It was one of the most famous album covers of the 1980s, but also one of the most hilarious, if you were in the know. And now, you can buy the motorcycle from the photo.
Of course, we’re talking about Purple Rain, the 1984 album Prince released to accompany the movie of the same name. On the cover, Prince sat confidently astride a custom bike, curly hair flowing everywhere, a sultry sneer curling across his lips. Hot stuff, for the time.
Or was it? In-the-know riders knew the bike was a Honda CM400A, a completely pedestrian commuter model, aimed at the inept rider. It didn’t even have a proper gearbox, relying on a Hondamatic transmission to get the unskilled motorcyclist from A to B. And that Windjammer fairing might have kept the wind from tousling Prince’s pompadour, but it never would have been considered cool. Anywhere. Ever.
But cool or not, the bike is part of Prince’s estate, as found in this court document (why he hung on to it, we have no idea). And that estate is going to go to auction, supposedly to be sold for no less than 90 per cent of its appraised value.
Unfortunately for Prince’s heirs, the highest price we could find was $500 US for a beater in Long Island, NY; depending on how you feel about ’80s hits, maybe you’d pay a bit more than that — or maybe not. If you really, really want this bike, keep an eye on the celebrity gossip news sites, and you can travel down to Minnesota to bid on it yourself; please tell us all about the adventure when it’s done.
That’s not a pompadour.
I never understood why people liked Prince or symbol, or whatever his name was.
I never met a motorcycle I didn’t like though.
Prince was so cool on that bike …sexy as hell and when I saw him on it I wanted to be on it to period….
Man, some people are pretty sensitive about crap that doesn’t matter.
I recall when the movie and picture came out. As a kid who was a motorcyclist I knew what the bike was, but I also knew it was inconsequential to the point of the movie. they weren’t trying to impress me with the bike.
Prince, on the other had did impress me (though I never saw the movie). A great song writer, and brilliant guitar player who made millions of fans happy and left a music catalog that will be listened too for many years to come.
But these are just my opinions and (should) mean sweet F-A to anybody else.
A lot of riders in the 70’s DID think the Vetter fairings and their look a likes were pretty cool, it seemed almost every bike used for touring had one. If the fairing pictured is indeed a Vetter, it is the “Vindicator” model, without the integral turn signals, which the Windjammer had. I bought a Vindicator from Phil Funnell BMW in “78, plus Krauser bags for my Darth Vader CX500. I think it actually made the bike look better! Also bought 2 Windjammers for the same GL1000 that replaced the CX. Still have the wiring harness from the first, that was smashed to bits while drag racing my buddy on his R75/5. The weight and aerodynamics of the full Vetter fairing, saddlebags and trunk package just overwhelmed that Goldwing.
No one ever claimed that Prince was some avid Harley Davidson Motor head (neither did he) . And if you were around ( in the know ) at that time, you would remember that the world thought he and his bike was very cool. You don’t get to be a pop icon legend by the having the world think you’re lame.Obviously this was written by lame entertainer haters that have a hard time giving people their proper dues for making a mark in history and giving the world something cool to remember.
Eric Doyne This ones for you
I interpreted this article a bit differently from some others, it appears. My sense wasn’t so much that the intention was to deliberately denigrate a small-displacement bike per se (and if you haven’t heard – I’m sensitive to this kind of stuff) but that the take home message was that the producers behind this spectacle were pretending the bike was something that it was not. *Caution Spoiler Alert* – Like when everyone found out that Milli Vanilli were lip-syncing. Or that The Fonz wasn’t really truly riding the Knucklehead or the Triumph in Happy Days – he was being pulled along on a float, or pushed so he coasted into a scene. Things aren’t always as they appear…..
Or that Tom Cruise wasn’t riding the bike in this scene from Top Gun — note the tiedowns on the forks.
Nice catch! Or that Steve McQueen didn’t do the classic jump in The Great Escape. Of course it was Bud Ekins. Great scene – I still remember watching it for the first time. But you’d be surprised how many arguments and bets I’ve won on this one. I think some are tripped up because they know that McQueen was an avid motorcyclist, so they just assume that he did the jump….
And of course – he DID do the riding in that movie!!
Well thanks a lot. Two hours on the suicide hotline because of this. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. Oh did you know that Nick Adonnidas didn’t do his own stunts? Aren’t you happy until every last party balloon is limp and lifeless!
Probably due to not being able to get the camera low enough to look up to the jet past the bike.
Could be. Cruise was certainly capable of riding the GPZ. I suspect it might have more to do with wanting to roll at a consistent speed for the shot, so it was easier to tow the bike. Would be interesting to know.
This article was probably written by a Hipster who thinks true motorcycles have to be more than 1200 cc’s and a Harley badge. A true enthusiast gets it. Remember bad boy Sid Vicious road a HONDA CB 350 …so did Mick Jagger…Now that was cool!
Sid Vicious rode a CB350? I didn’t know that! Was it the twin or the four? One of my first bikes was the CB350 Twin. It was awful, but I loved it for a while.
He did! I’m a big Sex Pistols fan
Lame music, lame bike.
Even lamer username and comment.
Sorry Michael. Wish you were around to lend your your wisdom and insight when I chose it.
As for my comment, it is merely a personal opinion. Glad you have enough time in your busy day to be offended by it.
U seem brain dead as far in taste in music and u just need a crotch rice bike
Says Becky who is too lazy to spell out “you”, and has the grammatical command of a five-year-old.
At least it’s a bike and not some lame car. I’m not in the habit of picking apart a young persons first bike. Most of us started out riding some POS before we got a better understanding of what we wanted and the money to afford it.
Hey, I know all about it. I had three bikes with Windjammers when I was starting out, and one of them was a gutless KZ440LTD, which I still miss, as it was stone reliable.
But I wasn’t a famous musician with five albums behind my name when I bought it, and I had a gearbox …
The man knew the value of a Honda.
This is the worst piece of ‘journalism’ I’ve ever seen on this web site and I’ve been reading it daily for a long, long time. Didn’t your mothers ever tell you “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”?
You should be ashamed of yourselves for this waste of band width.
Whoa, calm your tits there reverend.
I agree that the “spirit” of the article missed the mark completely, but to call it journalism is taking things just a bit overboard.
Prince actually redefined cool, and you just don’t get it.
Yep nobody knows any of these jaspers or their bikes, yet after 30 years people still know that bike and him. Every girl I knew wanted to ride on that bike too, and really that’s all that mattered.