Bob's Cycle Barn
and museum
LEGENDS of MOTORCYCLING
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| John Edgar (left) congratulates Free...with the riding outfit he did NOT wear for the record! |
Live Fast, Ride Free
Roland “Rollie” Free’s 1948 World Speed Record
Rollie Free made history aboard a 1948 Vincent HRD V-Twin motorcycle, often referred to as the “Bathing Suit Bike” due to the scant attire of its rider, Roland “Rollie” Free. John Edgar hired Free to make the attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats on Sept. 13, 1948 ... Read More
"The King of Cool"
Steve McQueen
McQueen was an avid motorcyclist. The following is from Wikipedia:
McQueen competed in off-road motorcycle racing. His first off-road motorcycle was a Triumph 500cc, purchased from friend and stunt man Ekins. McQueen raced in many top off-road races on the West Coast, including the Baja 1000, the Mint 400 and the Elsinore Grand Prix. In 1964, with Ekins on their Triumph TR6 Trophys, he represented the United States competing for the Silver Vase award in the 964 edition, held in Erfurt, East Germany of the International Six Days Trial, an off-road motorcycling event.[citation needed] His competition number was 278, a number that has become associated McQueen iconography.[citation needed] He was inducted in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978. In 1971, Solar Productions funded the classic motorcycle documentary On Any Sunday, in which McQueen is featured, along with racing legends Mert Lawwill and Malcolm Smith. “Most bike flicks in the past concentrated on the outlaw crap,” McQueen says, with some heat. “Hell’s Angels and all of that stuff, which is about as far away from the real world of motorcycle racing as I am from Lionel Barrymore. Brando’s movie The Wild One in the early 1950s set motorcycle racing back about 200 years.” Steve McQueen was so enamoured with the theme of "On Any Sunday" that he helped finance the movie by kicking in an additional $313,000 of funding.
Also in 1971, McQueen was on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine riding a Husqvarna dirt bike. McQueen designed a motorsports bucket seat, for which a patent was issued in 1971.[43]:93[44]
McQueen collected classic motorcycles. At the time of his death, his collection included over 100 and was valued in the millions of dollars.
To see McQueen's famous jump in the movie" TheGreat Escape" go here:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ccVu992CYE
To read more about the "King of Cool" go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQueen
