Saturday, October 29, 2011

A bike that reminds me of why I love bikes...

This bike came rolling through the parking lot at the Jalopyrama 8, and I lost my mind. I was talking with a friend and just watched it in motion. It was one of those experiences where the background gets blurry and only the bike and rider is clear, and the world becomes white noise. I remember thinking  how badly I was hoping that bike was coming and not going , cause I wanted a close up chance to make googly eyes at it.

As you can tell from the of pictures , I got the chance. The bike had my head spinning, I was thinking Bonneville Salts, cafe racer, bobbed sportster and by God the historic H-D race bikes that had to have inspired the builder.

I saw these race bikes at the H-D museum a few years back, and thought how this black bike had the "black sheep" of this family look and feel. I loved the use of the modern peanut tank rather than the older elongated ones and as I looked at the fairing, I could not help but think that this is what a Buell could have been.


There are a good number of amazing cafe bikes that have been on the scene lately.  Thanks to shops like Loaded Gun, I have learned to appreciate this style a lot more. The majority of the cafe bikes I've seen have been based on British and Japanese bikes, both of which I love, but seeing this Ironhead made me remember just how well Harley's adapt to being cut, welded and reborn.

There are some great details on the bikes, many of which cross-over motorcycle  and hot rod influences and mixes them together perfectly. With its Moon Eyes oil tank, pleated seat, speed holes and fins and such, the bike was perfectly suited to show at this event.


I never had the chance to talk with the owner of the bike, and I certainly hope to one day, because I'd love to know more about this bike, and I'm guessing if you've made it this far into the blog, you probably wouldn't mind either. So enjoy the pics, check out the details and how amazingly aggressive this bike stands and looks for yourself.
If you want to see more from Jalopyrama 8, say oh a couple dozen or so pictures more, head over to the Kulture Gallery portion of the blogazine. Either go to KultureBlog.com or just hit the black and white KultureBlog circle logo in the upper right corner.