McQueen's Motorcycles - Racing And Riding With The King Of Cool

Author: Matt Stone, Hardbound, 160 Pages, ISBN:9780760351758, First Edition, January, 2017

THE COOLEST MAN ON TWO WHEELS

Even years after his death, Steve McQueen remains an icon of cool.

His image continues to appear in advertising and pop culture. Nowhere are his followers more ardent than among car, motorcycle, and racing enthusiasts.

In his movies, McQueen's character always had a great motorcycle or car, but in his personal life, cars and bikes were clearly his first loves.

From the first Harley he bought while an acting student in New York City to the Triumph "desert sleds" and Husqvarnas he desert raced all over California, Mexico, and Nevada, McQueen was never without a stable of two-wheelers. His need for speed propelled him from Hollywood into a number of top off-road motorcycle races, including the Baja 1000, Mint 400, Elsinore Grand Prix, and the 1964 ISDT in Europe.

Determined to be ahead of the pack, McQueen maintained his body like a machine. He trained vigorously, weight lifting, running, and studying martial arts.

Later in his life, as he backed away from Hollywood, his interests focused on antique motorcycles, and he accumulated an extensive collection including bikes from Harley-Davidson, Indian, Triumph, Brough-Superior, and Ace.

Today, the mania for anything touched by McQueen remains with his former motorcycles bringing top dollar at auctions.

In McQueen's Motorcycles, author Matt Stone details the actor's two-wheeled world, including interviews with family, friends, and fellow riders.

The engaging text is rounded out by nearly 200 images, many of them unpublished or long out of circulation.