Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, 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 well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
Ben Branch -
Boardtrack Gentlemen
The boardtrack racers of the early 20th century were some of the ballsiest men ever to grace the world with their presence. Their motorcycles had no brakes and very little suspension.
Sportsman Flyer
The Sportsman Flyer is a modern take on the classic boardtracker motorcycle genre, the Flyers are beautifully designed from front to back and powered by a hard working two-stroke engine.
Vert-A-Pac Vegas
The Chevy Vega was designed to be shipped vertically, in the node down position, by specially built railcars around the USA. The Vega was hugely popular when it was introduced in 1970 however it quickly earned a reputation for unreliability, rust, safety issues and lousy engine durability.
The Racester Sportster by Roland Sands Design
The Harley Sportster is one of my favourite motorcycles, people are sometimes surprised to hear that but the humble Sportster really is fantastic.
Skull & Crossbones Hip Flask
This silver plated, 5oz Skull & Crossbones Hip Flask by Cosmic Firefly is one of the better flasks I’ve seen recently and it’s sure to prove popular as a jacket pocket based winter warmer.
Honda Dominator NX650 Custom Tracker
This rather unique Honda Dominator NX650 represents a design direction that myself and many others wish companies like Honda would embrace for mainstream use.
Northwesterner Otter Wax Canvas Bag Special
The Northwesterner Otter Wax Canvas Bag Special is a sort of do-it-yourself project that’ll leave you with a handsome canvas bag ready for the winter.
Vespa Racing
After last weeks popular post about racing Vespas on the roof of the iconic Fiat Factory in Turin, I did a little more research into scooter racing and came across this wonderful old picture of a chap hammering along on his Vespa, looking for all the world like Rollie Free.
Brough Superior SS-80
The Brough Superior SS-80 was first released in 1922, the 982cc JAP v-twin was easily capable of pushing the motorcycle to speeds in excess of 80mph (hence the name SS-80)…
Stirling Brown Nevil by TRIWA
TRIWA is a Swedish watch company based in Stockholm, the name is an acronym for Transforming the Industry of Watches and their goal is to create unique watches at prices that can be afforded by regular people.
Cafe Racer #59
This is another one of those fantastic old photographs featuring an old motorcycle which I know nothing about, rather than venturing a guess as I usually do I’m just going to throw it right to the comments and ask for your best guesses, with extra points for people who can tell me who the rider is.
Evel Knievel – Feature Film
This 1971 feature film tells the story of infamous motorcycle daredevil, Evel Knievel. It’s equal parts comedy and biography with plenty of stunts thrown in for good measure, it’s 1:28:00 long and it’s well worth watching if you’re the kind of person who used to jump bicycles over rickety wooden ramps as a child.