The look of pure nonchalance on the faces of Leo Payne and his frame-holding friend in this photograph still makes me smile. Leo was a well-known drag racer from the ’50s right through to the ’70s, he’s known for his technical expertise at developing nitro-methane racing carburettors and for being the first man to break the 200mph barrier on a non-streamlined motorcycle.
Read more about Leo here, via the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
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.
This is the new Huckberry X Timex Diver, an affordable, every day wearable watch designed to last for decades. The watch was made as a collaborative effort between well-known adventure outfitters Huckberry and American watchmaker…
The Harley-Davidson VR1000 was a race bike developed in the late-1980s and early-1990s to take on the best in the world. We don’t typically associate the American motorcycle maker with performance machines, but the VR1000 was…
The Coleman CT200U mini bike was developed in the style of classic American mini bikes from the mid-20th century, a simple form of two-wheeled motorized transport that would be the first stepping stone for many…
This three part, 90 minute long film covers everything you need to know to ride one of the most common motorcycles used by the British in the Second World War – the Norton 16H. The…
Fichtel & Sachs decided to call their first Wankel engine motorcycle the Hercules W2000 and they showed the prototype at the 1970 West Cologne Autumn Motorcycle Show: that prototype featuring a shaft drive and four speed gearbox from a BMW R27 that would not be used on the production model.
The Redford is a quintessentially American design, a classic mid-20th century leather motorcycle jacket with the asymmetrical front zipper, a button down collar, and adjustable zipper-closed sleeves to accommodate motorcycle gloves. This style of jacket…
