The World’s Most Important Motorcycles Now Fit on Your Coffee Table

Most motorcycle enthusiasts have been infatuated from an early age with the feeling of freedom inherent with “flying” on a machine with two wheels and an engine in between. A favorite bike may be the first one they bought, sold, or even crashed. Some favorites live in that misty garage of one’s imagination—motorcycles one dreams about, but are so elusive and unattainable that only pictures can bring them close. Still others are ancient, or so otherworldly, that discovering them for the first time kindles the infatuation anew.

Motorcycles: The Impossible Collection, by Nicolas Stecher and Ian Barry, gathers precisely 100 machines between the covers of a large-format volume recently re-released in its third edition by New York publisher Assouline, whose opulent tomes routinely grace coffee tables and—more substantially—serious libraries. Another in The Impossible Collection of Assouline’s handcrafted books, Motorcycles, with 198 pages and 170 illustrations, is housed in a luxurious clamshell case with its own metal plaque. And you don’t have to be a bike fanatic to appreciate this $1,400 compendium, though chances are, you might become one after reading it.

Even ardent motorcycle buffs old enough to have met Mike Hailwood or Rollie Free, and know the race bikes that made them famous, will experience some new discoveries within these 25 pounds worth of pages, which are best turned with pristine fingers and the volume carefully cradled on a book stand. Starting from the beginning of the twentieth century—call it the Motorcycle Stone Age—it’s fascinating to trace the development of engines, frames, aerodynamics, and accoutrements over the decades. Many hundreds of manufacturers came and went throughout the motorcycle’s first quarter-century—the motorcycle’s most fertile period of development—so choosing just 100 examples to represent the subject from 1900 to the present is a daunting task.

Motorcycle taxonomy may be most rationally organized by country of origin. Long before the internet age, manufacturers cross-pollinated ideas through being in close proximity to one another. Thus, American, British, European, and later, Japanese bikes, would share unique characteristics with others of their, say, nationality. There’s no confusing a Harley-Davidson with a Triumph, a BMW with a Ducati, or a Honda from anything else. Motorcycles also showcases some outliers as diverse as the 1934 BMW R7 prototype, perhaps the most beautiful motorcycle ever made, and the “Captain America” Harley-Davidson chopper from the 1969 film Easy Rider.

Nicolas Stecher, whose tenure as editor includes magazines Intersection, DUB, and his current role as deputy editor of Maxim, is also a regular contributor to Robb Report. How fitting, then, to talk about his Impossible Collection project. The making of such an ambitious and costly work requires care in every decision. Asked how he and co-author Barry selected the subjects, Stecher explained, “There couldn’t be a single bike in there that was not absolutely critical to the evolution of the motorcycle. There might be 500 bikes, and we had to whittle it down to 100.”

Photography had to be exemplary. “Sourcing was very difficult,” said Stecher. “We had to go to a lot of museums, and use our connections. It wasn’t easy. Also, the publishers were very interested in celebrity bikes.” Included in the book are some famous images of Steve McQueen, Marlon Brando, Bridget Bardo, and other personalities. “Looking at pictures from the ’50s and ’60s, you say, ‘How cool were those guys?’ But even the other biker photos prove, you don’t have to be famous to be cool.”

A roster of the bike models that made it into the book is a Who’s Who of standouts up to our present decade. Impeccable examples of an early Indian, a Brough Superior SS100, a Harley-Davidson Knucklehead, a Vincent Rapide Series B, and a Ducati 750 Super Sport extoll the virtues of the V-Twin engine. Then there are such ambitious inventions as the Moto Guzzi V8, the Moto Major prototype, and the Mondial Fratelli Boselli that almost defy classification. Others, including Triumph’s once-ubiquitous Speed Twin, remain enduring classics. Most of the subjects are photographed in studio, and many are juxtaposed with historical photos that put each machine in context.

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The authors’ journey had to do with more than discoveries about any specific bike. Stecher says, “Seeing the depth of creativity, intelligence, and independence of these characters that were passionate about motorcycles and wanted to make their stamp was the most enlightening facet of the project.” Still, a few bikes stand out, and asked about his favorites, the author named three: The MV Agusta Magni 860, the Honda NR750, and co-author Barry’s unique creation, the White Falcon. “It is the apex of Ian’s work,” says Stecher. “Yeah, it’s a masterpiece.”

Click here for more photos from Motorcycles: The Impossible Collection.