Cyril Huze Blog – World's Number One Source For Custom Motorcycle News

Photographer and designer Edward “Eddie” Lee, is launching his highly anticipated coffee table book, Timeless American, a Selection of Pre-1916 Motorcycles, now available at Iron Vault Studio. www.ironvaultstudio.com. The public was able to meet the photographer at a special launch party for the book on October 8 at the Venice, California headquarters of Deus Ex Machina.

It was a decade ago that Lee was offered the opportunity to document and photograph a large collection of motorcycles. At the time, he was in the midst of a nearly 20-year career in the action sports industry, and noticing the number of beautiful antique motorcycles he realized he couldn’t devote the amount of time he knew he would need for a project that was as unique, collectible and memorable as the bikes themselves.

Aiming to honor the history and craftsmanship of each bike, he finally left action sports behind to focus solely on this dynamic project. Taking more than two years from start to finish, Lee has truly memorialized each bike found within Timeless American’s pages, painstakingly celebrating the story and evolution behind each piece of machinery.

“After talking to some serious collectors and a handful of guys who really loved these older bikes, I realized that it would be special to do something more specific than just a general book with a random selection of motorcycles,” Lee said. “Being a motorcycle enthusiast, it was important for me to share my views visually, to try and get as much information as possible and share just enough for anyone else to dive deeper, if they wanted to. I think it’s important to know where motorcycles have come from and how they’ve evolved over the years.”

After ten years of visualizing, and nearly three more of hard work and painstaking dedication to detail, Lee completed the 14” x 11”landscape-style collectible edition of Timeless American, a selection of Pre-1916 Motorcycles, which was produced and printed in the United States. The hard cover case bound book has 264 pages, each filled with beautiful imagery of the classic craftsmanship of mostly cruiser bikes, circa 1900 to 1915 – single, V-Twin and four cylinder engines.

Lee showcases 26 manufacturers with 46 motorcycles, displayed in chronological and alphabetical order, including Indian, Harley-Davidson, Excelsior, Thor, Henderson, Flying Merkel, Marsh Metz, Hudson, Pope, Marvel, Reading Standard, Emblem, Cyclone, and more. “In a way, it pays homage to these great pioneers, innovators and engineers who paved the way for us today. It also illustrates the impeccable craftsmanship and skills from some of the restorers, and their dedication to the preservation of these timeless antiques,” Lee said.  More photography after the jump.

“It’s almost a lost art and I really wanted to showcase it in a very rich, visual way.” For Lee, one of the more important features of this book was that everything was American made, honoring the history of the collection. From the bikes themselves, to the process of creating it, to the printing – everything was done on American soil.

Lee shot an average of two bikes per day. The entire shoot took about eight months and post production took another six months. To order your limited run of the first edition of Timeless American go to: Iron Vault Studio www.ironvaultstudio.com. The book retails for $125.

Eddie Lee is a first-generation Korean American, born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif. His need for all things fun led him to follow his passions early on in life. These came in the form of anything that rolled, slid, or floated — surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and, of course, riding motorcycles. At the age of 18, Eddie began a nearly 20-year career in the action-sports industry. Eddie’s images have been published in national magazines and newspapers, including TransWorld SNOWboarding, Snowboarder Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.