Motorcycle Dream Garages (Flexible Book Cover Edition)

Published by Motorbooks, authored by Lee Klancher, ISBN 9780760344224, Flexi-bound 2nd Edition

Flexibound edition of the book Motorcycle Dream Garages explores homes of some of the world's greatest motorcycles. 

Introduction by the Author

Books are always journeys. You learn as you go and find new and different things as you trave along the book's path.
This book's journey started with a phone call from my old friend Zack Miller, who thought I would be a good fit for the project. Considering I've been riding since I was 11 and owned a garage bigger than my house, I think I fit this project pretty nicely.

My travels for this began with an eight-hour ride through the Cascade Mountains up to Kelowna. British Columbia, where Geby Wager, a real estate developer, motorcycle nut, and owner of an $8 million home. was kind enough to put me up. He offered up his staff to help make arrangements to shoot photographs for the book's cover with some of resident wizard Roger Goldammer's customs.

I rented a Concourse 14 for the ride and showed up for the shoot with gear stuffed into the bike's luggage. Patti Cook, who runs much of the office and promotional efforts for Wager, greeted me when I arrived. She's an efficient, no-nonsense woman who speaks her mind and runs a tight ship.
At one point she surmised that my choice of transportation was not terribly practical and may have compromised my ability to carry gear (which it had, but only a little). She gave me a somewhat disappointed look and declared, "You are just a motorcycle nut!"
Guilty as charged. I love photography and I love authoring books; but my passion for motorcycles has often led me down paths that defy conventional logic, particularly when I find a nasty little side road that looks interesting. Creating a book is much like riding those rutted two-track trails. The path can be rocky, but the discoveries you make along the way are almost always worth the journey.
This book's path taught me several things: Not only did it confirm my suspicion that my motorcycling habit occasionally overwhelms my professional interests, it also reminded me how much I really, really like fast motorcycles. More than anything, though, I was reminded how much I enjoy motorcycle people.

Many people who are attracted to motorcycles don't color inside the lines, and they certainly don't blend seamlessly into our increasingly homogenized and suburbanized McDonald's and Target world. They are people who take their own paths in life, at times in spite of cultural mores.
This makes the spaces of motorcyclists more interesting than most. They house stories that aren't necessarily what you might expect. Quite often the physical spaces defy logic from a dollars-per-squarefoot sense, but they make all kinds of sense in terms of being places to pursue your passion.
All the spaces profiled in this book were created out of a passion for motorcycles, be it a passion for racing them, collecting them, or building them. The spaces range from overbuilt palaces created by our fortunate, financially successful friends, to secret hideouts, to places owned by people whose passions for riding and machines drew them to the business of motorcycles.

The spaces, bikes, and people photographed for this book are a diverse lot, all with interesting stories, and all united in their passion for two wheels. If you enjoy reading about them half as much as I enjoyed visiting them, this book's journey will be complete.

Lee Klancher
March 20, 2009