Million Dollar Motorcycles

By Stephen Milioti

Japanese artists are renowned for their Zen-like patience, but spending 7,500 hours hand-crafting a motorcycle would seem to push that to absurd lengths – until you see the motorcycle. Then you wonder how Chicara Nagata managed to build something so stunning in so little time.

Nagata’s award-winning motorcycles are breathtaking works of art, so it is fitting that three of them are featured in an exhibit at New York’s Ippodo Gallery and the Contemporary Asian Art Fair. The bikes are as meticulously crafted as they are stunningly detailed, blending vintage parts with modern design to create motorcycles that are simultaneously retro and futuristic.

Nagata’s art pays tribute to the very machines that almost killed him, and to the people who saved him. "There are many ways a man can express himself, but there are not many things I can do," he writes in the notes accompanying his exhibit. "I have found something on which I will pour my life."

Nagata, 46, was 16 when a motorcycle accident nearly killed him. He endured eight months of intensive therapy and several blood transfusions during his recovery, all the while wondering why he should survive so horrible an accident when so many others haven’t. Nagata, whose name means "power," decided to honor those who had died, and those who saved him, by creating art. He became a graphic designer in 1982 and launched his own studio a decade later.

His love affair with motorcycles was rekindled in 1993 when he started building his first custom. It took him seven years. Whereas most motorcycle "builders" do little more than open the Fat Book parts catalog and start ordering parts they simply bolt together in a week or two, Nagata hand-crafts everything but the drivetrains. The frames, the suspension components, even the throttle assemblies and hand controls are designed and made by Nagata.

He’s built 13 bikes so far. Nagata won the grand prize in the 2006 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building for Chicara Art I, a sleek retro-ride powered by a 1939 Harley-Davidson U motor. He took second place last year with Chicara Art II, which features a 1942 Harley WLA motor.

The three bikes featured at Ippodo can be had for $1 million apiece which, given the level of workmanship, strikes us as a bargain.

Photos courtesy Ippodo Gallery. Be sure to check out Nagata’s work on his Web site.

Photo Above: Chicara Art I. Finished 2006. It’s powered by a 1939 Harley Davidson flathead "U" motor displacing 1,200cc.

Photo above: Engine detail shot of Chicara III showing the 1950 Meguro racing motor and 1950 Triumph transmission. As with all of Nagata’s bikes, all parts — hand controls, foot controls, throttle and clutch linkages, everything — but the engine and drivetrain are hand-crafted. The bike was completed this year.

Photo above: The Chicara Art IV finished earlier this year is without question the world’s coolest moped. That’s right, moped. Power comes from a 1966 Honda moped engine. It produced 1.5 horsepower but looks oh so much faster.

The Vincent http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifBlack Shadow Britain’s Coolest Motorcycle

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Motorcycle enthusiasts who follow motorcycle history know about the record breaking performance of the Vincent Black Shadow, the 1948 Black Shadow was at the time the worlds fastest production motorcycle that easily reached speeds of 125 mph.

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Vincent Motorcycles, "the makers of the world’s fastest motorcycles", began with the purchase of HRD Motors Ltd less the factory premises, by Phil Vincent in May, 1928. HRD was founded by the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) pilot, Howard Raymond Davies, who was shot down and captured by the Germans in 1917. Legend has it that it was while a prisoner of war that he conceived the idea of building his own motorcycle, and contemplated how he might achieve that. It was not until 1924 that Davies entered into partnership with E J Massey, trading as HRD Motors. Various models were produced, generally powered by JAP (JA Prestwich Industries) engines.

Unfortunately, though HRD motorcycles won races, the company ran at a loss, and in January 1928 it went into voluntary liquidation. The company was initially bought by Ernest Humphries of OK-Supreme Motors for the factory space, and the HRD name, jigs, tools, patterns, and remaining components were subsequently offered for sale again.

Philip Vincent was advised to start production under an established name. He had built a motorcycle of his own in 1927 and in 1928 had registered a patent for a cantilever rear suspension of his own design. With the backing of his family wealth from cattle ranching in Argentina, Vincent acquired the trademark, goodwill and remaining components of HRD from Humphries for £450 in 1928.

The company was promptly renamed Vincent HRD Co., Ltd and production moved to Stevenage. The new trademark had "Vincent" in very small letters above "HRD" written large. After World War 2 Britain had an export drive to repay its war debts, and the USA was the largest market for motorcycles, so in 1949 the HRD was dropped from the name to avoid any confusion with the "HD" of Harley Davidson, and the motorcycle became The Vincent.

In 1928 the first Vincent-HRD motorcycle used a JAP single-cylinder engine in a Vincent-designed cantilever frame. The earliest known example extant exists in Canberra, Australia. Some early bikes used Rudge-Python engines. But after a disastrous 1934 Isle of Man TT, with engine problems and all three entries failing to finish, Phil Vincent and Phil Irving decided to build their own engines.

Phil Vincent also experimented with three wheeled vehicles, amphibious vehicles, and automobiles. In 1932 the first 3-wheeler, "The Vincent Bantam" appeared, powered by a 293cc Villiers engine. It was a 2.5 cwt delivery van with a car seat and a steering wheel. The Bantam cost £57-10-0 and the windscreen and hood option cost £5-10-0. Production ceased in 1936.

The 1948 Series C Rapide differed from the Series B in having "Girdraulic" front forks – which were girder forks with hydraulic damping.

The “Black Shadow”, capable of 125 mph (201 km/h), and easily recognized by its black engine and gearbox unit, and large 150 mph (240 km/h) speedometer, was introduced. The engine produced 54 bhp (40 kW) @ 5700 rpm in Black Shadow trim.

The Vincent Black Lightning was a racing version of the Black Shadow, with every necessary steel part on it that could be, remade in aluminum, and anything not essential removed altogether, reducing the weight from 458 lb (208 kg) to 380 lb (170 kg). Every bit the racer, it had a single racing seat and rear-set footrests.

The 500 cc Meteor and Comet singles were introduced, along with a 500 cc racer, the Vincent Grey Flash. The Grey Flash racer used Albion gears, for the greater choice of ratios available. The 500 cc bikes used a wet multiplate clutch, while the 998 cc V-twins used a dry, drum-type servo clutch.

Most Vincents were painted black. In 1949 a White Shadow (a machine to Black Shadow mechanical specification, with the Rapide color scheme) was available, but only 15 were sold, and the option was dropped in 1952. In 1950 16 Red Comets were shipped to the United States. There were also 31 of the 1948 Grey Flash built.