Is this guy for real????

Howard

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
http://clubawesome.blog.com/tag/vincent/

A non Vincent friend just sent me this link. Is the photo faked or does someone know this guy?

H
 

Prince Duster

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
If you asking about the guy knee sliding, this shot was in MPH a few years ago. Same questions. It is Mark Forsyth, at the time road tester for Performance
Bikes magazine, and very successful road racer. I think he won the Battle of the Twins series. It was a poster (I have somewhere) with, I think, an issue of PB
devoted to knee sliding. As a young bike hack around the same time as Mark, I spent a few launches watching him disappear into the distance on various track
road bike launches. Lovely guy, too.

DL
 

ET43

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Hi Howard, This picture was a centre spread from Classic Bike a few years ago, and I believe that it was " staged ". Cheers, ET43
 

Prince Duster

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I hesitate to correct a senior VOC figure such as ET43, but see my post. And Nulli's. We've all scraped a footrest, and scraping a knee just needs more speed,
in order to lean in more, and a bit more athleticism. I asked Mark about the shoot, and Rupert Paul the editor. Why would they fake it, if a good rider - like
Mark - can do more impressive things on bigger, more powerful bikes? I think Classic Bike reproduced it, but it was certainly in Performance Bikes originally.
Hats off to him, I say.

DL
 

miked

Active Forum User
VOC Member
It would need a very fast shutter speed to catch the spokes of the front wheel stationary at the sort of speed needed to pull that off for real.
Plus, it looks like the riders right foot is braced hard on the kick start like he was holding the bike stationary (no mean feat in itself!).
And finally... looking at the depth of field I'd say it was shot using a lense with a fairly short focal length, in which case the photograper is just about to be run over!

Mike
 

Prince Duster

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
It's not staged - honest. Bike photographers use a fast shutter speed, as you'd expect, and in fact that is too fast - frozen spokes don't convey speed as
much as blurred ones. It will have been done on a quiet roundabout, in order for rider and photographer to find a good line and warm tyres up; hence the
rider's eyeline. The photographer was David Goldman.

The full story, from the horse's mouth is on Mark's blog - http://www.visordown.com/mark-forsyths-blog/john-surtees-obe-an-official-apology/17385.html

Give the people involved some credit. They're pros, and I think they deserve it.

DL
 

bmetcalf

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I have found using this is much safer for my bikes:
image_11815.jpg

Suits my riding skill level better, too.
 

Simon Dinsdale

VOC Machine Registrar
VOC Member
VOC Forum Moderator
The owner of the Black Shadow in the photograph was called Roland. I cannot remember his surname, but he was the landlord of the Thorold Arms in Harmston just south of Lincoln, and this was where the Lincolnshire VOC section met the 1st Sunday lunch of each month in the mid to late 1980's. Roland was there when the photographs were taken and confirmed at the time they were not staged. As far as I know, Roland is no longer with us.
 
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