history

Evel Knievel Museum adds long lost motorcycle to their collection

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by Keith Horinek from https://www.ksnt.com The Evel Knievel Museum located in the Historic Harley Davidson Motorcycle shop held an unveiling of a long lost motorcycle used by Knievel in his daredevil jumps. Knievel’s second surviving original American Eagle jump bike was presented to the Evel Knievel Museum by Louis “Rocket” Re and the Stroop and McCormack families. The ceremony took place in the Evel Knievel Museum. The motorcycle was used by Knievel during his tenure as a motorcycle stunt performer in the 60’s and 70’s. The motorcycle was purchased by Dave Stroop of Belt Montana in 1972. Stroop then rode the bike for several years and eventually stored the bike in his barn. Years later the bike was found and restored by Knievel’s longtime friend and riding partner Re. Stroop then donated the motorcycle to the museum.

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When Did Drag Racing Start?

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The Day Organized Drag Racing Was Born –by Tim Bernsau, HotRod.com Organized drag racing celebrates its 70th birthday on July 2, 2020. On that day in 1950 the first “official” drag race took place at an out-of-commission Army airbase in Santa Ana, California. Soon that airbase was established as Santa Ana Drags, the world’s first commercial dragstrip. When it closed nine years later, drag racing had become a nationwide sport with established rules and classes, national championships, and a major sanctioning body. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE ON BIKERNET JOIN THE CANTINA – SUBSCRIBE NOW https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

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Bikernet History Lesson from the Clutch Master

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Ben tells the history of the Harley Big Twin Clutch By Ben Kudon from American Prime It all started in 1903 or there abouts… The motor company went through a number of changes over the years with the way they transferred the power from the motor/transmission to the rear wheel. Now, this clutch may have been the bad ass doohickey in the day, (and while there are still bikers out there that swear this clutch is the best), it just ain’t! That old style stud and coil spring clutch had three major disadvantages that a diaphragm spring clutch doesn’t have. The more you compress the coil springs to engage better, the harder it is to pull in the clutch lever in. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS FEATURE ARTICLE ON BIKERNET Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx  

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Manga Series Tells the Story of Soichiro Honda, Watch It Free

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com For more than a century, manga comics have been enchanting fans all over the world. The unique style of this type of Japanese drawings has been used to tell all sorts of stories, from far-fetched science fiction to historical dramas. And manga has even been used to tell the tale of Honda’s founder, Soichiro Honda. The Japanese engineer’s life, from his exploits during World War II to the establishment of the company and the efforts made to take it international, is being told in six episodes lasting between 10 and 20 minutes. The series was initially launched in 2015 and released well into 2019 as the Honda Soichiro Hon Den manga. Given there aren’t many things to do these days given the global circumstances, Honda decided it’s time to revisit the artwork and pitch it to the global audiences in need of some boredom cure. The creation is not your usual manga, as it blends the iconic Japanese-style cartoon drawings with actual audio files and historic photographs to create something unique, and is available in both English and Japanese. What we know today as Honda started life as the Honda Technical Research Institute in 1946, after its founder spent several years taunting the auto industry by making parts for Toyota. The entity as we perceive it today came to be in 1948. Honda’s first product was a motorized bicycle powered by the company’s first ever mass-made engine. That first motorcycle, known as the Type A, would then grow into the Type D, the product that gave birth to the Dream line of two-wheelers. Slowly, Honda grew into being perceived in some circles as the maker of some of the best motorcycles in the world, and has been leading the industry in terms of volume since

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25 Amazing Women Who Changed Motorcycle Travel Forever

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Celebrating adventurous bold women on two-wheels Women travelling on motorcycles were, for a very long time not treated seriously – even today, it happens to be that females are not treated equally to their male companions or other motorcyclists which happen to be males. To celebrate Women’s History Month we would like to introduce you to 25 amazing characters which paved the way for modern, more equal opportunities to discover the world on two wheels as a female. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE ON BIKERNET

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Deadwood’s Lost Chinatown

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The history of Deadwood’s Chinese, and the tragic loss of an important landmark. Editor’s Note: Bikernet got a hold of an historic home in Deadwood in the Presidential area. We decided on a Chinese whorehouse theme. We discovered this 110 year-old home was built over the original cemetery where Wild Bill was buried. Someone got the bright idea to dig up the bodies and move them up above Lincoln Street. Here’s some of the Chinese history in Deadwood. READ THIS INSPIRING ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE

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Building the H-D Juneau Plant

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From Woodshed to Red-brick Behemoth in Ten Short Years We’ve all heard the stories of how Harley-Davidson began life in 1903 in a Milwaukee woodshed on the site of what is now the headquarters of Miller Brewing Company. But with motorcycle production set to jump from around 1000 units in 1909 to nearly 30,000 by 1920, the Motor Company’s industrial digs had to change, and in a big way. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE ON BIKERNET

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Indian motorcycles taps into 100-year roots with Japan relaunch

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By Chester Dawson and Reed Stevenson from Bloomberg and https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com Even though Japan’s population is shrinking and economic growth is tepid, the archipelago is one of the top five markets for heavy bikes. Polaris is seeking to boost Indian’s single-digit market share to 10% by 2025. A century ago, Indian motorcycles were the brand of choice for Japan’s police. They were called “aka-bai” — or red bikes — because of their color. Now, the maker of big American two-wheelers is seeking to recapture some of that glory with a brand relaunch. Recreational vehicle maker Polaris Inc., which makes and sells Indian bikes, is betting that it can gain market share from entrenched foreign rivals such as BMW Motorrad and Harley-Davidson Inc. Instead of relying on a single distributor, the Medina, Minnesota-based company now has its own operations in Japan, with plans to double its store count to 30. Even though Japan’s population is shrinking and economic growth is tepid, the archipelago is one of the top five markets for heavy bikes. Polaris is seeking to boost Indian’s single-digit market share to 10% by 2025. It has taken direct control over local marketing, which it had outsourced after buying the Indian Motorcycle brand and relaunching it globally in 2011. “We weren’t doing the rational thing in Japan,” said Kintaro Izumida, general manager of Polaris in Japan. He works out of an office in Yokohama with about a half-dozen other employees. “Now we’re going to do that.” Harley provides a rich target as the longtime market leader among import brands, with a 44% share of the 20,385 bikes sold last year, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association. Japan’s domestic bike makers — Honda Motor Co., Kawasaki Motors Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp. and Yamaha Motor Co. — specialize in smaller-engine mass market

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