Retro + Vintage Motorcycles
Retro + Vintage Motorcycle reviews and road tests include old (vintage) motorcycles, such as those featured in Clement Salvadori’s Retrospective column each month, as well as motorcycles styled to look like those that rolled off the assembly line decades ago (retro). Cruisers can be considered retro due to their styling, but they’re a more natural fit in the Cruiser + Touring Motorcycles category. Whereas the irrational exuberance of the 2000s brought us overpriced, blinged–out choppers and painful–to–watch TV shows about customizers with short tempers, motorcycle guides suggest that back–to–basics vintage motorcycles have enjoyed a revival since the Great Recession. Harley–Davidson has its Dark Custom line, Victory offers blacked–out 8–Ball versions of several models and DIY builders are snapping up low–cost bikes on Craigslist and eBay for café racer and bobber projects.
Retrospective: Ariel Red Hunter 500cc: 1932 – 1959
Clement Salvadori
November 8, 2011
story and photography by Clement Salvadori [This Retrospective: Ariel Red Hunter 500cc: 1932 - 1959 was originally published in the February 2011 issue of Rider magazine] Year/model: 1955 Ariel Red Hunter HS Mark I. Owner: Perry Owen, Silverado Canyon, California. Ask most Americans about Ariel motorcycles,... Read more »
Retrospective: BMW K1: 1990-1993
Clement Salvadori
November 8, 2011
photography by Jim Cyran [This Retrospective: BMW K1: 1990-1993 was originally published in the January 2011 issue of Rider magazine] Year/model: 1990 BMW K1. Owner: Ray Trujillo, Sacramento, California. This was the second attempt by BMW at making the “Flying Brick,” as the K100 was fondly referred... Read more »
California’s Central Coast Classic Motorcycle Club Extravaganza
Clement Salvadori
November 7, 2011
AMA Hall of Famer Eddie Mulder gives the Best of Show award to John Forsmire for the immaculate restoration of his 1971 Bultaco Pursang 250. The popularity of riding, and occasionally restoring, older motorcycles is on the rise. Which prompts interested parties to organize events where the owners can... Read more »
Retrospective: Rokon RT340 Automatic: 1973-1978
Clement Salvadori
October 17, 2011
photography by Ralph Noble [This Retrospective: Rokon RT340 Automatic: 1973-1978 was originally published in the July 2011 issue of Rider magazine] Year/model: 1974 Rokon RT340 Automatic. Owner: Ralph Noble, Poulsbo, Washington. Here’s your barroom bet question: What was the first motorcycle (not scooter)... Read more »
1949-1957 Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide Retrospective
Clement Salvadori
August 15, 2011
story and photography by Clement Salvadori [This 1949-1957 Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide Retrospective was originally published in the August 2011 issue of Rider] Year/model: 1949 Harley-Davidson FL Hydra-Glide. Owner: John Hackley, Arroyo Grande, California. Following World War II, Harley was on a roll.... Read more »
Moto Guzzi V7 Racer Limited Edition – First Look
Rider Magazine
July 28, 2011
Fancy an old-school cafe racer but don’t have the time, intestinal fortitude or English wheel to build one from scratch? Well, Moto Guzzi will happily sell you one of these just-released, limited-edition V7 Racer models for $9,790. Seems a very appropriate way to celebrate the Mandello del Lario... Read more »
Motorcycles at August 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
Rider Magazine
July 19, 2011
Famous "bathing suit" Vincent record-holder ridden by Rollie Free at Pebble in 2009. True, tickets are expensive at $175 in advance, but hey, there’s simply no greater setting on earth for a motor vehicle concours. The 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the annual showcase for... Read more »
Little Poland Vintage Bike Shop in a Vintage Brooklyn Neighborhood
Paul Garson
May 5, 2011
story and photography by Paul Garson Carl Jung, the pioneering psychoanalyst, once wrote a small book titled Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle that describes a mystifying phenomenon in which you encounter a whole bunch of apparently random coincidences clumped together under one particular... Read more »
Legend of the Motorcycle 2007: Act II
Clement Salvadori
April 28, 2011
story and photography by Clement Salvadori Ever eat too many desserts? The waiter keeps rolling the dessert trolley by, and you can’t resist? Chocolate truffles. Créme Brule. Strawberry shortcake. Tiramisu. Peach cobbler. Key lime pie? That is rather the way it is at any good concours d’elegance—there... Read more »
Hodaka Days 2005
Darrell Ohs
April 28, 2011
story and photography by Darrell Ohs On approach to Athena City Park in northeast Oregon, Hodaka Days 2005 looked more like a Sunday-school picnic than a motorcycle rally. Families, some representing three generations, spread their coolers, tents and lawn chairs over the grass beneath the spreading sycamore... Read more »
