BIKE LIFE

Posted on August 30, 2012 by melwin23

Bike Life Is a beautiful community for the bikers by 2 Bikers Heidi and Anth ( bikers since the 70’s ) , They call themselves commoners well in terms of motorcycle world they are not They have collection of 26 Motorcycles and they customize motorcycles as well the recent customization includes XS650 and Black Thunder ,
Anth used to race motorcycles back in the 80’s they both are such a lovely bikers and they will welcome with a open heart into their FB community with love n warmth with couple of conditions you should be over 18 and you must love motorcycles Visit BIKE LIFE

http://www.youtube.com/user/828cc

ROLLIE FREE

Posted on July 16, 2012 by melwin23

1940s land speed record holder

ROLLIE FREE ~ LEGENDARY BIKER

Rollie Free was a racer during the 1920s and ’30s, but is best known for setting the American motorcycle one-mile speed record in 1948, when he rode a British-made Vincent HRD Black Shadow to a speed of 150.313 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. To make that record run, Free stripped down to tight-fitting swimming shorts and laid flat on the Vincent to cut down on every last bit of wind resistance. A photo of the swinsuit-clad Free racing across the salt flats at 150 mph became one of the most famous photos in the history of the sport.

ROLLIE FREE ~ LEGENDARY BIKER

Free straddled his first motorcycle at the age of 12, when his father gave him a secondhand NSU. In the early 1920s, he became a salesman first at O.K. Newby’s Ace agency, then at Al Croker’s Indian dealership, both in Kansas City. Free began record-setting attempts during this time period on the Ace four-cylinder touring machines. Later, while working for Crocker, Free earned a reputation as the fastest street racer in the Kansas City area, much to the chagrin of the local Harley-Davidson camp.

ROLLIE FREE ~ LEGENDARY BIKER

In 1923, Free competed in his first national, the 100-Mile National Championships on the board track in Kansas City. He qualified impressively, but finished out of the money. He continued to race through the late 1930s, specializing in long-distance road races such as the 200-mile events at Jacksonville, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia. Free was one of the riders who raced in the inaugural Daytona 200 on the beach course in 1937. Free became an Indian dealer in Indianapolis in 1927. While living in Indianapolis, his reputation as an top-notch racer earned him a ride in the 1930 Indianapolis 500. His car blew a motor after 172 miles of racing. Free raced one more time in the May classic, again ending the race early with mechanical problems.

ROLLIE FREE ~ LEGENDARY BIKER

In the late 1930s, Free set several AMA Class C speed marks riding an Indian on Daytona Beach.

During World War II, Free entered the Air Force and was stationed at Hill Field in Utah. While in Utah, Free got his first chance to see the famous Bonneville Salt Flats. A few years after the war, a Hollywood sportsman named John Edgar asked Free to come to the Bonneville to make a motorcycle speed record attempt on a Vincent. The team was sponsored by Mobil Oil.

During the speed trials, Free was able to push the Vincent to an average of 148.6 mph. He decided to go for the 150 mph mark. Thinking that his racing leathers may be causing drag, Free decided to strip down to swimming shorts for the final run. He made the run lying flat, legs outstretched behind the Vincent, keeping his head low and guiding the bike by looking down and following a black stripe painted on the salt bed. The striptease act paid off for Free and he was able to cover the mile in 23.9 seconds, cracking the 150 mph barrier. On the return run, he went even faster, ending the day with an average speed of 150.313 mph. The mark broke an 11-year-old record (136.18 mph) held by Joe Petrali.

After the record run, Free joked about making the run in his swimming trunks.

“I stole the swimming trunks idea from Ed Kretz, who used to do the same on Southern California dry lakes. Incidentally, Ed looks much nicer in a swim suit than I do.”

Free returned to the salt flats in 1950 and broke his own records, averaging 156.58 mph on the Vincent despite suffering a high-speed crash during that year’s speed trials.

Free later moved to California and owned and operated an auto service station. He was a leading authority on the history of motorcycle racing and spoke frequently on the early days of racing at motorcycle gatherings. Free died in 1984.

IMAGE And ARTICLE BY http://motorcyclemuseum.org/

Steve McQueen – Motorist , Actor , Inventor , war veteran ,

Posted on February 10, 2012 by melwin23

Motor racing

McQueen was an avid motorcycle and racecar enthusiast. When he had the opportunity to drive in a movie, he performed many of his own stunts.

Perhaps the most memorable were the car chase in Bullitt and motorcycle chase in The Great Escape. Although the jump over the fence in The Great Escape was actually done by Bud Ekins for insurance purposes, McQueen did have a considerable amount of screen time riding his 650cc Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle. It was difficult to find riders as skilled as McQueen. At one point, due to clever editing, McQueen is seen in a German uniform chasing himself on another bike.

Together with John Sturges, McQueen planned to make Day of the Champion,[36] a movie about Formula One racing. He was busy with the delayed The Sand Pebbles, though. They had a contract with the German Nürburgring, and after John Frankenheimer shot scenes there for Grand Prix, the reels had to be turned over to Sturges. Frankenheimer was ahead in schedule anyway, and the McQueen/Sturges project was called off.

McQueen considered becoming a professional race car driver. In the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring race, Peter Revson and McQueen (driving with a cast on his left foot from a motorcycle accident two weeks before) won with a Porsche 908/02 in the 3 litre class and missed winning overall by 23 seconds to Mario Andretti/Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella in a 5 litre Ferrari 512S. The same Porsche 908 was entered by his production company Solar Productions as a camera car for Le Mans in the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans later that year. McQueen wanted to drive a Porsche 917 with Jackie Stewart in that race, but his film backers threatened to pull their support if he did. Faced with the choice of driving for 24 hours in the race or driving the entire summer making the film, McQueen opted to do the latter Le Mans is considered by some to be the most historically realistic representation in the history of the race.

McQueen also competed in off-road motorcycle racing. His first off-road motorcycle was a Triumph 500cc that he 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 in the International Six Days Trial, a form of off-road motorcycling Olympics. He was inducted in the Off-road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978. In 1971, Solar Productions funded the now-classic motorcycle documentary On Any Sunday, in which McQueen is featured along with racing legends Mert Lawwill and Malcolm Smith. Also in 1971, McQueen was on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine riding a Husqvarna dirt bike.

McQueen collected classic motorcycles. By the time of his death, his collection included over 100 and was valued in the millions of dollars.

In a segment filmed for The Ed Sullivan Show, McQueen drove Sullivan around a desert area in a dune buggy at high speed. All the breathless Sullivan could say was, “That was a helluva ride!”

He owned several exotic sports cars, including:

Porsche 917, Porsche 908 and Ferrari 512 race cars from the Le Mans film.

1963 Ferrari 250 Lusso Berlinetta

Jaguar D-Type XKSS (Right-Hand Drive)

Porsche 356 Speedster

To his dismay, McQueen was never able to own the legendary Ford Mustang GT 390 that he drove in Bullitt, which featured a highly modified drivetrain that suited McQueen’s driving style. One of the two Mustangs was so badly damaged that it was judged beyond repair and scrapped. The second car still exists, but the owner has consistently refused to sell it at any price