Redonda Motors and JP Barranca Redonda Motors is a Portugese custom and racing motorcycle workshop run by JP Barranca, an engineer with a fascination for just about anything on two wheels. JP and his team have turned out custom Triumphs, Hondas, Ducatis, and Harleys over the years and their fledgling racing team fields a Suzuki GT…
Prior to 1969 the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) rules for the AMA Grand National Championship were deliberately structured to favor side-valve engines rather than overhead-valve engines. The result of this was to favor American made bikes such as those from Harley-Davidson with their side-valve engines, and to disadvantage the overseas competition which was mainly from…
The Harley-Davidson MT500 is a bit of an unusual motorcycle. It’s thought that just 500 were ever made, and it’s not known how many have survived in original condition. The MT500 is powered by a 500cc Rotax single-cylinder, air-cooled engine with 4 valves, 5 gears, and kickstart only. It’s a mechanically simple motorcycle designed explicitly…
Steve McQueen’s love of cars and motorcycles is extensively documented, during his lifetime he rode, raced, and collected a huge array of vehicles – both modern and vintage. Although he’s probably better associated with motorcycles from European marques like Triumph and Husqvarna, McQueen owned a number of American bikes – in fact his first motorcycle…
There are few (if any) chopper builders of the modern era held in higher esteem than the late Indian Larry, he strictly built bikes that were meant to be ridden rather than trailered around to shows, and his favourite engine (despite his name) was the Harley-Davidson Panhead. Indian Larry’s early life was difficult, he suffered…
Harley-Davidson Twin Cam development began back in 1992, in the waning years of the twentieth century. By this time Harley-Davidson was a long way from the original efforts of Bill Harley and the Davidson brothers to build a motorised bike to make it easier to go fishing. That group of young men working in a…
Thankfully 1984 was a great year for Harley-Davidson and not at all like the “1984” of British writer George Orwell’s novel. 1984 was the year Harley-Davidson introduced what many regard as their greatest engine, and for a true blue motorcycle enthusiast who wants to be able to strip his bike down to the last nut…
The Harley-Davidson Panhead-powered bikes (along with the Knuckleheads) are the motorcycles of the ’60s custom culture phenomenon. The 1969 movie “Easy Rider” was arguably the film that brought the Chopper motorcycle from being an obscure cult bike to being a popular custom bike and both the “Captain America” and the “Billy Bike” of the movie were…
The Harley-Davidson Peashooter is a single-cylinder motorcycle originally released in 1926 to compete in the hotly contested AMA 21 cubic inch class. Indian and Excelsior were the established forces to be reckoned with in the smaller, single-cylinder racing world but Harley decided to dive in and compete – and also sell a line of smaller-engined…
In the twenties and thirties overhead valve engines were well known to be more efficient and consequently more powerful than either side-valve engines or the hybrid “F-head” with its overhead inlet and side exhaust valve. Overhead valve engines were the province of motorsport performance engines where power was at a premium and maintenance could be…
The Harley-Davidson Sportster has been around since 1957 – making it the longest running Harley model ever. The original Sportsters were more similar to the sporty British bikes of the 1950s and ’60s, and they didn’t get their more laid back seating position until later – to cash in on the shifting tastes of the…
With the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and the resulting Great Depression, Harley-Davidson had already been working on the development of a new engine to replace the aging F-Head that had served so well but just wasn’t going to be able to be competitive against the Indian and Excelsior opposition. Harley-Davidson faced some steep…
