The Harley-Davidson XLR-TT roared onto the scene in 1958 and remained in low-volume production until 1969, depending on which experts you listen to, there were somewhere between 200 and 500 XLRs made.
Built for racing on stick-your-foot-out-and-turn-left dirt courses the 883cc V-twin of the XLR was too big for any AMA sanctioned national class races and as such the bikes were largely used in the “outlaw” unlimited classes, outside the purview of the American Motorcyclist Association.
I personally think Harley lost a big part of itself when it stopped building bikes like this, the balls to the wall Americanness of this type of motorcycle is clearly visible, hell it leaps out at you and grabs you by the neck.
This particular bike is one of 30 built in 1964 and it’s going under the hammer at the Bonhams auction on the 14 May 2011 in Carmel, California. This is an immaculate example of the Harley-Davidson XLR-TT and as such is expected to fetch between $45,000 and $65,000 USD.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
The Hoss Fly is a Chevrolet V8-powered barstool created by the team behind the Boss Hoss, an American V8-powered motorcycle that holds the record for having the largest engine of any production motorcycle.
Whereas the Boss Hoss is a series of road legal motorcycles, the Hoss Fly is designed as a non-road legal novelty vehicle that has a top speed of 25 mph, a towing capacity of 2,000 lbs, and it fits neatly into the back of a pickup truck.
This is one of Steve McQueen’s own personal motorcycle helmets, adorned with his name on either side with the logo for his film company Solar Productions. Steve can be seen in very similar helmets in many of the motorcycle races he entered in-period including Bruce Brown’s iconic documentary On Any Sunday. He seemed to prefer…
Bruce F. Meyers, the inventor of the Meyers Manx, grew up in California deeply involved in the surfing scene, and driving a 1930’s vintage Ford to the beach. His interest in surfing and the ocean naturally led into sail boats and thus to a journey into the South Seas on a schooner shared with a few friends where he learned about sailing outrigger canoes, and learned a great deal about the sea and boats.
This Apollo Moon mission map shows the GOSS-Mission profile, it was originally published by the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight and it’s been signed by the original Apollo astronauts Fred Haise, Charlie Duke, Jim McDivitt, Walt Cunningham, Michael Collins, Jim Lovell, Richard Gordon, Buzz Aldrin, and Dave Scott. All of these men are famous…
This BMW K100 cafe racer is unlike any you’ve ever seen, it’s fitted with a bespoke CVT automatic transmission to allow its partially disabled owner to ride it. Many people with disabilities are restricted to either not riding motorcycles at all, or to riding three-wheeled bikes like Can Ams, Ural sidecar motorcycles, and the Piaggio…
The 90th Anniversary Schott Perfecto Jacket was developed to celebrate 90 years since Irving Schott designed America’s most iconic leather motorcycle jacket – this anniversary edition was created by the 3rd and 4th generations of the Schott family. The Perfecto The original Perfecto Jacket was named for Irving Schott’s favorite cigar type, the jacket was…
