"Born to Ride; Motorbikes Past and Present" opened this past Saturday and runs through March 12 at the California Automobile Museum. Regular readers of this column should not be surprised to learn that yours truly was there for the opening bell, given my expressed enthusiasm in previous columns.
I arrived a few minutes early and talked my way in for some photos before the onslaught of the riding public. My Triumph was down with some electrical glitches, so I drove the cage, but was heartened at the sight of a half dozen bikes in the parking lot. This in spite of gloomy, cold weather.
The museum placed the motorcycles prominently. In fact, a beautiful collection of Speedway bikes is just about the first thing one sees when walking through the front door. Speedway bikes have a certain appeal, as they are raw, bare-boned and make a bare-knuckled statement of purpose. Even the motorcycle-challenged can look at a Speedway bike and see how it works. Tip of the hat to curator Amanda Moss for that visual opening statement.
The collection has a great assortment ranging from 1912 to 2010 and from military to racing bikes. Please see the slideshow in this article for the vintage street bikes and please see related article for a slideshow with the racing bikes.
Until next time, stay tuned and upright,
Jack
Comments
Great report and great slideshow. If you are like me, you had a hard time choosing just 20 pictures!
Yeah! There's over 60 bike and I took AT LEAST two pics of each, so do the math...:)
Good job talking your way in. Otherwise you never would have gotten good pictures.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!