Headroom – one thing that can be said about motorcycles is they have ample headroom. Here is Enzo (Jean Reno) and his sidekick Roberto who goes up against his free diving competition Jaques Mayol (Jean Marc Barr) in the extraordinary Luc Besson film The Big Blue. The small Fiat acts as transport along the azure horizon Mediterranean.
Ninja 900- the fast Kawasaki motorcycle used to race F-14 Tomcats in Top Gun. It’s now 30 years since its release on this day catapulting Tom Cruise into superstardom.
That is a darn good bike!
Top Gun: this ebony black and blood red Ninja was my ride in the mid two thousands. For a twenty year old bike (at the time) it pulled like a train with the heart of an atom bomb. The Good Times Rolled on that one!
Joshua Tree National Monument- quite a lovely road through the desert surrounded by Henry Moore-like rock formations and the sentinel Yucca that give the park its name.
Didn’t know what time it was and the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin’ down some rock ‘n’ roll ‘lotta soul, he said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren’t no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’d like to come and meet us
But he thinks he’d blow our minds
There’s a starman waiting in the sky
He’s told us not to blow it
‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
David Bowie 1947-2016
Watching Stand by Me on the Telly. It’s s great movie from 1986 (jeez it’s thirty years ago). Here’s a photo of some fella called Bob Brook and his new Triuumph Bonneville. The hot bike to have in ’59 the same year the coming-of-age film is set in.
“You’re Dangerous!” The epitome of fighter jock movies Top Gun will be thirty next year. Known for cool aerial antics with Tom Cruise’s Macerick zooming the skies over Miramar CA it also showcases a superb motorcycle from Kawasaki: the GPZ900 Ninja.
Now suitably available as a miniature Hot Wheels complete with decals used on the movies Moto…
I had one for 5 years and I loved it!
Back in the eighties British music had a hint of dour feeling with such acts as The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order. 
Colin Vearncombe also known as Black had a hit with A Wonderful Life. The Liverpudlian sang this minor key ode to Thatchers dream using a very effective black & white video filmed on the seafront of Wallasey. One frame shows a small BSA C11 rolling along the promenade.
It’s Hallowee’n and this classic eighties movie is on the telly. Kiefer Sutherland plays one of the vampire youth who party-on in some Pacific coast town. They hare about on dirt bikes and I spied one older Triumph on a boardwalk scene. But here’s ‘Jack Bauer’ on a nice Brit Iron.
Movie frame…
British bike on right.
1988 saw Norman Hyde bring forth his reframed twin and triple Triumphs to speed stably along the motorways of Thatchers Britain. Good tyres, good brakes, better engine balance and a whiff of fine engineering and the Harrier was born.
Good on the track too; its prowess derived from a knowledge of running the triple racers in the early sixties.
The newer Hinckley version is a fettled brute. Keep your Thruxton I’ll take one of these sir!
The superlative cop show from the eightie, though predominantly based here in Chicago- it portrayed an ‘anytown’ city and its gritty policing procedures. Tonight a rerun of episode #139 “Norman Conquest” saw the hotheaded Renko seeing his stolen Norton 750 roaring past. Getting a fair insurance claim for a vintage motorcycle theft he has to sadly dispose of it… Running it riderless into an alley wall.
Kawasaki’s King KZ900: this example was polished to the highest mirror-like sheen by its owner as I was taking this photo. Power master of the seventies.
This Yamaha RD350 was a different approach to speed. Two stroke with Yamahas Power Valve System, basically racing developed fuel injection for the narrow power banded strokers allowing road racers to scream the streets like GP champs on the track.
Suzuki, on the other hand delved into alternative engine technology in their RE5. A Wankel rotary powerplant, though offering smooth power delivery requires careful cooling and hence complicated plumbing. Nortons rotaries were much more sucessful with Suzukis machine only being produced for a couple of years.
Talking of smooth; here’s Honda’s Mr Smooth. Offered in the six cylinder behemoth CBX. The superbike that connected the seventies development of the air cooled muscles like the CB750 through the Kawasakis and other 750 and 900’s to the eighties water cooled Ninjas and GSX-R’s. A hefty brute but solid power house nonetheless. A nice example.
there was plenty of eye candy at Motoblot. Each belonged to a dedicated owner who loves showing off their steed. Each washed to a mirror shine reflecting admirers faces in their perfectly designed curves. Each represents a history unto itself.
What was old now is new:
Indian. The new cruiser looks set for a haul along Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. The old police bike would be a great ‘big road’ rider.
Kawasaki? Team Green knows about power – like this canny Eddie Lawson bicep is set for action.
The Purple People Eater: two stoke powerband terror of the seventies would scare the mane off a lion. The Mach IV
The bumblebee world traveller is the much desired BMW GS1000. Big legs for long distances.
A weary looking edge worn Beemer yearns for Barvarian strasse to plod along…
More fun than a barrel of baby sloth (look it up you’ll agree that’s a lot of fun!)
Scottish heavy metal band Nazareth had a fantastic hit in ’75 with the posts titular name:
Heart breaker, soul shaker
I’ve been told about you
Steamroller, midnight stroller
What they’ve been saying must be true
Red hot mama
Velvet charmer
Time’s come to pay your dues
Now you’re messin’ with a
A son of a bitch
Now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch
Now you’re messin’ with a
A son of a bitch
Now you’re messin’ with a son of a bitch
Talkin’ jivey, poison ivy
You ain’t gonna cling to me
Man taker, born faker
I ain’t so blind I can’t see.
Nortons rotary F1 was their last hurrah into early nineties racing actually taking a win at the Isle of Man TT with Steve Hislop at the controls. Many consider Hizzys race to be the superlative classic of the event pipping Carl Fogarty’s Ysmaha: a true David versus Goliath. In black it certainly looks the part. Those wankel power units spinning like a jet turbine at speed.
Here’s Ron Haslam winding this one up to good effect…
Promotion shot for the new electric start T140… 
F1 seventies playboy racer James Hunt sits pillion to singer David Essex on a 1980 Triumph Bonneville 750. That year Essex starred in the motorcycle racing film Silver Dream Racer; and the soundtrack song “Silver Dream Machine” was a Top 3 hit in the UK Singles Chart. Being a keen motorcyclist, he waived his fee for the then-new 1980 electric start Triumph Bonneville he had contracted to advertise on behalf of the struggling Triumph motorcycle workers’ co-operative. He still owns that motorcycle. 
It didn’t fare too well at the theaters with a 5.3/10 on IMDB. But fun was had my all during filming.
Here he is with Suzuki maestro Barry Sheene, also pal of James Hunt: I bet there was partying which included rock & roll back in those days!
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