly rotting away.  The owner refused to consider many offers for individual machines or the whole collection, preferring to watch them slowly return to earth than watch grass grow in their stead.

MEGABIKE CROCKER RAFFLE - CANCELLED

One of the first Crocker 'big twins', serial #8 from 1936, a 'small tank' model, to be raffled off.  The Crocker was a limited-production factory hot-rod, and equalled the HRD Series A Rapide twin, introduced the same year, as the fastest production motorcycles in the world.  Curiously, both machines had about the same production figures - 'around 75' - and both are obscenely expensive today

[NOTE: this raffle was determined to be illegal in its home state of North Carolina, so has been cancelled - April 12th 2015]

Just in time for the EJ Cole auction in Las Vegas (I'll be your 'color man' on the podium), in which a Crocker will be sold among many other very rare American machines, comes news of the Megabike Raffle.  The basic premise is simple; as a fundraiser for the Amelia Island Foundation, Dale Walksler of the Wheels Through Time Museum has put up one of his Crockers (#8, an original 'hemi-head' model) as the grand prize in a raffle.  There will be a limit of 5000 tickets sold, and each ticket is $1000, although there's a discounted rate for buying multiple tickets.

KOP HILL CLIMB, 2015

[Words and contemporary images provided by Colin West - historic research and editing by MB]

A 1922 shot of DF Fitzgerald on a Norton 16H with sidecar - look at that crowd!  And the lack of spectator barriers on the rough dirt road...

In the heart of Buckinghamshire Country, deep in the British countryside, the Kop Hill Climb is among the most historic of all road races. The first race was held in 1910 as a test of machinery on the unpaved, winding road up the tallest local hill. The course begins gently, but the mid-section is a 1-in-6 grade (17%), and steepens to 1-in4 at the end (25%), which seemed nearly insurmountable in those early years of single-speeders with slipping belt drives.