6 ms·
The Greatest Motorcycle Photo
- drcongo 2y agoI find it absolutely wild that he did it in just his grundies.
- bsimpson 2y agoI'm trying to imagine how he slowed down. Just keeping his legs clear of that 150 MPH tire is its own feat.
- pmdulaney 2y agoNot to be a kinematics nerd, but the top of that tire was going 300 mph
- pandemic_region 2y agoAren't the break handles on the steering bar much like a bicycle? Never owned or rode a motorbike so I would not know.
- joshmlewis 2y agoTypically the left lever is the clutch, right lever is the front break, and your right foot has a lever for the rear break. Not sure what the setup was for the record breaking motorcycle though.
- loloquwowndueo 2y ago*brake :)
- mikestew 2y agoNote that the bike pictured does not have a front brake. So I’m guessing he went back to his starting position at some point to hit the brake pedal. He first probably just rolled off the throttle until the bike got to a much slower speed. “Probably” meaning, it’s what I would have done, having already decided that riding a motorcycle at 150mph in my underwear is a good idea.
- loloquwowndueo 2y agoNo. Usually one of the brakes (I forget which) is actuated with a pedal, and one of the handle levers (what would be brakes on a bicycle) controls the clutch. https://www.rideto.com/blog/motorcycle-controls/ https://www.rideto.com/blog/motorcycle-controls/
- RegW 2y agoImagine the gravel rash if all goes pear shaped.
- zikduruqe 2y agoIt's typically called "meat crayon". No need to look it up... it is like when a crayon is dragged across a piece of paper, and leaves behind a line of like color.
- hnlmorg 2y agoAt 150MPH, I doubt he’d be alive long enough to care about the gravel rash
- rqtwteye 2y agoIt would illustrate the phrase "rubbing salt into someone's wounds" nicely
- whartung 2y ago“If hitting water at 150mph feels like concrete, what does concrete feel like?” — road racing saying.
- WillAdams 2y agoThis motorcycle was also the subject of a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kJdrfzjAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kJdrfzjAg (which maybe is the greatest motorcycle song?) Wonderful magical machine (for straights).
- rdtsc 2y agoHunter S. Thompson loved it, too, and it shows up in his work: https://www.vincent-hrd.co.uk/hst.html https://www.vincent-hrd.co.uk/hst.html > Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1970) > [At the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills, planning to cover the Mint 400 Desert Race in Las Vegas] --- "Well," he said, "as your attorney I advise you to buy a motorcycle. How else can you cover a thing like this righteously?" "No way," I said. "Where can we get hold of a Vincent Black Shadow?" "Whats that?" "A fantastic bike," I said. "The new model is something like two thousand cubic inches, developing two hundred brake-horsepower at four thousand revolutions per minute on a magnesium frame with two styrofoam seats and a total curb weight of exactly two hundred pounds." ... "It is," I assured him. "The fucker's not much for turning, but it's pure hell on the straightaway. It'll outrun the F-111 until takeoff." ---
- brucehoult 2y agoIn the mid 80s I used to pace the taking off B737s at Wellington, on the road next to the airport, on my CBX550F2 [1] and later on my K100RT. I could get to about 200 km/h before I had to slow for the corner. The planes were rotating at that point. The speed limit on that road is 50 km/h now, it was a little higher back then ... not enough obviously... [1] https://hoult.org/cbx550.jpg https://hoult.org/cbx550.jpg
- rdtsc 2y agoThat is an epic story!
- morkalork 2y agoHells Angels a Strange and Terrible Saga is a good read too, that last passage made me want to go out and buy one immediately.
- skeptrune 2y agoI don't think a photo could capture the vibe of American motorcycling any better than this one. Crazy that he was 47 in it haha. I have always assumed he was younger.
- m463 2y agoIs it weird I thought about this other sort of adjacent iconic photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Blown_Away_Guy_-_Maxell_ad.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Blown_Away_Gu...
- m463 2y agoor possibly https://youtu.be/fHaIEG45JWE https://youtu.be/fHaIEG45JWE
- HPsquared 2y agoThat man has complete faith in his rear mudguard.
- pandemic_region 2y agowelp that did not occur to me, he probably had it fortified in a way.
- jcims 2y agoAnyone that has stepped on a scooter brake in their bare feet is wincing at the thought of the supports crumpling. Fastest roasted nuts ever.
- nathan_compton 2y agoI beg to differ. This picture of Emile Leray, who disassembled his own broken car in the desert and built a motorcycle out of it is profoundly better. https://thekneeslider.com/images/2022/01/leray-citroen-motorcycle-museum-display.jpg https://thekneeslider.com/images/2022/01/leray-citroen-motor...
- dylan604 2y agoThat needs the help of AI to remove the background, and then maybe it'll be a cool picture.
- pavel_lishin 2y agoWhy?
- nathan_compton 2y agoI think he is referring to the fact that the photograph is actually a photo of the real motorcycle with the photo I meant to post behind it, at a museum. "On display in the Midwest Dream Car Collection museum" reads the caption." I can't find the original, but here is another photo he took at the time: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/103e0a_ac1383d327534f359c1af01b535fd338~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_548,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/103e0a_ac1383d327534f359c1af01b535fd338~mv2.jpg https://static.wixstatic.com/media/103e0a_ac1383d327534f359c...
- dylan604 2y agoIt's like some people don't even look at a picture and just scan it like it was text to be skimmed. If you don't have time to look at something, then please don't expect to understand the comments made by people that did.
- Slow_Hand 2y agoMaybe if multiple people are asking for clarification on a comment it’s your comment. I happen to like it with the photographic backdrop because it sets the scene and places the motorcycle in context.
- brucehoult 2y agoAnd I thought Burt Munro was a character....
- hinkley 2y agoThere were a few years of professional cycling when people did this on downhills until they outlawed it. You don’t have much control when doing this. At least on the salt flats the whole point it to try to go in a straight line, so if you need to turn you’re already in dire straits.
- K0balt 2y agoThis technique is still in common use here in the Dominican Republic, among honda cub street racers. It’s interesting that the most vibrant motorcycle racing scene is with motorcycles that were never meant to go fast and lack the frame stiffness or suspension to safely go above 50mph. I think the challenge of overcoming these limitations is what makes it compelling to the young riders and would-be-engineers that typically make up the illegal racing scene.
- ftbsqcfjm 2y ago[dead]
- animanoir 2y ago[dead]
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 2y agoIf you enjoy this sort of automotive history, check out Brian Lohnes on YouTube
- keepamovin 2y agoThank You! :)
- ChuckMcM 2y agoPresumably this was what inspired Burt Monroe who broke the record in 1967 and was the subject of the movie "The Worlds Fastest Indian". I have always admired the engineering ingenuity of folks who break these records and never quite understood why the risk was worth it. :-)
- mulmen 2y agoHumans are notoriously bad at risk based decision making. This applies equally to being cautious or daring.
- linsomniac 2y agoA very cool picture, but a bit hard to look at right now. My daughter's "first crush" (a decade ago) just passed in a motorcycle accident. A "left hook" situation less than a mile from home. Stay observant out there!
- AdieuToLogic 2y agoThat's a classic for sure. I would suggest a "heel clicker in a supercross race"[0] is also worth consideration, given the difficulty and risk involved. 0 - https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-Indianapolis-Supercross-Results-Coverage-Musquin-heel-clicker.jpg https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/...
- keepamovin 2y agoMarvin Musquin won that one too, didn't he?
- omoikane 2y agoI am always impressed at how they managed to capture action shots like these in perfect focus, with the motorcycle moving at 150 miles per hour.
- cromulent 2y agoFor me it is Evel Knievel high above the Caesers Palace fountain. So many extreme sports descend from his daredevilry.
- signa11 2y agoreminds me of this movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Fastest_Indian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World%27s_Fastest_Indian based on the life of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Munro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Munro quite remarkable actually, and a damn good movie.
- dogman1050 2y agoCool indeed, but this is my favorite cycle picture. [1] It's technically a tricar, but given the handlebar controls and lack of bodywork, I think it qualifies. The vehicle is a Mototri Contal practicing for the 1907 Peking to Paris race [2]. These guys look like they want to win! They didn't, almost dying in the process. The passenger is a journalist. Motor-journalist Denis Jenkinson [3] did something similar later, acting as navigator for Stirling Moss in the 1955 Mille Miglia race, which they won. [1] <https://ccnwordpress.blob.core.windows.net/journal/2019/02/Mototri-Contal-action.jpg https://ccnwordpress.blob.core.windows.net/journal/2019/02/M...> [2] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_to_Paris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_to_Paris> [3] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Jenkinson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Jenkinson>