Kinda OT: motorcycle movies

[deilenberger]

One I haven't seen mentioned is Robert Fulton's "Once Upon a Caravan" (the book) and "Twice Upon a Caravan" (the movie.) Fulton who was the grandson of Robert Fulton (steam engine..) graduated college in the very early 1930's and decided to ride a motorcycle around the world for lack of anything better to do. He'd never ridden before (sounds like Ted Simon..) His route included a lot of travelling and writing about the middle-east, and crossing the great deserts on his bike. I found his descriptions (and the views in the movie) of the middle-east fascinating since nothing has changed there.. same tribal warrior factions, same look, same, same. He made the trip on one set of tires (40,000 miles) and only had a few flats. He also lugged a 35mm movie camera and a bunch of 35mm movie film around with him.

Well worth digging up - the movie in particular - is now available on DVD from Whitehorse Press. I always wanted to meet Fulton - he lived in Conneticut - but he passed away at the age of 90+ a few years ago.

I have had the fortune to have Ted Simon as a friend (he's stayed at my house a number of times) and Melissa Holbrook-Pierson also as a friend (helped her out a bit with her latest bike - a K75). Both are wonderful authors and interesting people.

Any book by Egan is excellent - car or bike related. IMHO Persig was vastly overrated (Melissa gets it much more than Persig ever did); Long Way's were OK, but the first one was very whiny - Fulton's movie/trip - with no crew, no backup, no MD are much more impressive to me; Ghost Rider - jury is still out, I haven't managed to finish it - it's on the nighttable, where it's sat mostly read for the past 3 months.

[Motorcycle_Girl]

I belong to the CVMG (Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group) the National Rally was this weekend. They had the Norton Commando that was used in the movie One Week at the rally. The director was also there to answer questions after they showed the movie at the rally...kind of neat to get a bit of the inside scoop...

[Trout]

IMHO Persig was vastly overrated (Melissa gets it much more than Persig ever did)

I agree. The first part of his book was good, but the latter part was hard to get through. I wish Melissa would write more motorcycle related material.

Ghost Rider - jury is still out, I haven't managed to finish it - it's on the nighttable, where it's sat mostly read for the past 3 months.

Same experience here. The first sections where he travelled were great, but those LONG middle sections where he just published letters were very painful. I had to finish the book because I'm a tightwad and I paid for the book so I wanted my money's worth. The book finally came to a decent close after forcing my way through the long middle sections.

[deilenberger]

IMHO Persig was vastly overrated (Melissa gets it much more than Persig ever did)

I agree. The first part of his book was good, but the latter part was hard to get through. I wish Melissa would write more motorcycle related material.

I believe Melissa will be writing on bikes again. She dropped out of riding for a bit - got married, sold bike, had kids (not sure of the exact order..). No longer married, owns a bike again (a BMW K75) and is finding riding companions in her neck of the woods. Hopefully this will produce some more of her excellent riding. She's also working as "publicist" for a mutual friend, John Ryan - who just set a record time on the Ultimate Coast to Coast ride (Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Key West Florida).

Ghost Rider - jury is still out, I haven't managed to finish it - it's on the nighttable, where it's sat mostly read for the past 3 months.

Same experience here. The first sections where he travelled were great, but those LONG middle sections where he just published letters were very painful. I had to finish the book because I'm a tightwad and I paid for the book so I wanted my money's worth. The book finally came to a decent close after forcing my way through the long middle sections.

The letters are simply painful to read, and IMHO to a certain extent, too revealing and somewhat self-aborbed whiny. They may have been necessary for him to overcome his grief, but I found it wasn't necessary for me to read them. I'm about at the end of the letters section, where he returns to the road - so I may give it a chance to get finished.

[famousperson]

Be careful ordering movies on line. A friend saw an interesting movie titled 'Leather Boys' the ad showed a few young guys in leathers astride 60's era Brit Café racers. The movie was about guys riding, but they weren't riding motorcycles. Boy was he surprised! Then he made the mistake of telling ONE good friend he bought the tape - I don't have to relate the rest of the story, that was a few years ago but everyone still calls the guy 'Leather Boy'.

Holy poo, Leather Boys! I haven't thought about that movie in ages. I was really young when I saw it and never quite got it, although I thought it was mostly about riding motorcycles. As I recall, it is a very curious movie.

[famousperson]

I didn't expect this level of interest in my original question but I am very pleased to have this discussion.

Are you kidding? This is a motorcycle forum, for goodness sakes! One of the longest (and most civil) threads I ever saw on a Harley forum was started by a post about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Riding. A vastly overrated book, imho, or maybe I just didn't understand it. My father actually knew Persig when he was at the University of Chicago. Said he was a very odd bird.

[LumpyCam]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a profound book, but not about motorcycles. Maintenance is a metaphor for formal logic which Pirsig analyzes with rhetoric and poetics, in the Ancient Greek sense. In the preface he states "this book is not about Zen and is not very factual about motorcycles either" so you were warned!

For movies, check out Choppertown and the followup Brittown (http://www.choppertown.com/). You can watch multiple trailers on YouTube to decide for yourself.
The Wild Angels with Peter fonda and Bruce Dern is good fun too.

For books...
One Man Caravan is my favourite of the bike-travel books. I must find that movie now.
Jupiter's travels deserves all the accolades it gets. The follow-up, Dreaming of Jupiter was a let-down as much as i wanted to like it.
Race to Dakar was a lot better than i expected it would be.
Ghost Rider has a fantastic opening and horrible middle with all the letters.
Letters to Rilke was alright. Strangely my favourite parts weren't about the bikes.
Zen and Now was a poor imitation of the original

[famousperson]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a profound book, but not about motorcycles. Maintenance is a metaphor for formal logic which Pirsig analyzes with rhetoric and poetics, in the Ancient Greek sense. In the preface he states "this book is not about Zen and is not very factual about motorcycles either" so you were warned!

Thank you, LumpyCam. I guess if I had paid attention to the preface (I don't usually read them) and had known the context you just put it in when I read it I wouldn't have been disappointed. In fact, I probably wouldn't have read it at that point in my life.

[Trout]

Regarding Pirsig and Zen:

A couple years ago, my friend and I were in the sleepy town of Unity, Oregon, on our way home to Boise. Unity is a one-pump town in the middle of the eastern Oregon dez. We were sipping our cold beverages in the shade of the building when up to the pump pulls a 60's Honda 350 and a 60's BMW. The Honda had a very well worn "enduro" tire on the rear and the BMW was dripping gasoline slowly from the left carb. Both bikes were road worn and original, greasy and tired. The BMW carried a pair of travelers (man and woman) and had a folded up camp sleeping pad used for a seat pad. Both bikes were loaded to the gills with primitive gear... an old cloth rucksack, ropes, bags, etc.

I seriously had to do a double take. For a moment it was as if I were in a dream. We obviously had to strike up a conversation with the trio after they had each bought a cup of coffee (in the 90+ degree afternoon). They were all from New Zealand and had come to the states to re-trace the original route in the book with original bikes. They bought their bikes on eBay (in the USA) before flying over. The bikes came from different eastern cities and they re-grouped somewhere near Chicago to start the jaunt. They'd obviously made it to Oregon and were on the last legs of the trip to San Francisco. They planned to sell the bikes in SF before the flight home to New Zealand.

Since watching that guy get underway on his 350 and disappear into the hot afternoon, I've never really complained too much about the comfort or the power of my modern machines. Sometime, I keep telling myself, I'll do a "real" adventure in my lifetime.

[famousperson]

Great story, Trout!

[crazyhorse]

i second race to dakar. those are some very serious boys (and girls?) riding out in that desert.

leanings and leanings 2, collections of peter egan's charming columns from cycle world, are great books as well.

wes

[maduko]

Few good flicks where motorcycle figure into the plot- but are far from being "motorcycle movies"
These and a few more listed here on our web site.... http://www.places2ride.com/amazon.asp?z=Movies

Danny Deckchair- nice Aussie flick with a sidecar rig rescued from a barn.

Tao of Steve- pleasant movie with a Honda Dream being restored.

Waking Ned Devine- hilarious, and filmed on the Isle of Man

[hjsbmw]

Reviving an old thread. I just read and watched a few and need something new.

Jupiter's Travels: excellent book. How are his other books?

Faster: enjoyed it greatly. I'd probably get bored watching a full race on screen, but the mix of interviews, commentary, and racing scenes does it for me.

TT film documentary: didn't know the TT was so grassrootsy compared to the GP circuit. Informative and worthwhile.

Ghost Rider: has some lengths. Read it liberally, skimming over parts. Got it from the library. Still good to have read it.

On my list:
I read an excerpt of a book by Gunnison in the BMW ON which I liked.
The "Doctor/Tornado/Kentucky kid" DVD.
Blue Highways: A Journey into America.