Last Saturday, Bonhams auctioned off “An Important European Collection of Pioneer, Vintage and Collectors’ Motorcycles” at the RAF Museum just outside London. And one of the stars of the show was this magnificent 1929 Cleveland Tornado Four. It fetched a remarkable £48,800 (US$72,600) inclusive of the Buyer’s Premium, despite having mismatched engine and frame [...]
Sunday 28th February, 2010
If Harley is a household name in the US, the Scandinavian equivalent is Nimbus. The Danish brand is familiar to people who have never even thrown a leg over a motorcycle; created by vacuum cleaner manufacturer Fisker & Nielsen, it became the chosen transport for the Danish army, postal service and police. The best-known Nimbus [...]
Friday 26th February, 2010
We’ve seen some strange alliances between motorcycle manufacturers over the years. And one of the most unusual involves MotoTrans, a little-known Spanish company based in Barcelona. MotoTrans built motorcycles between 1957 and 1983, when it was bought by Yamaha. Many of the bikes were badge-engineered Ducatis, built under licence and with small modifications; others were [...]
Thursday 18th February, 2010
While browsing the addictive LoudPop Voyager I stumbled across a bike I hadn’t seen before. It was an Opel Motoclub, an unusual 500c thumper from between the Wars. This machine was one of the highlights of the 1928 Berlin Automobil und Motorrad show: designed by Ernst Neumann-Neander, one of the pioneers of pressed-steel construction, it [...]
Tuesday 16th February, 2010
Most of the machines we feature on Bike EXIF are one-offs, or limited editions, or customized in some way. But if I was planning a long, leisurely trip cross-country, I’d be looking for a classy, relaxed tourer. And with a pair of authentic Krauser panniers installed, this immaculately preserved BMW airhead would fit the bill [...]
Monday 25th January, 2010
This beautiful vintage Indian is owned by Buzz Kanter, publisher of the Harley magazine American Iron. During the hard times of the Great Depression and the war years, the Four was a luxurious anomaly. But Indian stuck with it, and today it’s a machine highly prized by collectors. Even more surprising is the purposeful, single-minded [...]
Thursday 21st January, 2010
The ‘White Mars’ is legendary within German motorcycling circles. It even featured on a Deutsche Bundespost stamp in 1983. So what’s so special about this motorcycle? Although it first appeared in 1920, the styling still looks radical today. And at the time, the 986 cc sidevalve flat twin engine—built by Maybach—was considered enormous. The two-speed [...]
Wednesday 13th January, 2010
There’s something impossibly British about the color scheme of this lovely 1974 Norton Commando 850. I’m guessing it’s a Mark 2A model with the 828 cc engine—still an air-cooled twin like the iconic 750 models, but a little more relaxed in its power delivery. Today, the Mark 2A is one of the most desirable Nortons [...]
Tuesday 12th January, 2010
This exquisite little machine, the color of a delicate Italian caffelatte, caught my attention on the website of Australian motorcycle photographer Phil Aynsley. The picture was taken in a small village near Bassano del Grappa in northern Italy, and the bike appears to be a 1953 Laverda 75 Sport. That means it was built just [...]
