Famous Motorcycles

In recent times, documentation covering motorcycling history has continued to gather impetus. That history has been assembled and disseminated in a multitude of ways. But not until recently has a book captured some of the famous machines and the people behind them in such a way as Basem Wasef has done in Legendary Motorcycles.

Legendary Motorcycles encapsulates 26 chapters of motorcycles starting with Burt Munro's 1920 Indian Scout (made famous by the movie The World's Fastest Indian), through Kenny Roberts' TZ750 dirt-tracker, to Michael Jordan's AMA racing contenders.

Other favorites include Evel Knievel's Harleys, Peter Fonda's Captain America, Steve McQueen's personal rides and of course, Rollie Free wearing only his bathing suit as he roared the John Edgar Lightning across the Bonneville Salt Flats. These bikes and the others in the book have permeated our culture and captured our imaginations.

Legendary Motorcycles brings these bikes back to life through 176 pages filled with wonderful narration and illustrated with both rare historical and well-shot contemporary images. The stories of the mostly well-known owners help recount what made these machines legendary in the first place.

Interestingly enough, Basem captured the essence of the stories the old fashioned way, by taking a cross-country road-trip in a 1983 Porsche 911 and shooting some of the tremendous photographs himself. The end result is a fascinating coffee-table quality book that will be enjoyed by both the passionate enthusiast and casual onlooker alike.

www.basemwasef.com