Eve-Anke Goldmann
August 24, 2009 12:06 AM Subscribe
Respect. Anybody, man or woman, who pushed those old Earles forked, short sub-framed R69 variants towards 100mph deserves some respect. Even hooked up to Ural sidecars of the day, those things were apt to find a ditch in a heartbeat. Nothing but the screw type friction damper, and whatever damping the rider's arms contributed on the steering head to kill resonant oscillation induced by the boxer engine, and on a rough road, or over pavement discontinuities, that Earles fork would dance like a Greyhound bus air suspension. In a corner, you leaned and pointed it, gassed it, and hoped for the best. God help you if had to pull on the 4 leading shoe front drum brake in the middle of a corner.
They were good bikes, that could go a long way on very little maintenance. But to go fast, you had to be more than a little crazy.
posted by paulsc at 12:46 AM on August 24, 2009 [2 favorites]
They were good bikes, that could go a long way on very little maintenance. But to go fast, you had to be more than a little crazy.
posted by paulsc at 12:46 AM on August 24, 2009 [2 favorites]
Girls on motorcycles, boy-oh-boy.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:02 AM on August 24, 2009
posted by From Bklyn at 2:02 AM on August 24, 2009
I read this as "Adam and Eve rode motorcycles".
I really wish the Bible started that way.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:45 AM on August 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
I really wish the Bible started that way.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:45 AM on August 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
What is it with girls' underpants??? She's got VPL wearing biker leathers for gawd's sake.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 2:46 AM on August 24, 2009
posted by uncanny hengeman at 2:46 AM on August 24, 2009
What is it with girls' underpants??? She's got VPL wearing biker leathers for gawd's sake.
Oddly telling, isn't it? Strap me ass-up on one of those going 100mph and you'd make out the outline of a filled set of Depends.
posted by hal9k at 3:35 AM on August 24, 2009
Oddly telling, isn't it? Strap me ass-up on one of those going 100mph and you'd make out the outline of a filled set of Depends.
posted by hal9k at 3:35 AM on August 24, 2009
Sexist derails aside...
My next door neighbour is German. She recently met an Australian BMW motorbike riding chappie. They have started a business involving BMW motorbikes.
I sent her an anonymous email with this link telling her to "lift her game".
I'm sure they'll love it. Can't wait to see her reaction when I fess up a few days later. METAFILTER RULES!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 4:00 AM on August 24, 2009
My next door neighbour is German. She recently met an Australian BMW motorbike riding chappie. They have started a business involving BMW motorbikes.
I sent her an anonymous email with this link telling her to "lift her game".
I'm sure they'll love it. Can't wait to see her reaction when I fess up a few days later. METAFILTER RULES!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 4:00 AM on August 24, 2009
Sigh. I sometimes think the color went out of the world before it came into photography.
posted by kid ichorous at 5:15 AM on August 24, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by kid ichorous at 5:15 AM on August 24, 2009 [2 favorites]
Which is not to say that these pictures are badly taken at all. But it is nice to see a color photograph of the jurassic age of motor vehicles - somewhere between the capture of the heraldic idea of motorized steed, and bearing the pennant of every Nascar advertiser, the dense armor of trademark and logo.
posted by kid ichorous at 5:24 AM on August 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by kid ichorous at 5:24 AM on August 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
Nice story and very nice pictures. Thanks for the link, but, please, please, note that it is MV Agusta, with just one U, not MV Augusta. I'm sick of reading that mistake even in biker magazines. Can the moderators do something about this?
posted by Skeptic at 6:00 AM on August 24, 2009
posted by Skeptic at 6:00 AM on August 24, 2009
As a female vintage BMW rider (1969 R50/2) I wish I could favorite this 1000 times.
posted by suki at 6:25 AM on August 24, 2009 [3 favorites]
posted by suki at 6:25 AM on August 24, 2009 [3 favorites]
This is good. I compliment Paul d'Orleans in every possible way for digging up this story and the killer photos.
This is also an excellent example of why women's history per se matters. People like Eve-Anke, Bessie Stringfield, Dot Robinson, the Van Buren sisters, and still others were "riding their own" long before the Harley Owners Group was a gleam in some marketing executive's eye.
posted by scratch at 7:37 AM on August 24, 2009 [3 favorites]
This is also an excellent example of why women's history per se matters. People like Eve-Anke, Bessie Stringfield, Dot Robinson, the Van Buren sisters, and still others were "riding their own" long before the Harley Owners Group was a gleam in some marketing executive's eye.
posted by scratch at 7:37 AM on August 24, 2009 [3 favorites]
heh paulsc, the weirdest thing about the Earles forks being that the front end lifted when you aplpied the front brake!
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 7:59 AM on August 24, 2009
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 7:59 AM on August 24, 2009
*applied
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 8:00 AM on August 24, 2009
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 8:00 AM on August 24, 2009
If you like reading about and looking at pre-50's photos of women and their motorcycles I recommend American Motorcycle Girls.
posted by suki at 10:48 AM on August 24, 2009
posted by suki at 10:48 AM on August 24, 2009
Augusta
I am an idiot. I also notice I have reversed Ms. Goldmann's first name in the title, and omitted an M from her surname in the post.
I tremble at the blue editor's pencil of a just God.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 3:29 PM on August 24, 2009
I am an idiot. I also notice I have reversed Ms. Goldmann's first name in the title, and omitted an M from her surname in the post.
I tremble at the blue editor's pencil of a just God.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 3:29 PM on August 24, 2009
Is omitting an M anything like omitting an N?
I keed, I keed. Nice post.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 3:09 AM on August 25, 2009
I keed, I keed. Nice post.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 3:09 AM on August 25, 2009
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My sister has just been bitten by the bike bug. Bought a VFR750 at 41 years of age. She will love this.
posted by Duke999R at 12:31 AM on August 24, 2009