After more than 20 years writing about motorbikes, it’s amazing the oddball imagery that piles up in one’s files. Just recently, while sorting through stacks of Cafe Racer back issues, I came across the above color image by ace shooter Yve Assad. She captured this rider from Southern California’s B.A. Moto custom shop as he stretched the throttle cable on his restored 1960s Triumph twin. The rider’s position, stance and purposeful way of looking over his shoulder while on the move made several CRM staffers comment at the time that the photo looked eerily familiar. We noted at the time how much Yve’s shot reminded us of the famous image from photographer Danny Lyon’s 1966 book “The Bikeriders” that depicted a member of the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle gang roaring across a bridge spanning the Ohio River. I finally found time to compare the two images and the similarity is downright striking, especially given that Yve says she had never even seen Lyon’s photo before the issue hit the newsstands. We tend to dig both photos and though we’d share them with readers here.
