Life is too short for traffic

For the past seven years I've talked about getting my motorcycle license. The key word here is talk. The winter puts my desire on the back burner, it's too cold and dreary to want anything other than a cozy sweater and some hot soup. Once the snow melts and the trees bloom, all I can imagine is being out in the open air with an old 1956 Triumph below me. It's a beautiful bike with a teeming history (and price tag, yeesh) that alludes to a time when you could still work on something yourself if you wanted to keep it running. Did I mention it was beautiful?

And while we're on the subject of Motorcycles and beauty, Danny Lyon's The Bikeriders is a resplendent piece of photojournalism. The simplicity of his title betrays the content, but it (the title) seems somehow so perfect. Gritty backgrounds and fearless faces break through on every photo, each one layered with every emotion that drives the heart of the young. 

Another great set to check out is Eliot M. Gold's set of the Chosen Few

The Selvedge Yard

Get into it:

Books

Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaws by Hunter S. Thompson

Hells Angels: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angel's MC by Sonny Barger

The Mamoth Book of Bikers by Arthur Veno

The American Motorcycle Girls: A Photographic History by Cristine Sommer Simmons

The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara (The movie is great as well, I know that it doesn't really revolve around motorcycles, but the bike was the catalyst for his adventure, plus it's my blog, so there.)

Grettir's Saga, author unknown *Disclaimer: this book has nothing to do with motorcycle culture. It was written in Iceland, around the 9th, 10th or 11th century. It's an amazing book, and I'm pretty sure Grettir is the original outlaw.

Movies/TV

Quadrophenia (scooters are awesome too)

Obviously, The Wild One and Easy Rider (psh, obviously)

Sons of Anarchy

*The biker scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, classic

*The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse in Raising Arizona