At a nearby Thai restaurant there is a wall of wind-up toys. Here is a selection of the two-wheeled variety. Colorful play fun…
“Start ’em young!”
July 19, 2013
Tin Toy Motorcycles
April 1, 2013
Cat on a Triumph…
First day of the fourth: a kool cat tries to look the part on a Bonnie. Tiger? Well a Cub anyways!
Kitty Racer.
November 10, 2012
Next: a one made from matchsticks!
After my post a week ago with the small Meccano model motorcycle; this image cropped up on the WideWebbedWorld… If you couldn’t buy one, then make one! Probably a bit rattly, and a trail of nut’s and bolts will be left in its wake. Just like an old British bike!
November 3, 2012
Every Nut & Bolt…
As a young lad when I wasn’t taking apart things to see how they were put together, my sister thinks I was just breaking them, I somehow absorbed construction of mechanical things that has given me enough ken of the built world – though some might declare a dangerous knowledge! I’m sure most with a mechanical tilt to the world did the same thing. There was of course another way of achieving the same thing: the Meccano Set.
Wheels, plates, ties, cogs, axles and of course the ubiquitous silver nuts and bolts and their screwdrivers and spanners. From cranes, and bridges to cars and trains; youthful engineers to be could envision a world of machinery about them.
two-Wheels? You bet! Here’s an old drawing of a motorcycle a young Ed Turner wannabe could bolt-up.
After figuring out a few structural and ‘gineerin’ rules, the world was yer oyster… or Ariel, or Norton…
May 26, 2012
Tune-In and take Flight
Keeping on the theme of Radio Flyer here’s a custom v-twin in resplendent red enamel and white forks paying homage to every American boys first ‘vehicle’.
A lot of work goes into these special builds and in this case it certainly shows. Long straight roads, SoCal sun and a twist of the wrist & off you go!
May 26, 2012
The Little Red Wagon
When trawling around a swap-meet, looking for those hard to find parts for that never ending project in the shed; what better way to tote your booty around with than a Radio Flyer truck… Then when you pick up a BSA pre-unit A10 you’ll need to trailer that extra engine ’round too! Inventiveness Rules!
May 21, 2012
Oh! To be 4 again…
This could be a photo of my very first toy motorcycle: it’s my fourth birthday 1975, and I’m getting ready to blow my few candles out. In the lower right corner of the image is a toy Matchbox Chopper. Just look at those National Health specs…
Here it is larger… an elephant header wide wheeled moto with ape bars and tall sissy bar. At least it has two wheels!
April 5, 2012
Miniature Motos
Ebay win! A box arrived at work today with six of these toy motorcycles neatly wrapped up in tissue and bubble-wrap. A great deal at $15 for all of them; four of which are the much sought after Britain’s from my youth. A couple of repeats; one of which I will revise as an AA bike in yellow. A bonus was a Kawasaki KZ1000R (the Ebay listing only had five bikes!); the square fairing’d grey superbike a precursor to the big liter naked streetbikes of the eighties and nineties. Also included was a Triumph racing bike, a Honda, Norton and a BMW. The collection grows. Still trying to nab the Speedway bikes though…
March 13, 2012
A Tasty Danish Pastry
Brick by brick by brick: a full size model Triumph bike constructed entirely of LEGO blocks. The streamlined fairing and black engine superbly fashioned.
The original Daytona; the beefy triple from Triumph in the mid-nineties. A modern classic!
February 18, 2012
When I grow up…
Plenty of toy AA combinations were available for the young lads wishing to enter vehicle recovery service. Here’s a selection of Dinky and Zebra. Varying degrees of detail, but nonetheless that doesn’t detract from playability.
February 15, 2012
Automobile Association Combi
A tiny three wheeled combination in yellow and black. This midget amongst small things has been sitting waiting to be painted and assembled (all three pieces of it!) Well I finally got around to it with as delicate a hand as I could muster. This is of course a miniature of the AA’s BSA sidecar outfit used in the forties and fifties to aid broken down vehicles. Probably the very same model my Grandfather rode whilst an officer in the Association. Indeed it was his experience with traffic and vehicles that directed him to the Military Police in WWII.
January 26, 2012
LEGO – The Great Escape
Growing up this would have fit the bill in so many ways: LEGO was my favourite toy, The Great Escape my favourite film and motorcycles my favourite in all. I’m not so sure of the KTM derived orange dirt bike though; a nice blue drab german Beemer would be a better look.
November 12, 2011
Adamant Rider
Hugh Jackman a.k.a. Wolverine is a keen motorcyclist it seems. Being seen here with a nice looking 70’s Bonnie.
Even the comic-book Logan is seen cruisin’ on a Trumpet…
Of course in the X-Men: Origins movie has Jacko haring around on a big American Iron. Get those claws out!
He’s the baddest, meanest, best superhuman mutant out there!
Of course, as with all Stan Lee creations the supporting merchandise must follow!
September 27, 2011
Matchbox Sheene
Matchbox made a couple of models, one a scale die-cast another a kit. Anything for the 10 or 11 year old to display on his bedroom shelf. Go No. 7!
A nicely detailed kit.
Here’s the Superkings K-81 Sheene bike. No duck faced helmet on this one, just his cool mullet hairstyle flowin’ in the air.
Here’s a basic Sheene toy for the younger enthusiast.
September 11, 2011
of Handicraft and Flea
No riding this weekend, but a couple of fun motorcycle themed items seen at the Wicker Park Renegade Craft Fair and Wolff’s Flea Market respectively. A ceramic tile to dress up your workshop backsplash; and a kids bike, pedla power, looking like a v-twin.
The moto-graphic on the tile is an interesting take on two wheeled transport; I can’t tell if it’s a Harley or Ariel.
I can see a young (very!) Geordie Biker riding one of these along Brommey Road in Wooler back in the mid-70’s! It looks like fun, just needs a card in the spokes for a motorcycle noise…
geordiebiker.com 