Jerry Hatfield Libros

Racing Motorcycles is one of steel-willed men and iron-clad bikes. From board track motordromes to dirt tracks and on to Daytona super speedway, Jerry Hatfield chronicles that history with flare, folklore and technical detail. Divided by marques, here are the Cyclones, Harley-Davidsons, Indians, Hendersons and many more of the greats. AMERICAN RACING MOTORCYCLES follows the mechanical evolution and rule changes, the men and the bikes formn the 'teens into the 1980s.

What began as a motorized bicycle dreamed up between a young machinist named George Hedstrom and a champion cyclist named George Hendee, became one of the most popular motorcycles in the world: the Indian. Out of production for half a century, Indian retains the loyalty and admiration of motorcycle riders and enthusiasts everywhere. This book recounts the marque’s story from its earliest single-cylinder “motocycles” of 1901 through the bitter day in 1953 when the company shuttered Wigwam, its Springfield, Massachusetts, plant—with a nod to the trademark disputes that continue to this day. Text by noted Indian historian Jerry Hatfield, and more than 125 specially commissioned photographs and 25 black and white historical pictures, capture the seductive power and grace of the great models—the Scout, Chief, and Four, —and recreate the thrill the Indian generates to this day.

From 1920 to 1949, Scouts and Sports Scouts-renowned for their handling and low center of gravity-were the motorcycles of choice among Indian enthusiasts heading for the race track. Likewise, the Scout and, to a lesser extent, vertical-engined Super Scout, have since come to be regarded as classic American road-bikes of the period. This history brings both the race and road bikes to life with a blend of archival images, modern color photography of restored bikes, and first-person accounts of legendary riders like Bobby Hill and Ed Kretz, who worked in bike shops during the week and raced for peanuts at local dirt tracks on Sundays.

The classic collectibles! From the highly collectible singles built in the 1900s to the Flathead, Knucklehead, and Panhead powered machines, Hatfield winds his way through Harley-Davidson history up to 1965. Packed with information on where and how to find these machines, how to identify rare and unusual models and how to determine the value of the classics.This book contains a delightful mix of original and archival photographs of each model while it rates the collectibility of the model's value with the traditional Buyer's Guide 5 star rating system.