old motorcycles

[exeric]

I just want to get a few opinions. I was wondering how the general membership of our club feels about the real antiques (pre 1920). I ask this because it seems like they have become a bit invisible as of the past 4 or 5 years. I'm sure there are some good reasons for this but I do feel that the genuine antiques are the anchor of this club, after all, this is the ANTIQUE Motorcycle Club of America. Unless you just inherit an antique from a kind old uncle, most people are going to start with a much more humble motorcycle, but if someone really gets the addiction I would think they would naturally aspire to do what it takes to get, or at least appreciate an OLD motorcycle.

I recall seeing the trend in the old car hobby from an abundance of cars with open fenders to a whole field of '57 Chevys. I hate seeing that in our club. I love knuckleheads and Chiefs but how many of them can you look at before you fall asleep. I got on this kick because I have been taking club magazines from the 60's thru the 80's into the tiled library at home. I love the articles about Thors, R-S, Yales, Popes, etc. I'll probably never own any of these bikes but doesn't affect my passion for them.

[darrylri]

Well, I agree about the interest and excitement of the old bikes. I don't have a bike as old as you're talking about, but I've been fortunate enough to be introduced to some people in Germany who have them and have let me ride them.

For the last three years I've been lucky enough to go to a rally called the Keilriemenfahrt, or Belt Drive Rally. Here I've seen between 60 and 120 bikes, all from 1924 or earlier, spend two days riding as much as 120 miles, and it has been a joy. This year there was a De Dion Bouton from 1898 on the ride. My friend Sascha, who got me into this, has a 1920 Victoria, which he has let me ride. It's great fun and an entirely different experience from even my 1941 R12.

I only got interested in older bikes 10 years ago, when I put together a 1961 BMW. But that was exciting enough so that now I have 4 bikes that qualify for the AMCA and I'm working on a fifth one...

As such, I really enjoy seeing, and hearing, the really old bikes, back from when the industry hadn't really set any standards, and every model required its own routines and rituals.

[petri]

Well winter must be arriving early as the conversation is beginning to turn philosophical. I have thought too about this kind of question; in fact I think we may have tried to address this issue last winter in a thread dealing with "why we like these old machines".
For me this applies to the old cars as well. I think that the very early machines are interesting because of the individual variability among them. This was extant during the early era as designers were still trying to solve the simple problems and there were many variations of a theme on the way to a solution. One is watching evolution in progress in these old machines. The later bikes from the 30's and 40's were beginning to mature. The engineering solutions were beginning to look the same. As Churchill said about the war at one point, it was the ....."end of the beginning".
The basics were in place and the last half of the century would refine the fundamentals but wouldn't change them or discover new fundamentals. I know, I'm leaving out many advances made in materials science since 1950. So I believe the early era is fascinating because of the many approaches taken to find solutions.
Also the old machines, cars and bikes, seem to have a gracefulness of line and style that appeals to me that the new and the modern do not have. I ride a 78 BMW R100/7; it's not quite old enough to ride in the AMCA events. It's a mature engineering design and it's reliable but the bike's style is well, boring. I would ride this bike in an AMCA event in the hopes of getting a chance to see, hear, and smell some of the old bikes that really interest me. I sure hope that they don't disappear off the radar screen soon.
One more thing. Some of the old bikes do get out though. At the Newport, IN hillclimb a week ago three antique motorcycles ran the hill. A 1910 Harley single, a 1914 Harley Twin and a 1929 Harley. The hillclimb folks are encouraging antique motorcycles to enter the event which has been mostly pre-war antique cars. I'll try and attach a picture.

Howard

[Tom Lovejoy]

I agree and hope for a good showing of the old machines at the meets and runs. Though their prices are going through the roof, my hats off to those that ride them. To see them come to life in a parking lot, or even better to be passed by one on the road - awesome stuff. Never well forget being passed by Johnny Eagles on a 13 Indian at about 45mph, what a thrill. Or seeing Lane Plotner cruise by on a Cyclone! Still never seen a Thor, or flying Merkel going down the road- someday I hope.

[c.o.]

Cool pic petri!

My take on the old bikes is as follows. These bikes are really (as far as I'm concerned) the real reason that this club even exists. My oldest bikes are from the '40's. I have a pre-20's machine on my wish list as a hopefully "someday" bike. I haven't been fortunate enough to attend the rallies below the 49th parallel as of yet. That's another thing that's on my to do list. I have however had the chance to spend some time up close to some early machines and tend to stand around drooling in awe!
These bikes in my opinion are the machines with the greatest character and soul. My old bikes draw attention in my neck of the woods as "holy cow" cool old bike! But these same machines would just blend in with similar bikes at a rally. The old bikes are real special, especially the orginal paint, unrestored, running bikes. They still have yesteryear right on the surface and something like that can never be replaced. They have soul and one can envision the last rider that raced and or rode across country on it. I have a real passion for the boardtrack era and the great track races like Dodge City. I often drift off to dream about the great Cyclone breaking records with the likes of J.A. MacNeil and Don Johns astride them. The aura and mystique of the early stuff is just damn intriguing.

Eric, I agree with your post 100%! I can only hope that the remaining machines can be taken care of and appreciated by those that love them. They should be brought out for others to enjoy. After all they were meant to be ridden and not hidden away in private museums to never see the light of day again.

[petri]

I have better pics of those three motorcycles you might enjoy seeing. I'll attach them. Notice the Model T speedsters in the backround. The '10 Harley didn't make it up all the way up the hill; the '14 and '29 did. The crowd loved it.

Howard

[petri]

The 1914 Harley

[petri]

And the 1929 Harley

[LouieMCman]

I was fortunate enough to have gotten into this hobby in the early eighties and started collecting bikes from the forties. Like all my friends in the club, we started buying older and older bikes until alot of us have teens and twenties bikes. One of the things I love most is going to the meets and being able to ride a variety of my buddies "old" bikes.
When I started going to the meets you could see a lot of belt drive bikes riding around and even doing the field events some times. But now there are scarce. My opinion is that people (collectors?) think that real old bikes are worth so much that they are afraid to ride and maybe break them. I believe just the opposite; I ride them and fix them if they break. I believe that I'm just taking care of the bikes until I'm gone and someone else can hopefully ride and enjoy them.
You want to see my early (1916 and 1920) bikes being ridden, come to Barber next weekend! Look me up at the Dixie Chapter tent.

[Chuck#1848]

been following this thread along with the "Otis Chandler" thread and getting quite an education on the real old stuff.
Louie any chance you could post a picture of your two old ones?

[LouieMCman]

OK

[c.o.]

Ah.......ha......... Louie's being a smart-alec!

[Chuck#1848]

That Louie What a guy

I am thinking that maybe just maybe,this Louie character may be using way to much sweetner in his coffee.

Oh.........ok bike for a honda

Got a 30 VL........work in progress.....this would be my oldest one
A 48 Simplex......barn fresh and I mean barn,also 2nd owner of it
A 68 Triumph......sale pending
Reciently sold a 72 HarleyFL with 64 Harley sidecar
A 80 Honda Twinstar.....2nd owner of that one also with 789 original miles
01 Harley Roadglide with 99 California sidecar

[LouieMCman]

Whooops, I attached the wrong pic......

[LouieMCman]

Sorry, both pics are low quality.