Monday, November 24, 2008

motorcyles by chicara

i've never been a motorcycle fan but the bikes that do call out to me are the lovely old machines that grace the pages of yellowed autobiographies or history texts. take for example my absolute favourite . . . the vincent black shadow . . .
when new, the vincent black shadow reached 60mph in 6½ seconds and covered 0 to 120mph in 44 seconds. motor cycle in its test of the shadow gave "110mph as the maximum speed achieved in third gear", and added "not obtained" for top speed because they couldn't find enough road to hit the top end in fourth! great fun!

over to the left of the mainstream of hardcore bike culture are some people who develop and design machines that have distinct genetic connections to motorcycles but which are somewhat removed from some of the practicalities of motorcycle ownership and driveability. one such man is chicara.
of the four chicara creations seen here, the one that has the greatest appeal for me is the "japanese motor unit: 1950". to take a much closer look, click on the image . . .

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