Hillclimber Statue Unveiled at H-D Museum

[HarleyCreation]

If you click on the link below there is a story and photo of a bronze hillclimber statue just unveiled at the new H-D Museum in Milwaukee.

From the photo, the statue itself looks very well executed but the way the rider is posed on the machine looks peculiar to me. No doubt he's posed in this manner to suggest an expert hillclimber showing off or posing for the crowd. But it also kind of looks like he's losing control of his machine. Yikes! To me it seems more like a bucking bronco rodeo star pose than any old hillclimber photo that I can think of.

The rider looks sort of like Dud Perkins, at least more than it does Joe or Herb Reiber.

What do you guys think?

http://www.clutchandchrome.com/News/...ews0806041.htm

[Ohio-Rider]

Finally some recognition for the hill climbers. Its been long overdue. The flat track guys seem to always get all the press.

I agree it does appear to be a rodeo pose. Perhaps the artist was trying to reveal the similarities between conquering an angry bull and an angry hillside. I like it. -Steve

[c.o.]

Definitely a Dudley Perkins'ish fella! Man I don't know about that pose. It looks like he's in for a heavy duty wipeout. I think holding himself forward toward the front fork would be a little more realistic. Nonetheless it's pretty cool. Hillclimbers Rule!!! I gotta get down to that museum one day. I've got a hankerin' to see the boardtrack display! I wonder would they be all shiney or are there some worn looking bikes as well?

[exeric]

I'm sure hill climbers go through some painful and bizzare contortions in the act of getting to the top of a hill but that looks a bit daffy. I would have thought a more dignified pose would have been a kinder tribute to the great maniacs that chose hill climbing as a passion.

[Paps]

I tried it out in me younger years. Put the scoot on my chest several times. Never got the real hang of it though. Rather watch the others do it. Paps

[23JDCA 808]

not very realistic. ...bill in oregon

[exeric]

Even though I think the pose is a bit cartoonishly dramatic, I would like to say the artist did a remarkable job. When I look at the detail the artist captured and I relate it to building a bike that is suppose to have interchangable parts, I am in awe of the challenge it must have been to do what he/she (probably he) did.

[Lonnie]

Personally, I think it is spectacular especially the attention to detail even to the "Oh, shirt!" look on the rider's face as he begins to unload! He appears to be aware that his landing will be somewhat less than graceful!

In HC's book on H-D 1930-'41 there are some great period photos of hillclimbers. In some it appears the rider is on a Sunday cruise while in others it looks like the rider is preparing to bust it.

I would think it takes a special kind of person to do that, especially in those days when the frames were stock or close to stock wheelbase length with little in the way of protective gear, knowing that it could be a hurtful day on the hill.

LC fm SC

[Barry Brown]

The sculptor, Jeff Decker is the consummate professional artist and I can guarantee you he researched the heck out of this subject matter before starting. I would bet the pose is taken from actual photos. Jeff's mentor Stanley Wanlass taught him well and proceded in similar fashion with his works. I think it is fantastic.

[HarleyCreation]

Realistic of Symbolic?

Evenyone seems to agree the sculpture is very skillfully done. The question is how to interpret the pose of the rider.

Since this is artwork under discussion, the artist may have posed the rider this way for symbolic reasons, or he may have intended it to be a realistic in manner.

Looking over old hillclimbing photos, slant shooters generally have both hands firmly grasping the bars and are fiercely concentrating on the ground ahead of them. The only photos I see that resemble this posture are indeed when the rider is in trouble.

If the pose is realistic and the rider is losing it, he appears to be in serious trouble. Because with his body thrown back like that and his hand off the bar, he won't be able to control the bike when the wheel touches down and he won't be able to throw himself away from the bike when unloading either.

If the pose is supposed to be a realistic one, then H-D is going to lose this hillclimb and the Indian riders will be holding one of their famous pow-wows.

Would H-D want to show their rider losing to Indian and crashing and maybe damaging this expensive bike? That makes me wonder if maybe the pose is a symbolic one and should be interpreted that way, i.e.: "Hi folks, watch me ride this thing like a bucking bronco cowboy, weehah!" or: "Look Ma, no hands!"

[Barry Brown]

Of course this guy won the hillclimb ! he was the ONLY competitor to go 'over the top" that day, the fact that he wiped out when just going over means nothing , he won and was the most courageous of all the competitors. riding the machine that was the most powerful, the only man over the top , I think this statue is PERFECT for every reason,and especially symbolic of Harley's triumph over competition , adversity and non believers, right on Jeff and Willie!

[HarleyCreation]

Of course this guy won the hillclimb ! he was the ONLY competitor to go 'over the top" that day, the fact that he wiped out when just going over means nothing , he won and was the most courageous of all the competitors. riding the machine that was the most powerful, the only man over the top , I think this statue is PERFECT for every reason,and especially symbolic of Harley's triumph over competition , adversity and non believers, right on Jeff and Willie!

That's a possible "slant" on this statue's pose that works and saves the day for Harley-Davidson! Of course, no Indian or Ex hillclimb fans have chimed in yet. What do they think?

This reminds me of a strange story that old Bill Knuth told years ago about a pro crashing while going over the crest of a hill. The guy was Art Earlenbaugh, the "Milwaukee Sheik" as they called him for his attraction to the ladies. As Knuth told the story, Art was in Ohio one time practicing for a climb when he went up and over an unfamiliar hill too fast. Possibly he was riding a DAH that day. Anyway, coming over the top of the hill he suddenly saw a cemetery spread out in front of him and he took a spill amongst the gravestones. According to what Knuth said in later years, Art landed on the grave of Eddie Brinck, the well-known H-D racer killed on the track in the 1920s.

Coincidence, or omen of Earlenbaugh's own early demise?

Could that be Art Earlenbaugh riding that statue? There are photos of him wearing a hat like that while hillclimbing. And he would have been one the first guys to test and ride the DAH because he was a professional hillclimber for Knuth PLUS he worked in H-D's Experimental Dept. in those years. Maybe that's him practicing that uncanny day in Ohio when he crashed on Eddie Brinck's grave! Maybe it's not Dud at all, but a hometown Milwaukee boy.

Tragically, Earlenbaugh died young of a rare disease way back in 1941. No doubt his ghost is right there in Milwaukee. That motorcycle statue would certainly be a good place for the ghost of a slant artist who died young to haunt. And looking at it again, that guy could be taken for Art Earlenbaugh. Also there does seem to be a shocked, surprised, somewhat contorted look to him as if this is that very moment when Art went over the top and saw the graveyard!

That's my slant and it came to mind just now. I'll have to go around there sometime at Midnight and check that statue out because now I'm curious. It's difficult to research this stuff for years and grow fond of these past riders and old timers and not believe in ghosts on some level of existence. Looks like Decker did his job as artist.

[Barry Brown]

WOW! Now that's GREAT stuff! No wonder you're a successful author. I am willing to bet that Jeff had access to a great unpublished photo for his inspiration, that is the way Stanley Wanlass works . Before he mentored Jeff he sent me a fantastic photo I had never seen before of what was believed to be a "three flags " competitor on an Indian at rest with tire chains draped everywhere. He said he was thinking of using that photo for inspiration for a new work. Too bad Jeff woundn't chime in here .

[HarleyCreation]

More Info

Another article describes the statue in more detail and gives the artist's intent that was lacking in the first article, and it even quotes the artist, Jeff Decker.

The intent was indeed to portray a spill:

The sculpture is of a vintage 1930 Harley rider, frozen in a skyward wheelie. Its daring young driver (sic), with only one hand on the handlebars, has reached the pinnacle of an uphill ride - and is on the verge of falling backward and wiping out.

(snip)

"He is crashing," Decker said of the helmetless young rider. "But every hill climber crashes. It's part of the race."

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=760184

[c.o.]

Wow that put's the new statue in perspective for sure! Thanks Herb that was a great story!!!