The CB1100 Community Forum

Back in 1998 my wife and I were headed out east to Pennsylvania to attend a wedding. We decided to leave a couple of days early so that we could visit New York City as neither of us had been before. We saw a lot, yet very little all in the same visit. One thing that we did make time for, and I was not even aware was going on before we arrived, was [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Motorcycle]The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit that was showing at the Guggenheim Museum. God bless my wife for agreeing that we should go to this because for me this was pretty cool to see. The museum building itself, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was pretty awesome on it's own. Filling that particular structure with an incredibly wide variety of motorcycles made for an amazing experience. I had no idea about all of the controversy that resulted from this show. But I'm still glad that it happened and that I was able to attend.

I bring this up now because I the only thing that I purchased while at the exhibit was a small magnet for the 'fridge'. Everything else was out of both my price and size range (I tend to travel very light). I have checked over the years on prices for a used copy of the hardcover book associated with this specific event and was always disappointed to find that they never seemed to drop in price. But after discussing the Britten V1000 here on the forum last month I was reminded to check again as this was one of the motorcycles included in the exhibit. To my surprise I was happy to find that prices for this book had dropped significantly, so I finally ordered one. The book arrived earlier this week. At well over 400 pages and more than 7 pounds in weight, it is massive. For $50 I now have plenty of additional entertainment available to me while hanging out at home.

This has also made me curious to know if anyone else out there on the forum happened to have attended this event?

Guth, I attended the event when they moved it to Las Vegas. It was incredible. I have the book and also a large color poster which is framed and hanging in my garage.

I also saw the exhibit in Las Vegas with our son , great show with very interesting bikes. We used to visit Vegas a lot when our son lived in Scottsdale AZ.

I saw it in Las Vegas as well. I really enjoyed it, but recall my first wife saying, at that time, noticing that I was looking at the bikes with great interest, “If you even think of buying a motorcycle I’m leaving.”

I should have bought one then and saved some time and hassle. I’m sure that she would have burned any exhibit poster or other item I might have purchased to mark the occasion.

The one bike from the exhibit that continued to stick in my mind was a replica of an 1885 Daimler Reitwagen. When the Petersen acquired a replica as well (may very well have been the same machine), memories of the Vegas exhibit made me smile.

Fast forward to last year, and my (current) wife and I went to the Golden Bolt motorcycle exhibit in L.A. She enjoyed it just as much as I did and she insisted that I buy the t-shirt.

The exhibition was on tour for about a year or more. It came to Memphis at our Pyramid sports/ convention center. This was back in the heyday of biker build offs , Orange County Chopper, Jesse James, Easy Riders Shows etc. Also writer Paul d’orleans.

And Indian Larry. Don’t forget Indian Larry.