Harry Potter fails to ride Royal Enfield to an Oscar

Royal Enfield propels Harry Potter through his final two movies.

Royal Enfield motorcycles missed their best chance to win an Oscar late Sunday evening when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 missed out on the award for best visual effects. The Academy Award for Special Effects went to the movie Hugo.

A flying motorcycle did show up at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. It was featured in host Billy Crystal's spoof opening montage. In the montage Crystal appeared in a collection of clips that inserted him into key moments from nominated films.

In one brief sequence he was pictured riding a ratty sidecar outfit — a reference to the sidecar combination in the movie The Adventures of Tintin. It's probably a Ural.

Dressed as Tintin, Academy Awards host Billy Crystal "rides" a sidecar rig.

"The visual-effects prize had been the last chance for the Harry Potter franchise to win an Oscar," the Associated Press reported. "The finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, had been nominated for visual effects and two other Oscars but lost all three. Previous Harry Potter installments had lost on all nine of their nominations.

"The teen wizard may never have struck Oscar gold, but he has a consolation prize: $7.7 billion at the box office worldwide, including $1.3 billion from Deathly Hallows: Part 2, last year's top-grossing movie," the AP reported.

We won't know how many Royal Enfield sidecar outfits the movies sold until the young people who watched the films grow up and start buying them.

Harry Potter's flying Royal Enfield takes to the sky with the help of a crane.

Here's Billy Crystal's opening montage from the 84th Academy Awards. Ride along.

The best video I've seen of a Royal Enfield in motion

A lovely short video of a Royal Enfield rounding a curve so intrigued me that I wrote to the fellow who posted it on YouTube asking for details.

He replied, with another video of his bike!



Of the original video, he wrote:

"Yes it's my Bullet and I'm riding it too... So my name is Jan, 27 years old, from Dortmund, Germany and I work on my bikes in my free time. I like my bikes pure, low and loud ;)...

"The video is takes place at a spot called "Heggen," Germany. It's a nice little road in the woods with lot of curves on it — so it's used for illegal road races very often. Mostly of course raced by some super sport bikes (Honda CBR, Yamaha R6...) and supermoto bikes (KTM). But my Enfield has got such a nice handling that I beat most of the riders and they wonder a lot, cause it looks so old.

"The video is taken at the end of one of the last clear and cold fall days when everybody went home except me, for me it was a 300km run at 10 degrees over zero to this place.

"It is outside in the woods; normally nobody is there most of the time. The only thing you can hear are some bird sounds at this time of the day. So I decided to place my camera on a stand, start my bike with its loud pipe and 'Break the Silence' — so that's the little story of this video.

"Best regards from Germany."

Thank you, Jan, for sharing this lovely video:

Motorcycle artwork captured the thrill of speed

In his recent post "Selling Speed" on The Vintagent blog, Paul d'Orleans writes that "the first motorcycle race started when the second motorcycle was built."

His article is a rich explanation of the speed-driven history of the motorcycle from its beginnings. It is  accompanied by examples of the wonderful motorcycle art and advertisements of each era.

d'Orleans explains that, by happy coincidence, some early cameras had shutters that exposed the shot from the bottom up. This meant that the bottom of a fast moving vehicle was photographed an instant before the top. By the time the shutter closed, forward motion had given the vehicle a distorted, forward-leaning look. Its round wheels now looked like ovals that seem to lunge forward.

Looking at these still photos, or the artwork they inspired, you just know the machine is going fast.

These images did more than just succeed in capturing speed. According to d'Orleans, the art ultimately began to influence the look of the motorcycles themselves. How else, in my opinion, to account for the popularity of "slopers" — motorcycles with their cylinders tilted forward toward the front wheel.

Rider, passenger, front cylinder and oval front wheel lean forward. Speed!

One of the illustrations he includes is my all-time favorite: R.C. Reyrolles' 1945 painting of a prototype HRD-Vincent Series B. Rapide.

I love the forward leaning picture of speed here (d'Orleans points out that the somewhat dandified rider's red scarf reveals the artist is French).

d'Orleans notes that the rider's "hot girlfriend" is the ultimate motorcycling accessory. Pretty pre-war passengers had been more demure. But nevermind the clinging (frightened?) blonde with the shapely legs. I wonder where I can get a pair of saddle shoes like his.

With apologies to the artist, I long ago modified his work in Photoshop (starting with a much lower resolution original) to emphasize the elements I find most interesting: speed, courage, fear and — OK — the blonde.

With apologies to the artist.

Royal Enfield custom is named Hearts-a-Bustin'

The motorcycle show was the first time Grace got to sit on her custom Enfield.

Inspired by the Royal Enfield "Badger" racer, Grace Stoeckle's custom Royal Enfield, Hearts-a-Bustin', made its debut at the International Motorcycle Show in New York last month. Hearts-a-Bustin' was custom built by Leon Stanley at Cycle Icons in Trenton, N.J., where the Badger was created.

The pictures shown here are from Grace's Flickr album, reprinted with her permission. I asked Grace to describe what inspired her to commission Hearts-a-Bustin'. She replied:

"I was in the market for a bike in 2008-2009 and was just kind of watching the magazines to see what caught my eye. I had never heard of Royal Enfield when I saw a review of the new C5. I knew I wanted one right away. I looked for a dealer and found Cycle Icons. I ended up buying the G5 Classic instead.

Is it sweet or sassy? It has plenty of attitude.

"Cycle Icons has since stopped dealing bikes and transformed into a sort hot rod shop for lots of bikes but specializing in Enfields. Leon Stanley is the owner. This past summer he transformed a bike like mine into "The Badger," a race bike. I loved what he had done so much I asked him if he would want to customize my bike. Then we just started talking about our plan.

"Hearts-a-Bustin' was my inspiration because it's a Billy Joe Shaver song that I love. The song's lyrics explain that Hearts-a-Bustin' is a flower, but of course the song is also about heartbreak which I can relate to, as most of us can. Plus, I knew my bike would be breaking hearts everywhere it went! So the name stuck.

Elegant typeface from long ago.

"I found a picture online of a really old Enfield spare parts catalog, and the way the logo was scripted was so elegant that I had it painted on my tank once it was stripped down to bare metal. (That's the original G5 tank).

"I'm a warm-weather, recreational rider, not a hardcore 10,000-miles-a-year rider. I like to spend a warm afternoon riding on twisty roads and lean in nice, but I am not an aggressive rider. I feel really in sync with the Enfield, like I have never felt with any bike and so riding it is very zen. I hate getting off for the day. I mostly ride with a group (Brit Bikes and Euro Cycles) that's based in the Philadelphia area where I live.

Black rear shock seems to balance black headlight bucket.

"This group is full of fantastic, sweet, bike nerds who aren't prejudiced against any style of bike or bike enthusiast. We always have great rides. There are plenty of women in this group too.

"I live just outside of Philadelphia. I've been riding since I was 18. By day I'm a Web Information Architect, architecting websites for an agency based in Indianapolis."

Grace's custom was displayed at the Royal Enfield stand at the motorcycle show, where it drew plenty of attention. Despite the Do Not Touch sign, "everyone touched it," she reports.

Instrument panel presents a sense of authority.

She has a blog of her own, One Girl, One Dog, One Cylinder,  which details her feelings about Royal Enfields. I particularly enjoyed her item "A Motorcycle Engine Is an Engine That Powers a Motorcycle."

As for Hearts-a-Bustin', there will have to be an update article.

"The tank is not done yet," Grace wrote. "I am commissioning artwork for the left side, and it will relate to the Hearts-a-Bustin' name. We put the logo on both sides so it looked done for the New York City show."

Grace and Royal Enfield USA president Kevin Mahoney admire the tank.

Cheers! Royal Enfield inspires great beer labels

There's no better beer than a Royal Enfield.

Make mine a Royal Enfield!

When I go to the refrigerator now I can choose from:

Maj. Bunty Ale ("Brewed in Chennai").
War Time Best Bitter ("Made Like a Gun")
Flying Flea IPA ("Brewed Like a Gun")
Royal Enfield Oil Spill IPA
Royal Enfield Rocker Stout
Or, my current favorite, Pilot Light Pilsner

These choice beers came as a Christmas gift from my daughter Anna. Each has a colorful label evoking the joys of riding a Royal Enfield (perhaps not so much with the Oil Spill IPA). I consume them in an "official" Royal Enfield beer glass presented to me by daughter Erin on an earlier occasion.

Which Royal Enfield beer to choose? Luckily they all taste the same!

Would the Mad Major "Bunty" Golightly approve of the taste of Maj. Bunty Ale?

That depends on whether he enjoys Yuengling Traditional Lager. Each of the six beers Anna gifted me with tastes exactly like Yuengling Traditional Lager.

It's a case of badge engineering: her mother soaked the labels off a six-pack of Yuengling and Anna applied her label designs and gift wrapping.

You can make your own beer labels online at Beer Labelizer or Labeley.

This is the point at which you'd expect me to say "it's easy!" It's not. The web sites work well, but my efforts produced nothing nearly as neat as Anna produced.

Look at the time! Believe I'll crack open a Flying Flea IPA.

Royal Enfield motorcycles are core of amazing collection

John Ruff of Huntsville, Ontario, Canada has managed to gather 28 Royal Enfields plus parts of another 20 or so motors. It's not just a collection — he works on them. Join him as he walks us through more of his amazing menagerie in his own words. (Note: the pictures are somewhat out of date and most of these projects have moved beyond what you see here).

BEFORE: 1935 Royal Enfield Model LO motor.

"Found this very rare 1935 Royal Enfield Model LO three-valve at an automotive swap meet. Did not know what it was other than being a Royal Enfield. Turned out (Royal Enfield expert) Roy MacMillan wanted it real bad, so I traded it to him for the GP carb, a bottom end rebuild on a '54 700 Meteor motor, couple wheels for a Norman and a promise to build the Super Five motor when I find tranny parts. When I dropped off the motor I picked up a unit 250 Works Trials Replica near completion from him.

AFTER: Royal Enfield Model LO sloper.

"Here's the LO after I cleaned it up. What a beauty, eh? One year only. Quite a find. Roy has been working on building a bike around this unit. He will do it, whereas I do not have the contacts, mechanical experience or the qualifications to do it myself. Only reason I let him have it was so it could be a motorcycle again.

Royal Enfield 250 Clipper with DKW front end.

"Here's what I call the World's Second Slowest Indian. A 250 Clipper or, in the States an Indian Hounds Arrow I believe. Found a bunch of real Indian and Harley parts at a farm (another story altogether) and built a 1940 and most of a '46 Chief. Did some trading and got a 250 Indian frame with the motor and tranny bolted up together. That was all, nothing else.

"Frame ended up being bent badly. Found a frame at the same automotive swap meet that the LO came from. Saw a DKW at another meet in the Fall. It was just a frame, with the front end on it and a gas tank. Bought it for $50. Modified the front end to suit the Clipper and proceeded to make up the rest of the bracketry to mount some parts that were kicking about. Keeps me busy during our long winters. Have not run it yet

Royal Enfield Super 5 awaits attention.

"The Super Five as it was purchased and still is. Waiting for a redo. Missing the five-speed tranny, the covers for the bottom links of the forks and a couple other minor pieces. Another pretty rare Enfield. At least in this country.

Just one wall of John's shop.

"One wall of the shop at the cottage. Has been changed a bit since the picture. Fuller. Motors are all empty, parts are all cleaned up. Hobby way out of hand, as they say.

John's Royal Enfield Interceptor.

"My ride for the last four years, a 1A TT Interceptor 1967-'68, last year before the Series II. Original, unrestored. Another story again altogether.

1950 Royal Enfield Model RE.

"The Model RE after a major parts search and redo. 1950 model, 125cc. Picture is upstairs at the shop.

"Have I worn you out yet?

1952 Model RE is a project.

"Here is yet another picture of a project that I have not started as yet. Still missing a few bits, but pretty complete just the same. 1952 (I believe) RE2 125cc two stroke.

Works trials replica; a pretty little thing.

"Here is a shot of a Works Trials Replica that I made a deal with Roy on. He phoned one day and told me he was going to build one of these models. Continued to say that he had parts to build up most of another one. Only four had come into Canada. Was I interested in the parts one? I said OK, but while you are doing yours, do mine too. Waiting now for dimensions for a skid plate, so one can be fabbed up. Also need the quick disconnect plug in for headlight and full trials type exhaust. Couple other minor things. Pretty little thing though.

Royal Enfield Model G or J.

"A project, rigid late '30s Model G or J, need lots for this one.

1927 AJS as found.

"Found this '20s AJS. Had a motor for 17 years. Finally found a frame for it.

Ariel Square Four.

"An Ariel Square Four that I have been gathering parts for now at least the last 20 years. Built it like this but need to redo, as the motor is a 1950 and frame is a 1953. Now have a '50 frame, front fender and gas tank, so want to build it as a 1950. Will sell off the other parts to help finance this project. My daughter's name is Ariel.

American Moto-Scoot.

"Ever see one of these? Bought barn fresh out of bargain paper. Late '30s early '40s American Moto-Scoot. Got it running. Going to sell one day, once a buyer is found.

Indian Woodsman 500cc.

"Indian Woodsman 500cc project. All the body parts are the Royal Enfield India take off stuff. Just made up different brackets to suit, so I did not have to modify original parts. Something I usually do so if the original stuff is found at a later date, then the parts can go on another project without any trouble.

Royal Enfield Constellation.

"Constellation project. It is a little better since these pictures were taken.

1950 Royal Enfield Model G.

"1950 Model G project. Not much further on this one than what the picture shows.

1950 Royal Enfield 500 twin.

"1950 500 Twin project. Managed to do a bit more to it since the picture was taken.

Strange but oddly appealing snow-goer.

"Oddball snowmachine I picked up. Alsport Tracker. Very little info out there on these that I can find. Going to have to sell it. Takes up too much room. Made in Ohio. Skis in winter, wheels in summer, double track, two seater with reverse. Cool; rare, I think.

Royal Enfield built three-wheeler.

"A three-wheeled Royal Enfield. Actually it is a Pashley. In the States it was called an Indian Patrol Car. Usually red or black. Fifty of these came over to Toronto, Hamiliton area to be used by the Police. Usually for the meter maids to mark tires to see how long a vehicle was parked in the same place and to collect money from the meters. The operators wore a green outfit and rode these yellow machines. They were nicknamed the Green Hornets.

"This one was originally used by the Toronto Police, then went to the Barrie Police. Auctioned off there and used at a campground. Bought from there and taken apart for resto. Nothing was done and it was exchanged a couple more times and I finally ended up with it and just put it all back together. Tank is off another parts one that I had already. The other parts one, the motor had been sent to Trans Anglo Iran in 1960.  Wonder how it got here?"

Royal Enfield Big Head Bullet became a saga

John Ruff shares the saga of his Big Head Royal Enfield Bullet.

Royal Enfield motorcycles are the hobby of John Ruff of Huntsville, Ontario, Canada but, as he admits, his collection has gone way beyond a hobby. In a series of emails he walked me through part of his amazing collection of Royal Enfield bikes and bits. Come along for the ride. We'll start with his Big Head Bullet.

Below is the edited (for length) story in John's own words. (Note: the pictures are somewhat out of date and many of his projects have moved beyond what you see here).

"Here are a couple pictures of my Big Head Royal Enfield . I now have a GP carb for it . This bike is a work in progress . First heard about and had a look at a very sad appearing Big Head about 30 years ago. At that time I was new to British bikes but was trying to find parts for another sad project, an early Interceptor that I paid $300 for and brought home in the trunk of a Toyota Corolla. That's another story .

"Did not get any parts for the Interceptor, but instead bought a really rough RE 125. While there the guy let me have a look at some of his other stuff, one them being the Big Head, as he called it. Dirty and not much to it, but the engine hit me as a beauty.

"The frame had been chromed at one time. Looked pretty good. Well it was not for sale, and he was looking for parts for it . Over the next few years I ended up finding quite a few motorcycles while looking for parts for the Interceptor and RE 125 . Several of these were Royal Enfield parts bikes as well as what others considered good bikes. I traded the others for Royal Enfields and parts — usually the others got the best of the deal, but at the time I thought I was the winner.

"Some of these went to the guy with the Big Head for future considerations. I was left with the understanding that I had first dibs on the Big Head. Over the years I bought at least eight bikes from the guy, paying the going price. Finally, at a rally about 10 years ago the guy said he was going to sell the Fury, as he then called it . 'How much?' I ask. Three Thousand U.S. I am told. Quite a lot of money for a frame, motor with tranny bolted into it and a front end on it with two wheels. That's all. No bars, seat  fenders, footpegs, fuel tank,   carb, mag, etc.

"I made the deal that weekend basically sight unseen since a trip to his place about 20 years before. Went to his place one last time to pick the bike up and pay for it . I must say that it sure looked a lot tougher than I remembered. For some reason I thought it was a lot more complete and in better condition. As mentioned the frame had been chromed , but the rear footpeg loops had been cut off with a hacksaw first, then the frame was chromed . They did not even bother to file the rest of the loops smooth . Just left the stubs there and chromed over them. Later the front seat mount had been cut off, also not cleaned up. By now everything was rusted up some.

"One thing I got was a gas tank that he said was his and that another guy had at his place and I could have. I later had to pay another $200 for it as the buddy said that other buddy had not paid him for it. Turned out it was incorrect anyway. Still have it.

"Well, now I am committed. Here I have three grand in a parts bike. Could not find a tank, so I used a rather battered Model G tank that was on the shelf (another trade, another story). Did some reconstructive surgery. Stuck a couple alloy fenders on it, made up the brackets for fenders, tach, Triumph seat, bars, Mikuni carb and whatever else I could cobble up over the winter. Had it looking not bad (or so I thought at the time) and took it to the following year's CVMG Rally. Had it running at home before bringing it , but only for a few minutes. She drew a bit of interest there and I was excited to ride it around. Bitch to start, and when it did it farted and missed like crazy. Gas tank began to leak all over the place. One short burst was all I  got out of it at that time and I realized there was sure a long way to go .

Rough when found, it now gleams.

"So over the next few years all that was done was try different parts on it. Added new chrome (take off) fenders from the India Enfields. Made up new rear seat fender brackets to more of original styling. Put on one of the cafe seats for the new Enfields. Took a rusted out new Enfield gas tank and reworked the bottom of it to fit over the head. Remade all the cables, added a GP carb. That was made from scratch (castings and machine work and everything, a work of art in itself). Cleaned it all up. Looks pretty good again, although still not original.

"Never did try to run it again until last summer's REOC Rally here in Canada. Now that weekend is another story altogether. If you want I can tell you about that as well one day."

GP carb that Royal Enfield guru Roy MacMillan cast and machined.
John had to find the internals. 

I'll show you more of John's amazing collection of motors and motorcycles soon.

UPDATE:  John Ruff advises that he sent his frame and engine numbers to Graham Scarth of the Royal Enfield Owners Club, keeper of the original Redditch dispatch ledgers. Here's what he learned: "Big Head is a matching numbers 1959 Indian Westerner (built by Royal Enfield). Have a story out of a November, 1995  issue of Classic Bike that says the American Bullet had formerly been the Indian Woodsman, a Redditch-tuned version of the 'small head' single. For 1959 only, Indian sold the Westerner, the first big head single in the U.S., and the RE-badged Fury followed that model's pattern. Some early advertisements depicted it with the earlier head."

Royal Enfield Interceptor was his 35-year project

Fine looking Royal Enfield Interceptor took 35 years to get this way.

It's a 1965 Royal Enfield Interceptor, "35 Years in the Making." That's the way Kevin Lemire  of Port Orange, Fla. thinks of his fully restored Interceptor.

Here's his story:

"I was 18 years old when I bought my '65 Interceptor in 1973, ending over a year of pestering the previous owner. The bike was sadly neglected, had not run in about three years, and was left outside and uncovered in northern New Hampshire. I paid $100 for the bike and had to chip it out of about six inches of ice and frozen mud in order to take it home. I was newly married at the time and my wife made no secret about how she felt about this rusty piece of junk I hauled home...

"This was the first Enfield I had ever seen and I was captivated by the lines, massive engine, and the instrument cluster in the large aluminum housing. I admired the red, white and blue MV Augusta’s offered during those years and promptly painted the Enfield to match. I used spray cans and painted the frame red, the tank blue, and the side covers white. Looking back, it was a truly ugly sight, but I felt it was very beautiful.

"I made a couple trips to Revere, Mass., to see Sam Avellino and Son. I bought a number of parts, including a gasket set that I used nearly 30 years later to restore the bike. Although I managed to get a few half-hearted noises from the engine, I never really succeeded in getting it running and parked it out of the way in the garage. I subsequently joined the Navy and left the bike in my uncle’s basement for several years... While home on leave one year, I disassembled the bike and packed it all up in boxes, carrying it with me from move to move for the next 25 years of my military career...

"Somewhere around 2001... I decided to finally start the restoration. I had the good fortune of living about 45 minutes from Avellino and Son, thrilled to find Sam still in business. I made many trips there to buy parts and pick Sam’s brain. He was very helpful and I greatly enjoyed my visits with him. Some of you probably know he had a number of Interceptors and Indian Enfields in his showroom, most with a little bag hanging from the handlebars. I asked about the bags and Sam told me they contained the titles for the bikes. Each bike was to go to a child or grandchild when the time came…I wonder if they ever did?

"I brought my engine and transmission numbers down one day and Sam looked it up in old sales records. He found that the bike was imported by his dad back in 1965 and sold to a dealer in Laconia, N.H. The dealer sold the bike to a man in Littleton N.H. who subsequently sold it to the man I bought it from. So, that makes me the third owner in 44 years...

"I powder coated all the black parts, had some relatively minor welding done to the cases, and bought numerous new parts from Sam, Hitchcock’s, and Burton Bike Bits. New parts included: seat, fenders, bars, rims and stainless spokes, tires, tubes, pistons, rings, lower and big end bearings, wiring harness, stator, batter, levers, all bearings and seals, and cables.

"Nearly every part on the bike had been damaged by heavy-handed non-mechanics who obviously had little more than vise grips and a hammer in their tool box. The valve guides had been hammered into the heads with tin foil wrapped around them and were mushroomed over. They were loose and it is a wonder the bike was ever able to run. I had to have a machine shop manufacture new guides and bore out the holes to fit. I had them fit stellite exhaust seats at the same time, bead blast the heads, and cylinders so I could powder coat them.

"I had the tank, chain guard and battery box covers painted red. I had the wheels professionally rebuilt by Jay Strait and the hubs polished; he did a beautiful job.

"The bike fired up on the third kick and so far has been quite dependable. I still have the 6-volt electrics but will eventually convert to 12. I am still running the original magneto without a rebuild, but I am sure it could use one and a new condenser. However, the bike starts on one or two kicks even after sitting for weeks. The only unsolved problem so far is a good oil leak from the transmission; I suspect I have a crack in the case that will require case replacement. I have a new case with a number near the original and when I get the ambition will pull the engine and transmission and do the repair.

"So, I have owned the bike for over 30 years and have only put about 2,000 miles on it. It has traveled to many different states and duty stations and is finally free once more to hit the pavement... The Interceptor is a pure joy to look at and I never tire of admiring the engine and classic lines.

"I have a Harley Road King for my daily ride, the Interceptor, a 1969 Kawasaki 650 W2SS that I bought in 10th grade and recently completed restoring, and a 1966 BSA 441 Victor that I just finished up. So I have America, Great Britain, and Japan covered. Now maybe a nice Guzzi?"

1966 BSA 441 Victor that Kevin just finished restoring.

Royal Enfield tricycle is still making rainbows

Royal Enfield tricycle has water barrel and spray nozzle.

A Royal Enfield tricycle that generates rainbows caught my attention when it was offered for sale on eBay.

It didn't sell, but its creator, Matt Rink, spotted the item I wrote and contacted me with more information about his intriguing creation.

Attention museums and discovery centers: Matt is now willing to accept offers substantially below his original asking price just to see it find a good home. I think children in particular would be delighted and inspired by this clever piece of functional art. Contact him at  mattrinksculpture@gmail.com His website is www.mattrinksculpture.com

"Just to give you a little background, I found this trike at the Pickens County flea market in South Carolina back in the fall of 2009 when I was pursuing my masters in art at Clemson University," Matt wrote.

Royal Enfield badge was standard; fender ornament wasn't.

"Picked it up in pretty rough shape for about 30 bucks. Only knowing of Royal Enfield by their motorcycle heritage, I was equally baffled and found inconclusive information online about their origin. Judging by the mechanicals, I figured the bike was from the '60s or '70s, probably not too much earlier.

"There are no markings indicating a country of origin... It appeared to originally be a three speed, but with a roached derailleur and no shifter, I opted for a new single-speed chain and tensioned the chain by pulling back on the rear part of the frame.

"I stripped the bike down, bead-blasted the frame and all small parts. Swapped the bent front fork for another newer one that I had on hand and replaced the seized-up front brake with a newer model cantilever. Did some welding on the rims to fix the tire bead, which was corroding, and picked up some new white wall tires. As part of my thesis (don't laugh because this is actually what we can get away with in the art world) I set up a rainbow making mechanism to create impromptu visual absurdity around Clemson.

See the rainbow? Now you can make your own!

"It was a blast to ride around and definitely got a lot of attention.

"The tear-drop trailer, which I fabricated from scratch, held a gas generator and powered the fan, which actually inflated some parachute sculptures. All in good fun!

Fan mounted on trailer inflates balloon sculptures. Of course!

"I just moved to a new apartment in New Fairfield, Conn., where I'm sharing a 4,000 square-foot fabrication studio complete with all sorts of fun equipment for metal and wood-working. During my days I work as a carpenter and nights, weekends and all other time is spent applying for public art sculpture commissions, building furniture and working on bikes, jeeps and whatever else I can get my hands on. I also like to ride them whenever I can!"

Royal Enfield cafe racer: here's what we know so far

This says: "Let's go somewhere; fast."

The Royal Enfield cafe racer unveiled (again) last month earned applause all over the world.

Here it is being praised on the blog Return of the Cafe Racer.

There's even a Facebook page dedicated to encouraging Royal Enfield to bring it to market ASAP!

"I want one of these so bad I can taste it," reader Bob Slovey wrote me.

"While surfing the Internet for photos of these jewels, I discovered there have been several renditions displayed since Royal Enfield first considered the concept," he noted. "They are all beautiful."

But, he concludes, maybe it's all just a "tease."

No, it's not. Here's what I know from a source I trust:

The cafe racer is coming "beyond any shadow of a doubt."

• The version shown recently is closest to what will be produced.
• It will have a double down tube frame for sure.
• The frame is close to a featherbed design and does not use the engine as part of it.
• The cafe racer is considerably lighter than a Bullet, so the performance will be good.
• It will have disc brakes front and rear.
• Few parts will interchange with current models.
• The engine WILL be a single.
• It should go like hell.

"It is a no-compromise cafe racer, not a warmed over Bullet," my source said.

What we don't know is when it will be produced. The target is 2013, but there are no promises there.

His Royal Enfield Indians are 'a bit' different

1960 Indian Chief, made by Royal Enfield.

I asked readers to recommend their "favorite photos that represent Royal Enfields to you." Roger Chrystie of Massachusetts responded with beautiful pictures of two of his Royal Enfield Indians. Things got interesting when he explained what they are.

"The red Indian Chief is almost all original. It's a 1960 that was shipped over when Matchless took over the Indian line and they still used Royal Enfields for this model," Roger wrote.

Red frame really sets off this custom Enfield Indian.

"The red-framed Apache is a mix of parts that I put together. Frame is '57 Apache; the motor is out of a '57 Trailblazer. The tank and fenders are actually made new for a Bullet.

"I also have a matching numbers '57 Apache and a '57 Trailblazer, that at the moment, are in pieces.

"This winter I'm putting a '57 Trailblazer motor in a 1965 Interceptor frame. I'm sure the purists will hate me for this.

"I also own a 2004 Bullet Sixty-5 that I bought new — then promptly changed everything on it.

This started as a 2004 Bullet Sixty-5!

"Its picture isn't as pretty as the others because I took it in my shop. I'm a marine mechanic still working; will turn 69 this year. Hope I can still keep kickstarting these things."

Dania Beach Vintage Motorcycle Show shines again

Unshiny Triumph caught in the gleaming reflection of a BSA tank.

The 2012 Dania Beach Vintage Motorcycle Show looked outstanding this year.

I say "looked" because I couldn't go, although I made it last year. I'm seeing the 2012 show along with you here, through photographs by Kenneth Maginnity. He's the private chef aboard one of the great white yachts that visits Fort Lauderdale this time of year. But not for much longer.

No mistaking this brand. It's an Indian.

This year he plans to ride a restored 1965 Royal Enfield Bullet 3,500 miles through India, to the top of the world and into Kashmir. He'll do it for the adventure and also to raise money for the organization End Poverty, which conducts micro-financing to aid the poor. Learn more about it on his website, India on an Enfield.

This Indian honors the Boozefighters of old.

Kenneth's pictures are great and his taste in subjects seems surprisingly like mine.

Triton, (Triumph motor, Norton frame) looks the pinnacle of perfection.

When it comes to motorcycles we all seem to love 'em shiny — unless they're old, beat up and as lived in as an old pair of loafers.

Then we adore them.

Harley-Davidson with tank shift looks as though it has been there and back.