The Antique Motorcycle Spring Issue Volume 65, No. 2

[tfburke3]

Yes and I wish it was direct from "our friends"at grouper so I could block without blocking amca customer service
The club is a business,Grouper is a business.Ithink its nice that we are friends.
Tom

[exeric]

1953 because it was the end of Indian, but also European motorcycles conquered America in the early '50s and the American motorcycle culture changed accordingly. I am not denigrating that occurrence, because it is history, but it changed and erased much of our indigenous American motorcycle legacy. The AMCA was founded by people who wanted to preserve that American motorcycle heritage; hence they created the AMCA to save, and give value to extinct American created motorcycles.

1970 because there was a fuzzy line that saw British motorcycles knocked out by the Japanese steamroller and Harley-Davidson reduced to a niche product. That period was a blur of change, and unpredictability but American motorcycling was forever changed. . . Good? Bad? Everyone has their own opinion about the ethos of all that, but you cannot deny that the early '70s was an epoch fork in the road for American motorcycle culture.

I take a stand on this because I believe the AMCA has to represent and focus on the classic, historic era of motorcycling. In my travels, (and I think) most members I talk to feel the same, and judging by meets I go to, the greatest value (spiritual, and intrinsic) is on the American motorcycles made (circa) pre-1953. Once again, this is where I get in trouble

The grim reality is; in the next 10 years there will be a flood of old motorcycles on the market because many of my fellow AMCA members will be dead and their estates will be burdened with these beautiful, but non-essential works of art that become mere curiosities. Will the AMCA promote, and encourage the interest in old motorcycles, or will the AMCA try to continue to promote the "everything is beautiful" mentality that leads to malaise. I think you have to draw a line, otherwise, we will have a watered down, one-size-fits-all club that is just boring.

[droptopford]

For more relevant content how about pics of winner circle and unusuall judged bikes from recent meets.
Tom

Great suggestion! I'd be waiting by the mail box like a little kid waiting for his Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring.

[Skirted]

Eric - You speaketh great wisdom my friend. I always look forward to your posts.

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Thanks for sharing, Eric.

[exeric]

And thank you, Steve. We can always disagree but at the core we all love old motorcycles, and we will always have that in common.

[Buster]

Just got my new issue of the magazine. Hope this is not a sign of times to come. Feature on new bike, feature on non AMCA event, and no features on AMCA events. Very disappointed.

[Rubone]

Finally got my copy and scanned over the new "4" article. Possibly one of the ugliest bikes I recall seeing. Who exactly is the target group??

[Steve Slocombe]

For Tom, if you go to the Events tab on this Website, the bottom one is Marque Excellence Winners. There are detailed photos of 98+ point bikes from our shows with some commentary on the small deductions made.

[vph-d]

It does seem real strange judging bikes from the 70s and 80s that I sold when new, as antiques. I have no problem with the 1953 and 1970 time frames. Perhaps everything after 1970 should be put into a new "Modern" class. Do people actually think a 1988 FLST is the same antique as a 1948 FL?
VPH-D,

[ammorest]

Regarding the Magnolia 4 the first sentence of the article states: "Making American motorcycles great again"... Would like Mr. Nesbitt to explain at what point did American motorcycles become not great. Guess I missed something.
How is he going to make American motorcycles great by producing just 12 bikes at $200,000 each. If it does happen I'm sure there are a few individuals with pockets that deep that will have to have one.
Should it be in The Antique Motorcycle? Probably not . Maybe some other magazine would find it appropriate.
Dave

[BoschZEV]

In the early 1990s, one of the many abortive owners (or claimed owners…) of the Indian name was located in Albuquerque. At the time, I wrote a column for Don Emde's 'Motorcycle Collector Magazine' and, since I would be at a conference at Los Alamos, I used that opportunity to visit their office. The company occupied a couple of units in a strip mall and had a staff of maybe a half-dozen.

I spent quite a bit of time talking with employees at their work stations, and it was abundantly clear to me that, at best, they wouldn't be able to produce anything more than an S&S motor in an aftermarket frame with parts that were bolted together, and "Indian" painted on the tank. I don't remember how long the company lasted, and a search on the web didn't even reveal its existence, probably because they never produced anything. The best I could find was that a merger of nine companies in 1998 formed the Indian Motorcycle Company of America (IMCA), located in Gilroy, CA. I can only guess that the Albuquerque company was one of those nine.

There are numerous people who produce custom motorcycles, some of which are quite complex and beautiful (e.g. Ian Berry, Craig Fuller, Max Hazen, Craig Rodsmith, Daryl Villaneuva, etc.). However, all use pre-existing engines. Buell motorcycles had 200 employees, but they didn't design the engine they used. Although magazine writers attribute the design of the modern Brough Superior engine to one man, the actual design was "in collaboration" with an engineering firm with 50+ employees.

The point of the above being, although "anyone" can style a motorcycle based on existing components, designing a motorcycle from scratch requires skills and expertise at a completely different level. “Look, I’m just a dude in a garage,” the 54-year-old Nesbitt says. “How come nobody has done this before?" The answer is simple; it takes way more than a dude in a garage to design a motorcycle. Dave Edwards certainly would know this, so he must have had reasons for writing the article other than expecting the machine ever to become reality.

[T. Cotten]

Sorry, but I just opened my latest issue!

It had my renewal form hot-glued to the cover, inside a sealed plastic sheath, but even my wife could not find the 'enclosed envelope' to return it.

She then insisted I sell ALL of them.

Ok.

....Cotten
#776

[tfburke3]

Regarding the Magnolia 4 the first sentence of the article states: "Making American motorcycles great again"... Would like Mr. Nesbitt to explain at what point did American motorcycles become not great. Guess I missed something.
How is he going to make American motorcycles great by producing just 12 bikes at $200,000 each. If it does happen I'm sure there are a few individuals with pockets that deep that will have to have one.
Should it be in The Antique Motorcycle? Probably not . Maybe some other magazine would find it appropriate.
Dave

I started to read the article but found it weird that the author speaks of the bike as if it exists other than cad or more likely ai and in "his fertile imagination"
My guess is that he and his studio are "friends" with the club and there was some incentive to print this ad.
Tom