Art Deco Motorcycles Number 1

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Art Deco was the primary design cue of the 1920s and 30s. We are all familiar with the process in art, architecture, clothing, and product design (including automobiles) but did you know that Art Deco affected and directed styling in motorcycles?

Some of the marquees celebrated Art Deco with grand results, and some were much more subtle. It is my intention for this series to look at specifics of style. It is my belief that the Art Deco movement is felt today in that AD was the first real industry wide styling cue. Prior to that motorcycles tended to be strictly function based and relatively blase. Art Deco brought in the idea of a motorcycle as sculpture that was as visually pleasing as they were exciting to ride.

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The Art Deco design movement arose fairly suddenly and died just as suddenly at the beginning of WWII. We will start this series in 1929.

As you might have imagined, the French motorcycle industry was the early leader in Art Deco motorcycles as envisioned by this 1929 Majestic.

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This one year only model for Majestic is probably the peak of Art Deco design. But it was the first known bike to have hub centered front steering which is considered ‘state of the art' today. It was a 500 cc four cylinder and wasn’t near as fast as it looked!

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BMW got a good start on Art Deco with this 750cc R 62 model, but by 1930 they had started providing motorcycles to the German military and the models became plain and standard.

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It was really America that drove the Art Deco trend through the 1930s. Harley Davidson, Indian and Henderson all embraced the movement and built some gorgeous motorcycles like this 1929 Excelsior Henderson. Note the curves of the tank and the fenders along with the pin striping and bold logo on the tank. Art Deco to be sure!

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Harley Davidson started their journey into Art Deco design with bright paint, a bold logo and more curve to the fenders. This particular HD was owned and ridden by Vivian Bates, a pioneering woman rider in America. Somebody told her that women couldn’t ride a Harley Davidson so she proved them wrong by riding this bike cross country.

Notice the two cutouts in the gas tank. It happened that Deco design ran into the practicality of the HD motor. Harley neatly solved the problem of the long pushrods by putting a pair of indentations in the gas tank.

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Indian just plain moved the design bar in 1929 with their four cylinder model. They hung the gas tank UNDER the top frame member to give the appropriate line, valanced the fenders and mounted the iconic logo chief on the front fender.

This Inline 4 cylinder 1265 CC motor motorcycle was the flagship of the Indian line. The made design changes in the venerable Scout V Twin model also.

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The Scout was in ‘design transition’ in 1929. The over the top frame is there but most of the rest of the motorcycle was unchanged. The I-4 was the flagship, but the masses rode the Scout. It was one of the most popular motorcycle models in the world in 1929.

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The Brits mostly kept a ‘stiff upper lip’ in 1929. Ariel moved toward the Art Deco look, but it would be a couple of years until the British designers really embraced the movement.

1929 was a particularly good year for the motorcycle industry. The general population was gaining some acceptance of them and the popularity surged. The industry would surge for another couple of years and the designs would help to drive the popularity. In the next installment we’ll get into the 1930s and the first real heyday of motorcycle design. It was an exciting time for the manufacturers.

All words and concepts in this post are mine. The photographs are all sourced properly. You can view the image source by clicking the word under the photo

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