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You don’t have to be a motorcycle expert to enjoy “An Artful Ride: The Motorcycle” exhibit at Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis but a little background can make seeing the shiny machines even more fun.
“Three of them that are there on display, you light the headlight with a match,” said Darryl Cutter, one of three Cape collectors who have motorcycles parked in the museum hall or hanging from the ceiling.
The earliest motorcycle headlights were fueled by burning acetylene ― the highly combustible gas used in a welder’s torch.
“So you’d be riding along with a gas tank between your legs, a (acetylene) bomb in front of you and on top of that fire ― an open flame,” Cutter said. “But I never really heard of anybody getting blown up.”
What is ‘An Artful Ride: The Motorcycle’?
The exhibit includes 30 rare motorcycles from the 1900s to the 1970s, along with art and memorabilia connected to selling and riding bikes during the period.
The bikes are from manufacturers including Harley-Davidson, Indian, Nimbus, Crocker, Honda, Ducati, Excelsior, Zundapp and others. They are on loan from Cutter, Cortney Oliver and David McGraw.
“By 1928, there were about 250 motorcycle manufacturing companies, although many of those went out of business after just a few years,” said McGraw, an Osterville resident reached by phone at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The rally draws more than a half-million bikers to South Dakota for 10 days each year.
After pausing, rather than trying to talk over the sound of passing Harley Davidson motorcycles, McGraw added, “Most of those bikes had a total loss oil system. Back then, you put the oil in and splash the oil around, burn it and leak it onto the chain and put new oil in every fourth tank of gas. The first year of recirculating oil was 1936.”
The third exhibitor, Cortney Oliver, tells a story of how she got her motorcycle license and bought her first bike and kept it at a friend’s house in high school by forging the signature of her mother who was dead-set against motorcycles.
“People tell me motorcycles are dangerous and I tell them motorcycles ARE dangerous,” said Oliver, who is married to fellow enthusiast Cutter. “There is nothing to protect you.”
The best protection is learning to drive defensively. She advises novices to start with a Motorcycle Safety Foundation training course and, if possible, to first learn to ride off-road as the rough terrain is a good teacher for on-road emergencies.
Even with a half-century of experience, Oliver said she rarely rides on Cape Cod, especially in summer when drivers “do not pay attention.” Oliver said she quit motorcycle racing in the mid-80s because of worrying about how she couldn’t afford to miss work with an injury — not uncommon when battling for position in the track corners. She rides for pleasure now with her husband and shows English cocker spaniels that she raises.
How to see the motorcycle show
Co-curated by Benton Jones and Robert Nash, “An Artful Ride” will be on display through Oct. 13 at the museum, 60 Hope Lane, Dennis.
The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $10 for adults. Parking is free in the dirt lot outside.
Before you go: Cape Cod Museum of Art has photos and information available at its website, www.ccmoa.org/, on each of the motorcycles, as well as background on the collectors. There is also a 38-minute film produced by Johnny Bergmann for Artslight, Lower Cape TV that is available online or running on a loop at the museum.
A story for the road
Like any passion, collecting motorcycles is about more than finding and restoring two-wheeled machines. McGraw points to the story of his friend, Frank Antonelli of Melrose. They met when Antonelli came to buy a bike he once raced, a model that went 100 mph but had no brakes — just a kill switch. “The guy said ‘I used to race them’ but it’s out of my budget.” It didn’t end there. In restoring the bike, McGraw looked up the manufacturer’s number.
“I said you won’t believe this but that‘s your bike. I gave it to him. He raced it until he was 80 when he had a stroke,” McGraw said.
When Antonelli lost his sight, he was forced to give up riding and asked McGraw to take back the bike.
“I said no but he insisted. I went to get the bike,” McGraw said. “The next morning his wife called to tell me he had passed away.”
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