BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Wheely good reads out there
With apologies to poet Clement Clarke Moore: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse.”
That’s Eli the Mouse, specifically, as he and his pit crew worked their hardest to assemble a motorcycle in time to take part in a race.
Eli isn’t a real mouse, of course. He’s a character in a book that’s a perfect Christmas gift for the younger two-wheeled enthusiast, as are the rest of the books in this column.
Eli appears in a delightful little hardcover book written for children — but still fun for adults — called How To Build a Motorcycle: A Racing Adventure of Mechanics, Teamwork, and Friendship.
Written by Saskia Lacey and wonderfully illustrated by Martin Sodomka, the story includes details of what makes a motorcycle work, with diagrams and dialogue delving into systems such as the frame, engine, suspension and wiring.
More than a ‘how it works’ book, How To Build a Motorcycle is a morality tale that follows Eli and his pit crew to the race track, where he learns it’s not all about him. Eli begins to understand the importance of giving credit where credit is due and ends up eating a good slice of humble pie.
Speaking of motorcycles and the race track, the next title is The Complete Book of Ducati Motorcycles: Every Model Since 1946. Author and historian Ian Falloon charts the progress of Italian motorcycle maker Ducati, starting from just after the Second World War when Italian companies were eager to get a nation back on wheels.
In June 1946, Ducati began production of the Cucciolo T1 48cc four-stroke engine, a device easily attached to a bicycle to make a rudimentary moped.
Moving on from those humble transportation beginnings, Falloon details every powered two-wheeler built by Ducati in an encyclopedic format, including the models that put the company on the map in Grand Prix racing. The book incorporates specifications for each model, plus 365 colour and 101 black and white images of Ducatis, including several archival brochures.
Archival images and brochures also help illustrate the book, Indian Motorcycle: America’s First Motorcycle Company. Darwin Holmstrom delves into the history of the Indian brand, from its early days in the late 19th century when the company was called the Hendee Manufacturing Co. after its namesake, bicycle racer and maker George Hendee.
Bicycle racing at velodromes was increasing in popularity in the 1890s, and motorized pace machines gave racers a slipstream in which to ride.
Several of these pace bikes were built by bicycle racing fan Oscar Hedstrom, a Swedish immigrant to America who fine-tuned the carburation system of the then popular De Dion-Bouton gasoline engine.
When Hendee saw Hedstrom’s pace machine, the industrialist saw the potential of placing a Hedstrom engine in a Hendee bicycle frame, thus creating in early 1901 a pioneer motorcycle.
The author expands on this history in detail, and goes on to cover Indian’s years as a successful motorcycle company, ending as it did in 1953 with the last Chief model rolling off the line.
Several attempts were made over the decades that followed to revive the Indian name.
The brand finally returned under the ownership of Polaris Industries.
Author Holmstrom delves into the 2011 purchase of the Indian name by Polaris, and the new Chief and Scout motorcycles that appeared in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
Both the Indian and Ducati books are coffee-table editions, but they are packed with insight and knowledge unique to each brand.
Still a coffee-table book, although different in its content, is The Ride 2nd Gear.
Covering the renewed interest in custom motorcycles emanating from garages and workshops around the world, including here in Canada, the book was edited by Robert Klanten, Maximilian Funk and Chris Hunter.
Hunter is the editor of online custom motorcycle site BikeEXIF.
Several writers, including yours truly, contributed texts to this book. I’m biased, but my favourite feature in The Ride 2nd Gear is the story I wrote about Due South, a custom 1980 Yamaha XS400 built by Federal Moto of Edmonton.
All of the words are anchored by strong visual elements, and any budding custom motorcycle builder could spend hours poring over the images and getting ideas for their next one-of-a-kind hand-built machine.
Check with a local bookseller for stock, or try a site such as Amazon.ca. When I searched Amazon.ca, all titles were available but some had limited quantities.