On our recent family tenting drive around Ohio we visited the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. It’s worth a stop!
It features the guys and gals behind motorcycling and the place where the people make the most difference, I suppose, is in motorsport. So the Hall is a celebration of American motorcycle racing heroes for the most part. There are some interesting exceptions, though. …And a few foreign bikes have sneaked in.
No chopper dudes, though. …Yet?
Are the important motor-people REALLY only or mostly in racing?
America is most famous for dirt-track racing so that sport seems to get the lion’s share of attention. Next there’s motocross (which actually came over here from where it was already big in Europe).
Some industry people do get highlighted, like Craig Vetter — the creator of the Windjammer and the first guy to push fuel economy in motorcycles — and still seemingly on the only one really working at it. (He answers his email, too.)
But there are a TON of old bikes. Old American bikes. Harleys and Indians, in short.
There’s a goodly amount of showcasing various Hondas that have been built in the USA, particularly Marysville, Ohio. The best example of this is the full-custom yet full-factory built integrated Honda. I forget the model but I have a pic in the link here. It’s wine-red. …The most complex factory-built motorcycle ever.
I did miss seeing a wider variety of nifty vintage bikes, though, including my fave Jap bikes from the 70’s-80’s — Beemers, too. Oh well, there’s a limit to floorspace, I’m sure.
picasaweb.google.com/104110048140101006653/MotorcycleHallOfFame
https://picasaweb.google.com/104110048140101006653/MotorcycleHallOfFame
