In the early to mid 1930s, a British gal named Ellen rose to fame as a Wall of Death performer. She was a cashier for Billy Butlin’s amusement park in Skegness when she asked if she could try riding a motorcycle around the new and highly dangerous motordrome. This marked her transformation to “Dare Devil Alma.”
UPDATE: See the event photos and video here.
You may have heard about Mods vs Rockers Chicago evolving into what’s now called MOTOBLOT (June 13-15th, 2014). It’s a motorcycle event we’ve attended for years and it hasn’t let us down as an opportunity to see unique bikes in a cool city, put on by great hosts. Larry Fletcher and Martin Cimek have created a vintage-bike juggernaut in Chicago with the help of their Ton-Up Chicago cohorts and assembled cast of Rockers. Here are 10 of our own reasons why we’ve attended for years.
May 31, 2014: The Ton-Up Indy guys have wrapped up another great Rockers Reunion. This was the show’s 8th year, bringing in over 500 motorcycles – mostly vintage and custom bikes of many different origins. Check out our photo album for a recap and put Indianapolis on your calendar in 2015, May 30th!
Ever stare at an old pic and wish you could jump in during that very moment? Each time we’ve sifted through Bill Greene’s collection of vintage motorcycle photos, and it’s been many times, we’re taken back to a time when British motorcycles and early dirtbikes swarmed the mixed terrain of Central and Southern California. Since 1949, Bill’s father (Bill Greene III) immersed himself into motorcycling and thankfully documented his and his buddies’ adventures with the pics you’ll see in this post.
It was all headed to the trash. A sizeable, historic collection of glass plate negatives of early 1900s American life was about to be deleted from existence. But, Thomas Kempland, antiques aficionado and old-stuff guru, gladly accepted ownership of J.R. Eike’s photography and the wooden boxes of incredible St. Louis imagery. Among the images Tom scanned from the negatives is a handful of board track racing motorcycles at the St. Louis Motordrome. Check out these amazing photographs that Mr. Kempland has allowed us to share here.
May 2, 2014: This year’s trophy unveiling downtown in Fountain Square was a great opportunity to get the bikes out of the garage and meet up with local vintage-minded motorcycle folks. It also served as a preview for the big Rockers Reunion in Indianapolis coming up on May 31st as well as an unveiling of the Royal Enfield Continental GT. Here’s a handful o’ pics we took during the evening…
