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An Individual Dream
Harley City Motorcycle Collection book
launch
(Guy 'Guido' Allen, 10 July, 2025)
Fast and historic
motorcycles are the proverbial meat and potatoes of
many collections, but this gathering is very
different
The Harley City Collection launched a two-part profile in book form last weekend, from its spectacular facility on the outskirts of Castlemaine, Victoria (Australia).
Owner David Reidie is well-known in the local motorcycle trade, having run a consistently good business (Harley City on Sydney Road in Brunswick, Melbourne) from 1981 through to when he sold it in 2017. Along the way he indulged in some important cultural efforts, such as building and often sharing a fascinating collection while being the driving force behind big events such as the Great Race – a road rally challenge between lovers of classic (1958 and earlier) Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles.
That said, his collection is broader than Harley, with Indian, Vincent and Crocker also represented. His selection of the latter is probably of international significance.
What makes Reidie's gathering interesting and special is
he often sets his focus on racing and modified machinery
that may have been high-profile at the time and in some
cases has since faded away. Much of it is down to personal
rather than crowd-pleasing taste, for which he makes no
apology. Nor should he.
Then again, there is H-D machinery on display for which
many international collectors would swap a fortune or an
organ.
It's by no means a static effort. Pretty much everything
runs and, perhaps more importantly, there is a quiet line
of new projects underway in a workshop that would easily
double as a surgery.
Ask him about any bike in the line-up, some of which most
of us have never clapped eyes on before, and he can talk
you through the often wonderful story behind it and where
it sits in context with its stablemates and motorcycling
in general.
Along the way he honours ambitious modifiers, tuners and
racers from many decades ago and some of whom might
otherwise be forgotten except among dyed-in-the-wool
specialist enthusiasts who mostly exist on the other side
of the Pacific Ocean, in the USA. It's a fascinating
historic community of fast souls.
In a nutshell, that's what the two-volume Harley City
Collection book set is about. It's not about Reidie or the
museum, but unwraps the often quirky history of an
intriguing mix of of motorcycles broadly categorised into
modifiers and racers. The latter are in fact pure racers,
while the former probably saw plenty of unofficial race
action the street.
The production values are high, while the stories are
fascinating. We bought a set a little before the launch,
during a brief visit to the compact and spectacular
museum. It costs Au$190.
Regardless of whether you buy the book, we can recommend
a wander through the collection, which also has a few gems
to reward the car enthusiast.
See the Harley
City Collection website
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