Backmarker Features Photo Gallery

In the mid-'90s, there were intriguing rumors that an Australian investor planned to buy up the Indian trademark and hire John Britten to design a new Indian Chief.

The original Indian 'motocycle' logo; the company dates itself to before we'd even settled on the spelling of the word motorcycle.

Ace custom builder Shinya Kimura rode his 1915 Indian big twin almost all the way across the U.S. in last year's epic 'Cannonball' motorcycle rally. By the time this bike was built, Indian's best years were already behind it.

Peter Gagan's 1911 Indian replica is based off the design that won the first Senior race at the Isle of Man and will be piloted by Dave Roper at the upcoming 2011 event.

Dave Roper will have a lot to contend with as he rides Gagan's 1911 Indian, including a left-hand throttle, a clutch lever on the right handlebar, a hand shift and two rear brakes.

Dave Roper: "Being invited to lap in the Parade of Honor sounds like great fun, but this is more like lapping the course while simultaneously rubbing your stomach and patting your head!"

Also at the 2011 Isle of Man TT will be Lennon Rodgers' MIT EV team, which developed an electric motorcycle for the competition out of a S1000RR chassis.

In conjuction with Motorrad's top R&D engineers, the MIT EV crew came up with a design for the 2010 Isle of Man, but delays forced the project back another year.

As a result of MIT's prestige the team received support from high-tech companies including A123 founder, Yet-Ming Chiang.

An off-the-shelf motor controller from Kelly Controls was used along with a pair of air-cooled, brushed, DC, Lynch motors.

The design was taken to New Hampshire International Speedway for testing where Lennon Rodgers got a feel for the bike.

Just as the internal combustion engine did for racing, MIT's EV team hopes that its electric bike can pave the way for future high-performance designs.

Dave Roper (left) and Lennon Rodgers (right) will be competing with radically different technologies over the mountain course.

Peter Gagan's 1911 Indian contrasted with Lennon Rodgers' MIT EV project.

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Mert Lawwill is seen here in the pits at Terre Haute in August of 1975.

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Chuck Palmgren (#38) leading Mert Lawwill (#7) and Hank Scott (#14) at the Syracuse Mile in September of 1975.

1970 AMA Grand National Champion Gene Romero (#3) and Mert Lawwill (#7) at Terre Haute.

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Rick Hockings (#13), Paul Bostrom (#46) and Mert Lawwill (#7) during the start of a heat race in Terre Haute in 1975.

Parker, at his home in New Mexico, with his personal GTS1000. He's never given up on the RADD front end. He's currently working on a Moto2-eligible version of the design and told me about other cool projects that must - for now - stay off the record.

London, 1972. There were the Mods, there were the Rockers, and then there were these guys... Thacker flashes the peace sign with local chopper-builders Guy Carter (on left) and Chris Boyle.

Thacker today, with a couple of flat trackers on display at the Wally Parks Museum. It's only a couple minutes' walk from the Pomona flat track to the museum.

Tony built this chopper in his parent's basement in 1969. He paid about five bucks for the sprung-hub Triumph donor bike.

Dig the furniture, eh? John Stein at home in L.A. Before becoming a motorcycle historian, he was one of America’s top advertising creative directors. Like many niche authors, he was dismayed to realize that while he was writing, the publishing industry had collapsed. His response was to create his own publishing company called, appropriately, Gearhead Publishing. Although he was advised to print his book in China, he insisted on North American production.

John says he’s never, ever, thrown away a motorcycle magazine. His enormous magazine archive was a good place to begin the basic research that grew into his new book. Note that while the motorcycle media pays scant attention to drag racing nowadays, drag bikes were worthy of covers in ‘60s and ‘70s.

Drag racing is not just the purest American motorsport; thanks to John Stein’s history of the sport, it’s also a lens through which all of America’s pop culture can be examined. This is Tommy Smith on Saint, a bike built by Joe Fernandez in the early ‘50s.

Besides interviewing countless stars (and bit players) in the world of drag racing, John also sourced hundreds of photos from dozens of photographers. Here’s Sonny Scott’s photo of Priness Perry, on Stagefright -- its 9.70 ET made it the quickest bike in its day (mid-‘60s.)

As John says, "They didn’t know what they couldn’t do." Several bikes were built with automotive V-8s motors. Here Joe Teresi (standing) and Mil Blair get ready to run their Buick-powered bike, nicknamed 'Italiano'.

Stein’s book weighs three pounds. It’s a ‘coffee table’ format, combining a comprehensive text with amazing pics. Since he’s acting as his own publisher, Stein gets to set the price, too. It’s a bargain at $40 (price includes postage.) To order it, go to www.gearheadpublishing.com

If you can identify this instrument by sight, you may be one of the few Backmarker readers who’s already heard of Matt Wadsworth.

Matt Wadsworth will hardly know he’s blindfolded. He’s been blind since birth. Thanks are due to Leatt, and Troy Lee Designs, for the safety gear visible in this shot.

The setting’s not exactly picturesque, but that won’t bother him...

Micky Dymond is the most naturally talented motorcycle rider that I’ve ever personally ridden with. (Some day, you should remind me to tell you the story of the first time he ever rode in a road race.) It’s strange to say that a multi-time AMA MX and SM champ failed to live up to his potential, but he’s the first to admit that he 'pissed it all away.' I get the feeling that by helping Matt Wadsworth achieve his goals, Micky’s hoping for some kind of redemption of his own.

Old Blue is now parked in a New Jersey collector's bedroom.

Cycle Editor Cook Neilson in the Daytona winner's circle, 1977, with Dave Emde and Wes Cooley.

Gone but not forgotten. Cycle Magazine was a seminal publication in '70s motorycle journalism with Cook Neilson at the helm.

Neilson and Phil Schilling, who largely built Cycle's Ducati race bike, were invited to parade it at Daytona on the 20th anniversary of their win; that was one of the last time's it was ever seen in public.

Beautiful? Absolutely. Affordable? Not so much.

World economic conditions in recent years have greatly impacted the motorcycle industry as brands struggle to cope with reduced demand.

Entry-level mounts like the Kawasaki Ninja 250 and Honda CBR250R are on a path toward becoming top-selling models. For the moment, however, even these are out of reach for the American middle class.

Instead of developing affordable machines for younger riders, the industry has been targeting baby boomers who have deeper pockets.

The increasing economic divide between classes may have some interesting ramifications for riders and their culture.

Eirik Nielsen to Munns: "Pass me like that one more time and, I swear, I'll karate chop you right in the gut!"

Munns races his little Honda in classes up to 250GP. Here, he's dicing with Canada's Paul Germain at Miller. On a more flowing, technical track like Barber, his lap times on his Honda 175 are almost as fast as his times on his other race bike, which is a highly-developed Sportsman 350-class Honda twin.

Jon Munns' AHRMA 200GP championship-winning Honda is tidy but not fancy. He sinks his budget into the motor, because it's a class where even a couple of extra horsepower make a big difference.

The recession has had a major impact on racing motorcycles as rising costs have led to shrinking grids in amateur classes.

The Yamaha TZ750 changed the AMA racing scene and provided amateurs with an affordable yet competitive race bike.

The World Moto Clash web site has more umbrella girls than hard info; should that make me skeptical?

Robbie Petersen, late in the 1990 season, on one of the bikes Wayne Rainey had just ridden to the 500cc World Championship for Kenny Roberts. Petersen and Rich Oliver dominated the '91 season on Roberts' bikes; in hindsight, that was probably the beginning of the end for Formula USA

Stuhler caught Fritz Kling, a winner in the F-USA class at IRP in '92, on the Gold Hill 'Yamamonster'.

Mike 'Stu' Stuhler's amazing photo archive yielded this shot, taken at Indianapolis Raceway Park in the early '90s. Chuck Graves (24) is riding one of John Ulrich's 'Valvoline-sponsored, methanol-fueled GSX-R1100s. Keith Perry, who prepped these machines, punched them out to 1180cc. Running on alcohol didn't boost power that much, but the bikes produced a ton of torque and ran cool. Chris D'Alusio, on bike #2, is competing with about 1/4 the displacement, on a TZ-250 two-stroke.

Towards the end of Formula-USA's glory days in 1994, Dave Sadowski campaigned this CBR900RR prepared by Mike Velasco.

Mike (in flat cap), 'Tank' (in ball cap), and Chris Hoge, with the crew who built the sidecar. Javier, at far right, owned the shop. No one's ever seen a sidecar in the Andes. It attracted so much attention that Chris felt like the Pope in his Popemobile as peasants stopped what they were doing, gawked, then smiled and waved.

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This nice graphic (thanks, Wikipedia Commons) illustrates the way that at all launch angles less than 45 degrees, a lower trajectory results in a shorter flight. That means that at any given speed, a lower trajectory allows a rider to land and get on the power sooner. It’s equally true that a lower trajectory allows a rider to hit jumps faster without overjumping his landing. The much crappier drawing below is my own illustration of the way a scrub lowers the trajectory vis-a-vis the launch ramp.

Overloaded? Not much. As you can see, the trio was not popular at all and made a very bad impression on the locals.

Improvising new teeth on the 250's output shaft. Not the first time the lads had to channel MacGyver.

Mike and Tank on the Uyuni Salt Flat, in southwestern Bolivia. If the bikes weren't about to die before being soaked in brine, they were done in afterward.

Wausau Harley-Davidson’s Willie McCoy didn’t realize how narrow his victory was until he saw this photo.

Responsibility for his wife and kids weighs on the racer’s mind, but McCoy believes his fate is in another’s hands.

Motorcyclepedia features an extensive collection of Indian Motorcycles.

From left to right are Kate, Ted and Gerald Doering.

Vern Wallis, a Velocette expert who lives on the Isle of Man.

Mark Wilsmore, who resurrected the Ace Café was a biker who had to learn the restaurant business. Mark McKee, (pictured) has lots of restaurant experience but if he’s to tap into the Ace Café’s essence, he’ll have to develop a genuine grasp of the Café racer scene.

Mark Wilsmore was cop in the UK, and an avid biker. After organizing a 25th reunion of Rocker-era bikers on the old Ace Café’s parking lot in 1994, he set about reopening the biker’s landmark. The new Ace Café opened in 2001 and hasn’t looked back. Now the brand and it’s famous Ace-of-Clubs logo is set to appear here in the U.S.

Although it was pronounced ‘kaff’ by Brits in the ‘60s, even Mark Wilsmore now pronounces it ‘café.'

My friend Ken Gross, who is an automotive journalist & historian, curated the LeMay’s first exhibition. He’s also an avid biker, and incorporated a few motorcycles. All in all, the museum’s well worth the detour for any gearhead. It’s just off the I-5 in downtown Tacoma, which is about half-an-hour south of Seattle.

Although it calls itself ‘America’s Car Museum’, the LeMay has incorporated a few motorcycles into its exhibits, and plans to make the August motorcycle concours and vintage ride an annual event.

The museum launched its fund-raising program right at the worst possible time, as the economy was cratering. So, they’ve ‘settled’ for building only one of two planned buildings. This one is spectacular enough. There are two levels below this one, connected by ramps. Unlike the Barber, however, the LeMay does little or no restoration on its own, so visitors can’t peek in on works-in-progress.

Andreas Kaindl came all the way from Germany, and rode this barn-find beauty all the way.

When Buck Carson told me that his BSA had seized repeatedly in the Black Hills, I knew that it wouldn’t make it across the Rockies. No Class 1 bikes (of less than 500cc displacement) completed the ride with perfect scores. While it’s true that even the backroads of the Cannonball route are far better than the roads of the 1920s, today’s better roads actually make the event harder on the bikes. None of them were engineered to hammer along at 40-50 miles an hour for hours on end.

How did Cannonball Baker do it before the invention of the Amex gold card? LA-based film industry workers Bill Buckingham (left) and Sean Duggan (right) rode a pair of 1928 Harley-Davidson JD models. That was the most common single motorcycle choice in this year’s event.

Mark Hill (left) built eight of the four-cylinder Hendersons entered in the race, including Frank Westfall’s (right) book.

Ex-fighter pilot Josh Wilson rode a ’29 Indian 101 Scout that had been fitted with later-model Sport Scout cylinders.

Riding in the Cannonball is an exercise in sleep deprivation for competitors who ride all day and rebuild their bikes all night.

This year’s edition of the Cannonball followed a nearly 4,000-mile route from Newburgh, NY to San Francisco. “California or bust” indeed; barely a third of the pre-1930 bikes that started the ride completed all the miles.

Lonnie Isam Jr. is the organizer of the Cannonball event. He didn’t want to be quoted on it, but I’m guessing that it will be a biennial event.

It’s great when the coolest guy in the event is also the nicest guy. Shinya Kimura rode a 1915 Indian similar to one that had been in his family, long ago, in Japan.

Legendary race bike painter Mike Vils split the use of his Harley with sculptor Jeff Decker. On the days that Vils rode, his wife rode pillion.

And the winner is... Brad Wilmarth. Once again, the Richmond restorer proved his mettle by covering all the miles on the oldest motorcycle in the event -- a 1913 Excelsior that he’s been riding for decades. You can see the brake he added, at the top of the front wheel.

Carmelo Ezpeleta: As a communications strategist, I've been on the inside of a few mergers. The easy ones involve merging similar businesses that operate in different markets (Fiat absorbing Chrysler) or merging a manufacturer with a distributor to create more vertical integration. Merging competitors is harder. Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta will find that the problem is not rationalizing the business, it's merging two very different corporate cultures.

Paolo Flammini, with his brother Mauricio, operated WorldSBK as a family business for years, before selling out and becoming an executive at InFront. You can bet that in his heart, the Superbike championship is still his. Some observers have already said, 'Before long there will be one series.' I say, Flammini will throw himself on his sword before he'll allow the Superbikes to become a MotoGP support class.

Fans throng the pit lane before a WorldSBK race at Miller Motorsports Park, in 2010. Both racers and fans love the relaxed attitude in the Italian-run series, compared to Dorna' uptight paddock, where even Moto2 riders can barely get this kind of access. It would suck if Dorna influenced the friendly vibe in WorldSBK.

Since we're all fascinated by the bikes we wanted to have as we came of age, I ogled an elegant Bultaco short tracker.

The coolest thing about Ralph’s party is that it’s free, although bikers donate enough to pretty much cover the cost of beer and brats.

While the bottom was falling out of the U.S. moto-magazine business, Gary Inman (seen here with Dave Aldana) launched a very cool flat track magazine. The catch: it's British. The U.K. flat track racing organizers occasionally bring over past and present GNC stars, both to promote races and teach workshops. Chris Carr's been over a couple of times.

"I'd really like to point out that Sideburn isn't a normal kind of magazine," Inman told me. "The quality of paper and print is better than any bike magazine on the planet (I'd argue), we don't have results or race reports. It's about the feeling. It is anti-mainstream, but it is made with love." If that appeals to you, you can subscribe at sideburnmagazine.com.

Let's make 2013 the year that the motorcycle industry stops acting as if spinal injuries aren't a real problem. Injuries like the one that sidelined Joan Lascorz are tantalizingly close to becoming treatable. That's urgent research that we all need to support.

This meticulously restored ’38 Speed Twin would be worthy of a much snootier show...

...as would this ‘20s Harley.

But, Ralph’s egalitarian. There was a place under the tent for Whizzers, too.

Meanwhile, these end-of-an-era two-strokes were condemned to the ‘Salon des Refusees’ just outside the tent.

Locke was portrayed, as the character Sean Monahan. In Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel ‘The Dharma Bums’.

Sex? Locke literally wrote the book on it.

On the first Saturday in October, the working-class suburb of Loma Vista is overrun with bikers. Strangely, Ralph’s neighbors don’t seem to mind that much.

Has Kansas City really seen the last-ever ‘Backyard National’? It seems so, but hope springs eternal. (And besides, Ralph’s said that before.)

Kansas City’s Ralph Wayne has held his Vintage Backyard Nationals for 20 years.

Benzina is another upstart UK magazine. The bikes featured in Benzina are of Italian origin, like the slow-food movement. Magazines like Sideburn, Benzina, and (soon) Iron & Air, are all about slowing down, too. Their publishers are not trying to compete with the Internet; rather, they're trying to turn print's disadvantages into advantages. Strategically, that makes great sense.

Locke McCorkle at home in Palo Alto, as photographed by Stephen Kennedy (www.stephenkennedy.com). When I finally grow up and hit my 80s, I hope to have an S1000RR in the garage, too.

Kassie Graves and Stephanie Adams made a quick pilgrimage to Vils’ shop, and brought back this great photo of Mike holding Kenny Roberts’ and Gene Romero’s fairings, from their 1974 TZ-750 factory racers. If you look closely, Kenny’s still has a Daytona technical inspection sticker on it. Talk about a piece of history!

Kassie is about to make the transition from the parking lot to the streets around her house. “I’m more relaxed and smiling on the bike,” she told me.

Professor Gardiner explains the Bubba Scrub

This is the FIM's special gold medal. There are many years in which no one does anything worthy of being awarded this medal. In 1999, it was awarded, posthumously, to Pierlucio 'Spadino' Tinazzi for the rescue of a dozen people during the Mont Blanc tunnel fire.

This plaque was placed at the Italian end of the tunnel, by the motorcyclists who gathered here on the first anniversary of the fire.

Thousands of feet under Mont Blanc, the middle of the tunnel is always about 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mauro Branche described Pierlucio as a quiet guy whose principal hobby outside work was tending his garden. The locals all remembered Spadino as a kid who’d always loved motorcycles.

Pierlucio ‘Spadino’ Tinazzi (27 December 1962-24 March 1999)

It was easy to find the cemetery. Everyone in town was slowly walking in the same direction. I just joined the flow.

We talked for a couple of hours, and when I left it was like two high school kids with a crush on each other getting off the phone. We stood looking at each other across the threshold, and said ‘Good-bye’ to each other 15 times.

This was where he planted his garden.

Of course, I interviewed the tunnel administrators even though I knew they wouldn’t cooperate because liability for the fire is still a point of contention. At one point, Michele Troppiano (seen here in the tunnel control room) phoned down to some lackey to ask a point of clarification. He referred to the tunnel fire only as, ‘the incident’.

If The Clandestine survives, I suppose a lot of the credit will go to writer Kieran Doherty, for having created a memorable cast of characters.

Marcus (left, played by actor Bennett Warden) and Freddy (Michael Lavery) portray the founding members of The Clandestine gang. Let’s just say, they don’t have the right stuff for the Hells Angels.

Is this the formula for success? The Clandestine isn’t a show for bikers; it’s trying to reach the far larger audience of would-be bikers. That said, the first people who’ll watch it are motorcyclists, which is why Video Hacker, the production company, was able to attract a motorcycle industry sponsor.

Joe Campo, at right, on the set with the actors who play the core members of the gang. Besides Bennett and Lavery, there’s the insufferable bosses’ nephew Will (far left, played by Dermott Hickson) and the utterly inarticulate Alfie (John Render). A total of 20-30 actors and extras appeared in the series, with about an equal number of people on the crew. Everyone got paid. “We weren’t some big movie crew with trailers,” Campo told me, “but we weren’t two guys with a camcorder, either.”

Andrew Wheeler is one of the top motorcycle racing photographers and has captured some legendary moments in MotoGP competition over the years.

This is the line for the toilets. Maybe it’s a good thing beer’s $8.50, eh?

In Shakespeare’s day, the people too poor to sit in any of the three tiers of seats at the famous Globe Theatre were dubbed ‘groundlings’. Here, MotoGP groundlings such as your humble scribe find a patch of grass in Tilke’s ‘Stadium section’ -- an homage to Hockenheim.

A random fan, plunked on the grass in front of me. Coincidentally his t-shirt commemorates the last race I’d attended as a regular fan.

The observation tower dominates the track. Trip to top: $25. I think it should be free if you want to climb the stairs.

Food prices at COTA were steep, to say the least.

No outside food or drink allowed, and healthy choices were nearly non-existent.

By race time on Sunday this hillside was thick with fans. Still, there was lots of good viewing for General Admission fans.

This Deus airhead Beemer might show where The One Show’s ‘cool factor’ is headed.

Alan Stulberg is a designer and partner in Austin’s Revival Cycles shop. This heavily breathed-upon Moto Guzzi 850T is a prime example of their work.

Revival’s style is influenced by Art Deco. Here’s a nice touch, in the form of an extensively hand-worked fuel filler cap.

Portland’s Thor Drake drove all the way to Austin, towing a trailer with about a dozen ‘One Show’ bikes, but most of the machines on display in Austin were sourced through Alan Stulberg’s network of friends and clients.

Backmarker Features Photo Gallery

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