Another unknown Wisconsin Motorcycle?

[Tommo]

Finally this list appears at the end of the United States section of Hugo Wilson's "Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle"

[Tommo]

This list by Michael Gerald and Jim Lucas first appeared in Road Rider magazine in August 1979 and was updated in 1980

[Tommo]

This list appeared in Easyriders magazine in the early 1990's

[brettxlch]

I would love to see that list. Anybody have it?

I 2nd that didn't know it existed...

[duffeycycles]

I think the Hanlon Bros..buttheads that did EX/Hen had alist of 200 or so.Somewhere I have that.

[pem]

I would love to see that list. Anybody have it?

[Chris Haynes]

The club has that list. If I recall correctly over 350 known American brands prior to 1930.

[brettxlch]

It would be nice if someone could makeup a list of say....1920 and back of all the american motorcycle makers...wonder how many small and forgotten names, their would be..

[pem]

I just love talking about these old motorcycles. Merkel was selling all kinds of motorcycle parts back then. Somewhere I have an ad where they list frames, forks, etc. for sale. I got to dig that up. That tomato can carb(surface carb)was the best(was it?)they had in 1904/05. Did Merkel use that too? And sell it?

Something jogged my remembry and I looked up both the 1904 HD race and the 1905 HD race at the Wis. State Fairgrounds. Duffy posted those census records and Edward Hildebrand wasn't listed nor was he in the city directory if I remember correctly. But Paul was. And Paul Hildebrand was at that race in 1905 riding a HD with Perry, Walter and Henry Meyer. I'm thinking Paul Hildebrand was racing that HD in 1904. Not Edward. It was pretty common back in those days for newspapers to get their information mixed up. In one of the 1905 articles in the Milwaukee Free Press they listed Perry as Percy. And Paul Hildbrand, like Perry, was a machinist and both Paul and Perry left HD and went their separate ways. Or did they? We know Perry went on to build automobiles around 1907/08 and Paul Hildebrand became a member of the Comet Motorcycle Club which also had members who rode Advance and Greyhound Motorcycles among others. Did Paul and Perry work on that 1904/05 HD motor? Did they help with both the Advance and Comet motor? All 3 motors were similar in design.

[BigLakeBob]

Evinrude!!!!Man i guess ive gotta lot to learn...seems very fascinating learning learning about the pioneers of early bikes, seems like most people only hear ford,benz......sometimes as i drive by old barns garages no longer used, what one would find in them, long lost motorbikes cars...

I had a late sixty's Evinrude boat motor. It was called the Sportster and the throttle grip was the same style as used on '62-'64 HD's.

[duffeycycles]

Wick type also known as surface carburetors

[duffeycycles]

Tomato can carbs were wick type carb with a bowl full of fuel & a wick up into the intake tract,that as the air passed into the motor the air picked up fuel from the wick.I believe the first HD carb was wick type & Ole was recruited to create the next carb,not the first.Tomato can/wick type carbs were on many first machines,not just HD.....I have an article about Glenn Curtiss where he talks about his first carb..a tomato can carb/wick type..he said it actually worked quite well.That was before the first HD carb was made.

[Chris Haynes]

Evinrude!!!!Man i guess ive gotta lot to learn...seems very fascinating learning learning about the pioneers of early bikes, seems like most people only hear ford,benz......sometimes as i drive by old barns garages no longer used, what one would find in them, long lost motorbikes cars...

Ole Evinrude is credited with designing the first carburetor for H-D. Its float bowl was about the size and shape of a small can of tomato paste. It became known as The Tomato Can.

[brettxlch]

This is the famous #599 photo found by Herb in the early 1990's in the basement of the Milwaukee County Historical Society. If you want the story on this photo read Herb's book "At the Creation". H.D. didn't even know about this photo till Herb told them. Nor did they know about the other 1,000 glass plate negatives. I was lucky enough to make a photograph from the original glass plate negative before H.D. took them.

The 1905 H.D. motor, the 1908 Comet motor and the 1908 Advance motor are all similar but not the same. Who designed the motor they were all based on. Merkel? Mitchell? Evinrude? Mack? Leet? Kitlitschko? Harley? Fielbach? We may never know.

Edward Hildebrand was at H.D. in 1904. Paul and Otto Hildebrand were members of the Comet Motorcycle Club and were machinist. Were they brothers? They lived on 40th St. H.D. was on 37th St. Leet was on 37th St. Was the Advance made in Leet's garage? Comet was at 34th St. You know dam well they all knew each other.

Old documents and photos still turn up once in a while. Maybe we'll get lucky.

Evinrude!!!!Man i guess ive gotta lot to learn...seems very fascinating learning learning about the pioneers of early bikes, seems like most people only hear ford,benz......sometimes as i drive by old barns garages no longer used, what one would find in them, long lost motorbikes cars...

[duffeycycles]

Ther is "free family search" & "find a grave" for free info...I did the find a grave connections for The Davidson family a couple years ago+..also Kretz etc