THE TIMELESS APPEAL OF TWO WHEELS
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FEATURE
right before his eyes. "It's amazing how far
they've come," he said.
A point made even more stark by
another interesting (horrifying?) factoid
Dave revealed about early Indian Motor-
cycles. It seems the earliest models didn't
actually have throttles. They controlled
speed through timing advance. The left
grip would either advance or retard the
ignition, and the entire distributor would
rotate. We've come a long way, indeed.
Quite an odd couple Dave and I were
on our mounts, the contrast made even
more distinct by the photos and video we
captured along the ride. I mounted my
GoPro on Dave's backpack to capture
some trailing shots of the Meteor 350,
which are beautiful, though a bit confus-
ing as you see the Meteor while hearing
the Indian. That clip will need a footnote:
*Actual audio may vary.
Our differences were also revealed by
people's reactions, and I remarked how
surprising it was to see which people
gravitated toward each motorcycle. "You
just never know who's going to be inter-
ested," said Dave, who has experienced
years of traveling, riding and showcasing
his vintage Indian Motorcycles (he also
has a 1948 Chief).
Only at the end of the weekend did
it occur to me what it was people were
responding to: accessibility or unobtanium.
These were the two extremes: the wide-
open door and the precious time capsule;
the golden retriever and the snow leopard.
For a seasoned journalist like myself, im-
mersed in the motorcycle world on a daily
basis, it's the rare and unique that draws
my eye. Even more extraordinary than a
1930's restoration is one that is still a run-
ner. Watching Dave rip through turns and
chirp the tires with one hand on the bar
and the other on the jockey shift is a sight
to behold. For people who never saw a way
into the two-wheel world, finding a wide-
open door is probably just as inspiring.
Yet more remarkable than our differenc-
es is how similar the experience remains.
Opposites separated by eight decades
are suddenly synonymous in the timeless
experience. We rode the same roads,
enjoyed the same sensation of twisting a
throttle, and ended the weekend with the
Motorcycles have
changed quite
a bit in the past
eight decades.
But one thing
remains the same.
