Board Trackers on Discovery Channel

I agree Pat well done and entertaining. Comments locally have been very positive even from those who've never ridden. Also people are amazed at how simple & small the bikes were in stark contrast to the 600 lb. electronic behemoths we've all become accustomed to seeing. Retro is already cool but this may inspire many to join in. Rick C.
 
I have been enjoying it also -though a bit sweet and nice - those were more polite times but not unlike todays killer business competition as depicted.

Agree- nice production values.

I too am most interested/curious to see if said program does effect/ínspire some activity -business or other specific to this hobby and small engines motorcycles

ride safe -- Brotherhood of the Ride--DTM BUBA !!!!

GRANGE TRACK -- OCTOBER 21-22 2016
 
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Sweet and nice? It seems like there is a fight every 5 mins. I've been enjoying the show though, very interesting story.
 
I'm really enjoying this show, so much so i did a little snooping around the internet to see if I could find any info on the bikes they used for the show. The only thing I was able to find was a few high res images but that was good enough for me so I thought I would post some for you guys.

As you can see from the photos most of the bikes are really hacked together. they all seem to be using electric motors and 26" bicycle wheels and tires except for the "stunt" bikes which are using 21" motorcycle wheels and tires.


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Hi Lurker,
I took a paper plate and taped it into the loop of the frame on my old Schwinn cruiser and from a distance it was pretty convincing. I have a few "period correct" ( I so hate that phrase) paper plates if anyone needs one. Not to take anything away from the show, though, as I enjoyed it as much as the rest of us. I must say it did portray Indian and Ford as the bad guys. Henry Ford is still a hero of mine and I would buy a new Indian today before a Harley. That said I would be proud to add ANY vintage Harley to my collection and lets face it, Ford went on to kick Ferrari's butt at LeMans. I have a great amount of respect for all these guys.
Pat
 
It's a decent mini series I saw all 3 parts. I did see a honest to God china girl chain guard in part 1 on a supposed early Harley, I instantly choked on my coffee. A bit of cheese here and there but was nice to see a wholesome show that didn't pull much flakey drama.

And oh yeh they did over villainies Indian and Ford
 
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Yes some obvious errors in bike details, white wall bicycle tires, modern motorcycle tires etc… Studying stills would no doubt reveal many more. But still a nice effort towards getting it right. Remember the Harleyfied dirt bike use the 1970’s movie “Big Jake” E’gad!

I kept thinking they could of used perfect replicas of strap tank/1910’s Harley's and ’10 Merkel's from Timeless Motors and early teen’s Indians from that South America company (name escapes me?) and it probably would been easier than starting from scratch for the production crew…

And yes the good guy/bad guy villainization with their competitors give it a bit of a “pro-wrestling” simplicity, never the less I enjoyed it and would watch it again in rerun.
 
I guess I'll be "that guy" and come out and say I found it to be thoroughly "meh". A several hour ad for HD interspersed with HD commercials. Not that I didn't sit through a lot of it since there's never anything like it on TV and I'll take what I can get as long as it's not awful but as Mr. B pointed out the simplification of characters left me wanting. Maybe if Ken Burns does a miniseries for PBS we'll get an exceptional quality production with accurate representation of the characters and context of the times.

Edit - Pat! Just went to your website and can't find the period correct paper plates. Please provide a link....
 
I'd be all for a Ken Burn's documentary as well...45 part series on all aspects of early moto bikes & the men behind them and riding them. I'd like depth of personal background as well as design and development details showing the success's and the failures of multiple marque's as well.

The producers of "Harley & the Davidson's" did not set to film a documentary but rather filmed a television mini series that is loosely a work of historical fiction for entertainment purposes and profit some facts are presented as the story line was developed but just enough to hold the screen writer's plot together. Netflix's reviewed it prior to general release as a 2 stars out of five, as I posted earlier. For entertainment value as a work of historical fiction genre I give it a 4 star rating as I'm easy to please...as a documentary ,that it's not, I rate it as a one star out of five.
 
*sigh* It wasn't as great as I was hoping. It wasn't as accurate as I was hoping. That said, I did enjoy it somewhat. My expectations had raced far ahead of it, so I suppose I was in for a degree of disappointment.
If I had any influence in the entertainment industry at all though, I'd try to talk the History Channel into seeing if they could one-up Discovery with an actual, honest-to-God documentary on the beginning of Indian motorcycles. Just to give equal time you know.
 
Scratch built engines, that is pretty cool... Check it out:
https://rideapart.com/articles/alex-wheeler-discovery-channels-harley-davidsons-bike-fabricator

Now that nearly 80 of these new "old" bikes have been built, what is to become of them? Alex tells me many were unfortunately destroyed during filming, or destroyed themselves – sometimes just shaking to bits from the vibration and lack of suspension. Many remain in Romania, where the primary filming was done. And some were shipped back to the United States by The Discovery Channel, like the half dozen that were at the Petersen Museum for the party.
 
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So they were primarily using 24"/26" bicycle wheels & tires which mean properly scaled the bikes would be about 90% of the original size...

I wonder if they deliberately cast stunt men of small stature...?
 
Bow said:
Scratch built engines, that is pretty cool... Check it out:
https://rideapart.com/articles/alex-wheeler-discovery-channels-harley-davidsons-bike-fabricator

Now that nearly 80 of these new "old" bikes have been built, what is to become of them? Alex tells me many were unfortunately destroyed during filming, or destroyed themselves – sometimes just shaking to bits from the vibration and lack of suspension. Many remain in Romania, where the primary filming was done. And some were shipped back to the United States by The Discovery Channel, like the half dozen that were at the Petersen Museum for the party.
Click to expand...

Ok, so Romania is the place to find them.

Maybe some of them will end up on EBay in the future?

Gilbert
 
the complete series was on again about 2 weeks ago.
all on the same day, i watched and enjoyed every minute of it. i stumbled upon it while channel surfing.
another great DVD is White Knuckle. it's the coast to coast cannonball run.
all pre 1916. good stuff !
 
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