Self-Assembling GSXR Video

My cousin forwarded this excellent video to me. The film was made by a 21-year-old film maker from "Tullahoma" who goes by the YouTube handle, "Iamthenoah." Cool stuff. 

 

Friction Zone Review

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Mine was a whirlwind tour of friends, family, and eating that happily included some time in one of my favorite man caves, Sam's shed in rural Wisconsin. He has a giant shed (100x50, I believe) that has a small room built inside just for playing cards and talking smart. We did a bit of that, and I hope y'all did the same over the holidays.

Something that really made me feel good this month was this great review of Motorcycle Dream Garages by Kate Edwards in Friction Zone magazine. Edwards really understood the book, and her review pointed out the funky, authentic spaces in the book I love. While all the press for the book has been positive, this review really stands out to me.

Incidentally, the magazine is a great resource, and they will be getting some of my money for a subscription.

PRODUCT REVIEW

Motorcycle Dream Garages

By Kate Edwards
WHEN THE NEW BOOK from moto-journalist Lee Klancher first hit my desk, I have to admit that my heart sank a bit. After all, an arty coffee table book with the title of Motorcycle Dream Garages just seemed to be somehow, well, inappropriate in the current climate of massive job losses and home foreclosures. And the glossy cover shot of a $100,000+ custom bike sitting in front of a beautiful garage that is itself dripping with tasteful appointments and several more glistening two-wheeled doo-dads did little to alleviate my concern. Bluntly speaking, I am just not in the mood for yet another exquisitely illustrated paean to the immaculate tastes of deeply-pocketed mortgage bankers, energy traders, Levittown-developers, and so forth.

Such worries were quickly cast aside once I started thumbing through the book's 192 pages. Pretty moto-cake cover shot aside, Motorcycle Dream Garages is most definitely not Architectural Digest for the dyno set. Yes, several of the places Klancher covers in the book—that tinskinned 'show garage' on the cover surely sets the gold-standard—are drool-inducing examples of the spare-no-expense method of garage design. (And as regards the living quarters over that space-who knew that garage apartment living could ever look so . . . so inviting.) However, once those "Palaces" (as Klancher calls them) are behind us, the book quickly becomes much more than a collection of pretty pictures depicting the sparkly toys of a handful of the well-to-do. Instead, it becomes a fascinating visual treatise on what exactly is meant by the term "dream garage." (Hint: not every dream space has a floor off which one could eat.)

Take, for example, George Hood's place. Well-known as a fabricator without peer in certain circles (and completely unknown to everyone else), Hood runs his business out of a 1960s-era Southern California tract house. As Klancher's photographic essay makes clear (there is text too, but as with the rest of the book, it is the pictures that tell the story), Hood uses practically the whole house for his business. One restoration project sits in the living room, while the covered patio is crammed with lifts and tool benches; the actual garage serves as the machine shop.The welding area is in the back yard, underneath an old satellite dish 'sunbrella,' and everywhere there are mountains of old parts that Hood has come across over the years-including an entire shop's worth that he lucked into when a friend of his went out of business. Hood's 'dream garage' is the kind of place where, as Klancher notes, "[Y]ou could probably build three dozen complete Frankenstein bikes out of the piles of things in Hood's back porch."

While that particular entry in Motorcycle Dream Garages is very much a place of business for its owner (and as such fits nicely into the chapter titled, "The Real Deal"), some places are both more and less than that to their inhabitants. Those types of spaces Klancher labels "Sanctuaries," and here we learn about places of refuge not only for riders, but for bikes as well. There is "Spannerland:" a multi-user garage in deepest, darkest industrial New Jersey. Home to the toys and tools of 11 New York-based riders and collectors, this ultra-secret enterprise houses such goodies as one-of-three-everbuilt Wood-Norton flattrackers, the John Player Norton ridden by David Aldana in the 1974 Daytona 200 (against the likes of Roberts, Agostini, and Romero), as well as a fully enclosed dyno room and an area where one of the owners designs and builds his own parts.

At the other end of the "Sanctuary" spectrum we find Jeffrey Gilbert and "The List." Years ago, this California-based collector compiled a personal list of the most desirable bikes in the world, and then set about getting them for himself. And while one might think that this collector would have a purpose-built structure for his treasures, that is not so. While many of his bikes share space in his cramped three-car garage with a couple of four-wheeled goodies (including a Cobra signed by Carroll Shelby), quite a few are strewn throughout his home like so many metallic Michelangelos and rubberized Rodins. The 1914 Cyclone board track racer (which was lent to the Guggenheim for their 'Art of the Motorcycle' extravaganza) sits in the dining room, the 1957 Moto Guzzi V-8 Mark III backs up the sofa in the family room, and Gilbert's son shares space with a 1962 Honda CR1lO. Like the champion show dog that becomes the family pet, these bikes have finally come home to a nicely prosaic sanctuary after all those years of hard work.

While several of the enterprises illustrated in this book are more about the show than the go (although places like Jay Leno's gorgeous Big Dog Garage with its collection of machines that do get ridden on occasion somehow straddles that line), plenty of space is given to the outfits that are workplaces first and foremost. A prime example in this genre is John's Cycle Center in Woodside, New York.

Begun in the 1950s-and at the same store-front since the 1970s-by three race-mad brothers, this place is your prototypical 'local shop.' Every surface of the smallish shop is covered with parts-some quite vintage as befits a place that has been in business for over 50 years as well as posters, bikes, and the other detritus of a commercially viable obsession. Begun partially as a way to make enough money to keep the owners in gas and tires at the track, it is the kind of place where riders come just to shoot the breeze. About as far as you can get from a multi-brand motorcycle mall, this place works on the bikes "the dealerships won't touch," and, as Klancher puts it, the sole remaining owner is "as busy as he wants to be." Like increasingly rare old-time shops around the country, John's Cycle Center is much more than a motorcycle store-it is virtually a second home for its fans.

Some folks believe that the perfect dream garage is both home and garage. Not surprisingly in light of the wide-range of spaces illustrated here, Klancher includes a stunning example of this design philosophy in the "Takin' Care of Business" chapter. Here we get to see and learn about the design and construction of Mike Tiebold's place in Somerset, Wisconsin. A spectacular 4,200-square-foot space, this building serves as both home, garage, and business place for its owner's aftermarket parts enterprise and was designed on the back of napkins. Clad mostly in tin and brick and with lots of interior glass to help bounce light through the large structure, this place also has a pine-clad living space for its owner that includes a fireplace and other homey touches. In the end, the entire outfit manages to be both spare and warm at the same time—quite a feat.

Motorcycle Dream Garages is a fascinating and beautifully photographed homage to dozens of folks who are obsessed by motorcycles as well as to the spaces they create to house those obsessions. Klancher (along with Kevin Cameron-who wrote the foreword-and collaborators Rick Schunk, Mike Seate, and Kris Palmer) has done an excellent job

illustrating these with his excellent photography. In some of the photos, we can almost smell the grease and feel the grit of the parts-packed spaces. Additionally, Klancher manages to capture the character of his subjects with spare and succinct text that both tells us what drives these people as well as keeps us entertained. (His write-up on the secretive Hollywood fellow with the incredible toy collection is a masterful—and funny—portrait in words.)

In the end, this book certainly deserves a space on the garage bookshelf of anyone who has ever longed for a bigger/better/badder barn for their bikes. And yes, the $35 price tag on this tome might be a bit steep to some in this climate, but just think of it as research or inspiration.

Someday . . . someday . . ..

The Mad Scientists of Beer: Lakefront Brewery

I recently spent four blissful days touring southern Wisconsin on Victory motorcycles with a couple of good friends, Darrick Anderson and Alyn Silberstein. We spent the evenings of said tour checking out the area's craft breweries, which range from the German precision of New Glarus Brewing Company to the old school genius of Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls, Wisconsin.

One of the high points of the trip came while visiting Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee. We stopped in to see Russ and Jim Klisch, the founders and generals of the place. They were happy to talk with us and to make a little time to take some photographs. But their time was limited--a famous bar in Milwaukee was closing, and they didn't want to miss the event. Those are the kind of priorities we respect, so we set up lighting equipment near their uber-cool old school German brewing kettle and made haste with the photographs.

Once the photos were complete, Russ and Jim needed to split. On the way out, they asked us if we wanted to try their beers. Silly question. Yes, of course!

They pointed us to the taps in their bar, suggested we taste all we like, and tell the maintenance to guy to lock up after we leave. Then they left. We had the place to ourselves.

I shot photos of the brewery while Darrick and Al set up the tasting in the cavernous bar. When I came back from shooting, they told me there was a problem.

"Lakefront makes 15 beers," Darrick said. He had all of them lined up on the bar.

We did the right thing. We tasted them all. You'll have to wait for the article for the results of our beer shootout, but we can tell you this: Lakefront's beers are incredible!

(Note: We parked the bikes at the Iron Horse Hotel and bummed rides from the local tourism rep for our brewery tour!)

Watch for the write-up of our entire adventure in the June issue of Motorcycle Cruiser.

__________________

As an aside, if you read and liked Motorcycle Dream Garages, take a few minutes and write a review on Amazon.com.

East Pole Cult of Motorology

As Motorcycle Dream Garages gets out and about, one of the most interesting things has been what's come back across the transom. One of my favorite things has been this cool video of a garage in Atlanta. Joshua Rosenbaum sent it along, and he and his crew converted the 1958 garage using some of the original owner's vintage equipment along with reclaimed salvage (including a bar built out of church pews). The place houses everything from Ducs and a 100K BMW to vintage Japanese stuff. Cool place, and thanks for writing, Joshua.

East Pole Cult of Motorology from Bill Bounds on Vimeo.

Victory Vision Tour and Vision Ness Edition Shootout Images

I just came back from a on-the-road test of the Victory Vision Tour and Vision Ness Edition on the alphabet roads in southern Wisconsin. You'll have to wait for the full test to come out in Motorcycle Cruiser magazine, but you can get a sneak peak at the images at my online gallery.



Incidentally, Motorcycle Dream Garages is out on the shelves and rocking the house. Get your copy now, because it appears the first run will be out of stock quickly.

Mission Motors Set Landspeed Record with Electric Motorcycle

Electric motorcycles are coming our way, and one of the hottest bikes in the segment is the high-performance, high-dollar Mission One. The team just set a land speed record of 150.059 miles per hour at Bonneville.

Keep an eye on this bike. The people putting the Mission One together are an incredibly talented group. Led by former Tesla principal Ed West, the team includes well-placed talent from the motorcycle as well as the software industry. If they pull off what they have in mind, the Mission One is going to be the sexist, most tunable high-performance toy in your garage.



Read more detail about their record-setting pass here.

_____________________________________

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 15 days, 11 hours, 24 minutes.

Free Motorcycle

My inbox has been brimming with press releases lately. Everyone from Danica Patrick's publicist to whoever promotes National Alpaca Farm Days seems to think e-mail blasts to journos are some kind of magical lifeline to keep their businesses afloat.

Most of the stuff I receive goes into the trash, but this one caught my eye as relevant to dream garage readers. First, Shell's contest includes the possibility that you could win a motorcycle or free gas. Plus Rick, the guy profiled in the release, is just too much. I can see cleaning motorcycle parts in Coke or marinating yourself in Leinenkugel's while working on your bike, but scrubbing a Benz with Perrier? Great that he loves his machinery, but I think he's missing the point. Garages are made to get back to your cave man roots. You can go out there and be your disgusting, overindulging, tool-wielding, beer-swilling, autocratic self. I'd like to take Rick out for a beer and lay it all out for him, you know? Dude, loosen up. Drive more, clean less, and Neanderthal it up a bit. Anyway, here's the release . . . enjoy.

_____________________________________

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 16 days, 14 hours, 46 minutes.

Barn Garage Hangout

This converted barn is an interesting way to build a man cave (tho I'd hate to pay that heating bill). An old barn would make a perfect dream garage! Note that it was featured in fellow Austinite Sam Martin's book, Manspace.

ManSpace: A Primal Guide to Marking Your Territory

_____________________________________

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 23 days, 9 hours, 12 minutes.

Shooting the Hammer

671 Press needed two covers for upcoming books, and Robert Pandya, the Victory rep (who resides in Austin, Texas) had the perfect bike for the job in town, a Victory Hammer Eight-Ball. So Robert and his brother Manny and I went out into the hill country to shoot the covers on another hotter-than-blazes August night.

The riding shot was for the cover of Ride America, a collection of tours all across America from the pages of Motorcycle Cruiser, Motorcyclist, and Motorcycle Escape. We wanted a shot that evoked going for a ride, and we felt the over-the-shoulder winding road shot was perfect for that. I had two nice examples in my stock, but one was an extra from a GPS unit shoot and the rider wasn't wearing a helmet, and the other was shot in Hokkaido, Japan so the rider was on the wrong side of the road.

We needed a clean example of the same photo shot on a bike with a classic, attractive dash on a curvy road. Our new shot was taken over the shoulder of Robert, on a stretch of the well-known-in-Austin Fitzhugh Road. I scouted the location beforehand, and found a stretch of road that curved up to the right to draw your eye into opening the book, and curved up and away from the bike at the proper angle.

Robert proved to be an excellent photo pilot. He's an experienced rider and a solid photographer. Shooting from the back can be nerve-wracking, as you have one or both hands on the camera. Robert proved eminently trustworthy, and his experience as a photographer meant he understood where to put the bike for the shot.



The cover for The Perfect Motorcycle by Kevin Dammen needed to evoke finding the motorcycle of your dreams. The book answers that question whether you want a Harley or a sportbike, as it is all about evaluating your needs, means and the market, so the book cover needs an image that suggests an ideal machine that is not emphatically in a category such as a chopper or a sportbike. For that image, we wanted a sunset silhouette of a standard-looking but still cool and exciting bike. The Hammer was perfect--all we needed was a sunset.

The sunset shot turned out to be more challenging than expected, mainly because the sunset shot required a ridge. Such a thing is easy to find in the midwest. Well, the hills can be a little hard to find but an open field or other piece of ground where you can shoot is not a problem.

Central Texas has plenty of hills and ridges, so finding a spot geographically suited to the shot is easy. But the area is mainly private land and almost entirely fenced and locked, so finding an accessible spot is not an easy proposition. We found a little turn-around at the end of a dead-end road that worked for us to shoot this cover. We had to tear down some grass and I set up in a ditch in order to get the angle. Note that Texas ditches are not friendly places. Vegetation here is sharp and spiny!

A bonus was that the chrome reflected light from the sky and gave the bike some definition. My intention was a pure silhouette, with the bike totally blacked out. The shots with the chrome glowing lightly are much more interesting. We have both and won't decide on a final image until the cover is complete and approved.

High-Octane Interior Decorating

Interior decorating with internal combustion is an admirable trait, and this guy has raised the bar a bit from rebuilding a Chevy V-8 in your living room or "decorating" your house by scattering parts from a KZ1000 restoration project around the place.

Mr. Maserati's only miss is his elevating ramp; part of the joy of engines in the house is the smell of high-test.



_____________________________________

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 36 days, 9 hours, 44 minutes.

Snowbound: Riding 2Moto's Radix Snow-Bike

Interested in throwing roost in the snow? The guys at 2Moto can fix you up.


The site of the test was Mammoth Mountain ski area in southern California. 2Moto VP of Research and Development Bill King and CEO Mark Maliwauki had brought out a trailer full of RadiX-equipped bikes to test. Former pro rider David Pingree was on hand to try out the machine, and Bill had converted one of Ping’s bikes.

The kit consists of a driven rear track unit in place of the rear wheel, with a ski up front. Most of the riders gathered that day had never been on 2Moto bikes before and the early discussions centered around adapting to the machine. King gave a few pointers on riding the bike to the group, and we took off up the mountain.




While the riders went up the mountain on the bikes, I rode up with the videographers in a snow cat. Photos were the first priority, and I spent about three hours on the mountain photographing the bikes. As I shot, I could see how the riders quickly adapted.


Pingree was visibly more confident within about 10 minutes, throwing it into corners with gusto and leaping off a hump on the ski hill to soar 40 feet down. He later explained that the track-equipped bikes jump well, but you cannot correct much in the air.

We came back for lunch, and then headed back out to go up the hill for more shots and my test ride. As we climbed into the snow cat, I was recruited to ride one of the bikes up. Trial by fire.

I grabbed an EFI RMZ450 and kicked it to life. I let out the clutch and the bike spun the track a bit and snorted up the hill. The oddest sensation is the front ski, which feels just a little nervous, and takes little skips to the side every so often. The sensation reminded me of riding a dirt bike in deep sand, where the front end hunts a bit.

We went straight up several ski hills, and wound through the forest on wide roads and trails. The RadiX was easy to ride straight, and would go up nearly as fast as I was willing to wick it up.

The track does soak up some horsepower, and the normally eyeball-flattening RMZ450 had ample but not awe-inspiring power.

Personally, I found the power output of the 450 four-strokes to be perfect for the machines. They would climb anything, accelerate with authority, and were managable when riding through the trees.

Once we made it to the backside valley where we were testing and photographing the bikes, I was able to take the bike out into the open snow. Turning requires you to lean the motorcycle and turn on the throttle, and it takes a bit to adjust to that. While the ski bites very well, you can’t turn the motorcycle with just the handlebars.

King’s advice was to go out in the snow and lean it over until the handlebar dragged with the throttle on. I found an open meadow and leaned it over with the power on. After a few cuts, you quickly learn to trust that ski. It sticks far better than a wheel. Flick it over, gas it and the bike will cut hard, tight and clean.

Once you learn to turn, the real fun begins. You can snake the bike between the trees in a way that a snowmobiler can only dream about. The 2Moto bike transforms a snowy patch of woods into one giant piece of free-riding singletrack.

One of the most remarkable aspects is how well the machine cuts across sidehills. The ski tracks true, and you simply lean a bit into the hill and the track bites securely.

One of the interesting things about the 2Moto machine is that the ski tracks better than a wheel in ruts. Every time I came to a rutted-up patch of snow, I braced myself for the typical sliding around you experience with a wheel out front. The ski just tracked straight and true through the snow.







Off-road riders also adapt well to the RadiX machines. Former Paris-to-Dakar racer Casey McCoy was on hand at Mammoth for a ride, and we went with him through open slopes and did some bushwacking snaking through the woods. The ability to explore remote areas struck a chord with McCoy.



“I’m not a moto-head. I like to be able to go places I ordinarily don’t go, and this thing does that,” McCoy said. “I’d do this over snowmobiling any day.”

Bill King perhaps summed it up best. “We aren’t selling a product,” King said, “We are building a new powersport.”




To see a few more images of the 2Moto machines in action, check out my Photo Gallery.

Behind the Scenes Feature in Motorcyclist magazine

Check out the September issue of Motorcyclist magazine for another sneak peak at Dream Garages with my semi-intelligent babble about the book. Brian and Aaron were kind enough to give me several spreads in the mag, so buy six copies and reward their efforts!

_____________________________________

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 67 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes.

MDG on Speed

This is cool. Motorcycle Dream Garage was put up next to an entertaining write-up on Speed TV's web site. I wonder if this means I can influence them enough to show more live motorcycle racing, dump Pinks, and have Dave Despain cover more two-wheeled riders and events???? Probably not . . .

---------------------

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 76 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes.

The Riding Man at Jay's Garage

Jay Leno's Garage is an incredible place. His collection is amazing and he has great taste in vehicles. He also drives pretty much every day, and has great video-heavy Web site.

Motorcycle racer and writer Mark Gardiner stopped in at Jay's place to talk about riding the Isle of Mann as well as his book about racing, Riding Man.

---------------------

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 83 days, 15 hours, 47 minutes.

A Sneak Peak at Motorcycle Dream Garages

The people at DreamGarages.com have a short excerpt from the book up on the site. You'll get a sneak peak into John Hateley's garage. Hateley is also the topic of an upcoming feature article in Motorcyclist magazine in which John and some of his stunt man buddies tell stories about their work making feature films.

Pop-Up Dream Lamborghini Garage

Living with my new one-car garage in Austin has me on a quest to maximize space. This YouTube video is spinning my gears. Could a guy like me build one of these?

Time to Motorcycle Dream Garage Publication: 95 days, 9 hours, 29 minutes.

Publisher's Weekly Listing

As the countdown to the October 15th release date of Motorcycle Dream Garages draws near, the pre-publication activities have begun. Some of the most highly sought-after press coverage is in Publisher's Weekly, the trade magazine of the book industry. The magazine is highly respected, widely-read by booksellers as well as publishers, and costs nearly $200 per year for a subscription. Motorcycle Dream Garages was mentioned in the fall book preview done for the June 29th issue:

"Motorcycle Dream Garages (Oct., $35) by Lee Klancher opens the doors to places where bikes are repaired and friendships are made of beer, b.s. and bruised knuckles."

I believe I owe the book's publicist, Nichole, one of my favorite malt beverages for using the entirely appropriate beer & B.S. line!

Cheers,
Lee

Time to book launch: 96 days, 11 hours, 21 minutes.

Motorcycle Dream Garage Update

A quick update from my new home base in Austin, Texas. Motorbooks just put together the cover for my upcoming book, Motorcycle Dream Garages. I created a photo gallery and a Web site for the book for people to check out. Note that the photo gallery received more than 250,000 page views since October 2008. Crazy.

Speaking of crazy, I'm trying to get a handle on life in the Great State of Texas by finding a little wacky news that reminds me of my own very wacky home state of Wisconsin. This morning's gem is news that the Anti-Christ is alive, well, and living in Houston.

This puts an entirely different spin on our upcoming weekend visit to Tim and Kristin, who happen to live in a Houston suburb!