The motorcycle as an artform.

[joceiphus]

The freedom to do whatever the hell you want to whatever the hell you want, is art to me.

[crazy steve]

'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'....

While I understand where Fred is coming from, not everyone has the technical expertise to personalize their ride with only 'functional improvements', AKA 'form follows function'. So for some, an esthetic change is the only avenue open to them. And this will very often introduce compromises into the machine that the owner will have to decide if they can live with.

Let's face it; for many owners, the whole point of modifying is to be noticed. And that can be hard, particularly if you're on a budget. So you'll see cheap, stupid mods or ones carried to such an extreme they become stupid.

I will partially agree with Fred on one point; any modified bike (or car, or whatever) should retain at least some of it original utility. If you can't legally use it for it's intended purpose, it's pretty much useless IMO. Go to any show, and you'll see too many examples that are 'Fairgrounds Queens' only and can only be looked at as 'art' because they sure aren't motorcycles anymore.

So while I love to see a technical 'Tour de Force' as much as the next guy, sometimes it's fun to see other peoples interpetation of an idea, even if it isn't practical.

'78E original owner

[fredintoon]

I don't know...
If you compare motorcycles to art then you also have to take into consideration the various art forms... impressionism, realism, cubism, etc.
Not everyone appreciates all forms of art either...

So while you definitely have a right to your opinion and many may agree... not all will...

Personally, I wouldn't make a hardtail out of any bike... because I love my spine... but to tell someone else something they like is wrong simply because it doesn't work for me... is kind of... well... one sided, maybe?

Hi Kat,
while there's all kinds of visual art, a motorcycle is mobile art. My premise is that modifications that improve a bike's ability to move, such as the upgrades to brakes and suspensions and the removal of Tupperware on Ivan's street fighters is good art while O.C.Choppers' essentially unrideable raked out rigids are bad art.
It's like those artists who try to emulate Picasso without first learning to draw.
Segueing into Picasso and loving your spine, there's a work of his that I like. Just two brush strokes, a vertically stretched S for a backbone crossed by a curvy W to represent the buttocks.
Really erotic but you couldn't ride it.

[Mathh]

That Britten is truly a piece of Art, and a story that cannot be told often enough. A shame he died so young... Must have a pic somewhere from that bike doing a stoppie....

[Wildkat]

Gosh Fred

I don't know...
If you compare motorcycles to art then you also have to take into consideration the various art forms... impressionism, realism, cubism, etc.
Not everyone appreciates all forms of art either...

So while you definitely have a right to your opinion and many may agree... not all will...

Personally, I wouldn't make a hardtail out of any bike... because I love my spine... but to tell someone else something they like is wrong simply because it doesn't work for me... is kind of... well... one sided, maybe?

[Ivan]

Hey there pilgrim, there ain't romm enough in town for the two of us.

Meaning, that I thought I was bad about starting "stuff". hehe.

I am in total agreement though. My personal favorites are well mainted stock bikes from the pre-vtwin-cruiser era. Chopped raked bobbed and otherwise modified for appearance are not up there for me. I can appreciate that these guys put in a lot of work, and that they really like their scoots like that, but I always ask myself "why?"

SOme of the euro street fighters are kinda cool though. But I guess that would be a chopper from a sportbike.

[fredintoon]

I have sometimes been upbraided on this list for expressing my disapproval of those who "hardtail" bikes that formerly had rear suspension and make other Teutelisations to stock machines in order to create "works of art"
It has been said "A motorcycle is a work of art that is best seen while in motion."
Thus, the best art is the art that moves the best.
It follows that modifications to a stock motorcycle that reduce it's rideability also reduce it's aesthetic appeal.
Similarly, scratch-building a motorcycle that rides poorly is also bad art.
A prime example of good motorcycle art?
Anything built by John Britten, who didn't give a sh1t what his bikes looked like so long as they performed.
A prime example of bad motorcycle art?
Any of the creations one sees on TV chopper-building shows, where the builders don't give a sh1t about how they perform as long as they look "artistic".