Here's one more reason:
(picture from here)
That's a 1940 Indian Chief. If that's not one of the most beautiful things you've seen today, well, then, you're either really lucky, or blind. It's from this link:
Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles
This is a unique exhibition at the Frist Center for Visual Arts in Nashville, TN of Art Deco automobiles from some of the most renowned car collections in the United States.There's a couple of motorcycles in the exhibit, a Tim Burton Batman-esque KJ Henderson fully enclosed Streamliner and the Indian. Man, they sure built beautiful motorcycles back in the day, didn't they? Oh, sure, they were cantankerous and required a bit of finessing every once in a while, but you sure looked good riding one. Modern motorcycles are a lot more reliable and have things like fuel injection and disc brakes, so not only will the bike start every time, it'll also stop!
Inspired by the Frist Center’s historic Art Deco building, this exhibition features spectacular automobiles and motorcycles from the 1930s and ‘40s that exemplify the classic elegance, luxurious materials, and iconography of motion that characterizes vehicles influenced by the Art Deco style. (Frist Center)
Get a bike, Borepatch - if you're asking the question, you already know the answer...
That is all.
Thanks to Jeff in OR for bringing this to my attention!
9 comments:
Motorcycles as works of art. In late 1998, I rode my resurrected 1956 Velocette 500 up to New York City for the opening of the "Art of the Motorcycle" show at the Guggenheim museum. There were over 100 beautiful motorcycles on display.
A fine day for a motorcyclist for sure. That display was moved to other cities over the next few years.
There's a truck stop where my fiancee and I eat when I go to visit her. They have framed prints from the Guggenheim exhibit decorating the place. It's hard to tell where the machine ends and the art begins.
A customer of mine spends his retirement restoring vintage bikes. He's got more Indians than I've ever seen before, each more spectacular than the last.
Once upon a time, he got some unmachined castings from one of the post-indian auctions. It was really a delight to finish those pieces started 60 years prior....
Another buddy managed to find an Indian Four in a barn. The Four is without a doubt an incredible design.
Wow, that's sweet. Bet it's spendy, though.
Oh, for a man of your means, but a drop in the bucket... ;)
Nice Ride
That's not a hard look to recreate with a modern bike. Of course, if you start with something like a Yamaha Stratoliner or a Victory Vision, you're half way there without doing a thing.
When I hit the lottery, I'm getting one of those Stratoliners!
I suppose this is obligatory.
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
One more beautiful bike: go google an Ariel Square Four. Doesn't have the sheer sensuous flowing lines of the Indian Chief, but it's still a beautiful machine.
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