At 04:35 PM 02/06/2007 -0700, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos wrote:
>For some reason, baloon-tired crusiers stiil command about 10 times the
collector interest in the US of vintage lightweights. Maybe it is
nostalgia for one's childhood.
>
I suppose it would be for Americans over 60, who were kids long before the bike boom. I put Harleys in the same category; American motorcycles before the British, then Japanese invasion. These are big, fat, ungainly machines with wide, comfortable saddles to support their ample riders. Next to a balloon-tired cruiser, a vintage lightweight would appear to be high tech and futuristic. Fifty years ago these lightweights were so highly developed, they were ahead of their time, so that even when people look at them today, they don't seem nearly as "antique" as the cruisers.
John Betmanis
Woodstock, Ontario
Canada