Happy 67th

Virago 535

It was a small sized Yamaha cruiser. Yam made the first one in 1981 with 750 cc motor. It was the first cruiser style V-twin bike that came from Far East. The early model had single shock on the rear. The models are up-dated in 1984, adding dual rear shocks and tear drop shaped tank.
Harley-Davidson obviously feared Viragos, and other Japanese cruiser bikes. They lobbied heavily to push tariff on any imported bikes over 700cc in 1984, which caused many 699cc models to spawn from Japan.

I like the styling of 535 best among all the Virago models. Unlike the bigger model, it doesn't have top/ front heavy look and low and meaner. Picture here is British actress, Emily Mortimer with a Virago 535 in the 2001 film "Formula 51"

The model was made from 1987 to 2001, replaced by Drag Star 650 or V-star 650

Happy 71st

Happy 27th

She looks quite different from The Girl with the Dragon tattoo character, doesn't she?

Caturday -with ladies

Happy 48th

Today is Bridget Fonda's birthday. She is 48. I always adored her and she is still gorgeous.

Did you know she was in "Easy Rider"? She played a little girl in commune. She recalls her father complaining about the famous bike being hard on his body during the shoot.

Happy 29th

I love the fact that she was playing a teenager a few years ago. I adore her.

Happy 36th

CL350-The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

CL350 was introduced  in 1968. The bike was powered with 325cc 4 stroke, OHC parallel twin with 2 CV carbs and claimed 33bhp @9000rpm and top speed of 100 mph.  CL is a designation for scrambler models. Their exhausts are mounted on the side. CB350, which is powered by the same motor, has pipe under the motor.

CL350, CB350 have been quite popular among cafe racer builders, theses days. The bike will get more attention when the Hollywood adaptation of the movie, "The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo" is released next week, Its tittle character,Lisbeth Salander, zips around the town with this cafed up CL350, built by Glory Motor Works in LA.

 The actress, Rooney Mara is relatively unknown and up against big actresses for the role. The director, David Fincher (Fight Club, Social Network, ) told her that she had to learn how to smoke, get bunch of piercing , have to endure nude/ rape scene and learn how to ride a motorcycle. Among those, she was most afraid of riding the bike.  Even though the bike is relatively smaller, it is a vintage, means heavy. She admitted that it felt like a monster. In the book, the character supposedly rides very small displacement bike so she was not expected, I guess.

By the way, Rooney Mara is from football royalty. She is one of four children born to New York Giants executive Timothy Christopher Mara and Kathleen McNulty, the granddaughter of Art Rooney, Sr., the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise. Her father's grandfather was Giants founder Tim Mara.

Happy 48th

I had a crush on her...

Caturday

Happy 40th

Happy 35th

I adore her

Happy 27th

Jena Malone is one of indie film princesses. Despite her young age, she has many film/TV appearance since 1996. I love her nicely shaped forehead.