I became fascinated with the race bikes because they were the physical embodiment of thoughtful innovations by men who engineered and developed the long line of motorcycles which have resulted in what we ride today. Some of the names we remember like Andrew Strand with his elegant overhead cam Cyclone engine or William Ottaway, the genius behind the Harley-Davidson racing legacy who was not afraid to ask Sir Harry Ricardo, the great English engine designer, to help him perfect his design for a hemispherical combustion chamber; Oscar Hedstrom at Indian who on one sleepless night thought of using four vales per cylinder to overcome the problem of heat transfer which was causing valves to break and who led the design department at Indian; Charles B. Franklin who emigrated from Ireland and took Indians Powerplus engine to its ultimate form; Jock McNeil who labored long hours at his design table in Chicago along with a cadre of unsung and unknown engineers who worked with him at the Schwinn Company to make Excelsior a contender on the race track and, by doing so, a formidable competitor in the marketplace. These men and many, many others - along with the well-known names of the riders - were competitors, too. Each and every one of the old racers which have been preserved are examples of the racing machinery which emerged from their studied knowledge and moments of inspiration and remain a testament to their lives and efforts; actually, they are the visible remnant of their dreams. This is a picture of Glenn Curtis on his record-setting V-8:
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 20:23:16 +0000
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