The Paddock

Iron Lilly Film Seeks Funding

As one of American motorcycling’s earliest female sheroes, Lilly Farrow proved her toughness by competing in the males-only world of motorcycle racing during the 1920s. With her husband, she founded several races and road rallies, all while raising a family, and when her husband passed away in 1927 she took over Farrow Harley-Davidson, which is still in business. If this sounds like a ready-made feature film, it may be soon, as independent film producers City of Peace are seeking funds to bring Farrow’s incredible story to the big screen. A strong team of industry heavyweights are behind the project that you can learn more about at www.ironlilly.com.

Tom Hardy Makes “Bikeriders” Flick**

British actor Tom hardy is a keen rider, frequently seen around Hollywood aboard his customized Honda CB550 cafe racer. He’s finally combined his love of biking with his screen career, filming an adaptation of photographer Danny Lyon’s seminal photography book, “The Bikeriders.” The black and white photo collection was a document of life among early 1960s motorcycle clubs, riders and racers in the Midwest, which means the plot is anyone’s guess. But this being a Hollywood movie, expect plenty of sex, violence and even actor Austin Butler from last year’s hit “Elvis” to accompany your popcorn. We interviewed a member of the film’s crew who tells CRM there are as many as 100 classic British and American bikes in the field meet scene, while painstaking detail went into reproducing the weathered leather and greasy denim costumes. Look for it in theaters this summer.

Valhalla Returns for 2023

The first Valhalla Custom Builder’s Challenge brought a new, talented crop of motorcycle designers to Chicago’s Motoblot festival last June and chief organizer Kevin Dunworth tells CRM the show will go on, bigger than ever, at this year’s event. Motoblot will bring its wild and woolly mix of custom bikes, hot rods and noisy punk bands back to Chicago come June 23 to 25th, while organizer Kevin Dunworth says there will be several more Valhalla rounds during the year. Look for an announcement on dates next issue and on our website blog.

Honda Sales Skyrocket

Honda, the world’s leader in motorcycle sales showed how it stays at the top of the two wheeled game by upping their global sales a whopping 12.5 percent in 2022. Some 17 million Honda motorcycles were sold around the world last year, after a disappointing 2020. By comparison, Italy’s Ducati sold 65,000 two-wheelers in 2022 and Royal Enfield around 1.6 million. Great to see the numbers on the upswing across the board.

Iron and Air Magazine Folds

With over 245,000 Instagram followers, the artsy motor culture quarterly publication certainly had developed a broad reach in its 12 years, but the costly ($15.00) cover price and esoteric content failed to garner a big enough fan base to keep it on the newsstands. The company had also purchased the popular custom bike website Bikeexif in 2021 which remains in business.

Our Favorite Jokes

A man hit the lottery for half a million dollars and immediately looked into penis enlargement surgery.

He consulted a surgeon, and asked how many inches he could get for $500,000. The doctor replied, “It’s about 100 grand per inch.”

The lottery winner went home, excited to discuss the procedure with his wife.

The doctor called to follow up, and asked how many inches the patient decided to purchase.

“Granite counter tops, ” the man sheepishly replied.

Contributed by Lee Patterson

29023 Cafe Racer Bike Show Date Set

Sunday, August 13th is the date for this year’s Cafe Racer Magazine Ride-In Bike Show, the 15th running of the only outdoor show of its kind. Dedicated to running, roadworthy cafe racers both new and classic, plus custom streetbikes of all sorts, this year’s event returns to Sewickley’s War Memorial Park just outside of Pittsburgh for a full day of two-wheeled fun. Our expanded vendor’s row will see some top-shelf parts and accessories on display while food trucks, microbeer vendors and some $3,000 worth of prizes from our sponsors make for six, hotly-contested trophy classes. Learn more this spring by visiting www.caferacermag.com/bike-shows.

National Motorcycle Museum To Close

After 22 years of displaying an eclectic mix of period customs and rare vintage street and race machines, Animosa, Iowa’s National Motorcycle Museum will be closing its doors in September. The collection was the passion of late J&P Cycles founder John Parham who passed away in 2017. The vast displays covered everything from wild handmade bobbers from the post-WWII era to British and Japanese cafe racers and fabled competition machines from the likes of Daytona 200 winner Dick Mann. Many of the over 500 motorcycles on display will be returned to their owners, but the future of Parham’s personal collection remains unknown. Curator Mark Maderski says he hopes a new investor will step in and keep the museum’s mission rolling, which would be great news for classic bike fans everywhere.

Still No US dealers for BSA

Ton-Up TV Season II Starts Filming

With the first season of seven episodes now available for streaming, Ton-Up TV, our video streaming series, is gearing up to begin filming season II in May. The series chronicles the custom and classic motorcycle builds going on inside the CRM garage and our travels to rallies and events around the world. This season will include a build by prolific cafe racer shop MotoPGH who’ll crank out a Honda CB350 custom while our own Honda CB750, Norton Atlas and other project bikes are put under the microscope. See the series that viewers are calling “the best – if not only –custom motorcycle series currently available” by clicking on www.tonptv.com.

Irish Roadracing Season Avoids Cancellation

The entire 2023 season of real roads racing in Ireland was nearly shelved thanks to a very American problem – insurance underwriting. The current cost of insuring a major road race like the annual North West 200 runs just under $500,000 organizers said, which prompted the entire season’s cancellation in February. However, at presstime, the Motorcycle Union of Ireland had received a more reasonable insurance quote which means the Northwest and a several additional competitions will still be held.

The revamped, re-engineered BSA Gold Star is finally reaching showrooms in the United Kingdom, with prices for the fuel-injected 650cc singles starting at 6,600 pounds (or roughly $7,100 US.) The Indian-manufactured brand is standing on its reliability, offering two-year warranties on the retro Goldie, which is yet to appear in Stateside showrooms. A company spokesperson assures CRM the bikes should reach our shores by year’s end with prices yet to be determined.