The American Motorcycle
The American Motorcycle
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES THE SERIOUS MOTORCYCLIST from those just going through a temporary two-wheel tryst? Simple: depth of interest. Here-and-
now enthusiasts are in it only for the kicks and giggles. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s a shallow appreciation. Long-termers are totally immersed-they can’t get enough of All Things Two-Wheeled. If you belong to the second group (of course you do), have we got a coffee-table tome for you.
This is an American book about American motorcycles, which means you won’t have to plow through dreadfully tweedy British prose to find out you’ve got the wrong muffler bolts on your Douglas Dragonfly, you silly git you. Noted historian/restorer Stephen Wright is the author here (actually, caption-writer would be a better description), and he knows enough to shut up and get out of the way of the photographs.
The images, all 300 of ’em, are the stars of this show, and give Wright his due for unearthing what has to be the best collection of pre-WWI bike photos ever assembled, many never before published. These are nicely augmented with ads, literature and correspondence of the day. The array of machines is amazing, many you’ve never even heard of. My favorite’s a Brass Era beauty, the single-cylinder Nelk, with water-cooling and an overhead cam-this in 1905!
Fun, fascinating stuff. If you want to learn more about the bikes and riders that delivered motorcycling to us today, buy this book. David Edwards
The American Motorcycle 1869-1914, Stephen Wright, 272 pages, $50; Meg den Publishing, 18627 Brookhurst St. #108, Fountain Valley CA 92708; 714/377-0947; www.americanmotorcyclebook.com
