Classic Bike Guide - Real rides, real riders

Book review: July 2010

This month's book reviews by Classic Bike Guide.

We have teamed up with Amazon UK to allow you to purchase many of them on-line at reduced prices.

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The Harley-Davidson Reader

This 8in wide x 9in high softback, from MBI Publishing, USA, was first published in 2006 but is now available again. It’s a little bit different to the average Harley-Davidson book in that individual chapters are penned by different people, about different matters but all regarding a Harley-Davidson connection.

There are all the expected names such as Arlen Ness, Evel Knievel, Hunter S Thompson, Sonny Barger et al but it’s not all about Outlaw Bikers, there are chapters from Wall of Death experts Samantha Morgan and Tornado Smith, the early years, the Harley v Indian wars, racing, the truth behind the Hollister gathering – which was the basis for Brando’s The Wild One film – female riders, Elvis, Clark Gable and other such celebrities and a comical look at some of the supposedly ‘shocking’ films, with corny titles such as Chrome and Hot Leather, The Cycle Savages, and The Peace Killers!

There are 350 well illustrated pages, containing some superb archive images. Price is £12.99 and it’s available from Grantham Book Services, 01476 541000. (www.granthambookservices.co.uk).

ISBN 978 0 7603 3712 7.

Buy from Amazon: The Harley-Davidson Reader

Brough Superior – The Complete Story

I guess it’s fair to say this is as near to a definitive work on the subject as we’re going to get, for now at any rate. It’s a well laid out, well illustrated hard back, compiled by Peter Miller and published by The Crowood Press. It boasts 320 pages which are broken into three main parts, the history of Brough Superior, technical aspects and show models etc, and finally a dedicated section to George Brough and TE Lawrence.

The illustrations are in excess of 350, including period photographs, engineering drawings, artist’s drawings, exploded diagrams and a whole host of colour shots of existing machines.

I was initially going to mention the lack of racing, both period and in contemporary vintage circles, but this absence is mentioned by the author as a deliberate move, as the scene is covered well elsewhere. There is a postscript which takes a brief look at the new Brough Superior company and the machines being produced today.

A well researched, documented and presented piece of work. Price is £29.95.

ISBN 978 1 84797 112 8.

Buy from Amazon: Brough Superior: The Complete Story

100 Years of Motorcycles

The subtitle for this one is The 20th Century in Pictures’ – and that’s exactly what it is. It’s a 300 page softback picture book with images from the Press Association, taken over the last 100 years.

It kicks off around WWI era and takes in the likes of Brooklands, speedway, WWII, floods, snow, countless show images, press launches, actors and actresses, sportsmen, police and military, scooters, mopeds, Surtees, Hailwood, Sheene, Fogarty, the post office, mods and rockers, inside the Meriden co-op, the TT and much more including and the most sickeningly embarrassing shot of narcissistic former TV personality Anthea Turner. It’s a great book to flick through, even though some of the captions are way out.

Published by Ammonite Press (www.ammonitepress.com) it’s available at £14.99 from GMC Publications on 01273 488005 (www.thegmcgroup.com).

ISBN 978-1906672539.

Buy from Amazon: 100 Years of Motorcycles (Twentieth Century in Pictures)

Granville Bradshaw – A flawed genius?

Considering the technology available at the time, the pioneer days brought forth some remarkable engineering inventors – none more so than Granville Bradshaw. A natural engineer and logical thinker whose ideas brought him fame and respect in both the aero and motoring industries. His life spanned the entire development of both and involved work with the likes of Sopwith, ABC and P&M but it was his own designs for which he became most famous.

Author Barry Jones takes us on a trip into the mind of an extraordinary man with inventions such as the incredible toroidal engine, the twin toroidal gas generator, the Bradshaw Pulsation Motor, oil-cooled motorcycle engines and the fantastic ‘people's car...’

The well used cliché ‘ahead of his time’ is in this instance quite correct, for his ideas were also well ahead of materials and the engineering techniques available at the time. As such many of his inventions were perhaps not the successes they could have been had today’s materials and tolerances been available to him. What’s more he designed gambling machines, from which he made a fortune and then promptly lost as a victim of a shares scam, 3-D photography and TV. Indeed a genius, but perhaps born too soon.

The book is a nicely illustrated softback of some 282 pages, just a little smaller than A4. It’s published by Panther Publishing (www.panther-publishing.com) at £21.95.

ISBN 978 0 955659546 0.

Buy from Amazon: Granville Bradshaw: A Flawed Genius?