2 x 2 wheel reads March 2008

Some familiar names like Lindsay Urquhart, Harley City's David Reidie, Peter Birthisel, Kerry Walton (of Last Ride hearses) and Jock Main have their bikes featured, and share their enthusiasm for collecting & restoring, as well as imparting their own opinions on what drives enthusiasts to find and revive classic bikes.
While a scant four pages are devoted to each bike and owner's story (one suspects that each subject could have filled many, many more pages), Bike manages to fit some interesting and, at times, amusing information into each entry.
For example, the elite few among Russell Craddock's collection of vintage race bikes are all named after characters from the 60s TV show, Thunderbirds, while Peter Tzortzatos's Triumph custom chopper was once used to ferry 70s singing leviathan, MeatLoaf, around Melbourne!
Just Bikes gets a guernsey, too, helping Phill Southorn track down his rare '56 model 600cc AJS.
What's interesting to note is that most of the owners featured in Bike are suffering the apparently common affliction of MBS - Multiple Bike Syndrome!
While some remain loyal to their preferred brand, others have collected a variety of makes and models, including rare names like Scott, Parilla, Taz, Rover and American Eagle, the latter briefly used by Evel Knievel in his daredevil career.
At only $29.95, Bike is an interesting and affordable addition to your motorcycling bookshelf.

BIKE - Hunters and Collectors of Classic Machines
Text by Victoria Heywood
Penguin Books
150 pages, colour, $29.95
ISBN 978 0 14300634 3