COMING EVENTS IN 2012

SHOWDOWN in Las Vegas (Jan 12-15): 
Alain de Cadenet and Malcolm Barber sold a Velocette Thruxton at the Bonhams Las Vegas auction in 2011
Three major auction companies are duking it out for top spot on the global auction calendar - Bonhams, MidAmerica, and Auctions America (RM).  While MidAmerica has hosted a 3-day auction for many years (the world's largest vintage motorcycle auction already with 500 machines annually), in 2011 Bonhams joined the fun, and slipped 150 bikes into a Thursday daytime slot, giving attendees a chance to head to MidAmerica's Thursday evening dinner auction.  Awfully polite, really, and they brought some amazing machines to the party.  By contrast, RM (owner of Auctions America) descends on Sin City in 2012 like the Mother Ship, squatting directly over MidAmerica's time slot, in a gloves-off bid for a KO. RM has moved aggressively this year to establish themselves in the motorcycle auction world, including bikes in many of their glossy 'car' sales abroad. By contrast, Bonhams has built their motorcycle division in the US slowly, hoping to expand on their auction hegemony in England [note; Bonhams is the principal sponsor of the Vintagent].
You never know what will turn up in Las Vegas; this genuine 1950 Vincent Black Lightning is one example, which I later rode at the Grossglockner Hillclimb!
This confluence of the 'Big 3' of global motorcycle auctions makes Las Vegas 2012 an incomparable vintage motorcycle showplace...there is simply nothing like this event anywhere else.  If you like vintage bikes, you'd have a hard time finding this many on display in any museum or show... and they're all for sale.  Questions remain whether enough buyers will support such a mega-sale of old motorcycles, or whether an excess of machinery will leave all 3 houses limping home Jan 16th.  Certainly, Mecum Auctions learned a bitter lesson at Pebble Beach in 2011, when their massive sale of bought-in motorcycles lost them something like $700k, by my calculations... I doubt we'll see them play with motorcycles anytime soon. Will the same fate befall RM? Bonhams? MidAmerica?  One thing is certain; the Las Vegas auctions will be anything but dull.  Be there!


BMW Goes Moto-Public at Villa d'Este (May 25-27):
The Villa d'Este is a gem beside the already picturesque Lake Como in Italy, and their Concorso di Eleganza is considered the most exclusive automotive event on the planet.  No, you can't go, unless your car is on display (or you're a lucky journalist; see my story of 2011 here), but event sponsor BMW made a bold move with a parallel motorcycle Concorso at the open-to-the-public Villa Erba, and hit a home run with their fantastic display of machines.  They didn't advertise this event, in a bid for a quiet entry into the pantheon of great motorcycle shows, but the setting, organization, display, and motorcycles were peerless, and an excellent excuse to visit the most beautiful spot in Italy.
For 2012, BMW is spreading the word, the Concorso di Motociclette is back, and you're invited.  Visit their website for more details.


Year 4 at the Quail Motorcycle Gathering (May 5, 2012), and a special offer:

The Quail, already well established during Pebble Beach Week as the most exclusive and enjoyable automotive show of all, is slowly building momentum with their Quail Motorcycle Gathering, bringing a more diverse audience from further afield, better bikes on the grass, and a bigger Quail Ride on the Friday preceding the show.  Its a great excuse to come to California and enjoy the spectacular riding roads, weather, food, and a selection of great bikes.
They're offering discounted tickets (and free entry for under-15s) through Jan. 15th, on their website.

HAPPY KRAMPUS!

Have a great holiday, whether with Krampus or St.Nick, or a little of both!

FRATELLI BENELLI RACING

Fratelli Benelli: Antonio ('Tonino'), Francesco, Giovanni, Guiseppe, Filippo, Domenico
While glamorous rivals captured collective racing memory, the Benelli firm has a sterling history of race successes dating back to the 1920s, and a family of rider/manufacturer/racers who catapulted the little factory to the top echelons of racing.  Now known more for its bicycles (due to on again/off again production of motorcycles in recent years), there was a time when Benelli was synonymous with racing and World Championships, and that special Italian devotion to supercharged multi-cylinder racing exotica immediately prior to WW2.
The first Benelli of 1920, a 98cc two-stroke engine mounted at the rear of a bicycle
The factory's story begins with Teresa Benelli, recently widowed in 1911, who sold a bit of family property and invested the proceeds in machine tools, establishing a business at which her 6 sons could make a living. The Benelli Garage of Pesaro employed 5 of the 6 boys, who repaired guns, cars, and motorcycles; while the youngest, Antonio ('Tonino') was too young to work, his impact would perhaps be greatest of all, as a championship rider for the family business. At this early date, factory spares for cars and motorcycles could be difficult to obtain quickly, and the Garage was fully equipped to fabricate any parts necessary for repairs.
Tonino Benelli, four time Italian 175cc Champion, on one of the early 175cc OHC racers, in a beautiful period portrait
By 1918, the brothers' facility at making parts begged the question - why not make our own motorcycle? - and in 1919 they indeed built a 75cc two-stroke single-cylinder engine for attachment to a bicycle.  By 1920 they built the first motorcycle, with a larger 98cc engine attached by outrigger tubes to the rear of a bicycle.  The awkward engine position equated to poor handling, and the first machine wasn't a success, so by 1921 the engine was moved to the 'normal' position within the frame, and the engine capacity increased gradually to 150cc, with a two-speed gearbox and all-chain drive.
Tonino in 1924 on the 175cc two-stroke racer, at Pesaro's Foglia track
Young Tonino 'The Terror' pressured his brothers for more power, with the intention of racing. They obliged, and in his very first race, Tonino placed second Gino Moretti riding a 500cc Moto Guzzi, proving both his skill, and the potential of the little machine.  The little Benelli failed to win a race in 1922 or '23, but Tonino honed his skills as a rider, while his brothers learned valuable lessons from breakage and failure.  Wins began in 1924, and continued, while the Italian public took note of the little machine; the increased sales meant the brothers could buy new machine tools to create a new motorcycle - a four stroke of advanced specification.
Tonino Benelli on the new 175cc OHC racer, in 1927
Giuseppi Benelli designed a new machine of 175cc for 1927, with a stack of delicate gears driving an overhead camshaft; it was an impressive lightweight roadster, and a natural candidate for the race track. The overhead camshaft engine proved reliable and fast, and Tonino gathered a string of wins, including Benelli's first 'international' win at the Monza GP, culminating in the Italian 175cc Championship in both '27 and '28.  Now with a proper racing team, Benelli continued to rack up wins in 1929, and Tonino won the Italian Championship again in 1930. 
The factory team of double-OHC racers, in 1934
In the search for more power, another camshaft was added 'up top', and the new double-overhead-camshaft 175cc racer debuted in 1931, a very advanced machine and the technical equal of any racer of the day.  The engine still had an iron cylinder head and barrel, and initially a hand-shift with 3-speed gearbox, but by '32 a four-speed 'box with footshift brought the little Benelli bang up to date.  The Benelli race team ventured across Europe in a bid for increased export sales, winning GPs in France, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, effectively dominating the 175cc class through 1934 with their cracking little double-knocker lightweight.
The last (1934) version of the 'iron' engine, with an oil radiator built into the oil tank
The FIM abolished the 175cc racing class in 1934, and suddenly Benelli had racers without a category. Rather than immediately enlarge their racer to the 250cc class, they spent the next few years consolidating their roadsters, and capitalizing on their new visibility across Europe.  By 1936 their model range were all single-cylinder, overhead-camshaft machines of 175cc, 250cc, and 500cc.  These roadsters were all fast, reliable, and popular, and Benelli became the fifth-largest motorcycle manufacturer in Italy.  By 1938, their '250 Sport S' roadster was good for 93mph, a figure not bettered by a production '250' until the 1960s.
The '500 Sport' roadster of 1936

But racing beckoned; Benelli could not rest on its laurels forever, and while the production range was consolidated, the race shop designed a completely new 250cc racing engine in 1938, again DOHC, but all-alloy, and with rear suspsension (a swingarm with plunger springboxes, and friction damping).  The new engine could be revved to 9000rpm, and proved nearly bomb-proof, even at 110mph.  The competition had changed dramatically though, as GP racing gained international sporting significance, and much larger companies were prepared to invest heavily in new technology and very advanced racing machines.  In the 250cc field, Benelli's most significant competition came from Moto Guzzi, with their supercharged flat single, and DKW, with their supercharged two-stroke.  Even with their blowers, these machines had trouble shaking off the solid and good-handling Benelli, which could be every bit as fast as its rivals, and definitely more reliable.
The new 250cc racer with swingarm rear suspension and huge brakes
 A 1-2-3 at the 1938 Italian GP was an eye-opener for all concerned, especially riders in the 350cc class, whose race averages were slower than the winning 250!  Englishman Ted Mellors took note, as his own 350cc Velocette MkVIII KTT had been outclassed by the winning Benelli of Francisci Bruno.  Mellors approached Benelli about a ride for the 1939 Isle of Man Lightweight TT; this was an excellent opportunity for the factory; an experienced and successful Island rider riding -free!- for the most difficult and prestigious road race in the world. 
Ted Mellors at the 1939 Isle of Man Lightweight TT (note bronze-head Velo mk4KTT in the background, in road trim)
In that tense year of 1939, great forces stood poised on the brink of armed conflict, and every international sporting contest became a proxy war between nations.  The Isle of Man TT had been the private playground of English motorcycle companies since the wakeup of a 1-2-3 Indian victory of 1911, with only occasional losses to the 'foreign menace'.  The lineup of racers at the 1939 TT showed a glaring technological gap between Continental and English machines, as well-developed supercharged, multi-cylinder bikes from Europe had become reliable enough to seriously challenge the solid, good-handling English single-cylinders.  In the 250cc race, the blown Moto Guzzis and DKWs were fastest, but the Benelli was no slouch, and its reliability proved the decisive asset which assured a win for Ted Mellors.
Mellors in '39; wet conditions at the Isle of Man dampened speeds
Benelli had seen the future in 1938, and begun experimenting with a supercharger on their 250cc single, which gave 45hp and 125mph.  This was good, but better would be a four-cylinder engine of their own; a 250cc with a supercharger and twin overhead cams.  Giovanni Benelli designed the new 'four' in 1938, it was built in '39, proving incredibly fast; pumping out 52.5hp at 10,000rpm, it rocketed to 146mph; 16mph faster than their nearest rival, the Moto Guzzi.  The machine was ready by 1940, but international racing was strictly between bullets by then, and the brothers Benelli, fearing the worst, hid their four-cylinder engine in a dry well in the countryside, and scattered their racing singles in barns and cellar across northern Italy.
The incredibly fast 250cc four-cylinder supercharged Benelli racer of 1940...146mph!
The factory was completely destroyed in the war, and their machine tools stolen by retreating German forces.  When the smoke cleared, it was the sons of fratelli Benelli who had the energy to begin again, tracked down some of their tooling in Germany and Austria.  Their first post-war machines were modified ex-military Harleys, Matchlesses, and BSAs, to which they fit swingarm rear suspension.  Within two years, Benelli were again making their own motorcycles, mostly utilitarian lightweights.  And racing!  Enough of their prewar racing singles survived to form a Works team, and rider Dario Ambrosini chalked up win after win in 1948 and '49.  The FIM created the first World Championship series in 1949, and Benelli decided to invest in a bid to win for 1950, sending Ambrosini abroad to battle rival Moto Guzzi, who shared their ambition.
Dario Ambrosini on the 1950 version of the Benelli 250cc single cylinder racer
Dario Ambrosini had never raced at the Isle of Man TT, but proved a fast learner, shaving 66 seconds from his lap time between rounds 2 and 3, during the race!  His win at the 1950 Lightweight, plus Monza and the Swiss GP, gave Benelli their first World Championship.  Hopes for a repeat in '51 were dashed when Ambrosini was killed during practice at the Albi GP in France.  Stunned by their victor's death, and with no other rider in their team, Benelli withdrew from racing for a few years.
Dario Ambrosini's 1951 250cc machine, now with telescopic front forks and a swingarm rear suspension
They returned to racing in 1959, building just four machines, a fresh design of unit construction short-stroke 250cc DOHC singles.  Benelli's rivals, Ducati and MV Agusta, used high-revving twin-cylinder racers in the 250cc class, and while Geoff Duke won the Swiss GP in '59, his was the only victory for these last single-cylinder racers.  [One of these four machines, serial # GPX1003, is coming up for auction at the Bonhams Las Vegas sale].  The new racer was fast and reliable, but as with 1939, it was clear more cylinders held the key to GP victory, and having once tasted a World Championship, Benelli was in it for the big prize.
Beauty is as beauty does; the sculptural timing gear case is indeed a thing to behold.I
In 1960, Benelli's Ingeniere Savelli took inspiration from the 1940 four-cylinder racer, and created a new 250cc 'four'.  More about these in the next post....
The 1959 250cc last-series Benelli racer at the Team Obsolete HQ; this machine is coming up for sale Jan.12, 2012, at the Bonhams Las Vegas auction.

THE MOTORCYCLING DU PONTS

Éleuthére Paul du Pont in 1911, with his Indian strapped to his plane...
Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours was born a Parisian in 1771, of a family soon to be granted a noble title by Louis XVI (in 1784).  The du Ponts, especially father Pierre Samuel, had close ties to the government of France but were advocates of reform to the country's finances, which were heading rapidly towards bankruptcy after the French, to spite the English, heavily funded the American colonists' rebellion.  The French Revolution of 1789 saw many reform-minded aristocrats such as the du Ponts (many of whom were members of Masonic clubs advocating democratic change) elevated to important positions.  Pierre Samuel was even President of the National Constituent Assembly, and added 'de Nemours' to the family name to distinguish himself from other du Ponts in the new government.
Éleuthére Irénée du Pont de Nemours
Tension between radical Jacobins and moderate aristocrats, both seekers of change, became increasingly focused on class distinction, and many nobles lost the titular d' or du or de appending their surname, bowing to the fashion for 'egalité', and an increasingly hostile atmosphere towards inherited titles.  For Pierre Samuel, his physical defense of King Louis and Marie Antoinette from a bloodthirsty mob in 1792 culminated in imprisonment by 1794, which meant the guillotine for any aristocrat, and thousands of others put to a defense-less trial, or no trial at all.  But, as 'revolutions eat their heroes', the beheading of Maximilian Robespierre later that year meant du Pont and his family survived, but the continuing political and economic turmoil of the Directoire period (1795-99), plus the sacking of their home by a mob, saw the du Ponts sailing for America in 1799.
Groundbreaking French chemist Antoine Lavoisier and his wife Marie-Ann, as painted in 1788 by Jacques-Louis David...who posed no objection in the French Convention as his friend Antoine was condemned and executed in 1794.
Éleuthére had worked with the renowned French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (before he was condemned with "The Republic needs neither scientists nor chemists", and beheaded in 1794) at the Paris Arsenal, gaining expertise in gunpowder and nitrate extraction/manufacture, which would play a huge role in the family's development of nitrocellulose lacquers, and 'smokeless' gunpowder, in the US.  The family intended to create a French cultural community in Maine, but a hunting trip with a US military gunpowder procurer (and former French officer, Louis de Tousard) demonstrated the inferior quality of American black powder. Éleuthére's expertise in the manufacture of gunpowder led the family to invest heavily ($84,000 in 1802) in the creation of E.I.du Pont de Nemours and Co., or simply DuPont, in the Brandywine Valley of Delaware. 
The Delaware DuPont plant ca.1850
Subsequent generations of du Ponts arranged inter-marriage to cousins, keeping their rapidly expanding wealth, and family control of their business, close at hand. The Du Pont corporation grew into the world's third largest chemical company, inventing things like nylon and kevlar and neoprene. As their wealth exploded, du Pont family members invested in many other areas, including, for a time, automobile (Pierre du Pont was president of General Motors in 1920) and motorcycle manufacture.
A 1929 DuPont Motors Model 'G' Merrimack at Pebble Beach
The family dabbled in making DuPont automobiles of their own starting in 1919, when E.Paul du Pont, a lifelong tinkerer and 'gearhead', grew from making marine engines for the US WW1 effort, to full automobiles.  As only around 600 DuPonts were made in the 12 years of the company's existence, it was clearly never going to be an enormous success, especially after the stock market crash of 1929.  E.Paul's brother Frances had invested $300,000 (in 1923) in the Hendee Mf'g Co., makers of Indian motocycles, and Indian's near-bankruptcy in 1930 meant the family was likely to lose a substantial investment.  E.Paul merged DuPont Motors with Hendee in 1930, deciding in '31 to drop autos completely, and concentrate on making Indians.
E.Paul was instrumental in creating the Indian '841' for the US military in WW2; with vibrationless 90degree v-twin motor, hydraulic suspension, large brakes, and a shaft drive, less than 1000 were ultimately built.  This is his personal machine, on which du Pont rode many thousands of miles, pronouncing it his 'favorite motorcycle'.
As the new president of Indian, E.Paul made significant changes; as a lifelong motorcyclist (having built his first clip-on moped as a teen, then owned an early Indian 'Camelback'), he felt the days of motorcycles as utilitarian vehicles were over, and embraced the idea of a motorcycle as 'leisure object'.
Éleuthére Paul du Pont in the late 1930s with his 1908 Indian 'Camelback'
To support this view, the company focused on three areas: the new production-based 'Class C' racing in the US, the DuPont Company's huge automotive paint color palette, and the styling of Briggs Weaver. DuPont pioneered fast-drying nitrocellulose lacquer auto paint in the early 1920s, and suddenly brilliant colors were no longer a hindrance to manufacture, as previously only black paint would dry quickly enough for economical manufacture (Henry Ford's famous 'any color as long as it's black' was a practical dictum - only black paint dried quickly).  Thus, Indian motocycles were shortly available in 24 different, brilliant colors, while their sheet metal grew more elaborate and Art Deco-inspired, and their racing team grew increasingly successful (E.Paul's son Steven was an engineer and helped developed the 'Big Base' racing Scout).
E.Paul du Pont, an inveterate tinkerer, with one of his lathes at the Indian factory
By 1938, Indian had gone from losing hundreds of thousand of dollars per year, to amassing huge profits with their beautiful and iconic motorcycles - the Chief and Scout.  Briggs Weaver's styling of these models remains emblematic of Indian's identity; the deeply skirted Deco fenders and Indian-head motifs are still our first image of Indians today, and the brand identity of every subsequent revival of the Indian marque in modern times.  As WW2 approached, riders smelling an upcoming war bought out the company's production, before civilian production stopped, and the factory concentrated on building motorcycles for the US military.  The immediate pre-war period was the peak of Indian's profitability, but E.Paul Du Pont's health was declining, and the profitable Indian factory was very attractive to investors.  In 1945 Indian was sold to an investment group headed by Ralph B. Rogers.
The du Pont collection in the hangar/museum in Pennsylvania
The family maintained an interest in motorcycles even after selling Indian, and E.Paul's son Jacques du Pont became an avid motorcycle racer in the 1950's, doing well in the AMA and competing for several years at the Isle of Man TT.  The 3 generations of du Pont motorcycle enthusiasts amassed an interesting collection of machines which it occasionally displayed at a small museum.  As the elder generation of du Ponts has died, family interest in the motorcycles waned, and they've decided to sell the collection of nearly 50 interesting machines, which encompass their years of riding and owning Indians (notably E.Paul's personal Camelback single and twin-cylinders) as well as their post-Indian years of riding and competing on other marques.  50 of their machines were sold at auction; the Bonhams Las Vegas sale on Jan. 12, 2012.
Unrestored 1903 Indian Camelback from E.Paul's personal collection
The collection included an unrestored 1903 Indian 'Camelback', plus 1908  Camelback single and twins, a 1915 Board Track Racer, an original paint 1909 Pope single, and what may be the last Indian Chief supplied to a dealer.  The sale represented a rare opportunity to own motorcycles with a connection to the fascinating du Pont family, who played a very important role in American motorcycling.

GRAYSON PERRY AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM

The 'Kenilworth AM1' in the British Museum atrium
To the pantheon of gender-bending motorcyclists - the infamous, notorious, or hidden - we must add Grayson Perry, multi-talented artist, transvestite, Turner Prize winner, and dedicated biker.  I was lucky to catch Perry's show at the British Museum in London last week, 'Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman', and began smiling the moment I spotted the 'Kenilworth AM1', his custom Harley-Davidson Knucklehead, at the head of the grand curved staircase in the museum's atrium.
Grayson Perry with his H-D Knucklehead-based custom motorcycle
The smile never left; Perry's exhibit of selected Museum artifacts beside his sculptures, paintings, and quilts, weaves a thread of humor and unexpected meaning between the old and new artworks, as if all art ever created were, in his words, "the material culture of a bohemian diaspora, a global tribe whose merchants and witch doctors bartered with a wider population by selling artefacts invested with a special quality; the quality of art."
'Humility' and an air-cleaner wing-nut of Alan Measles' head
The 'Kenilworth AM1' is Perry's two-wheeled 'popemobile', a performance-art prop created to carry Alan Measles (Perry's 50 year old teddy bear/muse/alter ego/totem) on a pilgrimage to Germany, in a glass-sided reliquary mounted, naturally, on the 'sissy bar' of his custom Harley.  The AM1 is built and painted up much like Perry's trademark 'drag' outfits, using highly saturated colors and shapes reminiscent of 'Outsider' art.  The elongated pink-and-blue petrol tank is painted either side with 'humility' and 'patience', which Perry notes are the "opposite of rocker lifestyle texts."
'Patience' and 'Doubt'...
With a matched riding suit of bright yellow boots, an outrageous lavender Peter-Pan-collar jumpsuit, and spring-green helmet, Perry's riding ensemble creates a motorcycling image which borrows nothing from anyone or anything...there's simply nobody else on the road with the cojones to wear THAT outfit while riding THAT bike.  While custom shops, tattoo parlors, and clothing outlets are busy selling 'individuality', Perry has taken a brave and lonely path, to BE an individual.
Perry at a fair in Germany; the country was chosen for his 'pilgrimage' to atone for years of childhood fantasies casting Germans as evil enemies...
"One fact that every transvestite has to come to terms with is that a person dressed up in the clothes of the opposite sex is somehow inherently funny. I feel it has profoundly shaped my own outlook on life. I regard humour as an important and necessary aspect of art."  Grayson Perry explores, via humor and an 'innocent' surrogate, a whole range of difficult subjects; religion, violence, sexual politics, poverty, and the encroaching i-vapidity of our gadget-dominated culture.
Leather Alan Measles-head saddle, with 'Chastity' logo
Perry began as an art-world 'outsider' himself, as a self-described 'transvestite potter' and unlikely candidate for the prestigious Turner Prize; ceramics have rarely been considered worthy of inclusion in major museums, and like motorcycles, are dismissed as 'craft'. While Perry honed his skills as a ceramicist, he explored deliberately provocative imagery with his glazes, and gained a following for the brilliance of this juxtaposition - difficult subject matter with masterful craftsmanship.
Perry and his 'Cerne Abbas' leathers (Chris Scott photo)
Grayson Perry has always been motorcyclist; "I’ve never owned a car. I love motorbikes. I’ve got a Harley, which is perfect for summer when you want to go slow, pose and enjoy the scenery, and a KTM, which is brilliant for getting from A to B fast when it’s wet and cold and you want to feel safe. In 1989 my wife Philippa bought me a set of motorbike leathers – the first thing I ever had made for me. I designed them to be like the Cerne Abbas giant [see link - ed]. I used to wear them to art openings so I could go there on the bike but still feel dressed up.... Motorbikes aren’t manly. Look at mine. If a bloke has to prove his machismo with a motorbike, then he isn’t very macho.”"
Perry as his alter-ego 'Claire', his folk-art outfit, and a Kalashnikov...
Motorcycling, masculinity, and a therapeutic exploration of his childhood (Perry's wife Philippa is, incidentally, a psychotherapist) are clues to Perry's art at the British Museum.  His father, who left while Perry was very young, was an engineer and masculine amateur wrestler, and a biker. After he left, young Perry's teddy bear - Alan Measles, a gift on his first birthday - became a complex and psychologically loaded fantasy figure, the centerpiece of his play, the hero all his masculine fantasies; undefeated race car driver, fighter pilot, war hero.  The tour de force of Perry's new art is the elevation of Measles to the status of a God-in-the-Making, the centerpiece of a new cult, a future Deity to an uncreated religion.  The childhood stories of the bear's battles, injuries, and ultimate triumphs, have been transformed into a narrative arc of a fictional Prophet Hero, an immediately sympathetic character (who doesn't love a teddy bear?) imbued with the magical realism of childhood - that combination of keen observation with fantastic invention.

An early sketch of the 'AM1', taken from the exhibition catalog, available from the British Museum
The 'Kenilworth AM1' was sketched out by Perry, and built by 'chopper shop' Battistini's UK (who, curiously, don't claim credit for their work online, but do link to the exhibit in their blog); the project builders were Nigel Green, Anthony Foy, Adam Smith, Alan Smith, Dan Smith, and Tom Fuller.
'Pedestrian slicer' sculpture of Alan Measles as pilgrim on horseback
Note the stylized stainless steel 'Brooklands can' exhaust

'The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman' runs through Feb. 19, 2011

A LA MODE, IN THE MUD

The title of the GQ spread...will Enduro become chic again?  It was in the 1970s...
While on the Eurostar from London to Paris last week, I was delighted to discover a 12-page spread of classic dirt bikes flinging mud in the pages of French GQ (the December 2011 issue).  And who should be the photographer but Dimitri Coste, whose own adventures on his racing Triumph have been covered previously on The Vintagent.
Sam with his Bultaco Mk10 Frontera
When queried on the magazine feature, Dimitri explained, "I was asked by French GQ to shoot a "Biker" fashion story back in October. As I was kinda fed-up with the usual "biker" fashion story, I told GQ I wanted to shoot in the mud, with off-road vintage bikes, and they were down for it."
Tearing up a perfectly good field...
"So I called Franck (Chatokhine) with his pre-unit Triumph Tiger 100 Rickman Metisse, Stephane and his cute B50MX and Sam, Franck's brother-in-law, with his killer face and cool Bultaco. We shot at our off-road paradise in Beauval-en-Caux, hosted by famous Fabrice & Marion Bazire, and had lots of fun. They were allowed to get dirty, and went full throttle all day long."
Franck Chatokhine, a demon rider on tarmac and mud
The photos are a breath of fresh outdoor air tanged with exhaust, and a healthy change from groan-worthy 'model in the pool' fashion shoots...plus, this is probably the best advertisement for vintage dirt riding I've seen since the infamous Steve McQueen Honda commercial...
Stephane with his BSA B50MX
Yes, we're selling clothes here
Dimitri Coste, in his competition Ruby outfit
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