The Merkel Motorcycle

[LouieMCman]

OK those pictures sucked, I'll reformat them and reattach, hopefully a lot larger....

[jurassic]

[jurassic]

[jurassic]

[exeric]

I was curious about it's racing history because I saw it at Davenport many years ago. There was quite a crowd around it and a number of the racing gurus were questioning it's provenence. The motor is a bit odd in that it looks like a 1911, or '12 bottom end with small valve cylinders which doesn't seem like a track burning combo. After reading the article, I wonder if it's real purpose was a sales and advertising tool that Merkel sent to high volume dealers.

[duffeycycles]

I thought that Jurassic would bring up some cool stuff if I showed my photo.There was real excitement when it rounded the track and was pretty quick by the standards we were used to seeing from boardtrackers at Davenport.Not like the Matt and Carl show the last couple of years.Thanx Jurrassic!

[jurassic]

If you look at the frame bar under the tank you can see that at one time there was a motor mount clamped in the center of that bar. That means that a single engine was in this chassis. The gas tank is kinda dented up right where the single intake would be rubbing on it too.

[Hollywood]

Merkel Parts Book

http://knucklebuster1939.blogspot.com/2010/12/flying-merkel-1909-1910-1911-parts-book.html

[c.o.]

So we got "a" story on the bike but maybe not all of it. Thanks for supplying the info jurassic!

[rwm]

did all merkels have dual spark plugs?

[exeric]

Merkel saved a lot of money on their twins by making one cylinder pattern work for front and rear. Typically there would be a plug opposite the spark plug. I can't believe every factory didn't do that. Just another brilliant Merkel innovation

[jurassic]

[rmmccon]

1913_Left.jpg1913_Right.jpg


My Merkel...

[c.o.]

That is one sweet machine!!! Is there a story to go along with it? Very cool... thanks for posting the pics!!!

[rmmccon]

It was my Great Uncle's bike. He and his brother each had one because besides this bike, there was also a 2nd frame minus the engine. I guessing they had a 1913 and 1914 Flying Merkel and blew up one of the motors because the bike pictured above has a 1914 engine with a 1913 tank. I'm having someone clean it up for me right now.


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