Trolling around San Francisco in 2005, I spotted a pair of young men tinkering with vintage mopeds on a sidewalk, in front of a garage stuffed with a lot more mopeds. Clearly, the moped trend I'd been reading about had arrived, so I stopped to investigate. Graham Loft talked about starting the first moped gang in SF, the Creatures of the Loin, and invited me along on one of their rides, with my vintage bikes. A few weeks later, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin Headlands, a pack of furry kids on mopeds and me aboard my 1928 Sunbeam TT 90. Unlikely bedfellows, but a fun afternoon, which we repeated once more.
Zach Levenberg and Graham Loft at Alice's Restaurant on Jan. 6, 2007, as the start of their trip. [Paul d'Orleans]Later that year, Graham announced he was planning to ride his Puch Maxi to South America! I admired the audacity of youth, and rode my Sunbeam to meet him and his co-adventurer, Zach Levenberg, at Alice's Restaurant on a chilly January morning in 2007. The pair kept a blog about their trip, which has vanished into the ether, and I lost contact with Graham until this year, when we reconnected via The Vintagent's Instagram feed, and I asked him if he'd share the remarkable story. He published a book after the trip (available here), but there's little but photos to tell the story of this crazy journey. Here's the preface of 'Moped to South America' (2007, Colorwheel Press):
The cover of their book Moped to South America: Zach and Graham in Colombia after a difficult stretch. [Graham Loft]"Moped to South America?
This is the story of neither fame nor fortune. It isn't a tale of heroes, although we did meet a few along the way. This is a story of two young men who set out on a quest to accomplish something no one thought possible - a moped trip to South America.
The Idea of the trip began more of a joke than anything else. 'Hey, we've ridden our mopeds to Los Angeles and Seattle before (500 and 900 mile trips, respectively); why don't we ride to Mexico" "Well, if we're in Mexico, why don't we just ride to South America?" And so the journey was born...ten willing participants, cut down to two brave souls when it came time to hit the road. Zach Levenberg and Graham Loft - to the southern trip of South America.
Moped trips aren't an easy feat, to say the least. This was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, and cycling across the Himalayas is no easy thing either. This being Zach's first trip, I can't imagine what was going through his head - mine felt like it was about to explode on a number of occasions.
Five months rolled by like an eternity of mopeding. At an average speed of 30mph - peaking out at 40 - your body becomes tired and frail. Your mind becomes your home and riding becomes your life. Surviving just happens, and the path traveled begins to feel like a dream. The destination is always great, but for Zach and I, what we found along the way is what will always be with us."
A pair of Puch Maxis on Jurado island, Colombia, when the travelers were stranded for weeks. [Graham Loft]Bike Specs:
-Two vintage pedal-start 1979 Puch Maxis
- Single speed, two-stroke engines
- 50cc and 65cc cylinders
- Biturbo performance exhaust
- Five star mag rims
- Way too many spare parts and luggage
- And some serious pedals for those hills."
Camping in Arizona on the first leg of their trip. [Graham Loft]
An Interview with Graham Loft:
Paul d'Orleans (PDO): It's so cool to to be back in touch after 15 years, and be reminded of this incredible adventure. Your book is beautiful, really.
Graham Loft (GL): We only printed five hundred copies of that book, they sold out pretty quick. That was 2007 and one of my friends published the book; he was running a small publishing company in the time. He recently sent three boxes of 'bad' copies that weren't colored quite right. So that's what you got. I'm glad those re-emerged, I thought I would never see that book again. All that stuff was shot on real film and and video. A lot of it is cross-processed slide film and to make color negatives. So, it's before Instagram filters, you made your own filter in the film age.
PDO: So I assume all the square format was your twin lens reflex camera? Film is so beautiful, even if the color is strange. So, I did not see you after your journey; you guys started off from Alice's and we didn't talk for 15 years.
GL: Did you see my blog? We did a live, updated Blog, the whole time we did that journey.
PDO: I did see that. Is that site still up?
GL: I tried to find it, but I think it's gone. At one point when we had like a hundred copies of the book left, I printed the blog as a Zine and attached it with all the books sales. I don't know what happened to that; it's been a long time. I do still have all the original hard drives but they're clicking really bad, so I only turn them on when I need to. I just I recently backed them up after you asked me for images.
Cousins across the border: a converted moped cart in Hermilloso, Mexico. [Graham Loft]PDO: I learned a lot reading your book, and you mentioned two previous trips (to LA and Seattle) that gave you the confidence to undertake the longer journey. How did you prepare? What did you carry with you? I mean, you were on the same kind of moped so you could share parts.
GL: We rode the exact same bikes. Same wheels, same engines, everything was the same. So we could just carry a lot of parts. Our front panniers were just full of parts, just everything; full bottom end rebuild, cranks, clutches clutch springs, anything you might need. Our back bags had our tent and sleeping stuff and clothes, but we'd really brought very little clothes. I still try to replicate how little stuff I brought on that trip when I do dirt bike trips nowadays, and I can't do it, I just I overpack. I don't know how I brought one pair of pants on that 6 month journey. It was crazy but we just figured like six months of traveling, we're going to have to buy stuff when we need, right?
PDO: Or you can do like my buddy Sean, who rode his '36 Knucklehead chopper across the country in three weeks, and never changed his clothes.
GL: On my motorcycle trips now I end up wearing the same thing, unless it gets wet or something. Anyway, on the back panniers we had these fold-out wire bicycle baskets. You can fold them in and we'll go flat to the bike or you pull them out for your groceries or something. We thought those were great because when we were going to have to get on boats, we could kind of collapse the bikes and make them smaller. We carried a two and half gallon gas can and in the other one seven or eight bottles of Motul 2-stroke oil. That's what we ran. We had all our 2-stroke oil for the trip with us, as you can't buy good oil on the road. With the baskets and panniers we had a pretty wide wide load. For a moped.
Zach's bike packed to the gills, with panniers on the front and rear of the Puchs, and on the back rack. [Graham Loft]PDO: Yeah, I'm sure that's still half the width of a Harley-Davidson touring rig!
GL: Yeah! We did have one shipment of parts along the way, I can't remember if it was Guatemala or Panama? My Dad sent a big package of stuff, because by the time we got out of the US we had already blasted through our parts. Zach had already rebuilt his motor a few times, and we went right through stuff like piston rings. Our first stop before we dropped into Mexico was Arizona. There was another moped gang there, so we stopped as our last little spot to see if we need anything else. The whole way from SF to Arizona, my motor was rattling. It's making this nasty sound which I didn't like, so I rebuilt my motor. And then I didn't touch it the whole rest of the trip. It was kind of crazy. I like to do things right the first time, so I just rebuilt my motor even though it was still running, and that crankshaft lasted. Zach, on the other hand, had a lot of problems with his motor. I felt really bad.
Snake Lips
PDO: Well, that's how you hope things are going to go, right? Were you ever really stuck anywhere? Did your bikes ever leave you kind of in the middle of nowhere?
GL: We got screwed pretty bad crossing from Panama to Colombia. [Note: the notorious Darién Gap]. We met a guy who we later called Snake Lips, who had this younger guy with him to trick people into getting into his boat. He said, 'yeah I can give you a ride to Colombia for this amount of money.' He dropped us onto a strange little Island right off the coast of the Darien Gap, just dropped us there. And we asked, okay is this Columbia? This is an island! He said, yeah it's an island in Colombia. He said there should be other boats coming through that can take us to the mainland. We got stuck there for three weeks, it was a little military Island and there was one store on it that sold Coca-Cola, potatoes and eggs. We didn't have any real money on us, a little bit but not quite enough. Snake Lips had a little house he said we could stay in as he wasn't going to be there, but it was totally infested with bats! They were just flying all over the place! So after three weeks, maybe a little longer, the first boat that we'd seen came through. It was a big cargo boat carrying fuel and supplies, and didn't take passengers because it's carrying fuel and all kinds of combustibles.
A boy with a bat on Jurado island in Colombia. [Graham Loft]I didn't speak Spanish but Zach did: he was only eighteen, and just graduated high school. So he kind of weaseled us onto that boat by talking the captain into it, after the captain found out what happened to us. If you look in the book, there's a section about Jurado, that's the island we were stuck on. But that boat was torture, we were on that tanker a good week and half and it would just stop in every little town, picking up logs and stuff. We were like, oh my god, now we're stuck on a boat! But the crew was being cool, they were feeding us. I don't know if the fish they were catching was inedible, but they were literally feeding us bowls of rice with fish-heads. Were they messing with us? I don't know. At one stop, the police came on on board and found us, and kicked us off the boat, and fined the captain for having us on there. And then the captain wouldn't give us our bikes. He's like, 'I'm keeping these until you pay me my money. I'll meet you in Cali. Colombia.' So we had all our gear, these four bike panniers, and we're stuck on another Island. Luckily, that island had a small airport with little two-seater planes. So we went every single day to the airport, until we convinced a pilot to let us on an airplane. He walked us to an ATM when we got to the mainland, to give him money. It was just a huge ordeal, it ended up being four plus weeks of just getting from Panama to Colombia.
But we did save a little bit of money.
Once we got on that plane, they took us to Medellin, which is in northern Colombia. From there, we had to take a bus all the way down to Cali, which was a whole 'nother three-day journey, and when we actually got to Cali we had to find the right boat. That meant visually locating the boat that we were trying to find, then find the crew of that boat and get our bikes back. That was a fucking journey in itself, that would turn some people off of travel entirely. But at that point what are you going to do, turn around?
Zach with a sloth on Jurado island. [Graham Loft]PDO: Did you have any issues with the FARC in Colombia?
GL: Ah, the rebels. A lot of people on our way down to South America warned us not to go to Columbia. We would get robbed or killed and all that stuff. But Columbia was the most beautiful part of the trip. We didn't feel like we were ever in trouble. We certainly weren't going to try to ride the Darién Gap. I think I think you can ride it now, right?
PDO: People say they've ridden across it, but that's a misnomer because half the time you're just dragging a bike with a winch up a muddy slope. I mean, you cannot actually ride the Darien Gap. It's not possible. You can take a motorcycle through it - and people have - but it involves more canoeing and winching than being vertical on a two-wheeler. I actually know a lot of guys from Panama in the Velocette Owners Club, there's like ten guys who either grew up in or did military time in Panama who still have British bikes because that's they rode there in the Sixties. They tell incredible stories of riding bikes to the USA, but Darién Gap has always been impossible.
On the 10-day cargo boat journey from Jurado to the mainland of Columbia. [Graham French]GL: Yeah, I think we determined in the end like it would have been better for us to ride to the Caribbean, and leave from that side, take a boat North to Medellin - which we ended up in anyway. Most motorcyclists used that route, but we didn't want to ride all those extra miles. We were trying to stay on the coast and not ride too high in the mountains because our bikes just wouldn't with all that gear on them.
PDO: Some of your videos look like you're jamming right along.
GL: If it was flat or downhill, yes. Guatemala was the worst because even the coastal route takes you up in the mountains, and we'd have to hold onto trucks, like skaters. I mean we're like Full Throttle and pedaling the bike. I'm pretty sure my knee problems these days came from pedaling in weird ways. Dirt bikers would grab our hands and drag us up these big mountains, or we'd grab onto trucks that were going super slow as long as we could hold on. Ideally, we just used our pedals like a kick-start; you just start with the pedals and then we’re good to go. Yeah, but not in South America, you're in high elevation some points. So, we definitely used the pedals.
PDO: Did anybody give you a hard time? Like for riding a moped on these highways or was that not the issue at all?
GL: No not at all. The only issue we'd run into was at border crossings. Mopeds don't have much paperwork in the US. You basically register them once in their lifetime and they're good, right? At every border crossing they wanted all this paperwork from us and we wouldn't have it. We actually had our original registration card but they don't they just don't look like anything normal - it's like a bicycle registration card. It doesn't look legit. To get through the border could be a huge hassle. Luckily Zachary spoke Spanish.
PDO: I'm sure he became fluent by the end of the journey.
GL: It would be cool to talk to him as we probably have very different viewpoints of the trip. He was in a world of hell working on his bike and rebuilding it constantly, and doing all the translating. Whereas I was just photographing everything and riding, usually I was a mile ahead and he would break down; he just broke down so frequently. I didn't always stop with him; he’d fix his bike and be gone for like an hour and I’d blast ahead to find something cool, and be taking photos on the side of the road and he'd be so in the zone he'd pass right by. I remember a few times at these cool monuments off the side of the road, like, in Peru or something, right? Like kind of wave him down like, hey, I'm over here! He was just fried. I’d have to go chase him, but it's not like on a motorcycle where you could raise your speed, we can't, so if he's just going his constant 30 miles an hour and he's an hour ahead, I'm still going to be an hour behind.
Zach repairing his Puch, again. Somewhere in Chile. [Graham Loft]PDO: Did you guys ever lose each other?
GL: I'm not sure we ever spent a night apart. We were always right there with each other. We figured it out.
PDO: It must have been interesting at times, although you were pretty conspicuous.
GL: Yeah, we were definitely a spectacle, anywhere we went. People were like, what the heck? Our hands were always just black, full of grease, and our long hair and whatnot. Do you remember those really baggy pants called Genkos? At one point Zach's pants turned into Genkos, they ripped and kind of bell-bottomed on both legs and he just rode like that, it was hilarious. We just looked like Goofy and Goofy.
PDO: Somebody told me that you actually didn't ride all the way to Ushuia, but it looks like from the book that you did make it?
Mano del Desierto monument on the Panamerica Highway in the Atacama Desert of Chile. [Graham Loft]GL: Yeah, this is an interesting story. When we got to Argentina, I had some relationship problems come up back home, that kind of made me lose my mind, you know? I was in my twenties! I actually packed up all my shit up flew back home with my bike. Zach continued on the trip, but when he got to Ushuaia, he got robbed and they stole everything. Luckily when I left, I took all our footage with me, my cameras and everything, but Zach took the video camera and filmed that last part of the trip. But they stole the camera, and all his footage - they stole everything. So, early the next year, we actually packed our bikes up and flew back down to where we left off in Argentina, and finished the trip together. That was pretty important after being on the road for six months together. You know, I was super bummed after he finished it by himself, but we made the joint decision when I left; he was going to finish the video and stuff but after he got after he got robbed it was kind of just like, wow we got to go back.
PDO: How cool is that? Did you fly home with your bikes or what happened to them?
GL: I don't know if you get away with these days but we took a bike box from la mountain bike shop and broke our bikes down. Like 100% - and just called them mountain bikes. We took the engines off and drained everything, wiped it as clean as we could and wrapped them in a million pounds of Saran Wrap to really seal it in. We brought all that stuff on the plane with like packed bags.
Zach charging uphill in Peru, with the sea in the distance. [Graham Loft]PDO: Crazy, I've done that too! I bought a 1902 Clément in Paris, and got quotes of thousands of dollars to get it home, and thought, screw that, this is a Bicycle. I put the the chassis in a bicycle box and bought a hard suitcase for the engine. It cost $75 in excess baggage fees for the bicycle box.
So, what about the movie?
GL: When we got back, the big Moped Army scene was happening, and we would go to these moped rallies, in all these different states. I got a rough cut of a video done and we premiered it at the Kalamazoo moped rally in Kalamazoo Michigan. And it was a godawful cut. I mean, I don't think my wife's been able to get through it. There's so much the film could be, but I was really into film photography and then I just got busy and it just kept getting pushed off and I never got around to it. So, right now, there's still a two-hour cut, it's not done, I forget where it goes - it might just end at Chile or Argentina.
PDO: You really need to finish it! Are you still friends with Zach?
GL: Totally. Yeah. I think the only way that we are still friends is because he was so young and he put up with my shit.
PDO: Yeah, exactly. And to travel that long with someone is crazy, especially in arduous circumstances.
A glacier in the Andes. [Graham Loft]GL: Yeah, we also we slept in one tent together. Two wheels, slept in the same tent every night.
PDO: Oh my god.
GL: I would never do that now, but at that time, we just didn't have space in our bikes, so we had to downsize.
PDO: Have you been back to South America since?
GL: No, just Mexico
PDO: Last question: how did the trip change you?
GL: Well, actually, since I was 18 I've been traveling on bicycles. I rode with my friend Benji across China and Tibet and Nepal. I spent time overseas for a year at a time, I've always been into traveling. So this was just kind of another trip, something exciting and fun and adventurous to do, you know? We both definitely learned a lot about ourselves on the moped trip, how much you can take. I'd done a couple of trips but it was Zack's first big trip in his life. It was my third big trip; I'd been in the shit a few times, you know, with a few notches on my belt.
PDO: Especially if you're traveling in a foreign country, and not one especially friendly to Americans.
GL: Yeah, not everybody likes Americans. I've been arrested in China, and spent time in a hotel with guards outside my door. They didn't put me in a jail, but put us in a hotel with guards outside.
Still friends after all these years. The boys at the start of their journey, in Southern California. [Graham Loft]
For more remarkable stories of long-distance overland travel, check our ADV:Overland hashtag, and our exhibit at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
‘The Hack’ opinion column is written by our newest contributor to The Current, Harry Fryer. He’s the founder/CEO of Blaise Electric, and an employee/investor in the Bike Sheds Motor Co. in London
We are in a turning point in history to invent a new culture.
1. Accessibility
The Super73 is an accessible platform for customizing, being inexpensive and simple. The E-Hooligan by Roland Sands Design is an example of the experimentation and fun possible with smaller eBikes. This machine was featured in our Electric Revolution exhibit at the Petersen Museum. [RSD]EVs are more accessible than petrol vehicles and more fun to build from a custom perspective. They’re clean and they force builders to move away from the cut-and weld-style builds to a more advanced approach to custom design and development. However due to the clean aesthetics there’s also less room for hiding mistakes and errors. To some extent customising an electric motorbike versus a combustion one will probably accelerate the interest. Dynamics and customisation from a functionality perspective will become easier and promote the idea of individual add-ons.
2. Greater Interest To New Builders
Traditional custom builders like DeBolex engineering have adapted to eBikes, as with this stunning 'TW Steel / Oil in the Blood' converted Energica Ego sports machine for our Electric Revolution exhibit at the Petersen Museum. [DeBolex]We will see interest in custom work grow as new riders are brought into motorcycling through electric, especially with younger generations who are used to on-demand products and deeply personalised experiences. Manufactures will have to make the most of the opportunities this new technology brings and custom designers will be ready to meet the need for an electric motorcycle that lives up to the modern consumer’s expectations.
3. Manufactures and custom designers will work together
Hugo Eccles and his Zero XP, an example of a collaboration between a brand (Zero) and designer, currently on view in our Electric Revolutionaries exhibit at the Petersen Museum. [Aaron Brimhall]This new age will bring an exciting opportunity for manufactures and custom designers to work together to evolve the industry. Established motorcycle manufactures are being challenged by disruptive start-ups. These necessary brands restrained by legacy and established design language, are struggling to escape their own conventional character and respond to the challenge of electric. Custom designers think and work outside of these constraints and don’t have an extended product line to think about, which puts them in the perfect position to challenge what’s always been done and push the vision further.
4. Mechanics will become Electricians
'Hackers are the new hotrodders' - Dave Mucci.
The administration of power is done digitally, so those who know code will have immense tuning flexibility compared to gas engines. It will be really interesting seeing the state of the custom scene down the road, when todays technology can be picked up at the salvage yard for a few pounds, and everyone has their own mini- manufacturing plant at home in the form of rapid prototyping machines. Tuning engines and big bore kits will now be micro chips wired in to motors that de-restrict power. There will of course be upgrades in the form of bigger motors and more powerful batteries but tinkering will be done digitally and altering code. This can all be done without altering the shape, size and aesthetics of the bike which will make it harder to differentiate custom from factory.
5. Classic Biker Culture Will Have To Adapt
Traditional motorcycle shows like at the Bike Sheds (here), the Quail, The Handbuilt Show, and the One Show are already including eBikes in their lineups. [The Bike Sheds] The custom motorcycle culture is so deeply routed in sound, smell and touch. These senses with the experience of riding at speed create the adrenaline fuelled excitement associated with a custom motorcycle. The vibration of an engine, sound of an exhaust and smell of fuel that brings years of nostalgia will be non-existent in electric motorcycles. So we are living in a new era of transformative emotion whereby we are the generation to create and establish this new feeling and nostalgia our great grand kids will feel. Knowing what we know and how we grew up with petrol motorcycles can give us a relative foundation to apply to electric motorcycles.
P.S
The Ösa:work is a new category machine built by CAKE: a utility machine of a different stripe. [CAKE]One thing to add, motorcycles are categorised by the shape, size and power of the engines which determine what style and purpose they are made for. For instance a Harley Davidson Fat Boy has a heavy, low end power engine for cruising, and a Yamaha YZ250 has a small, light single cylinder engine with quick acceleration for steep climbs and off-road terrain. With electric motors not constrained to these factors, will we develop more all around, all purpose machines creating a whole new category?
Harry Fryer is CEO of Blaise, selling custom parts for E-Bikes. He's an early employee/ investor of the Bike Shed Moto Co in London, and his latest custom build was featured in Built Mag and Bike Exif. His column 'The Hack' explores trends in two-wheeled EVolution.
When I first met Maxwell Hazan in 2012 at his Brooklyn warehouse, I knew we'd see more of him in the future. That day, his first proper custom motorcycle, based on a Royal Enfield single, sat on the workbench, a gleaming silver machine with quirky features marking it as the product of a unique mind. The Enfield's lines were clean, and the wooden seat spoke of his experience restoring a boat. While I admired the quality of his construction, I didn't agree with all the decisions he'd made, and told him what I felt was problematic. He took the criticism graciously, explained his reasoning, and we've been talking ever since.
Max Hazan at PRJCTLA gallery with the HMW Vincent. The diminutive scale of the motorcycle is clear! [Andy Romanoff]In the intervening ten years, I've had the pleasure of writing about his bikes for Cycle World, and included his Musket 2 V-twin in my first Petersen Museum exhibit, Custom Revolution, in 2018. Fast forward to this year at the Quail Motorcycle Gathering: while I'd seen Max's Instagram tales of progress on his Vincent Rapide project, seeing the finished Hazan Motor Works (HMW) Vincent in person proved that photography doesn't always capture the magic. All Max's bikes are ambitious and beautifully made, but the HMW Vincent was actually next-level work: this was the first alt.custom/ neo-custom/ BikeExif-era custom I've seen where a builder challenged him/herself by making their own carburetors, forks, shocks, and wheels rims from scratch.
What caught my eye: the hand-made carburetors with their extravagant velocity stacks. [Andy Romanoff]That he built his own carburetors was enough to warrant my recommendation that the HMW Vincent take Best of Show at the Quail: I hadn't even been properly walked through the build to hear the rest of the details. That took a conversation with photographer Andy Romanoff, who'd shot our photos for the Quail, and wanted to do more: I naturally suggested we shoot Max's bike while I was passing through LA in June. Andy sprung into action, and pulled strings at PRJCTLA gallery in downtown LA for the use of their beautiful space on a quiet weekday morning. The owner of Vincent, Michael Klingerman, was eager to participate, and even Max had space in his schedule. The results you see here, a photographer's gaze at this extraordinary machine.
The short exhaust pipes exit beneath the Vincent motor. [Andy Romanoff]Max was also game for an interview about the construction of the Vincent, and how things are going with HMW. Our conversation follows below:
Paul d'Orléans (PDO): This Vincent build seems different to me, like you've made a big step forward in your work. It's a very tight design, and the construction is mind-blowing. I called it your masterpiece on the Quail stage: what feels different for you about this bike?
Maxwell Hazan (MAX): Honestly this one was very difficult for me; there was Covid, I'd just had a kid and moved houses. Usually I can just be the recluse and sit in the shop until it happens. Now my life is like stepping in and out of character - that's what I call it. It's hard to walk in at 9 a.m. and say, okay, you’ve got until 5 make it happen. I don't work on the weekends at all.
PDO: I was just reflecting on how we met in 2012, after you finished your first proper custom, a Royal Enfield, and were pondering building your second bike, mulling over what might be next. It was an interesting moment.
MAX: You know, I've never really said publicly that it was my dad who gave me the push to go full-time on building bikes. He said, “Hey, why don't you give this motorcycle thing a real shot? Take some time off work. And if you need money, you know, for rent or whatever, I’ll help you out.” That was a surprise! My dad was always kind of a hard ass. But that offer gave me time and creative freedom, I could go any direction I wanted. The hardest part is, it's such a blank canvas. And that's where I struggled with the Vincent; making every single part from scratch, and all the little details; there are so many opportunities to make something right, and there's a million wrong ways. And with the added responsibilities that I had, it was tough. After finishing the Vincent I started to experience a little burnout; it's like a birth, and there’s something you leave behind with each one. Like it took something to figure out how to get that right shape.
A Rapide in shadow: the lines and proportions of the HMW Vincent are ultra tight and minimal. [Andy Romanoff]With the Vincent, I felt like I was building the whole thing on my back foot. Everything worked out in the end, but I was not proactively designing. I designed it as I went, which is why I wound up having to use a barbell plate for the front braking surface. I was in a pinch, and it looked like I was going to have to cast my own iron braking surface and folks were saying, ‘the cast ones aren't as good as the stuff they use in brake drums.’ I was looking at different options, and then I noticed my barbells were the same diameter as the Vincent front brake drum. That was lucky.
PDO: Right? It's a kind of magic that seems to support any good creative endeavor. You know; the thing you didn't know you need appears in a flash of light.
MAX: Sometimes I really back myself in a corner and then all of a sudden an idea comes up and makes it seem like the whole thing was meant to be all along. Anyway, with that front brake I wanted the proportions to be just right, but as you saw it winds up being a tiny motorcycle. I've always tried to make the bike proportional, so if I want to scale the bike I'll add things, so it's functional but at the same time, it's cool.
The front brake on the HMW Vincent is enormous, a double-sided drum that's suspended in short spokes to the wheel rims, all carved from solid aluminum. [Andy Romanoff]PDO: The Vincent's front brake IS proportional. But I know you also like to play with scale. And in this case because the chassis is tiny, it really highlights the engine, which is cool in a way that even Vincent couldn't do, because they had to sell a motorcycle in the 1940s. Can we include some discussion about money? I think you're charging way too little.
MAX: A lot of people said, 'you needed to charge more for that.' Honestly, Michael [Klingerman] does well, but he's not Bobby Haas. I charged what I gauged I could for the client. But then again, how many builders out there have people lining up to pay six figure numbers? There's not many. I just need to learn how to slow myself down a little bit. But you know how it works, to go to the Quail and and have that result, and seeing all these people geek out over the bike; it's all worth it.
PDO: Well, it's the old quandary for anybody who makes things, whether it's art or furniture or whatever; what can you charge versus what do you really want to do? Making compromises for the money is kind of soul destroying, when you're no longer doing what you want to do and lose interest in your own career. I speak from experience.
The shifter arm with wooden handle has the clutch operating lever attached: squeezing the clutch is surprisingly light. [Andy Romanoff]MAX: So that's why I actually don't how many hours I put into things. It's not healthy to count hours, man. Don't think about it. Just give them a window, 'we'll be done in December'. No, I don't want to know my hourly rate. People always ask, 'how long does it take you to make a bike?' The actual fabrication is like bartending for me; I just I know where everything is, I know where all the handles are and am super fast with that. But at the same time, coming up with the idea, that's the part that takes me forever. Then in my head I'm reverse-engineering, figuring it out, and then another day of just staring and thinking, and then making the part is easy. Once you know what you're going to make, it's like autopilot, I love that.
PDO: I saw that you’d made some engineering drawings for your parts. Do you use CAD or digital design software?
MAX: I actually don't. I wish I knew more, and didn't waste my time in college! But I can hand draw really quickly, and I can take measurements off of that drawing for something like the carburetors. When you draw a part out, you put your measurements down, and you also get an order of operations. With machining, it's so easy to back yourself into a corner, thinking ‘I need to flip this part over, how do I find center, how do I grip it?’ You need to have the order in your head. And I’m still using manual tools, but I do have digital readouts on my machines, because one wrong turn on the knobs then you go a little too far and you've got start over.
The 1:1 scale drawing of the carburetor, compared the body of the carb as initially machined. [Michael Klingerman]PDO: I'm sure you speak from experience.
MAX: Oh yeah. I've done that before. Some of the old-school people say, 'oh, I don't use a digital readout, I use the knobs.' You know, the digital readouts are better. You can just set it and know that if you go past zero you went too far, right? And I try and use as many people as I can to help out with the process. I don't do it by myself on principle. On the smaller stuff, I do it myself, but on the bigger stuff, I will have someone like Mark Atkinson [See his BMW Alpha from our Custom Revolution exhibit] CNC a part like the rear wheel from a solid chunk, and give me a blank so I can do the final operations on my machines.
PDO: You have a reputation as being humble. How does all the press feel to you? Will success ruin Max Hazan?
MAX: I’ve never been good at accepting it. I don’t have a problem with it, but it never sinks in. It never occurred to me to use a show win to mold an ego. I had a regular job and hated it, so I’m skeptical as this seems too good to be true, although now I have a little bit of job security, with a line of people who want my bikes. We’re not doing anything special here, it’s just way more fun than building houses. I never felt guarded about any of my stuff – if you want to build something like it, go ahead, it’s a lot of work!
PDO: That's a question of character. Do you think you've Incorporated other builders' ideas or shapes, or is your design process strictly intuitive?
The rear shock with remote reservoir was built by Max, using various springs and valving until the combination felt right. [Andy Romanoff]MAX: Totally on my own. I never really looked at other people's work for ideas, and I don't even think that subconsciously I've Incorporated it. A lot of people in the beginning said, 'oh man, you're copying Shinya [Kimura].' But I think we both just like the way certain things look. At least now people think, okay, they're different. But I just like the way certain shapes look. With each build, I approach it with an open mind - if it's right, it's right.
PDO: It's your decision-making process that creates the style, that’s really what it comes down to.
MAX: It's not like you're necessarily trying to make things look a certain way. When you're self-taught you figure stuff out on your own, and you inherently wind up with a different process and get a different outcome, because you're winging it. So it's not like "where did your Unique Style come from?" - it just came from what seemed like the best solution at the time.
In the very beginning I took inspiration from board track bikes, because I'd never seen them before; the big-diameter wheels and the proportions. I thought it'd be cool to make something like that, and one thing led to another.
The HMW Vincent has two magnetos; one at the front of the engine in the usual position, and this one at the rear, driven by the dry clutch. [Andy Romanoff]PDO: Were there a list of engines you'd wanted to work with? Was there a 'Hazan 10'?
MAX: Every now and then I write things down, and then randomly see them years later, and yes there was an engine list, and it sat in the back of my head. When I first started, I came across Brough Superior by accident. My mom's last name is Brough, by marriage, so no family connection, just coincidence. I was looking for personalized Christmas gifts twenty years ago, so I type in Brough, and in the images pops up this engine, and I'm like, holy shit, that's beautiful! And so I went down the rabbit hole until I found a price tag and I was like, okay, forget that! There was the Brough and the Vincent and a few other engines that I came across that were just beautiful but unobtainable, especially in the beginning, when I was building out of my own pocket. A lot of other projects were inspired by the dual front cylinder head setup on a [Harley-Davidson] XR750. I wanted to build bikes with two front cylinders, so I just did a much cheaper version, with ironhead Sportsters.
Max's first ironhead Sportster custom from 2013, and seen at legendary BritBike shop Sixth Street Specials in New York City, as he was tuning the engine. [Paul d'Orléans]PDO: Sportsters are dirt cheap, but not that cheap to rebuild.
MAX: When I first started, I was buying complete running ironheads for twelve hundred bucks in New York. No one wanted them, as they were heavy and run like crap. But you know, they were cheap and they looked cool.
PDO: Well that's one thing Harley-Davidson has always been good at: make it look badass.
MAX: So at one point I was wondering what my next project was going to be? And I got an email and then a phone call from from Mike. "Hey, I've got this Vincent engine. I think it's all together. Would you like to build a custom motorcycle around it?" Get the fuck outta here! How does this happen? It just fell in my lap - I mean there was a little more to it than that - but I couldn't believe it. He wheeled the Vincent engine into the shop, way in advance, so I could wrap my brain around it. He'd cleaned it up but I had no idea what was inside. It could have been just a total piece of shit. But I mean it was nice to have on my desk, just sitting there, for a year. When it finally came time I cracked it open and not only was it all there, it was all perfect. Someone had just put in a new pistons, new rings and everything was there. I wound up going with a higher compression pistons and a whole bunch of things, but it was a rare, easy starting point.
PDO: That's amazing.
The rear hub is a solid piece of aluminum machined into a trumpet-curve hub and drum brake. [Andy Romanoff]MAX: People asked me, 'how do you know how to work on a Vincent?' I don't! But they all work on the same principles. When I opened up the timing chest and didn't know where the cams or the idler gears came from, and I only saw a few faint scratches [for the timing marks] and thought, that's not right. So I used a piece of welding rod in the cylinders to feel where the piston is, and watched the lifters move as I turned the motor. And I adjusted the cam timing - maybe another tooth, then another tooth - until I got it to what seemed right. Then I looked really close, and there were the timing marks, they were all perfectly lined up.
PDO: So, what was your education on building your own shocks and forks? I mean, you don't have a degree in hydraulics, so how did you go about that?
MAX: Just common sense. I've got a mechanical brain, and understand the basics of how things work. When I was racing I'd watch these suspension techs spouting the biggest lines of bullshit. I'd ask 'ever try this?', and they'd say, 'well, you know, you can't do that.' And how many times have I just said, you know what? I'm just going to get the screwdriver out and turn a few clicks and bounce it up and down until I feel like it's right. With the Vincent, it was actually pretty easy. I had the damping rod and the seals and the springs, and I just messed around. I bought a whole bunch of different springs because it's easier to buy springs and test them out than it is to sit there and try and calculate it. As far as the damping goes, there's a Teflon disk that acts as a slider, and also it has holes in it [for the fork oil to pass through], so I made a few different ones with different holes. The forks feel amazing, I don't know how I got it so on the money, I surprised myself with that one.
The front forks were entirely built by Max Hazan, including the hydraulics. They're an 'upside down' design, which makes for a cleaner upper fork. Note the front axle with handy manual grip, much like an original Vincent. Note also the brake torque stays - in this case a pair of needle rollers mounted on the front brake plate that embrace the fork leg. [Andy Romanoff]PDO: And what about the rear shock? I mean, I'm trying to think of any other customizers who've built their own? I see builders with real careers, who go to a specialty shock builder for the hydraulics. I can't think of another person who's done hydraulic shocks front and rear on a custom.
MAX: Honestly, I don't make any secret, McMaster-Carr is the best website of all time because, you know, they have a million different types of seals and wipers, all this crazy stuff for building hydraulics. I would have bought an off-the-shelf hydraulic shock if I had found one that works on the Vincent. But suspension companies can be such a pain in the ass to deal with, condescending and with a narrow-sighted approach, 'What are you doing? You definitely can't do that.' First of all, you can, and second of all, I just needed to know this one bit of knowledge from you. After being frustrated enough times, I just thought, it's a hydraulic shock, we'll figure it out.
The carburetors with their vacuum floats. [Michael Klingerman]PDO: You have a great attitude. And it's also possible that these techs and advisors have never actually built a fork from scratch, they just bolt their stuff together.
MAX: It's incredible when you actually meet like-minded peers. I don't meet that many people with that same approach, or who have gone through the same experience. I met a famous Porsche builder when I was going to machine this massive drum brake. And he was partners with this crazy aerospace guy out in Palmdale, like really well known, building crazy, crazy stuff. He's an engineer, and I started talking to him and he was way smarter than me, but so nice. Somebody who I could throw the craziest ideas to, and he'd say 'yeah I like that. Let's do that. We'll figure that out.'
PDO: Not many people have invested a time in in creative thinking, and creative problem-solving. It's rare to find a person who's just making things and figuring out how to make it work, from a set of shocks to building a motor from scratch. Everything is possible, and obviously somebody thought it up in the first place.
MAX: And one big thing is, don't be scared to screw up. Just to go for it, man. Like the amount of time you waste thinking whether you should do it or not, you learn so much more from a mistake than you do from going back and forth, or reading a bunch of stuff. If I don't take the chance, I'll never know. So, I just kind of jumped in and luckily now with just a little bit of experience, most of the time it works out, the mistakes are fewer and smaller.
Details, details. The tiny solar cell that powers the battery that gives enough juice for night riding using LED lights. also note the top of the vacuum fuel regulator chambers. [Andy Romanoff]PDO: So, what was your inspiration for building the carbs?
MAX: You know, honestly, I always do something unique with each bike. Originally I bought a pair of Dell’Orto SS1s, but on the Vincent they just looked like a dog. What was in my head was velocity stacks. The carburetors are just a mechanical object, you’ve got to machine a few things and, you know, it's been made by a human. It's not impossible. So I sat down and measured a few carburetors to see some of the proportions. I measured the inlet tract, the inlet flange was 28mm, so that's how big the carb is going to be, and I sat down and started drawing. There are so many little passages inside that have to make a 90degree turns and hit the next passage. You don't want them to intersect at some random point in the casting. I stole a couple of little things from many different carbs; a mixing tube, the needle and a jet. I didn't need to make the needle!
PDO: And are those floats behind the carbs?
MAX: Remote floats are sensitive to height; they have to be in line with a certain level of the carburetor. Otherwise, it'll either just dump fuel out of the carburetor, or not get enough fuel. And wherever I put them, they looked like crap. I had an idea I'd seen on a jet ski, a vacuum-operated diaphragm. I thought that would be cool, so grabbed the diaphragm out of a Mikuni carburetor and machined the housing. They use them on chainsaws too, and you can turn a chainsaw upside down and it still runs. So I just gave it a shot. I wondered if I went a little too far, but once I got it within the range where it would run, and then it was responsive to turning the idle screw, I knew I was good. The main thing is, it's using the suction in the mixing tube, not the manifold vacuum; it's actually picking up the vacuum in front of the slide. So as your carburetor wants more fuel, it produces more vacuum, and I just couldn't believe how well it worked. I took it out and rode it with a digital O2 sensor on, and you just turn the throttle and get the normal throttle response, but the air / fuel ratio never moves. It's pretty cool.
The shifter crossover shaft and mated gears that makes a left-hand shift possible. [Andy Romanoff]PDO: I wonder why more people aren't using them. Is there a downside?
MAX: If it's real hot out side, or even idling for a while at a light, you might have to keep on the throttle a little bit.
PDO: I have to do that with all my old bikes - I've always got a hand on the throttle!
MAX: I'm happy Mike is so enthusiastic and happy with the Vincent. When I saw his face at the Quail it was like, yeah. I knew damn well I should have charged double for this bike, but when it was all done, I forget all that. And I'll do it again, I'm sure.
Max Hazan in the alley outside his studio in downtown LA. [Andy Romanoff]
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Vintagent Contributor Andy Romanoff started out as a biker/photographer, then had a long career in Hollywood, including years working with Panavision. He's a member of The Academy, and is now back to his biker/photographer roots. Follow these links for his Bike Pictures for sale and his Bike Gallery.
The illustrious Isle of Man TT races owe their beginnings to a stodgy and horse-minded English government. Public road competitions were banned in England by an act of Parliament, and its roads were saddled with a 20mph speed limit. The Auto-Cycle Club (later the ACU), believing that ‘racing improves the breed’, wanted a rigorous test of standard, as-manufactured machines. The Isle of Man, while a part of Great Britain, was not subject to England’s traffic laws, and local politicos saw the value in hosting such a contest of riders and machinery, with perhaps equal concern for Tourist Trophies and money. The wisdom of their decision has been borne out over the last 100 years, as the TT races became the gold standard of motorcycle road racing the world over, and thousand of visitors from all points arrive for a motorcycling holiday every June. True, other countries have held significant and important road races (the Ulster GP, the Nurburgring, etc), but the IoM TT rose to the very pinnacle of all races for the notorious difficulty of the course, with its 37 1/2 miles of narrow roads, stone walls, steep and often fog-shrouded mountain climb, and quaint villages.
Rem Fowler with the winner of the first Isle of Man TT in 1907 (multi-cylinder class) with his Peugeot-engine Norton. [The Vintagent Archive]
The first TT races were held on May 28th 1907, over a 15 3/4-mile course, which did not include the mountain road over Snaefell, as the motorcycles were all single-speed, clutchless, virtually brakeless, and incapable of such a climb, or descent! Two classes, for single- and multi-cylinder machines, had to abide by 90mpg fuel economy (for singles; 75mpg for multis). Famously, Harry Collier, an organizer of the race, on the Matchless single of his own make, and Rem Fowler on a Peugeot-engined Norton, won their respective classes in just over 4 hours time, at average speeds of approximately 42 mph. They each received a 3-foot tall sculptural trophy of Mercury atop a winged wheel, donated by the Marquis de Mouzilly St. Mars, replicas of which have been handed over to brave TT winners for 100 years. The early races were run over gravel farm tracks at speeds touching 70mph, when punctures, crashes, flaming machines, and livestock encounters were common. Boy Scouts with flags marshaled the course, waving frantically to warn of upcoming dangers. The need for improved machines (and roads) was dramatically emphasized by the death in practice for the 1911 TT of Victor Surridge on a Rudge, outside the Glen Helen Hotel. Thus was born a chorus of objections to the races by the safety brigade, as the treacherous nature of the road course claimed a mounting share of victims.
Charles B. Franklin, the Dublin importer for Indians who raced his machinery, here as part of the Indian factory-backed team that took 1-2-3 at the Senior TT in 1911 [Read our story here]. Franklin would later move to Springfield, and designed the Indian Scout. [The Vintagent Archive]
In 1911, the race moved to the current 37 ½ mile ‘Mountain’ course, to create a greater challenge to the motorcycles, which were becoming faster and more reliable, but still needed development in braking, gearing, and handling. In that year Indian ‘motocycles’ had all these things, using all-chain drive with a clutch and two-speed gearbox, and an effective drum brake on the rear wheel instead of the usual bicycle-type stirrup. Their reward was a 1-2-3 sweep of the Senior races, which lit a fire under British and European manufacturers to rapidly modernize their designs. Indians did well at the TT for another 12 years, with their last podium placement in 1923, when Freddie Dixon, the legendary racer-tuner, took 3rd place.
Freddie Dixon at the 1921 Isle of Man TT aboard a single-cylinder Indian. [The Vintagent Archive]
By the 1920s every competing manufacturer had developed recognizably modern designs, with brakes on both wheels, suspension (at least up front), clutches, and multiple gears. More entries from Europe began to appear (Peugeot, FN, Bianchi, Moto Guzzi, etc), the road surface had improved, and by 1922 the course was almost fully paved(!); race averages crept up into the 70mph range for the 500cc Senior class. The great variety of engine configurations in competition (side-valves, inlet-over-exhaust valves, overhead valves, overhead cams, and two-strokes) made for a fascinating study in the possibilities available to the motorcycle designer at the time. The keenness of competition was reflected in the sheer number of different TT makes; AJS, Levis, New Imperial, Sunbeam, Rudge, Rex-Acme, Velocette, Douglas, DOT, Cotton, Scott, and HRD all won top honors in the '20s.
Alec Bennett aboard the Velocette factory racer that became the basis is the KTT production racer [read our story here], here after his 1928 win at the Junior TT, a harbinger of the future when OHC machines would dominate racing. Factory Boss Eugene Goodman looks very happy indeed. [The Vintagent Archive]
By the 1930s all winners of the Senior (500cc) and Junior (350cc) TTs had camshafts on top of their engines, and lap records touched 90mph. Only in the Lightweight (250cc) class was mechanical variety maintained, with OHV, OHC, and two-stroke machines nudging their way to the podium. Race machinery had strayed from the original intention of ‘same as you can buy’, as European uber-bikes (Gilera, Moto Guzzi, NSU) with multiple cylinders and superchargers began menacing the track. Still, Norton, with its 500cc Model 30 (Manx Grand Prix), and Velocette’s KTT 350cc models began a long string of success on the Island, which would last until the 1960s. Race watchers were used to British wins in all but the lightweight classes had regularly broken into the top 3, so it was a shock when Moto Guzzi in 1935 won the Senior TT, with Stanley Woods (10-time winner) at the helm. His mount was notable not only for its wide-angle OHC v-twin motor, but also for the effective rear suspension. By the next TT, all serious contenders had rear shocks!
Stanley Woods aboard the remarkable Moto Guzzi 'Bicylindrica' OHC V-twin on which he won the 1935 Isle of Man Senior TT. [The Vintagent Archive]
AJS and Velocette had their own answers to the 'multi' brigade in their V-4 and Roarer twin, but BMW, using its characteristic flat-twin (but with an OHC supercharged engine) won the Senior TT in 1939, on the very eve of the WW2. Supercharging was henceforth banned from the races. Racing resumed in 1947, with the essentially pre-war designs of Norton, Velocette, and Moto Guzzi dominating their respective classes for a few years as the rest of Europe rebuilt. In the 1950’s though, Italian (Guzzi, Gilera, MV) and German (NSU, BMW) machines came to the forefront with new and sophisticated multi-cylinder designs, culminating in the amazing Guzzi V-8. Bob McIntyre made the first 100mph lap in 1957, on a 4-cyl dohc Gilera.
John Surtees in 1957 aboard the MV Agusta four in 1957, that would dominate the TT for many years to come. [The Vintagent Archive]
By the mid-1950’s most British firms allowed their factory teams to languish, refusing to spend the vast sums demanded by race programs bearing no relation to consumer motorcycles. In 1957, most European manufacturers concurred by closing their race shops, leaving MV and BMW to battle privatateer racers using Manx Nortons and AJS/Matchless production racers. By the 1960’s, Japanese machinery, led by Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha, virtually took over the Lightweight TT. Honda began contesting the larger classes as well, using technically superior 4- and 6-cylinder double-overhead-cam engines, and the battles between Honda and MV became the stuff of legend. Honda quit racing in 1967, leaving Agostini on his MV Agusta to win all Senior and Junior TT’s from ’68 to ’73 (minus the ’71 Junior). The organizing body - ACU - introduced the Production TT in 1967, and later Formula One and 750cc classes among others, to maintain variety in what had become a Japanese and MV benefit. Racing in these new categories became as closely watched as the ‘classics’, especially the 750cc TT, where one could watch similar-to-standard Superbikes from Norton, Triumph, and Honda duke it out. The Senior and Junior races were dominated from 1974 by Yamaha two-strokes, challenged by Suzuki later in the decade. Lap averages hit 110 mph, and a clamor from top riders such as Giacomo Agostini, Phil Read, and Barry Sheene, resulted in the TT losing its World Championship status in ‘76. A high note in 1978 was the comeback of Mike Hailwood, riding a Ducati to win the Formula 1 race after a 10-year absence; good publicity for the TT at a time when calls for its total cancellation had reached a peak.
Mike Hailwood at the 1978 Formula 1 race aboard an 864cc Ducati, his 'comeback' race. Read our story, 'Haunted by Hailwood' here. [Motor Cycle News]
In the 1980’s and 90’s, race averages began to reach 120mph, and Joey Dunlop began his remarkable run of 26 wins. Lap speeds now stand at over 130mph, and the increasing number of spectators and participants show the irresistible draw to motorcyclists across the globe, who want to experience the legendary race course and steep in its century of speed.
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Now on view at the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA is our latest moto-centric exhibit: Electric Revolutionaries. Curated and concepted by Paul d’Orléans, the exhibit focusses on 11 designers making an impact on the electric mobility scene, each in very different ways; from top speed to accessible mobility, from aesthetic perfection to hand-cobbled and crude, from luxury to mass market to one-off. Each of these designers is tackling a different set of issues, illustrating the wide-open nature of EV design at this early stage of the industry. Our 11 designers are brave pioneers, embracing what could be the future of mobility, digging in on what design features make EVs unique, and challenging our ideas of ‘what is a car or motorcycle?’
Storm Sondors, while born in Latvia, has made his fortune in the USA, first in toy manufacturing, and now in electric vehicles with his company SONDORS. His vision was to build affordable e-Bikes, and got his start via the second-most successful Indiegogo fundraiser in history, which exceeded its goal by 7000%. SONDORS is now one of the largest e-Bike manufacturers in the USA, and is distributed in 42 countries. More recently, he turned his attention to disrupting the e-Moto scene by revealing the dramatic Metacycle, with a futuristic cast-aluminum chassis and an industry-beating low price tag. Vintagent Profiles Editor Greg Williams interviewed Storm for this story, and shares the back story on the creation of SONDORS.
Storm Sondors at his factory in Southern California. SONDORS is now the largest distributor of e-Bikes in the USA. [SONDORS]As an inquisitive youngster, Storm Sondors filled some of his time constructing simple toy vehicles using a small DC electric motor, a battery, a rubber band and some wheels. Put all together, he’d experiment varying the tension on the rubber band and observe the effects. “That’s what I found fascinating,” the man behind SONDORS Electric Bikes explains, and continues, “I just loved the simplicity of it, and wondered how changing the rubber band’s tension would cause it to slow down or speed up.” That simplicity is something Storm continues to value, and it’s evident in every product the Malibu, California designer of SONDORS two-wheel electric mobility products brings to market.
The SONDORS Rockstar emtb, capable of 28mph without pedaling, or more. [SONDORS]Born and raised in Latvia, Storm’s other passion were bicycles. With very little money to afford anything ‘brand name,’ he made do with whatever fell his way and always enjoyed the ride. “I spent a lot of time on a bike, that was my mode of transportation,” Storm says. “Two-wheelers took me further than I could walk, and as long as I had a pump, I was happy; I hated to ride soft tires. And I always paid attention to the chain because that’s super critical on a bike.” Attending an art-focused high school, Storm sat regular classes in the morning. Then, during the afternoon and evening, he’d study design and sculpture. College was never an option he considered, and today, he takes great pride in that. “I think further education would have ruined me,” Storm declares. “I had enough skill set to be pretty good from early days in that space because I had a passion for it; once you have a passion, where does the learning begin, and your lifestyle continue? It just blended together and with all that continuous learning, it’s been ‘What’s the next target? What’s the next target?’ ever since and I always have something to look forward to instead of waking up and being miserable in something I don’t enjoy doing.”
Storm with crates of SONDORS e-Bikes ready for shipping. There is no middleman, all bikes are direct to consumer; a significant method of reducing costs to consumers. [SONDORS]At age 19, Storm moved to Chicago. He very briefly dallied with fashion design before completing an internship at a company specializing in building prototypes for model and die cast kit maker ERTL. By the time he was in his early 20s, Storm was working at Rehkemper Invention & Design, a firm dedicated to conceiving toys and other consumer products. In this bustling Illinois metropolis, his bicycling continued, and he often commuted to work an hour each way. Storm says he was not a gearhead; while he admired good-looking vehicles and motorcycles, he would be a fraud, he explains, if he claimed to occupy any of that design territory. At Rehkemper, his creative and innovative personality blossomed. It’s also where he got his first taste of fast paced design, for example, one day working on a project for Nike soles, the next a toy for Mattel. He says the number and variety of design projects taken from concept to pre-production prototype “really propelled me to start on a lifelong journey of innovation, that evolution aspect of never really stopping, that was embedded there,” he says, and adds, “I give those guys credit. It’s where I learned and got practical real life experience being surrounded by people who are better at doing something than you are.” While there he worked on projects for McDonald’s, and later became a contractor for the fast-food giant doing prototyping for the company’s Happy Meal toys. That experience took him frequently to China, where he evolved and started his own toy company in Hong Kong. “I worked there for about 10 years and our customers in that business were Walmart and Target, that’s where you could buy our toys.” The toys? They were radio controlled flying ships, and everything was electronics-based.
The SONDORS Cruiser, available at Costco. How do you sell a lot of e-Bikes? ... [SONDORS]Storm moved to California approximately 15 years ago, and says it wasn’t long after that he saw his first electric bike. Ridden by a friend, the machine was moving at a high rate of speed, and Storm was impressed. “What fascinated me about it was you could see something so familiar, but the way it performed was just so foreign. It was so cool because it made no sense. You go through the check list -- it’s got pedal assist not gears. It’s got a tiny hub motor in a wheel. And here's a battery pack.” Put together by an old-school mechanical engineer, the electric bicycle had been garage built but looked and performed like a factory machine. “That’s what really caught my attention,” Storm says, and continues, “Here's something really interesting and undervalued, at least at that point. We were all just excited about looking at Cadillac Escalades and Ford F-150s, and I was thinking, ‘I have to fix that,’ you know what I mean? That’s what caught my attention the most, the ability to transform such a prevalent item like a bicycle into an (improved mode of) transportation.” When he got home, he Googled electric bikes. “That’s when my moment of truth came around – I can’t afford this. The reality kicked in, and wow, this sounds familiar. Even now as a grown up, I can’t reach something because it’s out of my price point and that’s when my head started to move, and I saw an opportunity to create something.”
The SONDORS Fold X, the ultimate in convenience when traveling. [SONDORS]It started for himself, but Storm’s mindset has always been to create for scale production. “I never did any garage prototypes, I did more refined components and whatever needed to be done was done with soft tool molds -- the idea was to see if it could be executed at scale production. It’s relatively easy to put something together once, but it’s really difficult to see a gazillion pieces come together at the production level. So, right from the start, I was thinking, ‘How I could scale this?’” It was, essentially, a passion project and Storm simply wanted to democratize the electric bike industry that had been pushing exclusivity. There was no business plan. There were no five year expectations. To create his vision, Storm visited many factories in China before selecting suppliers. The challenge wasn’t so much sourcing the hardware, such as the Bafang motor; it was the battery. Storm didn’t want to use generic cells and finding the correct sized cells in optimized packaging wasn’t easy. Rather organically, however, Storm’s concept became a reality with the first model SONDORS e-bike.
Fat tires were the original concept for SONDORS electric bicycles, but their model line is more varied now. Utility in snow and wet conditions was always important to Storm. [SONDORS]Getting the details right from the start helped bring the big picture together. When the first SONDORS model launched, the 67-pound e-bike had fat all-terrain tires, a top speed of 20 mph, and could be ridden some 25 to 40 miles. But how to get it to market? With his past working relationships, Storm could have approached Walmart or Target and pitched buyers, but he didn’t enjoy that process. That’s when he considered crowdfunding, which was still in its early stages. “(Crowdfunding seemed to fit) what I was about to do, with an audience who might be hungry for this type of product, and that’s literally how SONDORS was born. It went on Indiegogo in 2015 and never looked back. That campaign was extremely successful.” The SONDORS campaign, at that point, was the second-most successful mounted on Indiegogo -- between Kickstarter and Indiegogo, $12 million was raised. And right from that start, the price point of the product was extremely important. Storm says, “It’s what we’re dealing with right now in the motorcycle space. If you’re going to offer people something they’ve never seen and expect they’re going to pay premium, you’re in for a failure.” SONDORS first bikes were a tremendous success, with deliveries of 7,000 bikes shipping to 47 countries.
"We’re not going after bicycle riders, we’re going after every person in this country who has not ridden their bicycle in 20 years." [SONDORS]With the first model SONDORS, Storm says, people didn’t perceive the electric bike as something they knew, rather, they perceived it as something they wanted to experience. “I was at my first demo event in Santa Monica when an older gentleman put a leg over the bike and whispered in my ear, ‘I don’t know how to ride a bicycle.’ That was an a-ha moment for me. My revelation was we’re not going after bicycle riders, we’re going after every person in this country who has not ridden their bicycle in 20 years. That single event taught me we weren’t going after people who are riding pedal bikes right now.” SONDORS sold direct-to-consumer, and a WordPress page was set up for the company’s first website. Storm was basically a one-man operation in the earliest days looking after everything from shipping to logistics to customer support. If a purchaser had a problem or a question, they left a message and it was Storm calling the buyer back, working to troubleshoot the issue. Because the bikes were designed with simplicity in mind, every component was, and still is, a plug-and-play proposition. Problem with the controller? Unplug it, take it off the bike, and a new one is shipped out to take its place.
Storm with the original SONDORS X, produced after one of the most successful Indiegogo campaigns ever. [SONDORS]Feedback on the early bikes led to further development, including the Fold X – a foldable bike with a forged frame to allow for easy transportation. When it launched, on its first day of sales, more than $1 million worth of Fold X machines sold. This kind of popularity increased challenges for Storm because approximately 30 forged frames were being produced per day. “In reality, we needed to be producing 300 frames a day,” he says. “We would get there, but we wanted to take things slow and get things right so we could scale. I want the product to be epic. I don’t want it to be so-so. That model was an extreme success, and then it just snowballed. Originally, I wanted to keep very few models on the electric bike side but then I changed my strategy. The space was growing, and the experience requirements were growing as well. Customer’s developed a taste, and I decided we couldn’t be stuck here.” Currently, SONDORS is preparing to launch 12 new models, including the Metacycle – a machine that moves SONDORS into the realm of the electric motorcycle. Weighing close to 300 pounds, the Metacycle employs a weld-free cast aluminum ‘exo-frame’ that surrounds a 4,000 watt hour battery. At 8 x 4 x 3 inches and just 7 pounds, the removable and transportable battery will charge in 3 hours and 45 minutes using a 110-volt U.S. home outlet -- able to take the Metacycle up to 80 miles per charge with a top speed of 80 mph.
First production versions of the MetaCycle will start shipping in a few months: it's the most eagerly awaited electric motorcycle in history, and a potential game-changer for the industry, with its low price and useful performance. [SONDORS]“This is very similar to the e-bike mindset, where we are shying away from motorcycle riders,” Storm explains. “I don’t personally believe that motorcyclists are the right people to embrace what we’re creating at SONDORS. What we want to do, we want a mass market audience. We’d like California to be like Bali, where one lane is just scooters and motorcycles.” Storm came to embrace the idea of a more powerful, motorcycle-like machine because he felt that market was somewhat neglected. “We didn’t come in here to compete with motorcycle companies, they’ve done their work, but once you go electric it really democratizes the space. Right now, its price driven and experiential. Is the machine narrow enough? Is it light enough? Is it scary? If it’s scary, it’s not going to work for most people and that’s what drives us. I don’t view this so much as a motorcycle space, but as a two wheeler space as a viable alternative to (internal-combustion) vehicles. I think we’re on the verge of real growth here as long as we stay away from what the average person perceives as a motorcycle. We’re not here following; we want to create new riders who will get their motorcycle license to ride something that’s a legitimate alternative to their car.”
Ever cast an aluminum chassis? Getting it done without porosity issues is a vexing process, but Storm thinks he's got suppliers who can do it right at the right price. [SONDORS]At the start of SONDORS, Storm says, “It was so crazy busy back then, once I got into production, I was more excited to be in the present and less worried about what the future was going to look like. I was in my element. I was in the factory, on the creative side, on the testing side. There was so much going on at that point that I kind of felt complete. Money has never been my motivation, and I wasn’t calling venture capitalists looking for investment,” and he concludes, “I didn’t feel I set out to participate in an industry. I simply set out to create a new option for people wanting to go electric.”
Greg Williams is Profiles Editor for The Vintagent. He's a motorcycle writer and publisher based in Calgary who contributes the Pulp Non-Fiction column to The Antique Motorcycle and regular feature stories to Motorcycle Classics. He is proud to reprint the Second and Seventh Editions of J.B. Nicholson’s Modern Motorcycle Mechanics series. Follow him on IG: @modernmotorcyclemechanics
Hello dear readers and riders! Before we dive into this week’s roundup, we wanted to draw your attention to some pretty exciting stuff happening over in Europe this weekend.
Reload Land, Europe’s first ever all-electric motorcycle festival, is taking place in Berlin, Germany from June 24 to 26. Exhibitors include both big-name brands, like Deus and Zero, and lesser-known EV companies, including Ovaobikes and Black Tea Motorbikes. It's being hosted by our friends at Craftwerk Berlin, so if you’re over in Germany, be sure to check it out!
Reload Land is coming up this weekend. Look for more info on their webpage, and on their Instagram page.
If you know of any cool events or new EVs we should cover, drop us a line at stephanie@thevintagent.com. Now, without further ado, let’s roll into this week’s top EV stories.
Citroën's Compact Khaki Buggy Sold Out in Minutes
The metallic khaki Citrôën Mehari EV was an instant hit, as is their base model. [Citrôën]
Earlier this week, French carmaker Citroën released a limited production run of their My Ami Buggy concept. While 1,800 customers wanted to scoop up their own khaki-green compact EV, all 50 buggies sold out in just 17 minutes. While the standard model costs about $9,200, the premium khaki buggy had a price tag of about $10,300. Over in Europe, Citroën has enjoyed mild success, selling around 21,000 models. Any person over the age of 15 can legally drive the My Ami on public roads because it’s classified as a quadricycle.
Audi to Recycle EV Batteries for e-Rickshaws
Finally, an automaker grappling with the major issue of battery recycling. Or, in this case, re-purposing the batteries for a low-demand vehicle. [Audi]Luxury automaker Audi has partnered with German-Indian non-profit Nunam to give used electric car batteries a second chance at life. Audi will recycle the batteries they use for test vehicles to power an e-tron rickshaw fleet. To do this, Audi is funding Nunam, which is bringing e-Rickshaws to India. The startup developed three rickshaw prototypes in collaboration with Audi’s training team. A pilot project is slated to hit the roads early next year.
Meet the World’s First Solar-Powered Production Car
It's been mused for years, and there have been cross-country contests, but a solar-power car just might work for limited or slow runs. [Lightyear]Netherlands-based startup Lightyear just dropped the world’s first solar-powered production car. Dubbed the Lightyear 0, the vehicle will be able to drive over 6,800 miles a year without a charge thanks to its “double-curved solar array,” which takes up over 54 sq.ft. on the car’s roof, front, and rear. The EV is powered by four in-wheel electric motors that churn out a combined 174ps of power. It took over six years of research and development to make the Lightyear 0 production-ready. The company states that their car is the world’s most energy-efficient electric vehicle, only consuming 10.5kWh for every 62 miles traveled.
FedEx is Going Electric
Now you can lose your packages and go green as well as red! FedEx unveils its new fleet. [Fedex]Earlier this week, FedEx received their first batch of 150 Zevo 600 e-Trucks from BrightDrop. The vehicles are the first of a larger order that includes over 2,500 electric trucks. The vans, available in two different models, can travel up to 250 miles on a single charge. Walmart has taken notice of the startup’s vans and put in an order for some 5,000 vehicles.
Volvo Developed First Hydrogen Articulated Hauler
Haulin' hydrogen: Volvo's commercial truck division is a global heavyweight, and they're looking towards a greener future. [Volvo]Volvo recently announced that they have partnered with PowerCell Sweden and a handful of research organizations to develop a hydrogen fuel-cell articulated hauler prototype. The construction dump truck will tip the scales at 35 tons, has a four-hour operating time, and will carry 12.5kg of hydrogen.
Stephanie Weaver is the EV Editor at The Vintagent, and a Philadelphia-based freelance writer. When she's not locked to her laptop, she can be found riding horses and motorcycles.
Dai Gibbison sent me scans of some old postcards depicting Brooklands under construction and in its first days of racing, 1907 and 1908. The first photo shows the bridge near the Test Hill, which is still extant, and the cars don't have enough speed to utilize the banking at this date. When the course was built in 1907 by Hugh Locke-King (on his own property, using his own money), the speeds possible for cars and motorcycles would barely top 60-70mph, not enough to justify the near-vertical banking at the top of the track. Clearly someone envisioned higher speeds necessitating the banks - it took until 1913 for a car to reach 100mph on the track, and 1921 for a motorcycle. Too bad they hadn't built the track in a manner to ensure it remained smooth - the surface was notoriously bumpy on the joins between the concrete paving. There is a good timeline on the construction and history of Brooklands here.
The Members' Bridge at Brooklands, which still exists, although the track is a ruin. [The Vintagent Archive]The second photo shows the Clubhouse with its charming green bell-dome, which now holds a museum and the offices of the Brooklands Society. Those low lean-to sheds to the left of the clubhouse are surprisingly still there as well, and now shelter racing cars before they enter the track on demonstration days. Third photo shows the 'public enclosure', which nowadays is overgrown or built over with new construction. If you click on the pic, you'll see the Victorian outfits (those hats!) and a sporting runabout parked on the grass. Anyone for a picnic? By 1909, an aerodrome was built in the middle of the track, but I don't see it these color postcards, so they must be ca. 1908 - certainly they're pre-WW1. The trees have grown considerably since then as well, and now a shiny Mercedes Benz delivery center/test track sits across the river, just behind the Clubhouse, which would sit right between those two trees.
The Brooklands Clubhouse, which also still exists, and currently houses the Brooklands Museum. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Public Enclosure was a lovely spot for a picnic, although its totally overgrown now, and partially developed as a shopping mall. [The Vintagent Archive]The construction of the track was a feat in itself, as the banking was created by moving earth to create huge berms 30' high. The concrete track is 100' wide, and the circuit was ~2.8 miles long; all this cost £150,000, representing an enormous sum in those days. The bottom 3 postcards show the method of constructing the banking and laying the concrete, which was mostly done by hand, although a small railway was installed temporarily to help remove or create earthen hills. Clearly the name 'Brooklands' hadn't been applied to the nascent circuit, as it's still called 'Weybridge Motor Track' in these 1906 postcards. (As an aside, these photos look incredibly bleak to me, as do many from the turn of the century - is it the muddy hard work and animal smells which show through, or crude photographic composition, or?).
The construction of the banking at Brooklands, which involved an earth base and concrete poured on top. [The Vintagent Archive]All this is in total contrast to the construction of the Montlhéry circuit in France, which rivalled Brooklands for speed events. Montlhéry is an engineered concrete and steel structure - no earthen banks, just a lot of reinforced concrete beams and posts holding up the banking (see the history here). Not enough of Brooklands remains to give a riding impression, but I've ridden the Montlhéry banking at speed on a Velocette MkVIII KTT and several other vehicles, and riding nearly horizontal to the ground at 100mph is a most unusual sensation!
Built by hand! And many horses; ironic given the nature of the racing on the track, which was intended to promote technological development of the automobile. [The Vintagent Archive]The bottom photo was recently sent to me, showing some of the serious horsepower used to haul material and grade the banking here as the Railway Straight. This part of the track, while badly decomposing and covered in moss, can still be seen across the road from a new shopping mall in Byfleet.
Horses for (motor) courses! What it took to build the banking with an earthen base: a lot of horses. [The Vintagent Archive]Finally, how the motoring press saw Brooklands in 1910: this is a Motor Cycle illustration, looking mighty heroic, although speeds would have been in the 60mph range...[The Vintagent Archive]Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
The incredible photo below was taken on October 26, 1938, during 'World Record Week', a week of racing sponsored by the Ministry for Sport in Nazi Germany, on the new autobahn just outside Frankfurt-am-Main. It's a fairly straight and flat autobahn deemed suitable for land speed racing, and I presume the 'Record Week' meant that the various car and motorcycle factories had access to the autobahn for a period of time during each day, and the timekeeping facilities/staff were kept on hand full-time.
The future, from the past. The amazing DKW streamlined recrod-breaker from 1938. [The Vintagent Archive]DKW participated 500cc model (a supercharged two-stroke twin of course, since that's what the factory was racing at the time), and the body was designed by streamlining expert Baron Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld, the inventor in 1936 of the chopped tail on cars (later called the 'Kamm' tail after Wunibald Kamm developed the idea). The Baron used windtunnel testing at F.K.F.S. in Stuttgart - home of DKW - to find vehicle shapes with minimal drag. The tail on this bike (not a 'Kamm' tail - that was designed for cars as a production compromise to 'ideal' streamlining) features a novel 'air brake'; the end of the tail fin has two flaps which can spread out to create drag.
Baron Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld, demonstrating the air brake on the DKW streamliner. [The Vintagent Archive]I don't know if those flaps are hydraulic, or if the rider had a 'brake pedal' to push, or perhaps even linked braking, as seen on Rudges of the period. There were aerodynamic problems with the DKW's full enclosure, though, and a combination of handling issues (the record runs in '38 had to be abandoned due to prevailing winds), and poor rider visibility/fumes/discomfort while sealed into the 'egg' put paid to this remarkable shape.
The open-topped DKW streamliner, found necessary after wind buffeting and fumes/heat made record runs dangerous. [Private Collection]Thus, in later runs, the top of the streamliner was cut off, to the level shown on the pic above. This version still had handling issues, and the enclosure was cut down further to the shape seen below; interesting as this progression presages the trend from 'dustbin' fairings to 'dolphin' fairings in GP racing, post-war. Dustbins and other front-wheel enclosing streamliners are extremely sensitive to side winds, and can be dangerous at high speeds. Leaving the front wheel 'in the breeze' makes a huge difference to the ability of the machine to take an angular blast of wind, and remain stable enough to make course corrections.
Another DKW streamliner shape, wtih a dummy rider for wind-tunnel testing. [Private Collection]Several factories in Europe experimented with enclosures on their fastest machines during the 1930s, most famously BMW and Gilera, and put up some very fast speeds before the War - almost 200mph from 500cc ohc engines. They are amazingly sculptural, but not especially stable!
The plans for the original DKW fully enclosed streamliner. [Private Collection]DKW began building motorcycles in 1922, the 142cc Reichsfahrmodell, and by the 1930s was the largest motorcycle factory in the world. They always used two-stroke engines, even in their automobiles, designed by Hugo Ruppe originally. Ruppe's racing engines used the ladepumpe system, using an auxiliary piston to force the gas/air mix into the combustion chamber via the crankcase - a kind of two-stroke supercharging. When Adolf Schnürle developed a new porting system for two-strokes (as used on every two-stroke motor since, and to this day) DKW were the first to license the technology in 1932, with Arnold Zoller adapting the design for DKW. Schnürle's patented porting system, when used with a tuned exhaust (or better, with expansion chambers), produced excellent fuel scavenging principles and much more power than a four-stroke engine: they're the reason why all GP bikes turned to two-stroke motors by the 1970s!
An earlier version of the DKW record-breaker, a 250cc model from the early 1930s. The DKW two-stroke engines were remarkably powerful, a 5-piston design with an integral supercharger! Note the 'Audi' logo on the tail - DKW was one of the four founding partners of Auto Union, with Wanderer, Horch, and Audi. Note also the gorgeous finned casting for the cylinder, and the 'egg' enclosure of the motor. [Private Collection]But for racing, the Schnürle system was problematic, especially with a supercharger, which blew the fuel mix right through the combustion chamber and out the exhaust pipe. DKW's solution was a split-piston design, in which fuel was drawn into one cylinder, then pushed into another cylinder for combustion, making it possible to compress the fuel mixture for maximum power, at the expense of complication! Thus, DKW's 'twin cylinder' two stroke racers of the 1930s actually had five pistons: two pairs of split-piston combustion chambers, and one supercharging Ladepumpe! These made wickedly fast 250cc and 350cc road racers, of the type that won the Isle of Man Lightweight TT in 1938, with Ewald Kluge riding. The 500cc two-stroke streamliners were not ultimately as successful as their smaller siblings, regardless their wicked bodywork. After WW2, DKW continued developing road and racing two-strokes, including their remarkable 'Singing Saw' three-cylinder racers, featured here.
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Now on view at the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA is our latest moto-centric exhibit: Electric Revolutionaries. Curated and concepted by Paul d’Orléans, the exhibit focusses on 11 designers making an impact on the electric mobility scene, each in very different ways; from top speed to accessible mobility, from aesthetic perfection to hand-cobbled and crude, from luxury to mass market to one-off. Each of these designers is tackling a different set of issues, illustrating the wide-open nature of EV design at this early stage of the industry. Our 11 designers are brave pioneers, embracing what could be the future of mobility, digging in on what design features make EVs unique, and challenging our ideas of ‘what is a car or motorcycle?’
JT Nesbitt is a legend for his fiercely independent status in the motorcycle world, and two of his designs - the Confederate Wraith and G2 Hellcat - are among the most distinctive designs of the 20th Century. A New Orleans native, JT received his Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana Tech University’s School of Design. A stint writing for Iron Horse magazine led to a job with Matt Chambers of Confederate Motorcycles, and after Confederate left New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, he founded Bienville Studios, and drove his Magnolia Special CNG car across the USA, setting a record for an alternative fuel vehicle. When Matt Chambers changed course on his bespoke motorcycle business to focus on electric vehicles as the Curtiss Motorcycle Co., JT Nesbitt joined him once again to design The Curtiss One. While JT’s earlier designs flexed with aggressive, exposed structures, the One is an entirely different animal: elegant in an old-world way, with Art Nouveau lines and a joie de vivre surely reflecting his New Orleans roots.
JT Nesbitt awheel on his latest design, Curtiss Motorcycles' The One, in prototype form. The production version uses carbon fiber suspension arms. [Curtiss]Paul d'Orléans interviewed JT Nesbitt in January 2022, with the assistance of our EV Editor Stephanie Weaver, and their conversation is below, lightly edited for clarity. It's a long interview, and full of gems!
Paul d'Orléans (PDO): Are you in New Orleans?
T Nesbitt (JT): Yeah, I'm joining you all from the what is now our [Curtiss Motorcycles] manufacturing facility. I'm in the electrical subassembly area of my shop, and this is where I do all the tuning; it's all done via computer, the same computer that I'm talking to you with right now. We're going to be lifting torque values, raising the torque limits.
PDO: Whose software are you using?
JT: We've engaged with the company called New Eagle, and they do a lot of EV integration This is a whole new world for me. I mean, I've built a fuel injected wiring harness before, but I've never done anything like all this high voltage stuff, I mean it's dangerous. I've learned more in the past two years than I learned in the past 10.
You know, New Orleans actually has a pretty vibrant history of motorcycle manufacturing. Here's one for for Paul, I bet you maybe you know this; in 1952 when Indian went out of business, the second largest producer of motorcycles in the United States was Simplex.
The Simplex motorcycle from New Orleans was once the second largest motorcycle manufacturer in the USA. [Mecum]PDO: That's right, I've written something about Simplex for a Mecum auction. It's kind of like who? Sorry Simplex! But they became the second biggest manufacturer of motorcycles in the USA for years. So are you in the old simplex factory?
JT: No, it's not that poetic. The old Simplex factory is now a Home Depot on Carrollton Ave. The funny thing is, it's a history that that people here in New Orleans don't celebrate because it's so crazy that it could actually happen here. But it's legit; the next motorcycle factory in New Orleans was Confederate. I'm going to call the Legacy Project, because it was serious production. So Curtiss is actually the 3rd bite of the apple.
PDO: Let's just dig right into this: how long you been working on the Curtiss project?
JT: To be a motorcycle designer. I think you have to know a lot about motorcycles. You and I are kind of birds of a feather, we really embrace that history.
PDO: Right, nerds!
JT: Moto nerds. I'm a blood and guts kind of guy, and other designers are more conceptual. Well, it brings it brings up the whole question about contemporary motorcycle design.
PDO: And why is it so ******* awful? I wrote when the new Indian FT series came out, 'this looks like a remarkable motorcycle. But why did they make the engine so ugly?' Do people think it doesn't matter anymore?
JT: Well, you know what I think man. I think it's about who your heroes are. In all the time that I've been interviewing interviewing motorcycle design guys, the first question you should ask them is 'who are your heroes?' And in the EV world, it seems like their hero is Elon Musk. Not known for his exceptional taste. Elon Musk is not a motorcycle designer. He not even an automotive designer; he's a visionary, which is a different matter. Therefore, he is not my hero. Steve Jobs is not my hero.
PDO: So who are your heroes then?
JT: well, let me let me show you something - I want to ask your opinion. What's the most valuable motorcycle in the world?
PDO: The most valuable? Well...
Glenn H. Curtiss aboard his remarkable record-breaker built around his V8 dirigible motor in 1907. The machine now lives in the Smithsonian Museum. [The Vintagent Archive]JT: [Shows photo of 1907 Curtiss V8] I could tell you what that's one of them.
PDO: That's one of them.
JT: So, the Vincent [that currently holds the record for most expensive vehicle at auction] is a very cool motorcycle, right? But this is a national treasure. This lives in the Smithsonian. It's not in private hands. It could never be in private hands. So who are my heroes? Well, Glenn Curtis, who went 136 miles an hour in 1907. Yeah, I'll take that guy.
PDO: On a machine of his own construction.
JT: That's right: design, manufacture, construction and riding. Amazing what a what a person.
PDO: And he never crashed an airplane that he designed.
Glenn H. Curtiss; builder of the first American V-twin motorcycle, the first successful motorized dirigible, and the first successful airplane, among other things. [The Vintagent Archive]JT: Actually, he invented the airplane.
PDO: Pretty much so, I think: his was the first to take off under its own power, and return to its start location.
JT: The Wright brothers had a kite with a little lawn mower engine in it.
PDO: You don't have to tell me: I'm firmly in the Curtis camp on this one. The Wright brothers needed a slingshot to launch their kite with a little putt putt on the back, and Curtiss made an airplane that you could actually maneuver.
JT: Yeah, take off: the Wright brothers hated him. It's about ailerons - Curtiss invented the aileron instead of the wing-warp thing the Wrights used. That's a good place to start, don't you think?
PDO: Yeah, for sure Glenn Curtis's probably the original. I mean, it's just a shame that he basically gave up motorcycle manufacturing in 1912. I mean he licensed his name after that, but only briefly, to carry on motorcycle manufacturing. But then he just became involved in airplanes.
JT: So you know, people who are real motorcycle geeks know the Glenn Curtis story. But sadly, very few people know the history of the things they love.
PDO: Well, that's why I'm so excited to be talking to you.
JT: Because your audience gets it.
JT Nesbitt at the Electric Revolutionaries exhibit at the Petersen Museum, in which he is featured. [Motor/Cycle Arts Foundation]PDO: For sure. I love your take on design being about heroes, and who inspires you. That's great. I'm friends with several OEM designers who are motorcycle history guys as well. But they're also working within the strictures of an internal combustion industry which is heavily regulated, and with a Board which is in an intermediary between their passions and the product, that must ultimately be sold and delivered. So there's a lot of compromise on their designs. I feel sorry for internal combustion designers, unless they're customizers, which I think is why a lot of very talented people go into custom machinery and not into manufacturing.
JT: Because that whole world is dead. I mean it, it's just gone, there's no way to fix it, not not in our lifetime and moving forward. Then all these cars are going to be self-driving at some point, and I think in the fairly near future everybody's going to have transportation pods...except for motorcyclists, because there's almost no way to make a computer understand how to self-drive a thing that requires countersteer. So the only freedom the only freedom in 50-60 years is going to be on two wheels, right?
PDO: I agree, and it'll be safe because all the cars will be programmed to avoid them. It'll be the greatest time to ride motorcycles since 1912.
JT: Here's the question for you. What are the electric motorcycles that are being made now? How are they going to be viewed in 50, 60, 70 years?
PDO: They'll be the awkward Pioneers.
JT: No, they're all going to be on the trash pile. They're going to be in a landfill. Except for the Curtiss One. Because this one is designed to last forever.
PDO: In what ways - talk to us about that?
'This motorcycle is like a tube amplifier', says JT Nesbitt. An all-aluminum prototype of the Curtiss One. [Curtiss]JT: This motorcycle [Curtiss One] is like a tube amplifier. It has the least amount of connectivity, the least amount of circuit boards, and digital bric-a-brac. Like I said in the video, this is an analog electric experience. I have a lot of Macintosh audio equipment, and the one thing that that you can't get repaired is the CD players. Everything else you can get repaired. But when it goes that far down the digital rabbit hole, it is inherently going to become obsolete. [The Curtiss One] doesn't have complicated displays. There's no servo motors that make things happen, there's no screens with modes to fail, our VCU is the simplest VCU we can get. We don't have traction controls. We don't have crazy modes. All of that stuff in 50 years is what's going to fail. So all the other guys, I'm not going to mention any names, but the other guys, there aren't going to be vintage electric motorcycles from them.
PDO: When I curated our Electric Revolution exhibit at the Petersen Museum, we featured the Mission One, built way back in 2009. A dear friend of mine, Mitch Pergola, who actually used to work for me, was President of a design firm called fuseproject, belonging to Yves Béhar. He's an internationally famous product designer, who teamed up with a bunch of ex-Tesla employees who called themselves Hum Cycles, which became Mission Motors. They built the first electric sportbike - the Mission One - and it debuted in January of 2009, and Mitch did me the favor of letting me break the story: I wrote about it for The Vintagent. When I curated Custom Revolution, I reached out to my Mitch and we eventually tracked down the Mission One. Mission Motors only built two motorcycles.
JT: And then they got hired by Harley, the Mission Motors design became the basis of the LiveWire.
PDO: Seth LaForge eventually found the Mission One and the Mission R racer. The Mission One went to the Isle of Man, and was featured in the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog in 2009! Definitely the first eBike there. Anyway, I asked Seth, who owns both bikes, 'can we can we ride this around?' He said, 'no man if you try to charge this thing up, it'll probably burst into flame because of the old batteries; we would have to remanufacture batteries because they're obsolete now.' And we're talking like 9 years later, and it's an important piece of history. It was the first electric sportbike. It's a beautiful machine, and it was the first time a famous designer had put put their hands on an electric motorcycle; it's super important to history but can't be ridden. It was an interesting lesson. I'm so used to dealing with old motorcycles, you know; it doesn't matter how old it is...1904? Sure, man, it's just basic principles. You get the clearances right, you sort the parts, it'll run.
Since this January 2022 interview, Seth LaForge has rebooted the 2009 Mission R with new batteries, and rode it on The Quail Ride: surely the most historic machine among the 100 bikes present. [Paul d'Orléans]JT: That is no longer true with with digital and a battery. You've seen you've seen pictures of the motorcycle, our battery is in that cylinder. That's an aluminum extrusion, and is internally and externally finned. So that extreme vision is our leader. To be able to swap a battery pack out, once you know you're what you're doing, it's 2 1/2 hours. It's like swapping out a motor. So, it drops, you can actually see the hardware that holds it in. When you're looking at the motorcycle, that whole extrusion drops out; the back of it comes off, the front of it comes off. You push that battery pack out and put in whatever is the latest and greatest.The EV guys who are making bikes right now, the reason why their proportions are so off is 2 reasons: one is most of them are buying in their batteries. The reason is that they're so worried about range that they're trying to stack in these battery packs that are available today, right? With no consideration for what's going to be happening in five years. The progression is a 10% increase almost every year in battery capacity. So I'll put it to you this way: our bike has less range and that's a choice that I made, because this bike is in it for the long haul, so the future is going to fix our range problem. I wouldn't call it a problem, actually. It's going to increase our range, but the future can't fix ugly.
PDO: What a great quote!
A pair of remarkable Confederate Wraiths during Pebble Beach week, 2009, after being road-tested by Paul d'Orléans and then Confederate Board President Francois-Xavier Terny (now also working in EVs with Erik Buell, at Fuell). [Paul d'Orléans]JT: So I think, what are these guys are doing? They're so concerned with with sales that they're missing the point: good design is forever.
PDO: And so is bad design.
JT: Right?
PDO: I'm so with you. And you know the truth of the matter is, it's just my personal editorial policy, we just don't cover something if we don't like it, you know, it's like, I don't need to tell the world that this thing is ******* ugly. You know whatever it is, the world will decide this. I'm often shocked at how little taste people can have, but in general, people vote with their feet, they'll let you know in the comments section how freaking ugly they think something is.
JT: Well, everybody thinks the Curtiss One is ugly.
Breathtakingly unique and beautiful; the Curtiss One. [Curtiss]PDO: That's not true, actually. You you may be hearing that because you're a designer, but when I look at the comments section, when I post a photo or a video of the Curtiss One, two out of 10 are saying that's ugly. The other eight are like holy ****, so I I don't agree with you.
JT: I think it's because we're getting lumped in with the other EVs. And not getting putting the bike in in context. All right, let's pull up the image of that Moto Guzzi. I'm a huge fan of William Henderson, but my heroes are Glenn Curtis and Carlo Guzzi. There's something about the radially finned cylinder [of a Moto Guzzi Falcone], man, I don't know why I'm so crazy about that. I've never been able to give that radially-finned round object out of my head. It's just lovely, isn't it? It's the best part of the motorcycle.
A 1951 Moto Guzzi Falcone; an inspiration for JT Nesbitt. [Mecum]PDO: Yeah, I mean, they're fantastic. They're gorgeous. I see where your inspiration lies.
JT: And it's funny that the Guzzi singles are not better known. I mean, Carlo Guzzi was amazing, and what a life.
PDO: Yeah, Moto Guzzi probably, of any motorcycle manufacturer ever, had the greatest range of engine designs they explored: single cylinder, V twin, V 8, inline triple, inline4 four It's like incredible what they built.
JT: You can't go to the Moto Guzzi Museum and not be overwhelmed with the amount of sheer joy that man lived his life with. That's my hero as far as how do you live? What's a life well lived ? And Carlo Guzzi nailed that.
PDO: Absolutely.
The 1931 Indian 402 four-cylinder has a distinctive stance and silhouette, and was a big influence on The One. [Mecum]JT: Let's look at some American four-cylinders: Henderson, Ace, and Indian. Look how beautiful this Indian 402 is. So, if you overlay my bike with the Indian, and draw a line at the top of the motorcycle, and at the bottom, and here's our wheels, and distance between the wheels, the wheelbase...what you're going to find is something very, very similar to our bike. What do you see here? [Shows overlaid images]
PDO: I see your motorcycle - it's almost the same silhouette, that's amazing.
The catalog for the 1957 NSU Supermax. [The Vintagent Archive]JT: Alright, let's look at the NSU Supermax. It was designed by Albert Roder. You know who Roder was? He's like really underrated and kind of unknown for some reason.
PDO: It's partly because NSU got sold to Volkswagen in 1969, and the problem with so many of these companies, it wasn't convenient for car manufacturers to celebrate motorcycle DNA. So they become these lost characters.
JT: Here's something you may or may not know. In 1953, I believe it was when the NSU Max debuted, Soichiro Honda bought one.
PDO: Of course he did.
JT: And they reverse-engineered it and that's what became the Honda Dream. He took this beautiful shape that we're looking at, with all these sensuous curves, which I have absolutely used on my bike. All these beautiful curves. Soichiro Honda took this and he squared it all off. Like everything. The headlights square and the shocks are square. He took the most beautiful little motorcycle ever and ruined it. But, one of the things that he did is copy the shift pattern. NSU was strange for a European motorcycle because it shifted on the left. The reason why all motorcycles now shift on the left? It's because of what we're looking at right now.
PDO: I think the Japanese had a different agenda around design. I've thought a lot about Japanese science fiction and their motorcycle designs after the War. It's just fascinating, but anyway, that's a little too esoteric for this discussion. But yeah, as far as I know through my research, Soichiro Honda visited the NSU factory in 1955, when they were at the top of their game winning every Grand Prix race they entered. And they shared everything with him, and he may have even - I've never been able to confirm this - they may have sold him an obsolete racing engine. And that was the true basis of the twin-cylinder overhead camshaft Honda design.
JT: Let's look at that image of the NSU one more time. One of the things I want you to notice about this, Paul is the distance between the exhaust pipe and the front fender. It's so tight. And if you look at the Curtis One in the sport position with the 27 degree rake, you'll see this super tight clearance between the front fender and the battery zone. Something you could never achieve with a telescopic front end, right? Can we look at the Imme You know that bike?
The Imme R100 designed by Norbert Reidel. [Mecum]PDO: Of course, I think it's the most brilliant example of economical design in motorcycle history. It's incredible.
JT: Tell me why?
PDO: Because they use a single-diameter of tubing in the whole chassis, and duplicate functions; the swing arm is the exhaust pipe, it's crazy. He he took it a little bit too far, though, because he was into this whole one-sided thing and used a an overhung single-sided crankshaft which was the weak point, and bankrupted the company because it failed early and they had warranty claims. But what an incredible design.
JT: You know he drank a little of his too much of his own Kool-aid, but the chassis worked. What this motorcycle represents is true minimalism. That doesn't mean minimalism as a styling key. Because its styling is not minimalist, right? It has no flat surfaces. This isn't a minimalist styling exercise. It's actual minimalism. Minimalism is about the bill of materials and parts reuse. What I'm drawing from Norbert Reidel, from his most excellent project, is the ability to reuse parts in very creative ways. I don't know if you've noticed on our bike, but the suspension members are all the same. Have you noticed that?
The single part for the suspension arms for the Curtiss One appear in 4 places, flipped and reversed: a difficult design choice, as any change for one use changes the design for all uses. [Curtiss]PDO: I had not actually.
JT: So our girder our girder blades: part #1, quantity 4. There's no fore and aft, and there's no port and starboard. It's the same part that does all of the suspension work on the motorcycle. Which is way more difficult to design, because if you make a change on the front right, it changes the front left and the rear right and the rear left. It changes it in three other places. So it's a lot more work, but at the end of the day, you get this melody. The Imme has it has a melody to it, because of its minimalism.
PDO: That makes sense. It's like a Steve Reich composition, if you repeat things and then have a variation on a theme, you create a new kind of music.
Alexander Calder's mobile sculpture 'Vertical Foliage. [Calder Foundation]JT: Well, let's let's have a look at a Calder sculpture, OK? It's so lyrical. This on is 'Vertical Foliage', from 1941. It's one of my favorite works. When I look at these shapes and the way that they interact, not only with themselves, but with the negative space; it makes a lot of sense. This is who I followed in school, and I was a Fine Arts major.
PDO: So was I.
JT: There you go. Who'd you follow?
PDO: I was a huge fan of Max Beckmann and the Expressionist and the Blue Rider group in Germany and people like that. This was the early 1980s, I was into punk, and for me it was about expression. But I certainly learned my art history up and down.
JT: OK, I love Calder, Calder invented kinetic sculpture. And kinetic sculpture actually translates quite well into our chosen passion. Sculpture that moves, and what we love are sculptural things that move.
PDO: Would that more designers adhered to such a philosophy, or acknowledged it, or even looked at art. God knows what they're looking at these days.
JT: Or had any philosophy?
PDO: Can we kind of explore the importance of beauty to you? You know, a form over function almost. Can you talk about that?
Not a bushing to be found on the Curtiss One: this $75 needle roller bearing required a unique 15mm shouldered bolt to fit. [Curtiss]<
JT: OK, let's have a look at this. So I think this is one of the most beautiful parts on the motorcycle. This is our hardware; I designed all of our own hardware. And I designed it because of this bearing. So this is a very rare bearing; a double-row sealed needle bearing with a 15 millimeter shaft. There are no shoulder bolts for 15 millimeter shafts. Therefore you have to make one. So if you look at our bolt, you see a little lip on the inside of it. That fits a fiber washer that serves as a guard for a 15 millimeter double sealed needle bearing. There's a chamfer on the center; that's so that our tool is self centered. The little divot is for a set screw that actually locks the bolt in place. This system is used everywhere on the motorcycle where there's reciprocating motion. We don't have a single bushing on this motorcycle. There is no stiction anywhere. As you well know, with hydraulic fork tubes, one of their main issues is stiction. This eliminates all the stiction. And this bearing retails for $75. When people ask me 'why is this motorcycle so expensive?' It's because this bearing is 75 bucks. Just this. So when it comes to beauty, there's a great quote by Ettore Bugatti: "There is nothing that is too beautiful or too expensive."
PDO: I love that. Sounds like something Coco Chanel would say.
The 'tool kit' of the Curtiss One: "This is every tool needed to adjust the rake, trail, compression, rebound, preload, ride height, footpeg location, 2-up or solo seat, handlebard width/angle/pullback/height, steering neck bearing tension, kickstand/centerstand height, and completely dismantle the machine. Took kits are a symbol of self-reliance." JT Nesbitt. [Curtiss]JT: So my my point is that beauty is not a goal, it's an outcome of solid engineering. Everything that's on this bike, every decision that was made, everything you see visually, it's 100% engineering. There's actually no styling on it. And Paul, I'm going to take you to task on that, because you said, 'oh, it looks like some architectural stuff.' I'm gonna show you why it looks like that. This is our chassis aluminum side plate. So it needs to be so it can be threaded, so that we don't have to have nuts. It's self-supporting and threaded, so I need to have some some beef to it, but if we made the whole thing that thick it would weigh a ton. These pockets are machined to lighten it. These are lightening pockets. But they do a second job; they're also structural to connect the part that experiences the most stress to the motor mount.The part that is the most stressed is the steering neck. The other advantage of the lightening ribs is that you increase the surface area, because it's a heat sink. It's unlike any other EV motorcycle chassis, which more or less an adaptation of a tube chassis. And motorcycle tube chassis are designed to isolate the motor, to isolate the heat and vibration of a motor. Ours are different because we have two other components that get hot, the inverter and the onboard charger. You need someplace for that heat to go so these ribs, increase the surface area. These are cooling fins.
PDO: Of course they are!
The raw chassis of the Curtiss One, showing the finned battery housing and chassis ribs. [Curtiss]JT: So the way the bike looks, what you would mistake for styling is actually thermal management. Now regarding the color, and I think this is quite clever. There's a little lip machined on our interchangeable water jet cut chassis panels. The panels can be any material, texture, any color of the rainbow. I can do it in powder coated aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass, bronze, carbon fiber, aluminum, wood. I'm waiting for somebody to ask me to give him a wood inlay bike. It's a way doing a custom motorcycle that's not disruptive to production. They just attach panels in those little in those cavities, it's all machined to accept them. The pinstripes on the bike aren't painted, they are actually water jet cut.Now, this is the swingarm pivot and the output shaft for the driveshaft. This is a shaft-driven motorcycle, believe it or not. This is a really important invention because this is where the swing arm pivots. It's centric with the motor output, and we patented it. And also our kickstands; the reason we have to have these crazy kickstands is that the whole motorcycle adjusts, it's got adjustable rake, which has never been done before. You know that, right?
PDO: Well, Bimota SB2 has an adjustable rake. We had one in our Petersen Museum exhibit, 'Silver Shotgun'.
JT: It has adjustable offset; functionally the same, but we can have another conversation about that. But no, it's not the same at all. Adjusting the offset is the angle of your fork, that is not your rake. Your rake is your steering head angle, and that's fixed, right, so you can adjust the offset not the rake. This motorcycle has an adjustable steering head per se. I'm talking about an actual adjustable rake, right? Rake is dictated your steering axis, which is dictated by your chassis.
PDO: What's your history with EVs?
The Magnolia Special, designed by JT Nesbitt, and driven across the USA on compressed natural gas. [Bienville Studios]JT: I've built a compressed natural gas (CNG) car and drove it from New York to Los Angeles and established a coast to coast record for all alternative-energy vehicles. That was in 2011 and 2013. Elon Musk took my record from me by building an infrastructure, but he had to build charging stations all the way.
PDO: And he had a grant of $400 million from the government to do that.
JT: I was just a guy in a car with a credit card. Leno did a did a spot on it for Jay Leno's garage. When I got to LA, I reached out to Ian Barry. One of my fenders had a hairline crack in it, it used all aluminum fenders and I needed somebody with a welding machine to tack it up. He brought me into his shop and was real nice to me.
PDO: I'm just thinking that you two have a similar philosophy about design. When he's building custom motorcycles, I've written about how he approached reassessing design decisions on existing motorcycles. It's like, OK, let's look at the shifter mechanism on this Triumph. That part was designed by someone within certain parameters. So how can we re-approach this design problem, and see if we can make something better, maybe improve it, maybe make it more beautiful, maybe make it lighter. I've talked to a lot of motorcycle designers. and not a lot of them think that way.
JT Nesbitt chatting with Ian Barry of Falcon Motorcycles at the Electric Revolutionaries reception. Ian Barry designed the layout of the exhibit. [Motor/Cycle Arts Foundation]JT: That's the way that we think about a component; how can we push that farther so that we arrive at a completely new destination in terms of the final design? It's like, don't just knock it off and say, OK, that's good enough. Good enough is not good enough, what we're received is not good enough. I think a lot of the custom bike builders are really cool guys, but not one of them is thinking about ergonomics.
PDO: Yeah, that's true. I've ridden those bikes. I mean, some of them hurt.
JT: Why go to the trouble of coming up with all those very crafty, clever solutions, yet produce something that doesn't solve one of the most fundamental problems of motorcycles, and that's ergonomics. Something that nobody's talking about. Now, let me let me grab a part. [Picks up Curtiss One seat]
Stephanie Weaver: It looks like a horse riding saddle!
JT: Very perceptive - and an English saddle at that. The problem is that motorcycles ergonomics are all based on the early days of a mashup of a bicycle with a little motor clipped into it. When you're pedaling a bicycle, you don't use the seat. You're standing on the pedals and and any friction that that you would encounter between your thighs and ass would slow you down. Using bicycle seats on motorcycles is like putting lawn chairs in sports cars. It's crazy. Where should we be looking for inspiration? 2700 years of research and development. That's the interface of man and animal. That's where it all comes from. This is where you grip the motorcycle, and one thing that I've noticed is I can tell when I'm looking at a female riding a motorcycle. They ride differently than men: men do this manspreading thing. Women grab that motorcycle with their knees. Now, why in the hell do we have human beings grabbing a piece of painted steel with the most sensitive parts of your knee? That's crazy. All of the surfaces of of interface between man or woman and machine need to be reconciled. We have to start over with this whole proposition. First principle, originalist thinking dictates that we rethink motorcycle ergonomics, and we make them gender neutral.
The solo seat of the Curtiss One resembles and English riding saddle: "2700 years of research and development." [Curtiss]PDO: Or toward gender-specific, that's another possibility.
JT: Well, here's the thing, Paul. You've never ridden a motorcycle where you could feel the chassis through your inner thigh, and the it's sensitive part of your knee. No one has. It's delightful because you can really understand what's going on with the exchange of information from the chassis to your body. It gives you much more confidence, you can actually for the first time really feel what the chassis is doing. The thing is, when you eliminate, all of the vibration, all these little things that you don't really notice on a bike that's buzzing around underneath you start coming to the surface. Because your your mind is now free to think about those things.
PDO: User interface (UI) is a huge industry now. I actually have a niece who studied brain/computer interface as her postdoctoral research at MIT, and then she went to work for the train industry. Because we haven't designed a new train in the United States since, what, the 1950s really, and you know and and the number one problem with train design is keeping the operators awake and interested. So you've got this huge investment that's happening in user interface for very specific reasons. For all sorts of industries, but I don't see a lot of UI research going into motorcycling.
JT: It's because all people care about is the way a bike looks on the sides; that's not how how motorcycles are actually seen in the wild. They're all seen with a rider on board. So while this motorcycle [the Curtiss One] might look a little weird, once you snap the person into place, it completes the object. It's incomplete without the rider attached to it.
Can a motorcycle be art? We're in the ballpark here. [Curtiss]PDO: It's part of the discussion around 'Can a motorcycle be art?' What makes a motorcycle unique is the experience of riding. It leaves art in the dust. And it's impossible at the current state of museums to present that experience to you as an observer. You can look at a painting or a sculpture, and you can appreciate the design of a motorcycle, but you can't appreciate what makes it truly special until you ride it. So in a way exhibiting motorcycles in museums is such an incomplete experience. It's like, you missed the point.
JT: You know why people treasure this object? You know it's about the experience. It's completely unique. You know there's nothing, nothing that comes close. But a Vincent, I'd much rather experience it on the side stand.
PDO: Is that right? Well, I love the experience of moving through space under under the power of my right hand, on the throttle or lever or whatever my vintage motorcycle is. And sometimes sometimes they're uncomfortable. But it's also sheer joy.
JT: I got to tell you man, my Norton Commando is now up for sale. Because I've seen a new way and man, this is just better.
PDO: You've been ruined!
JT: I have. It's better because the feeling, the sensation is so much more connected. The stress level is like down because of all the things that we've done to elevate the riding experience, that analog riding experience. It's just better in every way. I have no desire to ride my Commando. I'm a Vincent owner who's getting rid of his Vincents.
PDO: How interesting. I can't wait to ride your machine.
JT: I hope that you'll agree with me.
PDO: Well, it's a motorcycle and I love motorcycles. I already think it's beautiful. I'm really curious to see how it feels to ride it.
"Beauty is not a goal, it's an outcome of solid engineering." JT Nesbitt. [Curtiss]Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
I'm often asked how I find such rare motorcycles; the answer is being ready to buy when the opportunity arises, and by keeping my eyes open. I found this 1923 ohv 600cc Douglas racer on eBay of all places. I was the only serious bidder; perhaps no one else recognized this seemingly rusty hulk for what it was. I knew that an intact overhead valve racing bike from the early 20's was extremely scarce proposition, especially in basically unmolested condition. I was reminded of my purchase of a 1925 Zenith supercharged JAP twin, in similar condition: a little rusty on the surface, yes, but Australia has a dry climate like Southern California, and metal might have a haze of red, but it doesn't grow real rot, and can easily be cleaned up.
The 1923 Douglas OB/OC racer as advertised on eBay. [Paul d'Orléans]
The seller knew the bike had been raced on the dirt tracks near Sydney in the 1920's and was able to provide a photograph of the machine in the day - ridden by a fellow named Ted Reese. I've subsequently found a photo of an identical machine, ridden by an L.C. Peterson; the bikes are so close in spec and geography that I have to think they are the same machine - that droop of the silencer is distinctive. Both photos were taken near the Newcastle track - Peterson is shown after winning a race on his Douglas. The OC engine of 600cc is from 1924, and would have been a capacity increase, and/or a spare engine!
Original owner! And racer, Ted Reese of Sydney, Australia. Dirt Track racing, which later became Speedway racing, was the most popular motorsport in the world in the 1920s, surpassing Board Track Racing as that sport died down during WW1: the world had seen enough carnage. [The Vintagent Archive
Douglas was almost alone in 1923 in offering an overhead valve racing machine; almost universally among other manufacturers the norm was a sidevalve engine, as the overhead valve system was considered fragile and unproven. Douglas led the way with successful efforts at Brooklands and the Isle of Man, winning the senior and sidecar TT races in 1923 with machines very similar to this bike (Norton's Model 18 was also introduced in '23... and they fetch astronomical prices). The OB/OC used a total-loss oiling system, with an oil pump driven by the camshaft (inside the airbox). It uses two Amac TT carbs, which are linked by a rod system for synchronized slide movement.
One of legendary racer Freddie Dixon's innovations was the 'still air box' for the carburetors. Note the twin AMAC TT carbs feeding into the box. [Paul d'Orléans]
The airbox was a Freddie Dixon innovation - he reckoned that motorcycles would breathe better using a 'still air box', rather than sucking from a swirl of moving air. He was right, of course, and big ugly airboxes can still be found on motorcycles for the same reason; they make better power breathing still air. The airbox also makes a convenient air filter housing for dirt-track racing, which must have increased the longevity of the piston rings. Douglas made their own 3-speed gearbox, and the clutch is housed within the external flywheel. Two 'dummy rim' brakes, and an EIC twin-spark magneto complete the picture.
The external flywheel houses the clutch, which connects by chain to a Douglas 3-speed gearbox with a cush drive. Final drive is by chain, and all braking is by 'dummy rim'. [Paul d'Orléans]
Another Douglas racer of the same period/location. These early OHV Douglas racers were the hottest machines on the planet at the time. [Paul d'Orléans] Beneath that red dirt (not rust as it turns out) is an original-paint 1923 Douglas racer. [Paul d'Orléans]
[This article was originally published on TheVintagent.com on January 7, 2007.]
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Earlier this year I was asked if I'd be interested in writing an introduction to a photographic history of Wheels and Waves Biarritz. I responded, 'who else?' Which might need a little back story if you haven't been following The Vintagent since 2009. That's the year the Southsiders MC, whom I'd met at the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours, invited me to come riding with them in the Pyrenees over a long weekend. They knew I'd had a rough year, and that the 2009 edition of the Legend concours had been canceled...so why not fly to sunny Biarritz and borrow a Norton Commando to blast around the area with a dozen like-minded vintage motorcycle friends?
Two page spread of the Punks Peak race on the summit of Jaizkabiel mountain. [10 Wheels and Waves]From my Introduction for the new book '10 Wheels and Waves':
"If you’d told me that a pays Basque border raid with 13 vintage bikes would come to shift the motorcycle industry, I would not have believed you in 2009. But the ground was already shifting under our feet, and we felt it. I’d met two of the founding Southsiders MC members [Vincent Prat and Frank Charriaut] at the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours in Half Moon Bay. The Concours changed my career, as I started The Vintagent in 2006 to post photos and tell stories about the event; mine was the first old-bike blog. In 2008 The Southsiders escorted the badass custom ‘Norton Ala’Verde’ to Half Moon Bay, as the Legend was the first Concours in the world to include a Custom Motorcycle category for judging. It’s where I met the new generation of customizers creating an alternative motorcycle scene right under our noses. A new energy was building, and we wondered how motorcycles would change."
The ArtRide exhibit showcased exceptional motorcycles and relevant artwork/photography to the scene. [10 Wheels and Waves]14 years later, it's pretty clear what's changed and is still changing in the motorcycle industry. If you read my writing in either of 'The Ride' books, or my columns in Cycle World when I was Custom & Style editor, or my recent piece in BikeExif on how customs have influenced OEM design, my thoughts on how the alt.custom motorcycle scene changed the motorcycle industry for the better, dragging the big OEMs out of their slumber, and tricking them into building bikes that resembled what younger riders actually want. That seems like a tall order for a book about a moto/skate/surf event in southern France, but that little seed of a riding event in June 2009 turned into a behemoth, and its success spawned multitudes of imitation events, but only of its parts (the Punks Peak Sprint was widely copied, for example), and not the whole thing, as that is simply impossible.
Skate and surf culture are a big part of the succesful mix making up Wheels and Waves. [10 Wheels and Waves]An impressive list of photographers and filmmakers made it to at least one of the past 10 Wheels and Waves events; they're well documented by very talented people. That didn't make a 200-page book covering ten years of week-long events any easier to assemble, but it did assure that the photography is first rate, guaranteed. '10 Wheels and Waves' is the only official book documenting the event, and is intended as a tribute to all the creativity and hard work it took to make this event a world-beater. It's a photo history, set against the stunning backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean, the town of Biarritz, the Basque country in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and the wild mountain roads that connect them all. Plus, of course, the ArtRide exhibits, the Punks Peak racing, the El Rollo flat track, the surfing and skate contests, and the film premieres (we brought the Motorcycle Film Festival to Biarritz twice, and premiered our film 'The Ended Summer' there too).
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Decorating with vehicles, yes or no? It depends on whom you're asking of course, and how crazy they are for their wheels. For most, the objections of partners at oil/gas/wheels in the home precludes the use of our favorite industrial design objects as home décor, or Décor Motor as I've coined it. For me, it's an obvious yes, but then again, I don't have a motorcycle in my living room for exactly the reasons mentioned (no names, no recriminations). I am certainly sympathetic to those who would love to gaze at an extraordinary vehicle in their home, but cannot for the sake of domestic harmony, or space. We share this tragedy. Perhaps a few sterling examples of Décor Motor will tip the scales in our favor? So, here we go with a new series of interior design with vehicles.
Décor Motor: a vintage Yamaha TT500 in a Baroque palazzo in Turin, with furniture by Tommaso Spinzi. [Luisa Porta]Furniture designer Tommaso Spinzi is showcasing part of his collection in 'Design of Today 2.0', an exhibition hosted in Turin through June 23, 2022. His work is an homage to the city’s automotive heritage: Fiat, Lancia, Iveco, Pininfarina, Bertone, Giugiaro, Ghia, and Cisitalia were all founded in Turin. Design of Today 2.0 is the second design exhibit held in the Baroque Palazzo Martini di Cigala, and is hosted by cultural center Projec_To. The Palazzo Martini di Cigala was designed in 1716 by Filippo Juvarra, one of the most influential Italian architects of the Baroque period. It was bombed twice in WW2, but was fully restored to a mixed residential/commercial use from 2012-14, and is now a gem in Turin's city center.
Context is everything! And placing a Yamaha in a Baroque palace is just fantastic. [Luisa Porta]"With his design cross-contaminating industrial shapes and the automotive world, Spinzi showcases pieces that are the manifesto of his studio’s creative attitude. His Meccano line, designed to be essential, celebrates the world of mechanics and the lines of Milanese industrial buildings. His Lamè modular seating can be turned into a sofa, and is influenced by sharp lines of cooling fins, borrowed from the world of air-cooled engines. Totem, a sculptural composition of worn-out tires, is instead an art installation conceived to shed light on the themes of upcycling and recycling waste from the automotive world. Fusion, finally, is a sideboard from the 1950s that Spinzi turned into a contemporary piece by hand-applying metallic finishing on the front panels, to give a fresh look to the dated panels of this amazing cabinet."
Spinzi's 'Meccano' line celebrates the design heritage of Milan. [Luisa Porta]A few quick questions for Tommaso Spinzi:
PDO: Is the bike yours?
TS: The Yamaha TT is mine of Course ;-)
PDO: How about the Lancia?
TS: The Lancia Fulvia is borrowed from a friend. As I’m obsessed with Italian number plates, I wanted to be with the TO - from Turin - I always tend to have mine either with the CO (Como) or MI (Milano) - that is where I’m from and where I live ( … I’m a pathologic case I know … )
PDO: How about designing with vehicles?
TS: Every Interior that has a style should have cool sculpture in it, right? And sculpture can also be in a form of a car or a motorbike, don’t you agree ?
PDO: Clearly! Do you keep your Yamaha indoors?
TS: It was parked in my loft before the exhibition, so of course !
Fins! A novel inspiration for furniture on Spinzi's Lamé line. [Luisa Porta]Tomasso Spinzi with his vintage Lancia Fulvia in semi-rally mode. [Luisa Porta]We just might have to make a trip to Turin to check this out; it isn't every day you see a cool Yamaha in a Baroque palazzo!
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Very few motorcyclists have owned their machine for half a Century, and of those, rarer still is an owned-since-new cafe racer. High-speed roadsters are the purview of youthful lust and middle-aged captivity, which means they're typically sold against the demands of adulthood, and collected again after the kids leave the house. That Phil Lane ordered his 1972 Dunstall Norton 810 from Paul Dunstall as a teenager, and that it remains in his ownership in immaculate original condition, places it among the rarest of the rare. In 1972, the Dunstall 810 was the fastest production roadster in the world, a position Paul Dunstall had held since 1966 with his Dunstall Atlas 750, which was road tested at 131mph. A Dunstall 810 was tested by Cycle World at 125mph in 1971, with an 11.9sec quarter-mile time, the first time they'd ever run a sub-12sec quarter-mile, making it both the quickest and fastest road-legal motorcycle they'd ever tested. Folks unfamiliar with cafe racer history think Kawasaki held the world's fastest title with their two-stroke triples and KZ900 in the early 1970s, but Dunstall was a sanctioned manufacturer from 1966 onward, and their bikes were faster.
Winner of the Best British award at the 2022 Quail Motorcycle Gathering, Phil Lane's 1972 Dunstall Norton 810, with Chief Judge Somer Hooker, Quail Events' Nikolette Brannan, Phil Lane, and color commentator Paul d'Orléans. [Kahn Media]In 1972, a 19-year old college student in San Diego spent every penny he had on the down payment for a Dunstall 810, ordering it direct from Paul Dunstall via a clip-out ad in Cycle World. He'd read the test and wanted the best. And who could blame him? With Norton's long history of racing success, and Dunstall's current world's fastest status, ordering an 810 still seems a totally logical thing to do. Phil Lane had years of riding experience, and was ready to up his game from dirt bikes and a Harley-Davidson XLCH, so he went all the way to the top. The Dunstall 810 became a part of his identity he never abandoned, despite raising a family and starting a career in the auto industry. The 810 remains his treasure today, but he's only exhibited it twice, with the second time being the 2022 Quail Motorcycle Gathering, which is where The Vintagent's Paul d'Orléans encountered Phil and his Dunstall. Rolling over the stage of the Quail, and handing Phil the trophy for Best British motorcycle, Paul's observation that Dunstall rearsets were notoriously sloppy started a conversation that continues below.
The cover girl of the Dunstall Power catalogue of 1972: a rare yellow Dunstall 810, which may be Phil Lane's bike, as very few were built in yellow. [Phil Lane archive]Paul d'Orléans (PDO): Tell me about your experience at the Quail?
Phil Lane (PL): I read your article [on judging the Quail - click here] and it put a smile on my face. I was intrigued by the judge's quandary between a classic modern versus a vintage bike for Best of Show. It took me back to being on the field with the judges; a few guys came over and were all seriousness, judging the bike, and then [Quail judge] Brian Slark came over and said “I know Paul Dunstall, my mum worked in his shop!” A little later the whole group came back, and they hung a red tag on my handlebars, and at that point the stern look of ‘I’m not going to talk to you' disappeared. I asked what does the red tag mean? They laughed, but one took me aside and said ‘you already won Best in Class, and are in the running for Best of Show.' That really knocked me over! I’ve only showed the Dunstall at a 'cars ‘n coffee' in Portland!
PDO: The fun part of the judge's job is giving out the awards, but as you read, some awards get special consideration, and arguments!
PL: I’m sure there’s a lot of discussion, and weighted heavy thoughts; I’d never considered that.
Paul Dunstall's London emporium in the late 1960s, showing various finished Norton-based motorcycles and a multitude of go-faster parts. Dunstall used the factory term 'domiracer' for his Atlas-based machines in Featherbed frames, but dropped it for the later Commando-based machines. Note the lower Norton is race-only, and uses a twin-cylinder motor in a Manx chassis with magnesium brakes. [The Vintagent Archive]PDO: Tell me how you arrived at the decision to order a Dunstall?
PL: I’d had a go kart as a kid, and raced around with it, but the first two-wheeler I found was just a minibike frame, so I took the McCullough engine out of my kart and put it into the minibike. It had these butterfly Sting Ray handlebars that were bolted onto the forks, and I had no idea about all this. The first bump I hit, the 'bars broke, I had a major crash, and burned my leg on the centrifugal clutch. But I fixed the handlebars and went back at it.
PDO: So how did you end up with a two-year old Sportster basket case?
PL: There were a lot of interesting bikes out there for a kid, I’d ridden my whole life in the dirt, and had a 1967 Montesa dirtbike. When I turned 15 I finally got a permit and could ride on the road. My heart was still in the dirt, still in the desert. I grew up in San Diego and rode on the Desert Flats, now there’s a freeway on it. I rode every day, and there were always other bikes around. My primary transportation was a Yamaha 250, until it was stolen. When I got the insurance settlement I thought, what would be a step up? My neighbors had an H-D dealership, and I watched 'Then Came Bronson' on TV, and found a newspaper ad for a basket case 1966 Harley-Davidson XLCH. I was pretty handy at working on bikes by then, but where I got stuck was the lower bearings in the cases, so I got help at the dealership. The first time I rode the XLCH was around the block, and the second time was a 3-hour ride to Winterhaven in Yuma AZ. That’s how we sorted bikes back then! I broke my clutch cable on the way home, but rode it the rest of the way. My gas tank was flaked with rust and the fuel line would block, so I’d have to stop on the top of a hill to clear it out, then bump start it to get going, rolling in neutral then snicking it in gear.
A buddy and I saw Easy Rider, and said let’s take a trip, so we did! We rode to Canada, although my friend had bike trouble part way and had to turn back. The Sportster was a tractor, you reversed the timing to start, and primed the Tillotson carb - it was a dance to start it. In straight lines it was beautiful, you could take your hands off on the highway.
The Dunstall Power catalogue of 1972, showing an 810 Mk2 in another color, probably red. [Phil Lane archive]PDO: How did you hear about Paul Dunstall?
PL: About that time I saw these articles about Paul Dunstall, and I got intrigued, including that famous 1971 Cycle World test article, the world’s fastest production motorcycle. Just the look of the thing absolutely blew me away. I wrote a few inquiries to Paul Dunstall, and he’d write back personally saying 'if you have questions just ask'. I did have questions, so I called him! Back then international calling was like ship to shore, there was a pause after each sentence, but he answered my questions, and I decided to go all in. I had saved every penny from every part-time job, and I was then in college. I lusted after that bike, and I just had to have it.
When I look back at the order form, I laugh that I wrote ‘please advise if $900 is sufficient deposit.’ I’d given Paul all my money, every penny I had! I noted that 'I hope to sell my present bike.’ I had sold my Montesa and still had to sell my Harley. Ultimately my girlfriend approached her dad, and said 'Phil is in a pinch, would you loan him the money?' Her father could tell things were going somewhere between me and his daughter, so we made an agreement – 'she can’t ride on your bike'. We honored that, somewhat! She was never a fan of riding on the back of it. She rode on the Sportster, but the Dunstall was a little different. The Harley had a custom handbuilt seat I’d made and a sissy bar, it was pretty comfortable. A little bit easier than the back of the 810; it’s a café racer, it’s so long and a bit hard to ride. If I’m laid down, the passenger is laying down too or they become a windbreak.
The day in October 1972 that Phil Lane uncrated his brand new Dunstall Norton 810. [Phil Lane]PDO: Did you join on the Quail Ride?
PL: I didn’t ride the 810 on the Quail ride, as it still has the original fiberglass tank. I have to use ethanol-free gas, or it will dissolve the fiberglass; I filled it with ethanol gas once and it gummed up my carb slide with the melted resin from the tank. Rather than try to run ethanol with a new tank, I decided not to ride it this time.
PDO: How long did you actively ride the Dunstall?
PL: I was a rider, and that was my world, but a few years after I bought the bike came marriage, kids, a career, and a new circle of friends who were into cars. I still kept a distant circle of motorcyclists, but for me the Quail was the best reunion I’ve ever had! There’s a big group of Oregon Norton enthusiasts, Mike Tyler shot a video of my bike, he’s the President of the club. Most of those guys are retired, and they said you should go to the Quail! I looked into it, and they said we’d love to have you!
The first kickstart of the Dunstall 810, with Phil's siamese cat watching! [Phil Lane]PDO: Did you have to do anything to prep the Dunstall for the show?
PL: I always had bikes as primary transport, and they were never as clean as this one. I kept it clean.
PDO: I'll say; it's immaculate!
PL: I don't know what I’d do if I didn’t have the bike. I couldn’t part with it. This October will be 50 years since I popped the crate.
PDO: Which is just remarkable. How have people responded?
PL: The questions I've been asked over the years are 1. Wow what is that motorcycle?! 2. How did you keep it so long? They all kick themselves for hot having kept X. Same for me, I’ve sold plenty of things. But I couldn’t sell the Dunstall, it’s my time machine. When I was on the podium, [Quail Chief Judge] Somer Hooker said ‘I think I’m in a time warp! I figured this was a restored bike, but it’s all original.’
Photographing Phil's Dunstall for an article in Cycle magazine in 1991. [Phil Lane]When the Wall Street Journal article came out, [writer] A.J. Baime called and said 'Paul Dunstall’s daughter lives in the US, and loved the article.' He introduced us, then she introduced me to her father. We corresponded, and he remembered this 19-year old kid who ordered a bike. That’s a real treasure; he reminisces on life, and what he was doing at the time.
On the Norton forums, folks blast Dunstall parts for their mixed quality, but it was the 1960s / '70s, and folks built on what did. He built the fastest motorcycles in the world for 6 years! He was kind of like Carroll Shelby was with Ford; Paul Dunstall said he enjoyed working with Norton, although we were initially in competition. They were not best pleased when his bikes would beat their works machines. When Dennis Poore became CEO of Norton, Dunstall was invited to the boardroom for tea, and sold his cylinder heads and other parts to Norton, because Dunstalls were faster. He wrote to me, “I guess the Japanese got wind of the popularity of my café racers, and I was approached by several Japanese companies. I ended up working with Suzuki to make the Dunstall CS1000, which was tested by Motorcycle News at 153mph, and we built the fastest production bike in the world again. These were great times, and I would weigh them as having never done a day of work in all those years.”
'Those leathers' that belonged to professional racer Mike Devlin, used by Phil Lane at Riverside International Raceway in 1973. [Phil Lane]PDO: You took your 810 to the track?
PL: The Dunstall was fast. We had a lot of motorcycles in my circle of friends, and I rode tested a friend's Kawasaki Mach III, and my 810 was faster. I did my own speed checks around San Diego, and used to go out to the desert when there was nobody on the road, in mid-week. I love the long straights, just blasting down the road; never abusing it, just fast, out by the Salton Sea. I did wind buffet tests, tucked in, sitting up, seeing how it would be impacted at speed by 18-wheelers coming the other way. I saw one coming down the highway once while doing 120mph; I don't know how fast he was coming, but the wind went BOOM, like hitting a hurricane, shake shake shake rattle rattle rattle. I pulled over onto a side road to turn around, and my leg felt cold, so I look down and saw one carb dangling, hanging by the cable. I literally parked the bike and ran away as I was sure it was going to blow up! I had some wire, and wired it up tight enough to ride back. That was probably the scariest moment I had on the bike.
Unmistakeable style, and Phil wishes he'd kept the leathers, even though they were too small! [Phil Lane]PDO: Tell me about the leathers you wore at Carlsbad.
PL: “The” Leathers, Ha! A friend of a friend knew a guy racing track bikes in San Diego. When I dig out my old pics the most asked question is 'what happened to those amazing leathers?!' I borrowed them to run the Dunstall at Carlsbad Raceway Drag Strip (north of San Diego). I wanted to see if I could duplicate the 11.9 seconds recorded by Cycle World in 1971. The best run I had was 12.4. But I was getting concerned about the drivers next to me as the night wore on; at first, the car guys popped their Coors cans in the pits. Later I saw drivers with cans in hand at the start line. I decided to move on. I also wore the leathers at Riverside Raceway in the pics you saw. They belonged to Mike Devlin – a Vesco rider of some note. He was a friend of a friend; I’m 6’ tall and he was 5’8”, they were too short! I’m all hunched up wearing them. I didn’t realize the significance of wearing a racer's leathers, and they thought I was Mike Devlin riding in the Amateur class. That’s question 3. Dude, what did you do with those leathers?! Mike wanted them back at some point. I wish I still had them.
Lined up at Riverside for a production race, with two Kawasaki triples, a Honda four, and a Norton Commando production racer (the 'yellow peril' model). Note Phil's Dunstall retains a UK registration - OBY 727. [Phil Lane]
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
After the calm of an 8am booth setup for The Vintagent, the gates for the Quail opened at 10am sharp, releasing a flood of 3 years of built-up excitement. The Quail had been shuttered since 2019, the can kicked down the road twice, and finally, the show was open, and the record crowd of 3200 was happy. But I had work to do, and an attempted 11am rush across the Quail’s immaculate grass was balked several times by spectators circling in a slow daze around the dazzling motorcycles. A week of little sleep (and perhaps too much drink) led me to this morning, and I reminded myself to master the urge to be rude, as the people in my way were enjoying themselves and doing what we’d all come for; to see the motorcycles, and the motorcycle people. So, breathing deep, I steered less a bee-line to find Somer Hooker than a fly-path, hoping to catch him at the Custom & Modified section before he slipped back into the judge’s chambers. He’d asked earlier that I join the Best in Show deliberations, and I’d waved him off saying the judges could handle it, but he said he’d like my input. So, here it came.
The throng! But with such a mellow vibe, the Quail never seemed crowded despite record-setting attendance. [Andy Romanoff]“We have to give Max Hazan the Best of Show award. Have you seen his custom Vincent?” He admitted he hadn’t yet, so we parted the crowd surrounding the low, sleek, and shining object. “It’s his masterpiece. He’s been building up to this for years, and it's simply extraordinary. Everything is right – the lines, the proportions, the craftsmanship, the imagination. He even made his own f*cking carburetors, and it runs!” Somer Hooker, Chief Judge of the Quail, is so versed in everything Vincent he can tell at a glance if an engine has been re-numbered, by the sequence of digits, the quality of the stamping, and the likelihood that those numbers matched the story being sold. And here was a Vincent engine housed in a radical, hand-made chassis that was built solely to satisfy Hazan’s aesthetic urges, not for increased performance or to honor the hand of its manufacturer. But Somer came of age in the 1970s, and while he is today a respected expert on period correctness, he is not averse to the inherent value of a good chopper. He took a lot of photos of Max’s Vincent.
Max Hazan's customized 1950 Vincent Rapide, with a chassis built entirely in his small shop in central Los Angeles, by one man. [Andy Romanoff]Max showed us a few details of the build, like the tiny solar panel built into the fuel tank to charge a battery for the lights; ‘they’re LED, so should last 4 hours on a charge.’ And those carburetors, too smooth to be production items, with integrated bellmouths and a single cable disappearing into the cap. They looked so simple, making me wonder why more customizers don’t build their own carburetors? I realized with a start that Max was most likely the only person among the thousands of motorcycle fanatics in attendance to have even attempted this. Also that, by their mere presence on his custom Vincent, a line had been drawn; artisans who build their own components, like drum brakes and carburetors, and everyone else. There were several other brilliant customs on the field, including Bryan Fuller’s gorgeous Vincent ‘Black Flash’ and Revival Cycle’s gleaming Ducati ‘Fuse’. Superb as they are, Hazan’s Vincent was simply on another level. “I thought it was going to be between my Ducati and Fuller’s Vincent today, but then I saw Max’s Vincent, and I knew we were toast,” said Revival’s Alan Stulberg earlier in the day, and of course he was right.
The Revival Cycles 'Fuse' custom Ducati at Laguna Seca raceway, gleaming in the mid-day sun. [Andy Romanoff]“I’ll let you make the case for a custom winning Best in Show to the judges,” said Somer diplomatically. The judging corps was 40 strong this year, and composed of lifelong devotees of two wheels, as dealers or restorers or club stalwarts or journalists: they knew their stuff, and had opinions. I’d begged off judging bikes at the Quail for several years, as I also have a booth on site for The Vintagent and Motor/Cycle Arts Foundation swag (this year with Kim, Nadia, and our friend Neil keeping it warm), and found the hours taken up with judging plus keeping tabs on book/tee sales meant I didn’t get to see half the motorcycles. Somer had roped me into the Chopper class - something the Quail Motorcycle Gathering invented for a concours – saying as only two had entered, it would be a quick job. But of course, I found six choppers on the field, all of them well-built iterations on the theme of mid-1950s ‘club’ bikes; standard frame geometry, kicked up exhausts, solo seats, moderate handlebar rise, no front fender for a 21” wheel, bobbed rear fender for a 19” rear wheel, and all of them Harley-Davidsons. So, six very similar bikes, from which I had to pick a winner. Respecting the time invested in all these customs, I was compelled to give more than a cursory inspection, and spoke to all the owners about their build process. So much for the quick job! The winner, though, was the ‘Lane Splitter’ by Gene & Denise Ilacqua, built as an homage to the San Francisco club of the same name that famously used skinny bikes with narrow handlebars for doing exactly as their name implied.
The 'Lanesplitter', winner of the Chopper class, with owner Gene Ilaqua interviewed by Color Commentator Paul d'Orléans. [Kahn Media]In the judge’s chambers, each team shared photos of their class winner for general approval, although that wasn’t required. Feeling impatient, I blurted out the case for Max Hazan’s Vincent as Best of Show from an aesthetic and technical standpoint. Other judges balked, preferring a 3000-mile unrestored Paul Dunstall Norton Commando in immaculate condition, still in the hands of the original owner. “We can’t give Best in Show to a custom!” But of course, the Dunstall Commando was exactly that – a special-order custom café racer from the 1970s…but not many older fans of café racers have had the Aha! moment that the bikes they love are in fact customized motorcycles. And likely, not read my arguments to that effect in The Ride books, nor in my two books on café racer history – Café Racer and Ton Up! I pointed out that the concours category with the most entrants this year was Custom & Modified, which showed a majority interest among a younger demographic of builders and fans, and that the ‘traditional’ categories of antique/vintage/classic motorcycles were losing support as their owners and fans got older, and that in fact the judges who were resisting in that moment were all over 70 years old. A vote was taken, the Vincent lost, but one of the judges changed his mind after some thought about the future for the Quail Motorcycle Gathering. The tie-breaker was in the hands of the Chief Judge, and he saw the value in being the first Concours d’Elegance on the planet to crown a custom motorcycle Best in Show.
Phil Lane's amazing Dunstall-modified 1972 Norton 810 Commando MkII, owned since new! [Andy Romanoff]And that, in a nutshell, is an old story of motorcycling, as a mature generation feels that the bikes they treasure, invest in, restore, and become experts on, are being passed over in favor of bikes in which they see less value. That’s the reason clubs like the VMCC in the UK were created in the 1940s, as collectors sought to bolster their love of 1920s motorcycles by labeling them ‘vintage’ – defined as ‘of fine and rare quality’ – with all other motorcycles revolving around their universe of assumed perfection. An untenable position 100 years later!
The antique American class winners; a 1914 Yale 37 and 1936 Crocker Small Tank, formerly owned and raced by Sam Parriott. [Kahn Media]Judging a concours is, of course, a subjective matter, but with objective criteria; condition and correctness are the gold standards with historic machines, with aesthetics and historical importance a close second in consideration. But with custom motorcycles, the standards are reversed; aesthetics and historical importance weigh heavily, with build quality an assumed 90+points (or it wouldn’t be in consideration), and correctness nowhere. It’s an entirely different set of criteria. But we’re capable of weighing the merits of a perfect 1960s two-stroke lightweight against a 1920s Brough Superior, or an original-paint 1915 Harley-Davidson against a gleaming 1980s sportbike. Having judged dozens of Concours, including the Concorso Villa d’Este on Lake Como, other factors are always in play than the obvious merits of a motorcycle, including, to be frank, ‘will it look good on the cover of next year’s catalog?’ Corporate politics and personal inclinations are always a factor, which is more in evidence at an international show like Villa d’Este than at the Quail: some judges are shockingly nationalistic, and cannot imagine a technically retrograde 1920s Harley-Davidson winning over a sophisticated overhead-camshaft Benelli, or an elegant Gnôme-Rhône with Art Deco sidecar losing out to a cobby single-cylinder Brooklands racer.
Putting in the time; a judge sorting out the dozen immaculate Harley-Davidson XR750s. [Kahn Media]But to be honest, such internal politics are my favorite part of judging big shows! Wrestling with one’s true peers over our mutual field of expertise is an amazing experience. These are the folks who write books and support exhibits and step up when there’s a call for their knowledge and experience. It’s always an honor to work beside such people; they represent the best of the motorcycle scene.
Paul d'Orléans sorting out the Chopper class. [Andy Romanoff]With BMW's /5 series a featured marque, restorer Tim Stafford brought the big guns out, and the most colorful examples of the breed. [Kahn Media]Roland Sands' wicked MV Agusta 3-cylinder custom, sounding simply amazing on the Quail Ride. [Kahn Media]Paul d'Orléans commenting on the inspiration for Richard Mitchell's 1951 BSA B34 custom - the Falcon Kestrel, which had rolled across the same stage in 2010. [Kahn Media]Another machine we've had the pleasure of Road Testing; a Münch Mammut 1200TTS in original paint. [Kahn Media]One for the Future. Support the kids' interest in motorcycles, or they'll disappear. [Andy Romanoff]
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Vintagent Contributor Andy Romanoff started out as a biker/photographer, then had a long career in Hollywood, including years working with Panavision. He's a member of The Academy, and is now back to his biker/photographer roots. Follow these links for his Bike Pictures for sale and his Bike Gallery.
How can the next generation of motorcycles be designed better? That was the theme of a panel discussion at the opening reception of our Electric Revolutionaries exhibit on May 14, 2022, at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Exhibit curator Paul d'Orléans moderated the panel, which included 5 of the 11 designers from the exhibit, plus Charles Fleming from the LA Times. The designers occupy very different niches in the EV industry, from artists to owner of mass-production oriented companies, and their varying opinions and focusses made for a lively discussion.
The Electric Revolutionaries panel at the opening reception on April 14th. L to R, Storm Sondors, Joey Ruiter, Hugo Eccles, Derek Dorresteyn, JT Nesbitt, Charles Fleming, and moderator Paul d'Orléans. [Erik Jutras]Our participating Electric Revolutionaries included Storm Sondors (Sondors Motorcycles), Joey Ruiter (J.Ruiter Studio), Derek Dorresteyn (Alta / Damon Motorcycles), Hugo Eccles (Untitled Motorcycles), JT Nesbitt (Confederate / Curtiss Motors), and Charles Fleming. You can watch the video, and/or read the full transcript below if you missed anything!
Electric Revolutionaries Panel:
Paul d'Orléans (PDO): I'm super excited, this is our second electric vehicle exhibit! Our previous one was Electric Revolution - and you know that was the first electric motorcycle exhibit in a museum in the world… and this is probably the second, because there are not that many museums that are showcasing the incredible advances in design and technology that's happening on two wheels in the electric sphere. It’s fun to be at the cutting edge; it feels a little lonely at times, but the great thing is when you ask someone who's kind of put their career on the line for electric vehicles they're really grateful for the opportunity to display their work and to talk about it. Because even though it seems like it's ‘in the air’ that electric vehicles are coming they're coming they're coming, the motorcycle industry has not had quite the push or quite the acceptance that the car industry has had. So it's tough, you know, and so people are really putting a lot of money and a lot of career energy on the line and I honor them for their bravery, also the incredible creativity that's coming out.
So we have with us several designers here whose work is being shown. We also have Charles Fleming from the LA Times! We have JT Nesbitt from Curtiss Motorcycles, and formerly of Confederate Motorcycles, We have Derek Dorresteyn, formerly of Alta Motorcycles, and now he's working with Damon on incredible high-speed electric motorcycles. We have Hugo Eccles who's an independent designer, he's partnered with Zero Motorcycles on the XP0 that's inside. We have Joey Ruiter who's on the far-out fine art tip he; was called an alien by one of my team and I think it's kind of suitable as his work is completely wild and out there. We have Storm Sondors whose work is on the front of the island and who is really pushing for kind of a mass-market, high sales volume, but his designs are also really cool. I love that Metacycle, the design is really cool.
The Sondors Metacycle, a lightweight and inexpensive yet high-design eMoto. [MAF]STORM SONDORS
PDO: So, I’ll ask each of them in turn a few questions and at the end we'll we can talk about it. Actually Storm why don't we just start with you, um you can stand up, I like that [Laughter].
Storm: The last time I sat was a long time ago. I remember you [to Charles Fleming] from years ago, it was fun and yeah we're still talking I guess.
PDO: I used his research for your bio placard, because he's done the most comprehensive story on you in the LA Times. So, your vehicles are very cost conscious, you're very production conscious and production economics conscious, and in a way that seems successful. You've found great success especially with your pedelec [electric-boost] bicycles - your beach cruisers - in fact I was at Ralph Ziman's art studio yesterday and somebody had a Sondors beach cruiser parked there…I said, 'hey he's going to be talking tomorrow night!'
Storm: I didn't even know we have Beach Cruisers?
PDO: Well the fat tire pedelecs, let's call them that…I call it a beach cruiser. You should put that in your marketing - I won't charge you! I look at the Metacycle with this crazy open aluminum frame and how can that be an affordable and viable low-cost production motorcycle?
Storm: The way its frame is molded right so there are no welds on it. We just use the automotive tools to create that mold, and now you can just pour one piece two pieces and connect them, right? So it's very cost-effective and quick to produce and assemble as well. But the goal at Soudors, we're not part of the industry right? So we create our own customer, because the reality, the challenge with electric is it's very hard to sell electric motorcycles, for example, but if you create an audience then you have a customer. That’s kind of what I always say - don't look for people who ride motorcycles, look for people who'd never ridden one. I think last year we sold 10,000 Metacycles, and we're starting shipping now. I would say 50 percent of them don't have a motorcycle license, maybe even more, because it's approachable. It’'s not threatening,f it doesn't look like super powerful, it just looks kind of like you know, here comes the future! So that's what works for us - creating our own customer.
PDO: And I think that I actually said the same thing in an interview earlier, that fun and approachable are the two main points for sales success. Companies like Super 73 and stuff are doing really well with extremely approachable and inexpensive .
Storm: Yeah and also cut back on the power. I mean because we learned from e-bike market that any time we've started creating these high-power performance e-bikes that for average person is too much. You know that was the biggest comment always - too much power - so you know of course for specialty manufacturers it's different, but for a mass approach you have to think different.
PDO: For sure; we just reported on the Deus automobile with 2200 horsepower. The EV automobile world seems to be thinking completely differently than the e-motorcycle - or at least how you're thinking - it's like more power more power because they can.
Storm: Yeah of course, they don't have to build some crazy 16-cylinder eight-valve thing to make 22 hundred horsepower. With electric, perfect.
PDO: I like that approach though, the lower- key approachable, I think it's one avenue towards success. Thank you, your work is great work.
Storm: Thanks so much.
PDO: Yeah you can applaud him that's cool! [Applause]
Joey Ruiter with his Another Sedan and NoMoto. [MAF]JOEY RUITER
PDO: I don't know if you've seen Joey Ruiters work inside the museum - Joey did the incredible bisected ‘Another Sedan’, he did the NoMoto, which looks like a piece of street furniture, I call it the first invisible scooter because it's meant to be ignore! You can literally park it anywhere and no one will ever give it a ticket, because it looks like something you find on the street. He also designed the incredible polished aluminum Moto Undone that's up on the island. Joey, you've also done internal combustion vehicles, but you seem to have shifted more to electric. Explain what's going on?
Joey: It's a lot easier you know, honestly there's so many less parts; the hoses the cabling the fluids. And they usually work all the time, so it's just a simpler platform. I've only pissed myself once getting shocked in the shop! Never caught on fire though.
PDO: There's still time! [Laughs]. Your day job is as an industrial designer, you work with Steelcase on their furniture.
Joey: Um yeah I have worked with Steelcase, Herman Miller, lots of contract furniture, and boats and all sorts of stuff, like a lot of conceptual work for the marine side of things, through Brunswick. You've probably all sat in my chairs! A lot of my work that doesn't look like this is like Chipotle chairs or Wendy's or Whole Foods, so think about that next time you're sitting in Whole Foods - think about one of my cars. [Laughter]
PDO: Would that they would use your cars! Did you ever think about doing production for your vehicles or are they purely conceptual?
Joey: You know I learn a lot when I build and design the vehicle, so I take that knowledge and then bring it to other simpler things like furniture and baby products and whatnot. So it's really a learning experience, and then I get to flex my muscles a little bit in this world. That’s something a lot of auto designers can't do (or don't think they can do) especially as I have no rules, so as an artist I can freely express myself and kind of play and break rules that don't really exist yet.
PDO: Well the work is phenomenal, and we're really honored. This is the second time we’ve featured Joey's work; we actually had the Moto Undone, but only for like three weeks in Electric Revolution, so it's nice to have it back for the full year.
The Untitled Motorcycles XP Zero by Hugo Eccles. [MAF]HUGO ECCLES
PDO: Hugo, you too are a jobbing industrial designer who's kind of stepped over into the motorcycle world. Have motorcycles become your primary focus, or are you still doing other stuff to make money?
Hugo: Yeah they're the primary focus. I'm also an industrial design professor, so I kind of keep my hand in in that way. It's interesting, I think maybe similar to Joey, i'm not a professionally trained automotive designer.
PDO: Which is maybe why your work is so cool?
Hugo: Well thank you very much, I mean, I think it helps because I don't know what the stupid questions are, right? You know in some strange way my ignorance is a great asset, because on a lot of occasions I don't know something's impossible, and because because I’m so ignorant of that, you know, you just go try it you know. So it helps in a way. I think sometimes disciplines become quite dogmatic, and can suffer from the whole ‘if the only tool you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail,’ and you get a lot of automotive design solutions look like automotive design solutions.
PDO: I totally agree.
Hugo: Because I'm not trained in that.
PDO: Well I think your XP0 is a brilliant design, and you've won tons of awards and we're super happy to have it here.
Hugo: Thank you
PDO: I do want to ride it too!
Hugo: Oh well, I think that's the thing that surprises people sometimes; it's a fully functioning rideable motorcycle. Although slightly intentionally doesn't look like one, right? I do quite like to kind of confound expectations sometimes, so it doesn't look like it should.
PDO: Well, I think it's really cool.
Hugo: Thanks for exhibiting it.
An Alta Redshift modified by Dale Lineaweaver to compete in flat track racing. [MAF]DEREK DORRESTEYN
PDO: I've known Derek Dorresteyn since 1985 or ’86, something like that, we used to share a warehouse in Bayview in San Francisco, and he was starting his Moss Machine business. I started to hear whispers, um gosh almost 15 years ago that he was thinking about manufacturing an electric motorcycle, and I was like wow that's like out there! That work eventually became Alta Motorcycles, and there are three Altas in the exhibit! One that Walt Siegl built and two that are modified for racing, one of which was very successful. Do you want to tell us a story about your motocrosser?
Derek: Yeah we got involved. My partners Jeff Sand and Mark Fenigstein are here tonight. Anyway, we decided it would be really great to promote the brand if we if we got involved in some sort of racing, and the first event that we were invited to race was a professional race against factory teams, and we just took that on. We thought, you know, why not, we'll go out and we'll try to do this. So the bike that's on display there raced in a a one-off event called Red Bull Straight Rhythm, that was a sort of motocross track stretched out into a single line. With the rider Josh Hill we raced against factory Honda, factory Suzuki, Kawasaki, KTM. We didn't beat KTM but we beat everybody else. And that really was this sort of moment in history where electric showed the promise of being, you know, better than gas!
When it was passing the Suzuki on the track, people noticed, yeah it was a big deal, and that was literally our first race.
PDO: Wow I didn't realize that. I remember the testing rig you had in your original facility, it was this old brewery with this huge tower and you said ‘the chassis testing is to drop it like 60 feet onto a concrete floor to see if it's strong enough! That was impressive.
Derek: Well it wasn't quite 60 feet but it seemed like a thousand! We did drop testing; we first drop tested a competitor chassis from one of those reputable companies in Japan and we learned what the limits were, and then we made something that was a little better than that. We weren't sure really what it was going to take to survive some of the abuse you see out there in the world of motocross.
PDO: I should say that Derek was a professional racer, so he brought a particular perspective to manufacturing. And now you're working with Damon as Chief Technical Officer. You've got whole Damons inside plus the hyperdrive chassis; it's a totally new concept of how to power a motorcycle. It's like monocoque chassis, battery and engine all in one, you just kind of bolt everything around it and boom.
Derek: I’m super excited about that. I joined Damon a couple years ago when I met Dominic Kwang who's here tonight who's the co-founder of Damon with Jay Giroud, and we hit it off and started talking about, you know, me getting involved, and eventually I became involved with the company. The Hyperdrive that you see in there, and the way that that all goes together is certainly something new, and we think it delivers some performance and some utility that really has been missing, and it sort of makes a large-scale motorcycle possible. It makes it compete on performance, on cost, on mass, all these things that it's been really hard to solve for, right: Usually you get two of them, but you don't get all three, and with this this configuration for us is delivering all three of those things.
PDO: 200 horsepower, 200 miles per hour, yeah pretty amazing!
Derek: You know, Mr Sondors brought up this point about performance, and Damon is focused on highway legal bikes. If you have something that can go 70/ 8 0 /90 miles an hour you realize really fast that you need a lot of battery, because it takes a lot of energy to push through the air. We’ve got 20 kilowatt hours of battery within that hyperdrive; you have the option to have a lot of power too, we thought that would be fun and exciting and we thought it gave an opportunity to sort of replace the gas bike, right? You know there's no compromise here, right? You've got the acceleration, you've got the range, you've got the peak power, you've got everything the gas bike does, except it's quiet and more accessible.
PDO: If you have a chance take a look at the Damon stand over there, and ask questions, and see their demonstration, and also check out the Hyperdrive chassis that's sitting inside.
JT Nesbitt explaining the design features of his Curtiss One. [MAF]JT NESBITT
PDO: Inside we have another chassis, but a totally different concept and design and mentality from the Curtiss motorcycle. JT Nesbitt designed this iteration of the Curtis called The One, and it's different from everything else. The focus is on something exquisite and expensive and bespoke and unique. Do you all remember the Confederate Wraith? Brilliant bike, I actually rode one, but I have not ridden your Curtiss, yet though there's still hope!
It's a very unique approach, making something that's bespoke and expensive and beautifully designed without compromise, it's a particular vision, and it looks like no other motorcycle. I know you're a fan of big fan of technology and things like Japanese steels and durability, and you were talking earlier about things that last. [To the audience] He's got a samurai sword that's 700 plus years old and is using that as kind of his talisman of what design can be.
JT: Motorcycles are my religion and the most important thing to me is sustainability, and I think the way that you achieve sustainability is not just through the technical design of the machine with replaceable components etc. It's about beauty. Beautiful things very rarely wind up in a landfill. So yeah, beauty is eternal. And I want to focus on beauty and proportion and I'm a motorcycle guy. That's what I really actually care about, it's all I care about: motorcycles.
PDO: Right on, I think you've got an audience here, and a panel of people who totally agree with you. It's a fascinating thing and totally different to enter the market in this way and I don't even know if you're thinking about the market per se, or just producing this thing that's so exquisite that you're sure that people will want it.
JT: What you're talking about is sales. That and money are an outcome; that's not a goal, that's something that that happens when you do the right thing.
PDO: That's a beautiful way of approaching your work for sure. It's an exquisite motorcycle.
JT: Thank you, and you haven't even ridden it yet.
PDO: I haven't even ridden it yet but visually it's stunning.
JT: Give it a give it a half an hour, and pore over the details, it's amazing.
Charles Fleming gives his opinion on the state of the EV industry. [MAF]CHARLES FLEMING
PDO: Charles Fleming from the LA Times, who has been on our panels before, you have five incredibly different designers with different head spaces and different attitudes. I mean what do you see as a member of the press is - how's the electric motorcycle industry doing? I don't mean sales but in terms of the culture in general?
Charles: Well the mainstream media follows the mainstream market I think, so newspapers like the LA Times and the New York Times and Wall St Journal, because there hasn't been a Tesla motorcycle yet that has become chic, that sales have begun to run away to they can't make them fast enough… because that hasn't happened yet, I think the mainstream media is still waiting for something to happen. And the mainstream media tends to ask about electric motorcycles the same sort of dumb questions that the average consumer is likely to ask; they'll ask you two things. I'll say I'm riding this electric motorcycle, and it's so wonderful, and they'll ask two questions: how much does it cost, and what's the range: No matter the answer it's unacceptable. It's unacceptable whatever the number you give them; for range they'll tell you, you could say 400 miles and then you've got to wait for three hours. “I’m a real motorcycle guy i could never do that.” And whatever the price is, that's too much, that's ridiculous, and I think partly this is because for some reason it seems to be perceived as an either or; fare you an electric guy or are you a gas guy, like are you a real motorcycle rider or are you an electric motorcyclist? As if somehow you and I were talking about this; Who has one motorcycle? Nobody has one motorcycle. Almost everybody has more than one because they do different things, but this idea that somehow you're not a real motorcycle guy if you're on an electric motorcycle. Until somebody rides one, and then their mind is blown and they want to ride it! I think the motorcycling press, the endemic press, absolutely gets it, but maybe sort of watching for something to happen. That makes it make sense for them to cover it, for our mass market because the average consumer hasn't arrived yet, and I don't think it's because the product is not there. There's good product, there's been good product, and I don't think it's really even the price point, either. I think there's something about the mentality of it, that somehow people are just still resistant to the idea.
I’ve riddent the Alta that Derek was behind, I’ve admired Hugo's work for a long time, I've ridden all the bikes that Zero makes and I've ridden the LiveWire and some of the others. They're magnificent experiences.
PDO: I think electric bikes are way more fun than electric cars.
It was great to see Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead at the reception: Ewan is a big supporter of eBikes, having ridden a LiveWire up the length of South America. [MAF]GROUP DISCUSSION
Charles: Oh way more fun, yeah. Because you have much more of that ‘magic carpet’ feeling of somehow you have conquered gravity, you've conquered time, all you have this magic carpet experience of suddenly flying through the air with none of the distraction of noise and vibration and smell and so on. I think it's a magical experience.
JT: Because you don't have those distractions; suspension and ergonomics become really important. Because there's no masking bad ergonomics, you have nothing else to think about, there's no masking bad suspension. Because that's all there is.
Charles: And as the car makers have found a great challenge too. If there's something that squeaks or rattles - oh my heavens - you really know, that's all you can hear! Whereas in a you know big old gas motor car, you can make it do anything and nobody'll even notice because your brains are being shaken to bits.
Jamie Robinson AKA Motogeo making his own media around the Electric Revolutionaries exhibit. [MAF]Derek: There’s also a magic moment when you remove the clutch, the gearbox, the torque curve or the internal combustion engine, and you're no longer putting any of your energy, any of your thought into managing the internal combustion engine. We’ve all as motorcyclists become really great at. It's almost like one of these stories of ‘wheat controlling humanity’ kind of thing. Right like they've evolved to be able to control us really well. Electric on the other hand is so intuitive, it is so connected, you hear the traction of the tire, you hear some other noises too that you didn't you hear before - your suspension clunking and your chain slapping, and the brake rotors and some other things. But it's more important things, these are the things that are that are happening in your ride. The internal combustion engine isn't really adding a lot of value besides propulsion.
Charles: There must be an industry name for this, but when you're not feeling vibration and heat and when you're not doing all those things, it feels like you see better and you hear better and you smell better. I'm so much more aware of flowers and flowering trees and things when I'm - no seriously - when I'm on an electric bike, and it's not because you can't smell it over the smell of the motorcycle, it's that your senses are busy doing other things, and not as available for just experiencing the whole atmosphere.
Hugo: I would agree, I mean it's almost heretical to admit it, but you don't really miss gears as much as you would think. And Derek has said you end up concentrating on road positioning and smoothness and you know along the old analogy of ‘slow is smooth and smooth is fast.’ Yeah you end up riding really quickly, I think the only the only criticism I would have of electric is it's difficult to gauge how fast you're going. Without practice you end up overcooking it into corners a lot, you think you’re going into a corner you look down and say fuck! I’m going 90 miles an hour! I should not be entering this corner at 90 miles and hour. But beyond that I mean it's incredible you know, you have power on tap, you go to overtake something, you just pull out and you punch it, it's like riding a rocket, it's done, and you can you can overtake at literally the last moment and dive into a corner because all you have to worry about is braking. You don't have to worry about trying to drop a couple of cogs and feather the clutch back in and not break the back loose and etc.
The MAF team making it all happen: L to R - Dan Green, Sasha Tcherevkoff, Paul d'Orléans, Kim Young, George Tortarolo, Nadia Amer, and John Lewis. [MAF]PDO: I’ve always been a huge fan of engines-off rides; whenever I’m at the top of a mountain I shut off my motor and just use handling and brakes.
Hugo: Yeah and to reiterate something Charles said; you have this very different relationship with nature. You know I ride to Alice's [Restaurant] near San Francisco, and you see coyote and deer and wild turkeys and stuff. I mean not it's not like you come around the corner and there's a cow in the road, like it's not That silent, but they're still hanging around, and you can smell the flowers literally.
PDO: You know I'd love to open up, if anybody has any questions because we don't want this to go on too long because I need a drink and I can't drink before I do these panels! That man has a hand up.
AUDIENCE QUESTIONS:
Man in audience: I have a question: I’m a LiveWire rider and I love every bit of it. What about the noise – is it safer if motorcycles make sound? I'm not talking about loud pipe-save-lives mentality. [Laughter] I'm talking acoustic beacon versus a silent machine. Is there any benefit to having a little noise?
PDO: Do loud pipes save lives?
Hugo: I think to a certain extent, I mean I have gas bikes and electric bikes, and on the mornings that I ride the electric bike my neighbors love me, and they really notice when I bring out the gas bike. But I think very soon, we're right on the cusp of vehicle-to-vehicle communication, so in a weird way you won't even necessarily need to make a noise. Because in the same way that line guidance will stop someone pulling into their blind spot because there's a motorcycle there. Their car will know that, and stop them doing something stupid or will apply the brakes before they rear-end you. It really changes the game I think.
PDO: Derek, I know Damon is very focused on safety and has radar and cameras and rider warning systems; have you thought about noise?
Derek: Absolutely. We've spent quite a bit of time talking about noise and we continue to actually study it. We have a motorcycle that has 16 ECU's on it, and has 16 microcontrollers on the vehicle. We're programming all of them, and making this sort of symphony of microcontrollers to do all the special high-tech things that the Damon bike does. And one of those high-tech things is that we've got radars and cameras on the vehicle that are looking behind and in front of the vehicle, and they're identifying threats; they're looking at the trajectory of objects and they're saying ‘hey that car is going to come in front of you’ or ‘you're closing on an object faster than you really should,’ and it's going to alert you to those threats. So in the Damon we have haptics in the handlebars that vibrate to alert you to those oncoming threats. And this is something that's quite new in the industry, and it's something that the founders in particular put a lot of effort into early on, because they think that the safety issue in motorcycles has been poorly addressed, and there's a lot of opportunity to improve outcomes on motorcycles. And I'm all behind it, it's great work.
PDO: It's fascinating technology on the bike.
Walt Siegl chatting about his Rontu and PACT eBikes in Electric Revolutionaries. [MAF]PDO: [To the audience] Are there any other questions?
Donna Michaels: Why is this an all-male panel?
PDO: Well, we wanted to get Eva Håkkanson here - she just commented that it's an all-male panel – sorry, we do have one woman in the show but she's in New Zealand right now.
Donna: So, the electrification of the industry to me is not just about the switch from fossil fuels, it’s also about electrifying the rider. So, I’m 5’2” and have been riding cafe bikes and smaller bikes and I had talked to you earlier about the needs that people who might maybe not be as tall or as mobile, and not just women, to able to enjoy the [riding] experience. So, what are we going to do electrify the interest, to get more people mobile, who can ride electric bikes?
PDO: So the question is, what is the EV industry doing about access, for inclusion, especially because the motorcycle industry traditionally has been really terrible about designing motorcycles for women.
The LiveWire Mulholland custom by Alex Earle. [MAF]JT: Can I take that one?
PDO: Yes you can.
JT: So, I think that half of the population - meaning women - has been entirely unserved ergonomically. You know I can spot a female rider from hundreds of yards away, and they always have a different posture in my eyes than male riders. They're much more upright, they're much more alert, and they always tend to grab the tank between their knees. I think part of it is because many women have equestrian backgrounds. I think that ergonomics can go a long way to solving problems for women - that means lower seat heights and adjustable seat heights. It also means understanding how a female body works ergonomically and then designing for that. I encourage you to please have a seat on our motorcycle, and give me some feedback. I'm still learning.
Charles: It might be interesting to ask Storm; do you have a sense of what percentage of your buyers have or don't have motorcycle licenses? Do you have a sense of how they're appealing to each gender or to the multiple genders?
Storm: Um yeah I would say probably 30 percent are women…
PDO: Which is 20 percent more than the typical 10 percent that are women motorcyclists…
Storm: You know the biggest thing is step-over height, right? So it's about seat positioning, it’s gotta go lower, that's the first thing. To accommodate shorter riders so they're safe on their feet. That's the quickest solution to a problem which intimidates a lot of people, where you are kind of tiptoeing, because we're just building bikes for tall people, or average height (what we call average height).
Exhibit curator Paul d'Orléans sitting in Joey Ruiter's 'Another Sedan'. [MAF]Hugo: I mean I've always suspected that actually there's a really similar need in the male rider community, but they just won't admit it. Essentially.
PDO: You mean, male riders come in different sizes too?
Hugo: I'm not the tallest guy in the world you know, and it's reassuring to be able to flat-foot it, but I think a lot of guys go into a dealership, and they won't go ‘oh this is not totally reassuring. You know I remember talking to a friend of mine who's really into bicycling and he's like ‘how many frame sizes does this come in?’ I'm like ‘one’ and he's like ‘what?’
PDO: A perfect example.
Derek: I don't know what all you're talking about, motorcycles fit perfectly. [Laughter – Derek is 6’3”]] It is really an issue and at Damon we've been trying to broaden the ergonomics and the percentage of different-size humans that we fit, and one of the ways to address that is with the transforming ergonomics that we have on the vehicles. So we've got we've got servo motors hooked up to the pegs and the handlebars and we can adjust the reach on both of them and to give, not quite an infinite number of positions, but really everything from a low sport bike position up to what would be considered a standard position for both pegs and handlebars. And people are really responding to that. It's actually incredible.
PDO: Because normally it's such a pain in the ass to change your riding position on a bike; you’ve got to buy new handlebars and maybe buy a new seat…
JT: All of our stuff is completely adjustable, but we don't use servo motors.
PDO: Hand adjusting, that’s old-fashioned.
JT: Yeah because servo motors break.
Hugo: I mean there is that old adage ‘if it's not there it can't go wrong.’ Even if you look at Harley-Davidson’s Panamerica like there's you know it has a certain clearance because it's an off-road-ish motorcycle but it sits down when you want to get off it. So I think there's a lot of technologies coming in where you can have adjustable suspension, so as you get to a traffic light or something, it comes down and you can put your feet on the floor, and then when you're riding it gives you the clearance that you need. So no longer do we have to engineer these sort of compromises, the nice thing is the end the engineering or the technology is removing the compromises.
Derek: Absolutely, adjustable ride height is on the horizon for a lot of bikes, and you know when you have a very technologically integrated vehicle, you know, one more ECU is not such a big deal.
The Curtiss One designed by JT Nesbitt. [MAF]PDO: Well historically you know there was a period from about 1913 to about 1928 when most manufacturers offered a Ladies Model, which had a frame like a girl's bicycle but it had the same power as the ‘male’ model or whatever. And then it all dropped around the Depression, and after World War 2 it became about the scooter, right the scooter was the default women's motorcycle, so I think it's a really interesting you know. After that the rest of the industry just seemed to [design bikes that are] bigger and bigger and heavier and heavier. I think it's a great question, Donna.
Hugo: I think JT touched on this; the assumption is that you know female ergonomics are the same as male ergonomics, just smaller. The whole ‘shrink it and pink it’ thing.
PDO: JT disagrees with you but yeah and they're very different
JT: They ride differently.
Hugo: There's some really interesting studies in car designs, which are literally harming female drivers because they just they're just built around the wrong assumptions.
Derek: Yeah I think the MIC [Motorcycle Industry Council] specs or stats are that women riders are still the fastest growing segment within two wheelers, so it would serve all of us and all of our companies to focus…
PDO: Pay attention.
JT: And ultimately the way that you solve the problem is that you make the motorcycle as narrow as possible, right? The thinner it is, the better it works for women and men,
Hugo: And light motorcycles; light is good.
JT: Just lightness well more specifically your CG [center of gravity], so your overall CG is close to the roll center. The closer to the roll center the better it is.
Hugo: Lightness as well really helps, I mean there is a tendency to build very heavy bikes.
JT: Top-heavy.
PDO: All right we're gonna have to continue this at the bar apparently [laughter] and you're all welcome to join in the conversation with these people having a drink but we have to wrap this up. We're way over our time but it's been fascinating talking to all of you and hearing you talk with each other thank you all so much for participating, especially in the exhibit. Thanks.
Hugo: I'll be at the bar.
Three CAKE models from their :work series: Makka, Kalk AP, and Ösa. [MAF]Electric Revolutionaries was curated by Paul d'Orléans, produced by the Motorcycle Arts Foundation [MAF] and Sasha Tcherevkoff, with generous support from LiveWire. Additional support by Damon. At the Petersen Automotive Museum, April 9 2022 - Feb 9 2023. Tickets available here.
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Owning a Velocette KTT had been the object of my desire for many years, having read copious stories about them, and occasionally seen genuine examples. Velocette's production racing model has always been relatively expensive (compared to a road-going Velocette), and only 1000 were built between 1929 and 1950, when the last KTT rolled out of Veloce Ltd's Hall Green, Birmingham factory. The evolution of the KTT is a story in itself, as over its 20-year production run, enormous changes were made from the original 1928 MkI model with its rigid frame, 3-speed gearbox, and all-iron engine, to the last MkVIII models of 1938-49, which pioneered the swingarm rear suspension with shock absorber units, although they kept their girder forks to the end, as they simply steered better! The factory kept building 'works' racers for a few more years with telescopic forks, and took the 1949 and 1950 350cc World Championships.
A 1934 Velocette MkIV KTT, as featured in the Sep. 1937 edition of MotorCycling. The MkIV earned many riders their Gold Star at Brooklands: this is a late version with a bronze cylinder head. Note the front and rear number plates: amateur racing (as at the Manx Grand Prix) required the motorcycle to be road registered. It was also possible to order a KTT with full road equipment, including lights and a generator! Several were delivered thus, especially the early versions. [Dennis Quinlan]The MkIV variant was produced from 1933 to early 1935, with an engine numbering sequence of 'KTT 4xx'. The MkIV was distinguished by a new cylinder head (which became bronze mid-way through its production run), new camshaft, bigger carb, new brakes, and a bolt-on lower frame rail from the crankcase to the rear axle that improved handling. While the MkIV was not a world beater, it was fast and handled beautifully, and was a perfect privateer racer. Many riders earned their Gold Stars at Brooklands with them, for 100+mph laps during a race, which was rare for a 350cc machine. They could be tuned to achieve over 105mph running on gasoline, and even more on alcohol, with an open exhaust pipe and high compression piston. I was timed at 105mph on my own KTT MkIV on a public road in 2000.
Paul d'Orléans with 'The Mule', his 1933 Velocette KTT MkIV, which he has ridden on 10 Velocette Summer Rallies, and in the 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball cross-USA rally! [John Jennings]After years of searching, I was offered two KTTs from the estate for Velocette Club stalwart Eddie Arnold; a 1949 MkVIII (KTT929) and a 1933 MKIV, both of which he had restored and raced. By the time I drove from San Francisco to Pasadena to buy the MkIV, the MkVIII had already been sold to a known 'flipper', so I had arranged to buy the MkIV...and the rest of the contents of Eddie's garage, which included a 1948 Velocette GTP two-stroke in original paint condition, a 1950 LE MkI also in original condition, a large pile of mostly MAC 350cc parts, and a pile of genuine KTT parts. The MkIV cost $15,000, and I can't remember what I paid for the rest of the garage, from which the KTT spares proved invaluable. All else was sold along, after I got the GTP and LE running, which was simple. In hindsight, I should have kept them both, but my garage was overfull with cool old bike already. The KTT had been run on 'bean oil', Castrol R, which is proper for racing, but I intended to run the bike on the road, and Castrol R was already scarce in the late 1990s. I sourced a quart of 'conversion fluid', designed to flush out the Castrol R, and the KTT fired easily on the run-and-bump technique - it had no kickstarter as a proper racer. Thus began a 25 years (and counting) relationship with KTT470.
Only a few weeks after reviving KTT470 I rode her on one of the Velocette Club of North America's annual 1000-mile Summer Rallies. I soon discovered the machine was a revelation, weighing only 275lbs but having 35hp, with an instant power delivery that thrust the rider forward in total smoothness, like a very quick magic carpet. The handling was impeccable and totally intuitive, and I could run rings around brand new motorcycles on the twisty roads favored by the Velocette Club. A week in the saddle might sound torturous on a rigid-framed racer, but I thought it ideal, and fell in love with Eddie Arnold's creation. KTT470 gained the nickname 'The Mule' on a Summer Rally (one of the ten it was used on), which I had organized. A map-making slip-up for the rally included a 'shortcut' in far northern California, through the mountains near Red Bluff, just off the legendary Highway 36. Mule Town Road was not really a road at all, more like a trials course, but as I'd laid out the map, I thought it prudent to take the road! Mule Town Road had no signage, and included several confusing branch routes, one of which I mistakenly took, and managed to kill the motor in the soft dirt. Starting a full-race motorcycle with no kickstarter and high compression requires a run-and-bump technique, pushing the machine with the clutch in and hopping on the saddle to gain traction for the rear wheel. Despite the 100deg F air temperature, KTT470 fired up immediately, we got un-lost, and all was well. After the day's ride, John Jennings, who was visiting from Australia, dubbed my machine 'The Little Mule' for its accomplishment - she's tough!
A filthy little beast! And street legal in California, sans lights, horn, and muffler. [Paul d'Orléans]Here The Mule is pictured on a dirt road in Oregon in July 2005, during another 1000-mile Velocette Summer Rally. The map promised the dirt section would only be 8 miles, but it turned out to be 48 miles! The photos show how filthy the bike became, and because the open cambox sheds a bit of oil on the rear of the machine, dirt sticks well! Not many 75-year old motorcycles are ridden out on the dirt, but The Mule does surprisingly well on rough stuff. In 2012, I chose to ride her in the cross-USA Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Rally, as she'd already done 12,000 miles of road riding, and another 3600miles seemed a piece of cake. That required a total strip-down of the machine, a change of gearbox as Eddie Arnold's choice of a MAC gearbox proved fragile, and a new camshaft. But as Eddie Arnold noted in the article below, MkIV camshafts are rare things, and my replacement did not arrive in time for the Cannonball, so I rooted through Eddie's spare parts stash for a suitable replacement, and installed what looked good. The story of that journey can be found elsewhere: here's the story on how KTT470 came to be.
KTT470, The Mule, at rest in 2006 during the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours ride. The Mule has no stand so leans where it rests. Visible are the drilled front brake anchor, and evidence of a fall on the fuel tank; fast riding on a light rigid machine on bad California roads... [Paul d'Orléans]
History of KTT 470 - 'The Mule'
KTT470 was originally dispatched from the Veloce factory on May 19th, 1933, and is one of 3 KTTs sold originally to the United States, although it was supplied as an engine only, to Mack’s Motorcycles in Everett, Massachusetts. Only five KTTs were sold new in North America between 1928-49, the others being: KTT53 a very early MKI which I owned in the 2000s; KTT102, another MkI sold originally to ‘Oglasud’ in New York (and still in New York today); KTT 454, a MkIV sold to Otto Ling in NY (where now?), and the MkVIII KTT929, which Eddie Arnold owned. As ‘road racing’ was virtually nonexistent in the USA in the 1920s/30s, racing was on dirt tracks, just as it was in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa - the largest foreign markets for Velocettes. The European customers (Italy, Germany, Austria, Holland, etc) generally raced on paved roads by the late 1920s, although there were plenty of dirt/pavé combos to race on as well. We English speakers share a ‘backwater’ history as dirt racers, a tradeoff to our wide open spaces and low population density, and long may it remain so!
A photograph owned by Rick Haner, and AMCA club member in Chico CA, showed his father racing a Velocette for Mack’s Motorcycles before WW2, which is undoubtedly KTT470. Mack’s was a motorcycle dealer and race sponsor, and KTT 470 was their ‘tool’ in 30:50cu” racing from 1933, installed in a 1928 KSS chassis, which is how it sits today. While the standard MkIV engine is reasonably fast when on alcohol, as allowed on dirt tracks in the ‘30s, its competition would have been Harley-Davidson ‘Peashooters’, converted Indian Princes, or Rudge/JAP speedway racers. The Velo would have been the equal of any of these, at least in the 350cc capacity. Most speedway racing in the US was 500cc, and so the KTT was at a capacity disadvantage. How the KTT did in East Coast racing is something I’m still investigating.
The Mack's Motors International sign from the 1960s. [The Vintagent Archive]By the 1970s, KTT470 sat in poor condition in a collection on the East Coast, but was rescued by Eddie Arnold of Pasadena, who restored it for vintage racing in California. Eddie Arnold had been a development engineer for Mustang Motorcycles, and built several 100mph Mustangs with their Briggs&Stratton sidevalve motors! Eddie Arnold built KTT470 using MkVIII KTT front forks and magnesium wheel hub/brake, while the rest of the chassis is pure KSS, including the rear wheel. It uses a 1928 KSS fuel tank, which is smaller than a MkIV KTT, and the replica KTT oil tank is fabricated from aluminum. It uses 19" wheels front and rear, instead of the 21" front and 20" rear wheels as standard, as it was not possible to find racing tires for the larger wheel sizes in 1981. With a 9:1 compression ratio and 400ccs, the engine produced 35hp, and the bike weighted 275lbs dry. The bike was geared for a top speed of just over 105mph, which it reaches easily.
Mack's Motorcycles, Everett MA
Clarence A. 'Mack' McConney owned Mack's Motorcycles in the 1930s-70s in Everett Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, which was a Triumph dealership in the 1930s, among other brands. He was an active supporter of racing and racers, and built KTT470 as a racer in 1933 from the engine supplied from Veloce into a 1928 KSS chassis. It's unknown if he was a Velocette dealer at that early date, or whether he had simply followed the news of the KTT's racing successes in Europe, and wanted a hot motor. The racing history of KTT470 under the sponsorship of Mack's Motors is still being researched; apparently Erwin 'Pop' Haner raced the KTT in the 1930s. Mack was member #1 of the East Coast regional AMA district, and sponsored many races and field events over the years. From his June 5, 1996, obituary in Cycle News:
Mack's Motorcycles was established in 1917 in Everett MA, and was a Triumph dealer by the 1930s, as this advert shows. [The Vintagent Archive]C.A. ‘Mack’ McConney, 99, died in Amesbury, MA, on May 23rd, 45 days before his 100th birthday. McConney was an integral part of early New England road racing in the area and was a member of the original committee that first brought the Laconia races to Belknap Park in 1938. McConney participated in the sport of motorcycle racing on many levels including dirt track, race promotion, as well as sponsoring and tuning for racers through his successful Triumph dealership in Everett, MA.
Eddie Arnold with KTT470 at a CAMA (California Antique Motorcycle Association) rally in 1975, just after he had restored it. [The Vintagent Archive]
Eddie Arnold
A founder member of the Velocette Club of North America, Eddie was a passionate collector of Velocettes and other British motorcycles. He finished restoring KTT470 in the mid-1970s, and only when he attempted to race her did he begin the process of improvement that made her into a winner. Here's Eddie's take on that process from the Jan/Feb 1983 edition of Fishtail West, the Velocette Club of North America's magazine:
"A Vintage Racer the Hard Way
I spent six or seven years getting all the parts together for the ‘32 KTT, both in England and here in the US. Parts were not as hard to find in the early 1970s as now. Add to that another year for restoring it between more important things like cutting the grass, painting windows and all the other crap that comes before one can restore a bike in peace and quiet. I was proud of the finished bike and took it to all the rallies and classic shows. I even took it to riding it around the parking lots, making noises like everyone else. Somehow, the parking lots just didn't get it. I wanted to really race it. You know, turn it on and scare the hell out of myself and anyone riding near me. I joined the ARRA racing club in Southern California along with my friends Paul Adams and Richard Ong. Paul, ‘Mr Norton’, was riding a Velocette and so was Richard. The first vintage race was at the ‘Big O’; Ontario Motor Speedway. Big, fast and very smooth with banked turns, that's Ontario. On the first outing I learned that a lot of things would have to be changed if I wanted to be in the running or even finish a race. Six laps on a two-and-a-half-mile track doesn't sound too far, but following a bunch of Gold Stars and watching the nuts and bolts bouncing along the track, I wondered what was happening to my bike? At least there was no one behind me to see my parts falling off! I remember seeing Paul go past in a turn, wide open with both wheels drifting. I could even hear the valves hitting the piston. Flying fighter planes and getting shot off aircraft carriers by steam catapults has definitely affected his mind.
Another shot showing Eddie Arnold's gleaming craftsmanship on KTT470. [Eddie Arnold]Back to the problem at hand. Being in last place did have some advantages; no one was trying to run over me and I could evaluate the bike, but then everyone in last place says that. I noticed things such as at 5500 RPM the engine started to vibrate and at 6000 the handlebars felt like watermelons. The gearbox was all wrong and the horsepower I had in the parking lots just wasn't there on the long straights. Coming off the banking and into a tight right hander the brakes weren't too good, and by the third lap there weren't any at all. By the 5th lap the revs had dropped to 4000. I found out later that half of the exhaust valve hairpin spring had broken. I ended up asking myself why I was trying to race a 50-year old that you can't even get parts for, and why I hadn't stayed a parking lot racer. About all I can say for that first outing is that it sure was fun.
Eddie Arnold flat out on KTT 470 in 1980, during its unbeaten run of victories. [The Vintagent Archive]Fix time: I took the engine down to the flywheels, which seemed like a reasonable place to start, and checked the balance factor. At 65% it was just right for a tractor. I do remember Jack Connors, ‘the provider of the engine’, saying something to the effect that had been used for a dirt track or Speedway engine in the ‘30s. I changed the balance factor to 71% and took a pound or so off the outside of the wheels. The KTT already has a short rod to help in the midrange. I raised the compression ratio using a mark 8 piston. After cutting the inside drop of the head and some off the cylinder to parallel it, the compression ratio is 9.12: 1. A new manifold was made up for the head, and I ported it to take a 1 3/16th” inlet valve and an Amal 10TT9 carb. Cams were the biggest headache. Racing cams for the MkIV are just not available anywhere. The cams that came in the engine were of the 30-60-60-30 variety; tractor cams. Starting with early MkVIII cams and using a Norton Radiack, I cut the intake from the exhaust and relocated the exhaust to 75 - 45 timing, I then cut a new keyway for it. I now had the MkVIII timing but with less overlap. The MkIV rockers have 1/8 inch less cam-side length, giving the effect of ‘ratioed rockers’ which give too much of everything, overstressing the valve springs. I made up new rockers from billet, leaving just a little ratio in them. I used MkVIII hairpin valve springs, setting them at 125 pounds seating pressure. I changed the gearbox to close ratios and laced a 19” front wheel to a MkVIII hub for better stopping power. On the back I used Richard Ong racing brake lining, it won't lock and won't fade either. I won't go into all the changes I made to keep the oil in the engine oil off the rear tire.
Velocette importer from the 1960s, Lou Branch (right) and Ellis Taylor at a CAMA rally in 1975, with KTT470. [The Vintagent Archive]Next race, Willow springs, 1979. Fast uphill, downhill 100mph turns for them that got it. A very unforgiving track; leave it and you get 100 yards of rock of all sizes. If the rocks don't get you, the things that live under them will. When you get older you think about things that way. In practice the bike ran beautifully at 7400rpm with no vibration. Braking was excellent and the gearbox felt just right. In the six-lap race that followed the little ‘33 ran perfectly. Paul still passed me in the turns but I could zap him on the straight. It's easy to win when the bike does all the work. I ran the 1980 season and won all the races entered. For the ‘81 season they changed the rules and let Triumph 3s, Commandos, Hondas and just about anything else compete. So I retired the bike from racing. It's not right to expect a 50-year old machine compete with stuff like that. Besides who needs 100 yards of rock... So the next time you ride your bike around the parking lot and wonder what it would be feel like to race it, give it a try. It's a lot of fun and there's nothing like old bikes and good friends. Racing does improve the breed."
Paul d'Orléans crossing Sonora Pass on a Velocette rally in 1999. [John Jennings]For a Road Test of The Mule, read John Jennings' report after a 250-mile ride on a Velocette Rally.
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Ephedra, the buzzy essence of the Ma Huangbush, was a Chinese stimulant for 5 milennia before being chemically isolated in 1881 by Nagai Nagayashi in Japan, while amphetamine, a related synthetic compound, was created the same year in Berlin. Cocaine was rampant in ‘medicines’ of the day, so the new stimulants seemed redundant, and they lay quietly in a drawer for 40 years. The great wave of early 20th Century chemical bounty hunters boosted amphetamine’s fortunes, as drug giants like Boroughs (family of William S.) and Smith, Kline and French (SKF) sidled away from alcohol, heroin, or cocaine-rich Patent concoctions (72% of the drug market in 1910), to more ‘scientific’ remedies. Freelance pharmaceutical researchers (test-tube cowboys) were cut in on industry profits of new ‘cures’, so got busy adding molecules to the skeletons of naturally effective compounds, self-testing for results, and hawking new drugs to the public, with zero oversight.
Ephedrine was first synthesized in 1881 by Nagai Nagayashi in Japan. In 1893 Nagai using ephedrine to synthesize amphetamine. In 1919 a protégé of Nagai - Akira Ogata - synthesized crystal methamphetamine. [Wikipedia]Gordon Alles was amphetamine’s shepherd, spending remarkably focused years tinkering with the adrenaline molecule, injecting himself and keeping dry notes while high on his creations – amphetamine, MDA, and MDMA (yes, he discovered Ecstasy). His 1927 results for amphetamine included ‘dry nasal passages, bronchial relaxation’, reason enough for SKF to manufacture asthma inhalers using ‘Benzedrine’ strips in 1933, which clever folks like Jean Paul Sartre soaked in their coffee, each 160mg strip equaling 32 amphetamine tablets – a serious morning kick. Soon SKF were touting other uses – diet aids, wakey tabs, attention focusers – distributing one million pills/day by 1940 for asthma; the same number for dieting.
Gordon Alles, the man who popularized amphetamines, making them their production the enormous business it remains today. [Wikipedia]The international teeth-gritting before WW2 wasn’t diplomatic, but pharmacological, with rapid dissemination of amphetamines (in the case of Britain and the US) or methedrine tabs (Germany and Japan) to swelling armies for Modern warfare. The Blitzkreig was fuelled by speed-laced ‘choko’ for air and tank crews, but with reports of abuse, paranoia, aggression, friendly fire deaths, and serious errors in judgement (complaints which echo in today’s military), the Germans cut back by 1941, although Hitler received 8 daily shots of meth for three years, until he shot himself. [2.]
Pass the salt, Adolf. Germany passed out methamphetamine as literal candy to fuel the Blitz. [Wikipedia]On testing, no army found an advantage of speed over caffeine in any area save one – morale. 10mg snapped men to attention, made them order-friendly, and more willing to kill; the military had discovered the perfect soldier drug. Controversy raged within Axis and Allied commands, but the mood-altering effects of speed won over its dark side, and ‘amphetamines won the Battle of Britain’. 72 Million pills swirled in the bloodstream of the RAF, and as many as 500 Million pills in the US military. The Japanese were up-front about speed, naming it Senryoku zoko zai (‘drug to inspire the fighting spirits’), and kamikaze pilots were cranked out of their hachimaki’d skulls, before smashing same into battleship steel plating.
'Drug to inspire the fighting spirit': amphetamine was a perfect military tool, until it wasn't. It's still handed out in strips in the US military for missions... [Wikipedia]Postwar Japan surveyed nuclear devastation, then distributed, free, 20 million ampules of meth to crank up an ‘economic miracle’, with thousands of psychotic casualties an acceptable cost. Elsewhere, writers, truckers, pilots, soldiers, bikers - any group needing concentrated attention - had a percentage of hyped-up devotees. Former airmen, above all in SoCal, fought the drudge of citizen life with new thrills - wingless flight, an escape from sprawling suburban boredom on cheap surplus motorcycles; their bike clubs became gangs with militaristic hierarchy, and bikers with leftover military habits loved speed. ‘The Wild One’ missed this chemical plot point in ‘53, but ten years later Kenneth Anger’s ‘Scorpio Rising’ flourished a moto-hero sniffing ‘salt’ from a tabletop shaker as prelude to a Satanic binge…a point echo’d in 1980 when LeVille in Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘The Loveless’ divvies salt on a diner’s formica before white-knuckle plunging his stiletto in a vinyl banquette, as Willem Dafoe warns ‘Go easy on the vitamins’; always good advice.
Advertising amphetamines: diet pills have been big business since the 1930s. [Private Collection]Curiously, the RAF’s pill-mountain didn’t linger with English bikers; they preferred tea. Joan Vollmer (later shot by William Burroughs in Mexico) introduced the Beats to Benzedrine inhalers, and Jack Kerouak hand-filled a 120-foot roll of paper during a week-long wakey binge, the ‘Road’ he was on dusted with amphetamine salts1. The Modernists, children of the Beats, ‘kept sharp’ with ‘purple hearts’, slick Italian tailoring and chic buzzing scooters, ‘into it not out of it’. Mods hated drunken discos and retro (already!) Rockers for beery sloppiness, preferring animated conversation, a fine edge of style, and dancing to the latest soul discs. Meanwhile in Vietnam, US troops popped fistfuls of Dexedrine, 4 times as much as WW2 – with drug hospitalizations four times those for war wounds. As Soviet missiles parked in Cuba, JFK (and Jackie too!) took shots of vita-meth cocktails from ‘Dr.Feelgood’ on the run-up to total nuclear annihilation. Massacres of civilians at My Lai, as in Iraq and Afghanistan today, are sometimes blamed on amphetamine psychosis, but the perfect military drug soldiers on.
Speed is for kids! And if you have college-age children, you know how popular Adderall remains for students without prescriptions... [New York Times]Drug companies found another rich target while raking in military billions during the 1960s; children. Amphetamine compounds like Ritalin and Adderal are now the most prescribed ‘medications’ in the US, curing nothing but keeping kids focused. Scary toothless meth-heads are modern bogeymen, lurking under beds as worst-case parent nightmares, but we love popping candy-colored uppers to our little darlings daily, making speed the biggest blockbuster drug in history.
Bikers and speed: it's a long story. Many suggest it was former airmen returning to civilian life and taking up motorcycling for thrills that permanently imbued biker culture with a taste for speed. There's certainly a story to be told about the rise of organized crime in '1%' clubs after amphetamines were made Schedule 2 drugs in 1970, and thus available only by prescription (to children, mostly). [Telegraph and Argus]Our relationship with the fruits of the Ma Huang tree is deeply complex, so it's fitting the Chinese supply our poetic muse; the syllables ‘am phe ta min’ can be translated as ‘Is this not his fate?’
Pass the salt, Scorpio. A scene from Kenneth Anger's amazing 'Scorpio Rising': Scorpio's powder stash is hiden in a salt shaker. [Kenneth Anger][This essay was originally published in Men's File magazine in 2012.]
Curious on the subject? Here's some essential Reading:
Pass the salt, Davis. 'Sportster Debbie' (novelist Tina L'Hotsky) and Davis (rockabilly legend Robert Gordon) at a diner, gritting their teeth through breakfast in Florida in a scene from 'The Loveless' (1981) by two-time Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow. [Screen shot from the film]
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
Cell phones don’t work in rural New Hampshire, which is fine with Walt Siegl after 20 years of living and working in New York City. He’s nearly off the grid, and out of the hubbub where he founded Walt Siegl Motorcycles (WSM), but hardly out of the limelight. His career arc is definitely unique, from art-school dropout in Austria, to part-time endurance racer in France, to toolmaking engineer in Germany, to project manager in the Soviet Union, to Austrian cultural attaché in NYC, finally landing on two wheels as a career, after decades of building bikes for fun. His was a long journey from the center of the world to a quiet 18th Century mill complex, and his life story makes Siegl a fascinating and worldly character, carrying a lifetime of experience into his work designing motorcycles.
Walt Siegl at work at his New Hampshire mill/workshop. [Yve Assad / Cycle World]Growing up in Austria, both his father and grandfather were daily riders on Puchs, Horexes, NSUs, and H-D flatheads. Young Walt absorbed their talk about how bikes looked, and how they made them feel; “When I was 6, a local chimney sweep bought a purple Triumph 500 with polished aluminum fenders. I was completely blown away, it killed me. I would run across a bridge to see the him after school - I knew his schedule.” By 14 he rode a Puch dirt bike, and started art school, but his schoolmates scorned his interest in bikes; “They thought I was not a real artist because I had motorcycles. I couldn’t see a conflict.” But there was conflict at home, as his father, an electronics engineer, pressured him to think about making a living. He left home 6 months before graduating, rode his Honda 550 to Marseille, and took a job loading trains at the port. “I was a skinny longhair artist, my co-workers were North Africans, and my boss was a Legionnaire. It was tough!”
A simple Ducati frame on the workbench, but triangulated frames are most capable of handling serious horsepower. [Yve Assad / Cycle World]There were bright spots in Marseille; he raced time trials on weekends, and caught the eye of a privateer endurance racing team. “I did 18 months of racing with a Swiss guy, on a bus with room for 2 bikes. It was really fun, but we were not very competitive.” A crash in Belgium ended Siegl’s race career, and he took an apprenticeship with a German toolmaker, who taught him everything from how to hold a file to running a milling machine. “That knowledge allows me to do what I do now; there’s nothing I don’t know about machining, how to work a lathe, welding etc.” A job as an industrial welder in Padua, Italy, led to a gig in 1980 with an Austrian firm managing a huge project in the Soviet Union. Siegl was fascinated with the changes happening in the USSR, “it was all very volatile and exciting, and sometimes really scary.” When his office was suddenly shut down, Siegl stayed in Moscow. “The country under Andropov was really interesting, we all knew – even the Soviets – that the end was near. I got a job in the Austrian consulate, and watched as Perestroika started, and the Soviet system dissolved.”
The same type of Ducati frame, now with a motor and bodywork attached: what a difference a little machinery makes. [Anthony Blasko / Cycle World]New York City seemed the next logical, exciting place for Siegl, after watching the world shift on its axis. A friend mentioned a job at the Austrian Cultural Institute, and 2 weeks later he was in NYC with a job and an apartment. He embraced “everything American”, which of course meant buying a Harley-Davidson. “I saw a Sportster sitting on a milk crate on Lafayette Ave, and asked this guy smoking pot on his porch if he’d sell it.” $600 later he was a real American with a Harley, and discovered the world of aftermarket parts. Working in his carriage house studio, he transformed the bike into ‘my version of a Sportster.’ After riding a ’69 Shovelhead for years in all weathers, he “got a little bored with the performance,” and bought a GSXR. But when the Ducati 916 came out in 1994, it blew him away.
A stunning WSM Leggero; 'better than factory' is typical of Walt Siegl's design work. [WSM]“I started building bikes in NYC in 1985, but it wasn’t a business until 10 years ago. I worked 2 jobs, going into Manhattan every day to promote Austrian art, then cycling back to my studio in Long Island City. I’d pick up my girlfriend (now wife) Laura after her job as a waitress, we’d stay up a while, then I’d wake up at 6am to go to work. I did this for 20 years every day, even on weekends.” Fate, the politics of Foreign Service work, and the NYC real estate boom of the 2000s changed everything. “Ten years ago I was ‘offered’ a transfer to Rome - someone else wanted my job. Laura was pregnant with our son, and my workshop space was sold.” With increasing demand for his custom motorcycles, he jumped, leaving a secure position with the Austrian embassy, and his life in NYC. “Laura’s family had a place in New Hampshire, and every time we’d visit I’d see this old mill outside town, and said ‘if we lose our space in Long Island City, I’m going to knock on the door.’ That’s exactly what happened; our son was born in NYC and a week later we moved to Harrisville!”
In the workshop with a finished WSM Bol d'Or. [Yve Assad / Cycle World]That was 2006, and he’s adapted well to country life. “Not having access to toolshops is a problem, but the country keeps my head clean. At the end of the day we have dinner, I go to bed with work in my head, and wake up the same. I look out at the lake, and tidy things up in my mind. It really works for me.” Despite its rural locale, Walt Siegl Motorcycles was quickly recognized as a top-tier custom shop, with a super-clean, sophisticated design aesthetic worthy of an art gallery. Which is where I first saw a WSM bike, in the window of BDDW on Crosby St in Manhattan’s SoHo district - it was exciting to see a beautiful Ducati hotrod in a swank design store. The bodywork, stance, quality of workmanship, and perfect paint scheme were streets ahead of the custom scene as I knew it, and I’ve been following Walt Siegl ever since.
The same MV Agusta Bol d'Or model as modified by WSM. [Yve Assad / Cycle World]That dramatic bodywork and distinctive paint/graphics are visible signature of a WSM machine, but actually the last item on their agenda. Siegl considers the whole package; “I prefer to pick geometries for what the bike is intended to do – road or racing, but of course the bodywork is important.” He experiments with shape using signmaker’s foam, carving away with bodymaker’s files, then honing in with 40grit sandpaper, and finishing off with Bondo to fix the fine details. That buck becomes a mold for the first fiberglass ‘splash’, and if WSM is making multiples, they 3D-scan it and make CNC-machined molds. “We use jigs in the shop for our chassis, so a perfect, consistent fit is essential.”
The essential road test: the roads of rural New Hampshire make a perfect testing ground for half the years. [Yve Assad / Cycle World]What’s also essential for WSM is Siegl’s control over the process. “I’ve been doing all the design, it all comes out of me, I simply can’t allow it to be touched by anyone else, otherwise I couldn’t live with it. I’m not an easy person and I admit that.” He doesn’t work alone though; “I’ve got a really good guy, Aaron, we think alike in the shop, and that makes my life so much easier.” Siegl’s wife Laura is also a critical part of the team. Besides managing the business side, she keeps WSM projects grounded with practical feedback. “She’s my ‘outside eye.’ Sometimes I’m so entrenched in the process after 6 or 7 weeks, it becomes too much a part of me.” Laura provides real-world critique on stance, colors, handlebar height, and reminds Walt who his clients are; “I sometimes get too adventurous, and she calms me down, ‘Don’t forget - he’s not that person!”
A WSM Leggero built for Brad Pitt. [Daniela Maria / Cycle World]Walt Siegl Motorcycles is nearly finished developing a new chassis for Ducati engines, with the capacity to house both 4-valve and 2-valve motors, everything from a 916 to a 1098. It’s a bold move, to presume you can design a better chassis than the acknowledged masters of the art, but small shops like WSM have the freedom to specialize even further than factory-built, limited-production superbikes. OEM factories have strict design limitations, especially around noise – anything smaller than 5 liters for both airbox and exhaust volume makes the music too loud. While not particularly sexy, a new airbox was the motivation behind Siegl’s new frame. “My previous design was limited on horsepower, as there simply wasn’t enough room for an airbox. We use pods, but you can only get so much air into a charging system, that’s the reason behind the new chassis.”
The man. Walt Siegl is simply the most talented motorcycle stylist working in the industry today. [Yve Assad / Cycle World]WSM is digging a new composite steel, Docol, from Sweden. It’s only been available 4 years, and like most exotic materials, hails from the aircraft industry. Docol has a higher shear and tensile strength than chromoly, and it’s also more flexible – a critical quality for trestle frames. “It’s difficult to weld, but great stuff. Chromoly is fairly stiff, and you need to leave enough flex in the chassis so the tires don’t have to do all the work. With some flex engineered into the frame, the rider gets better feedback; when you hit the brakes coming into a corner you feel it in the handlebars. If the frame is too stiff, you find yourself on the ground with no warning.”
In 2018, Walt Siegl collaborated with Mike Mayberry (Ronin Motorworks) on a custom Alta Redshift, creating the WSM PACT, a stunning eBike design that sent ripples through the EV world. This example with carbon-chip bodywork is currently on display (2022) at the Petersen Museum in our Electric Revolutionaries exhibit. [WSM]Since Walt Siegl didn’t walk the engineer’s path to chassis design, his process is to pick and choose contemporary chassis geometries for the handling characteristics he wants. “There are only certain numbers you can work with. I start out with a 24-degree rake on the frame; by using different forks you can increase or decrease the trail significantly.” The swingarm length and location of the pivot point create options for geometry adjustments too; “Let’s say we start with ‘corsa’ numbers, then add 15-20mm to the swingarm. That gives us room to degree the handling to our liking, to give a more stable bike at speed.” For example, if WSM uses a Superbike fork dropped 10mm, it alters the rake to 23.5degrees. He’s also fond of the new TTX Ohlins forks, which are designed with an adjustable ride height, making frame geometry changes “fairly simple”.
One of eight PACTs built; this was the actual machineIt built for our Electric Revolution exhibit at the Petersen Museum in 2019.[Ted7]With the motivation for the new frame inspired by better breathing, clearly WSM is interested in gaining power, but max HP isn’t the goal; it’s all about the power-to-weight ratio. “We’ve designed the frame for 120-140hp, there’s enough chassis bracing to handle that easily. We are working on more power for our race bike, and our goal is a maximum weight of 300lbs complete with all fluids. With our street Leggero and mag wheels, we’re at 310 – 335lbs depending on equipment, with the 2-valve engine producing 110-115hp. Tuning the 2V motor shortens its lifespan, but over 100hp in a 310lb package makes a lot of fun.”
The WSM Rontu, commissioned by the Haas Museum, and currently on view at Electric Revolutionaries at the Petersen Museum. [Haas Motorcycle and Design Museum]WSM steers clients away from the inevitable HP conversation, preferring to discuss how handling affects the rider’s relationship to the machine. “If you have a good handling bike from the get go, it shows your potential. If you feel safe you can hold momentum in the corners, there’s plenty of feedback, and you think ‘OMG I can do this’.” Siegl feels neutral-handling bikes with “lots of digital stuff” like traction control and ABS don’t foster better riding skills, but high-performance machines with attention paid to suspension and geometry do make better riders. “That’s what I’m after with my bikes, and trying to convey to my clients. If you have more fun, you feel like a better rider. I’m lucky; most my clients have had several sport bikes before they arrive at my door, they’re not your average rich guy who wants another toy. They’re already motorcyclists. It’s much easier for me to build them a bike that makes them happy.” Which makes for a few lucky owners – the rest of us can be happy just looking at his gorgeous bikes.
The WSM PACT as currently installed in Electric Revolutionaries at the Petersen Museum. [Motor/Cycle Arts Foundation][This article originally appeared in the Sept 2017 edition of Cycle World magazine. Walt Siegl's motorcycles have been featured in two of the Motor/Cycle Arts Foundation's Petersen Museum exhibits, curated by Paul d'Orléans: Electric Revolution (2019) and Electric Revolutionaries (2022)]
Paul d'Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
