How dus the loan work and when is a motorcycle interesting enough? I’m not sure what you mean with the first part of your question. As for the second part, that’s entirely up to the curators — Ultan Guilfoyle and me — to decide. I’m on the last leg of a flight back from Brisbane where we spent an i...

I assume that the dreaded Australian no asbestos import ban is no longer in use ? The ban is very much in place. But the Gallery is able to secure a blanket waiver containing specific requirements based on the fact each object only will be temporarily imported, installed in a static display where i...

I guess Insurance is a bit of a nightmare . Are the British "National Motorcycle Museum" and the "Sammy Miller Museum" on your list ?? Insurance isn't an issue for an institution like QAGOMA. The machines will be fully insured as well as packed and transported as if they were pr...

I was wondering who donates the bikes for the event They're not donated, but rather are loaned. After creating a list of the machines we want we get the interesting, but exhausting, job of flying around the world to look at motorcycles and convince the owners to loan their bikes, then we turn it ov...

As background, just over twenty years ago Ultan Guilfoyle and I were co-curators of the record-breaking 'The Art of the Motorcycle' exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. During its time at the Guggenheim in New York, Chicago, Bilbao (Spain), and Las Vegas over 2 million visitors saw the mo...

I balanced my 1928 Model C at 65%, geared it high (23T engine and gearbox sprockets), and rode it across the U.S. keeping to 50 mph most of the time. However, one stretch of at least 50 miles on a fast road was at 65 mph. I never hit a spot where it started to vibrate.

Don’t let 127mph dash your hopes. Just set your hopes a little higher. Hey, I don't need any more Australians encouraging me in this foolishness... A new alloy HS barrel. The new alloy heads ... Not that I'm even thinking about this anymore (honest, really...) but, if I were, I'd like to be able to...

Paul and Simon, Thanks for the quick response. You simultaneously dashed my hopes, and saved me from further consideration of something foolish. After I finished the Cannonball last year on my 1928 Ariel a friend -- Australian, as it turns out -- has only semi-jokingly been pushing the idea that I n...

It might seem like an odd question (because maybe it is...), but is anyone aware of the highest authenticated speeds reached by Ariel singles? By 'authenticated' I mean something a bit better than self-reported speeds based on speedometers. Something like a radar gun or an independent timing associa...

For those that are running high compression ratios, older fuel results in engine pinking that did not occur when the fuel was newer. This is a good point. A lot of effort has gone into the design of combustion chambers of modern engines to tolerate higher compression ratios on lower octane than was...