Motorcycle history: badges, tanks and logos

The history of the motorcycle business is filled with brands that have come and gone, and then sometimes returned only to go away again. Along with each of those brands is a logo, a design that often reaches the level of high art, while others are more pedestrian. Motorcycle enthusiasts, being the sort of passionate, whacked-out group that they are, make sure that these brands never really disappear.

One of those obsessive gearheads is Virgil Elings, the owner of the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum. His collection is a broad selection of bikes both odd and rare, motorcycles he’s been collecting for more than two decades. Had a chance to visit the museum in early October. Here’s a gallery of tank badges, brand names and logos on the selection of motorcycles — they are rotated out each month — that were filling the space of the former Brooks Brothers store that houses the museum when I visited.

If you’re ever up in Solvang or headed to Santa Ynez wine country, it’s well-worth a visit.

Two-stroke/Blue smoke: a 2-cycle love affair

I’d happily asphyxiate in a cloud of 2-stroke smoke. Locked in the garage, that sweet oily haze drifting around me, the rink-a-dink-ding-dink rattling in my head. Soft sleep calling me down. Nothing.

At least that’s how it happens in my head. Surely, it’s a horrible, choking affair that leaves a blue, wretched corpse. But the distinctive stink of a 2-stroke is intoxicating and not just to these twisted nostrils. Legions of other have a similar sickness. I know. They were all at the 16th annual Two Stroke Extravaganza on Sunday, Sept. 23. Organized by the Socal 2-Strokers, the event is billed as the largest gathering of 2-stroke machines in America. Scooters. Dirtbikes. Race bikes. Street bikes. ATVs. Karts. You name it. All were on hand for the event.

And it’s not just the scent that draws them — obviously. There’s also the power and simplicity of these wonderful internal combustion engines that hold a special spot in the history of motorcycling. Oh, and there’s that sound too. Here’s a smattering of painfully artsty images and a couple of kick-ass videos capturing that jangly-sharp ping-a-rang-tang we all know and love. Like this Suzuki RG500 Walter Wolf edition.