The Killer: A front wheel drive motorcycle from Rodsmith
The concept of the patron is well established in the world of art. Charles Saatchi is almost a household name in the UK, but before him we had New Yorker Peggy Guggenheim?who anchored the careers of Pollock and Rothko.
Parallels are now edging into the modern custom motorcycle scene, and one of the leading lights is Bobby Haas of the Haas Moto Museum in Dallas.
Bobby has built up a collection of 130-plus extraordinary motorcycles, and occasionally commissions them too. Hazan is one of his protégés; Craig Rodsmith is another, and his incredible front wheel drive motorcycle is the latest resident of the hallowed halls.
It?s a classic story of patron and artist working in tandem, and begins when Bobby was suffering from a bout of insomnia while visiting the Handbuilt Show in Austin, Texas last year.
?After a sleepless night, I started surfing the net,? he tells us. ?I came across grainy photographs of an Art Deco bike concocted by a group of German engineers in the 1930s.? It was the Killinger und Freund machine built between the wars in Munich.
Bobby immediately thought of Craig Rodsmith?and texted the US-based Australian expat at 3:00am. They met in the lobby of the hotel Bobby was staying in?but Craig wasn?t immediately convinced.
?When I proposed the idea of using this German contraption as the inspiration for a custom build, I could see the doubt in Craig?s eyes,? says Bobby. ?Which was why I knew that Craig was the right person to execute this vision.?
Craig a...
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Backcountry Discovery Routes | Ep. 70 Rider Magazine Insider Podcast
27-04-2024 08:34 - (
motorcycle )