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.