Welcome to the Motorcycle Coasters® Newsletter!
In this edition:
Motorcycle Coasters® price lists are downloadable
Small quantities of Motorcycle Coasters® available
Motorcycling History: Motorcycle Chariot Racing
Back issues of the Motorcycle Coasters® Newsletter
Connect with us on social media
-- Motorcycle Coasters® Newsletter Vol. 4, No. 2 --
Motorcycle Coasters® price lists are downloadable
Motorcycle Coasters® is
proud to say that we are the
only
company on the Internet selling custom printed motorcycle kickstand pads
that publishes our
full and complete pricing. Motorcycle Coasters® Basic & Custom Imprinted: Download here Motorcycle Coasters® Full Color Digital Print: Download here Motorcycle Coasters® Blank Stock and "Seconds": Download here |
Small quantities of Motorcycle Coasters® available
Small quantities of un-printed samples of Motorcycle Coasters® are available at
eBay.
Our listings offer ten color choices! See our color samples here.
At eBay, you can buy small quantities of Motorcycle Coasters® for as low as $1.50 each!
All our listings at eBay feature FREE SHIPPING!
Click the eBay logo below to see our listings.
Motorcycling History: Motorcycle Chariot Racing
Motorcycle chariot racing is a motor sport that combines motorcycle racing and
chariot racing. The
sport was somewhat popular in the 1920s and 1930s, having been inspired
by the 1925 film Ben-Hur.
It went largely (although not entirely) extinct after that.
Exhibition rigs are still made and driven. The
sport was developed in Australia in the 1920s and quickly spread to
Europe and America. Motorcycle chariot races were, for instance,
probably held at the old Charlotte, North Carolina Motor Speedway (and
not the more modern Charlotte Motor Speedway). A
typical early vehicle configuration was a rider on a motorcycle, pulling
a chariot and charioteer who were essentially ornamental.
A 1922 short piece in the
magazine Popular Mechanics
describes this configuration:
"Burlesquing the ancient Roman chariot races, members of a western
motorcycle club entertained the spectators at one of their recent
gathering with an exhibition of extraordinary riding.
The "chariots" were constructed of wine barrels which were cut
obliquely in two, each half providing the body for one equipage.
Automobile wheels were then mounted on the strange bodies, and to
heighten the effect, the "charioteers" donned costumes reminiscent of
the old Roman days. Hitched
behind motorcycles, the chariots were towed at high speed around the
arena, affording genuine excitement." This
soon developed into a configuration with two riderless motorcycles
steered by a single charioteer using reins.
Steering was sometimes done with reins attached to the throttles
(the charioteer steered by controlling the relative speed of the two
motorcycles), and sometimes with rigid extensions attached to the
handlebars. Modern rigs may
have foot pedals for speed control, the reins used for steering the
front wheels. Sadly
not much is known about this sport today, although there are still some
motor cycle chariots racing enthusiasts who are trying to keep it alive. |
Some vintage photos from the races
Here Sgt. Terry McCosker takes the lead in a mechanized chariot race from Senior
Constable Keith Askew (both are from the police motor cycle squad). The police control
their mounts by reins attached to the handlebars of the motorcycles and governed the
speed of the machines by means of pedals on the floor of the chariots, attached by cables
to the cycles. October 09, 1974. (Photo by George Lipman/Fairfax Media via
Getty Images).
Some people keeping it alive
Check out this short YouTube video from a motorcycle chariot race
Back issues of the Motorcycle Coasters® newsletter
Back issues of our newsletter are available at the
Motorcycle Coasters® - Newsletter Archive.
They
are available to download as PDF files or can be viewed online (no download
required).
The Motorcycle Coasters® Newsletter is published by Crown Advertising.
You can unsubscribe from the Motorcycle Coasters® Newsletter by clicking this link: getyours@motorcyclecoaster.com
# # #