The Motorcycle
Design, Art, Desire
Presenting such an exhibition seems unlikely as motorcyclists represent a minority in society with statistics showing that there are 2 million road and off-road motorcycles in Australia. Like the US and Europe, this amounts to one motorcycle in 10% of households. We do however pale in comparison to Asian countries where the percentage per household is around 86%. There are however many art-worthy aspects to a motorcycle which embrace function, form, fashion, technology and culture. Most of the GOMA lower floor is devoted to this exhibition. On entry to the building there is a free display of motorcycle helmets decorated by notable artists and both adjacent cinemas are showing many free classic motorcycle-related movies for the duration of the exhibition. ‚
Passing through the ticketed entry, there are two huge gallery rooms separated by a naturally lit foyer. The gallery on the right is all white with faceted closed-in platforms for the motorcycles. The foyer is known as ‘The Canyon’ with dark soil-coloured sculptured plinths and mountain-like backdrops containing the off-road machines. Many of these are suspended overhead as if flying through the air. At the entrance end of the foyer is the ‘Build-a-Bike’ custom garage where you can option up a cruiser or café motorcycle with the help of electronic touch screens. The narration and content was supplied by Leo and Steve from Brisbane-based Ellaspede Custom Motorcycles. The gallery on the left is all black with subtle spot lighting and is split into three sections. ‘The Chopper Room’ displays chopped and custom motorcycles. Adjacent is a room dedicated to high speed machines. The end room houses the electric beasts with appropriate blue strip lighting and reflective walls and plinths. Next door is a room with a green screen where you can sit behind a set of handle bars and be immersed in a moving background. There are three themes – a Vespa through the Tuscan hills, a Husqvana dirt bike through the Aussie outback and a Savic (Aussie electric bike) through a futuristic landscape.
All exhibits are invisibly tethered with their stands retracted as if they are in motion. They are all set at various heights and free of any enclosures, allowing close-up inspection. Information is displayed unobtrusively adjacent to each exhibit. QR codes are also provided for the tech savvy, linking to more information and even applicable videos. On the walls there are huge appropriate photos and many audiovisual screens showing complementary footage. The 101 chosen exhibits attempt to include all the standout machines from the 150 years of motorcycle history. They trace major design influences including Bauhaus, Art Deco, the explosion of production after both world wars in response to the necessity for affordable transport (firstly in Europe and then in Japan) and the effect of different technologies and power sources. The rough statistics on countries of origin are: 32 US models, 15 Italian, 13 from the UK, 9 Japanese, 6 French, 5 Australian, 5 German, 4 Austrian, 2 Belgian, 2 Swedish, 2 Chinese, 1 Spanish, 1 Vietnamese and a wonderful Britten V1000 from
NZ. Of these machines around half came from Aussie collections and around a quarter from the US.
The Australian content has good representation. Such machines are the 1906 Spencer which includes a display case with some of the original casting patterns. The Spencer was designed and built in Brisbane by David Spencer and unusually the engine was also his design and manufacture. There is a full story on this machine on the QAGOMA website including acknowledgement to a few local acquaintances citing “It is impossible to tell the Spencer story without mentioning the two Queensland Historical Motorcycle Club members
Paul Reed and Dave Dettmar who acquired the two surviving Spencer Motorcycles from the Spencer family in 1986 with the promise to ensure that they survived for future generations.”
Other Aussie machines include the 1914 Whiting Spring Frame, a 1956 Tilbrook prototype and the 2020 Savic C-series electric designed by Aussie Dennis Savic. There is also a 2009 Yamaha SR400 titled ‘The Drover’s Dog’ customised by Aussie company Deus ex Machina complete with surf board rack. Machines made famous by Aussies include the 1949/1950 Huck Fynn JAP speedway bike raced by Aussie Graham Warren, the 1951 Vincent Black Lightning co-designed by legendary Aussie Phil
Irving and ridden by Aussie Jack Ehret on which he achieved a land speed record of 141.5mph in 1953, a 1969 Velocette Sportsman which was optioned exclusively for the Australian market, a 2016 Hayabusa modified for salt lake racing and ridden to a land speed record of 241mph by Australia’s fastest woman Kim Krebs and the 2016 KTM Rally 450 Dakar used by Aussie Toby Price to win the Dakar Rally. Here are my other standout old bikes. The 1898 Cleveland, a rear engine tricycle where the extra
wheel was added as a safe alternative to the two wheelers. The 1903 Minerva powered Mills & Fulwood tricycle features a wicker basket passenger seat in between the front two wheels, (called appropriately a ‘Forecar’) it included complex front wheel steering. The 1912 Henderson Four is long and slim with its beautiful inline engine and front and rear inline seats where the passenger sits in front of the rider with foot rests on the front wheel axle. The 1914 Whiting included full suspension using semi-elliptical springs for both sides of the front and rear wheel axles. The 1921 Ner-a-car is a step-through design with enclosed mechanicals, enormous mudguard, centre hub steering and friction drive. The 1928 Scott Flying Squirrel shows how water-cooled, 2-stroke technology was already available in the early days. The 1930 Majestic is very similar to the Ner-a-car but in flashy red, with beautifully designed louvred engine covers, levers and dashboard. The 1942 Socovel is a very early example of a battery electric powered machine. The 1949 Imme R100 shaved materials to a minimum using a single-sided front suspension, the engine as a stressed member and a rear swing arm that doubles as the exhaust pipe. The magnificent 1994 Britten V1000, an early adopter of full carbon fibre chassis and front suspension is a truly beautiful machine. The 1994 Ducati monster introduced the return of the minimalistic ‘see thru’ (naked) bikes. The 1960 Vespa 150GS took the Ner-a-car to another level, still step through and fully enclosed but now small, light, inexpensive and nimble – a design that is still current in 2020. Most of the exhibits are included in a beautiful full colour hardcover book available at the GOMA shop which is brimming with many other motorcycle keepsakes.
Complementary to the exhibition will be two bike displays on the lawn outside the building. The HMCCQ (Historic Motorcycle Club of Qld) will display around 60 of their machines on the 27th February and the DOCQ (Ducati Owners Club of Qld) on the 18th of April. I intend to display bikes for both events so I hope to see you there. The exhibition runs until the 26th April 2021.