Gifts for Motorbike Lovers
Plenty of people who love motorbikes have never owned one, and they are the hardest group on this site to buy for, because the obvious gift here is a portrait of their machine and there isn't one. The answer is to buy from what they follow rather than what they park.
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Artworks mentioned on this page
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Start by working out which kind of enthusiast you have. A person who watches racing wants something quite different from a person who reads about engineering, and both want something different again from the one who simply likes how a particular era of motorcycle looked. Get that right and the rest is easy.
For the one who watches the racing
The race-day series was made for exactly this person, and that page walks through all five. The buying decision is narrower than the browsing one, and it comes down to how they watch. Somebody who follows results wants the drama: a start line, a corner, colour at full volume. Somebody who follows the sport itself usually wants the hour before any of that happens, which is why Paddock Morning is the pick that surprises people and then keeps getting chosen. Every race in the series is invented, so nothing carries a licence and nothing dates.
For the historian and the restorer
The machine series reads like a workshop manual that has been framed: annotated blueprint elevations in three line weights, with an exploded engine inset on The Classic Single. It suits somebody whose interest is how the thing is put together rather than how fast it goes. The style pages break the same idea down by shape, so you can match a specific obsession.
And if they do have a bike after all
Then this is the wrong page and gifts for bikers is the right one, or send a photo of the machine straight through the Paint Shop. The questions pages are also worth a look if you want to sound like you know what they are talking about before you buy anything.
Questions answered
What do you buy someone who loves motorbikes but has never owned one?
Buy from what they follow. Race-day artwork for the person who watches, an annotated machine study for the one who reads about engineering, and a style study for the one who just loves how a particular kind of bike looks.
Is there a gift for a road-racing fan?
Yes, and the race-day series has it. Everything in that series is an invented race in a painted period style, so it carries no team, rider or circuit branding and it does not go out of date.
They already have a lot of motorcycle art. What then?
Look at what they have not got, which is usually the quiet piece. Most collections are all action and no paddock. A pre-race scene hangs better in a hallway than a leaning machine does.
Keep reading
- Next For a rider
The hard part of buying for a biker is that they own the kit, the tools and the gadgets, and they chose all of it themselves after a lot of research. So buy the thing they cannot buy without feeling odd: a road they talk about, on the wall.