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.

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.

Backmarker Features Photo Gallery

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