3, 4th April, 2019 - report from Oil In The Blood collaboration bike exhibit & screening: Electric Revolution! The Petersen Automotive Museum, LA, USA

Following on from the highly acclaimed Custom Revolution! Exhibition (featured in ‘Oil In The Blood’), curator Paul D’Orleans hosted the Electric Revolution! Exhibition, featuring the very best examples of ground breaking electric motorcycles. We had the privilege of having our TW Steel ‘Oil In The Blood’ Energica Eva electric special built by deBolex Engineering, invited to be a part of the exhibition.

The inclusion of our motorcycle is a considerable honour, as the Petersen Museum is one of the world’s leading automotive museums, with as astonishing array of rare and notable autos, both two-wheeled and four. Our bike was exhibited amongst some of the most collectable and expensive machines ever made.

The show was perfectly staged by the Motorcycle Arts Foundation and the Vintagent. The exhibit was designed by our contributor and bike building legend Ian Barry, with large piece artwork from the mercurial Ornamental Conifer, another of our contributors.

The selection of electric motorcycles on show ranged from historical record-setting machines, through concept bikes pushing the boundaries of motorcycle design, to fledgling production models. The future of motorcycles was present in one room.

It’s worth noting that transporting an electric motorcycle across the Atlantic is an extremely costly and complicated process. Due to the perceived dangers of lithium batteries, and the lack of an established protocol, arranging for our machine to be air freighted to LA in time for the opening was a logistical and bureaucratic nightmare. It was only down to our junior producer Sophie Haines’ stubborn tenacity that the bike finally arrived. Gareth was at customs on Wednesday morning ready to un-crate the bike as it cleared. The bike was extremely well received, it’s first time on US soil.

The evening after the grand opening of the exhibition, the Petersen hosted a screening of ‘Oil In The Blood’. Many of the creators of the visionary machines in the Electric Revolution! Exhibition were in attendance, alongside California based bike building legends such as Max Hazan and Ian Barry. Max has the funniest line in the film! The film was screened amongst race winning Ferarris, GTs, Alfas and Porsches. It was certainly our most high-brow screening to date.

See images of the event over on our Gallery page.