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1909-1911 motorcycles registered in Wisconsin

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  • 1909-1911 motorcycles registered in Wisconsin

    This is a list I comprised of all known motorcycles registered in Wis. between 1909 and 1911. 76 different brands which include home build's. Not all motorcycles were production. Some are one of's. I classify production as 2 or more built. An amazing number. This list contains 44 Wis. made motorcycles including home builds. If you ad in the other Wisconsin made motorcycles, Pennington-1895, Wiggert-1901, P.M. Warden of Ripon-1910, Safteycycle-1940's, Harry Miller's of Menomonee-1900, Pirate, Waverley, P.E.M., Jefferson, Briggs & Stratton motor scooter and the Buehl you get a total of 51 Wisconsin made motorcycles. Some were prototypes or pre-production or experimental. This list is by no means correct as many names were lost to history. The Kenzler-Waverley of Cambridge-1911 is not included as it was only on paper. Never built. Nor are the Wisconsin registrations complete. Apparently Milwaukee County started registering motorcycles around 1905 but these documents are lost to history at this time.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by pem; 06-18-2018, 03:39 PM.

  • #2
    Nice list Pem, amazing.....thanks for posting it here! Did you do the research?
    Pisten Bully is Harry Roberts in Vermont.

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    • #3
      Thanks, it is my research. Culmination of 28 years. I decided I better share what I have learned before it's too late. I'll be 70 soon and after this weekend I figure I better write this stuff down. I took a midnight ride Sunday because it was in the 80's overnight and almost got killed by a drunk driver around 2am. Closest I've come to dying in 52 years of riding. I don't know how I didn't go down. I''l try to share some more reearch.

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      • #4
        Thanks for sharing that hard wrought information that you collected, Dick. It is amazing how a simple list can make your mind reel with images of super rare motorcycles that were brand new at those times. It's incredible to think of a Royal Pioneer, Curtiss, or Torpedo being someone's magic carpet to roam those beautiful country roads in the early days of the 20th century. Sorry to hear about your brush with near death. Things like that really take the fun out of riding motorcycles. I pretty much park my bikes for the winter season here in Florida. Too many distracted, clueless drivers.
        Eric Smith
        AMCA #886

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        • #5
          Your welcome. I've got friends who migrate to Florida for the winter. They pretty much don't leave their gated community as the traffic is crazy and the restaurants are full. Doesn't sound like fun to me. Went to Daytona 500 once and froze to death in the cheap seats.

          That Harry Miller bike was supposed to be built by "the" Harry Miller of Indy Car fame when he was in his teens. There's supposed be a photo somewhere. That guy was a genius. Absolutely beautiful motors.

          One of these days I'm gonna write a timeline for Perry Mack. There is so much miss-information out there. He was another genius. While he was at Briggs & Stratton as Chief Engineer for almost 30 years he would not design his motors on paper. He figured it all out in head. Then it was written down. He never talked on the phone. His office was the size of a large closet. He loved guns and driving his Packard's fast. He had his share of accidents too. He always took the bus to work carrying his lunch in a brown bag containing a sandwich and a sugar cookie. One day the president of B&S came in his office and showed Perry a tiny gun that actually fired tiny bullets. They ended up shooting flys. In the office.

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          • #6
            Very interesting!
            Rich Inmate #7084

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            • #7
              You are correct Badger34. Fantastic resource. Funny thing is I could not find registrations for the Davidson's or Bill Harley or Perry Mack. I came across a small paragraph from an early motorcycle magazine that said Milwaukee had started registering motorcycles in 1904 but I can't find the source now. I know I sent it to Herb Wagner so I will check with him. Best place to look for it would probably be the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

              The first motorcycle registered in Wisconsin state files in 1909 was a Merkel. The first HD is below. One good thing about the files is that some registrations have serial numbers.

              Here's an unrelated interesting article from The Racine Journal, Feb. 14, 1905. I'll type it out as the original is very hard to read.

              WISCONSIN WHEEL WORKS Manufacturing a Motor-Cycle for the would be President.

              The Wisconsin Wheel Works is manufacturing a motorcycle for the Hon. William Jennings Bryant. The machine is something new in the motor line and so far has proved potential. When the aspirant to the president's chair gets his new motorcycle, he will not have to use any physical power in propelling the outfit. All he will have to do is to press the button and is off at the rate of sixty miles an hour if he so desires The motorcycle is built similar to a bicycle only there is a motor attached in the frame. If the gasoline gives out foot power can be used. The motor generates the machine with a round belt fastened to a pulley on the real wheel almost as large in circumference as the wheel itself. Th usual chain is also attached which allows the cycle to be propelled by foot power. The invention is a novel one and the best device of its ind on the market so far.

              60 mph. Talk about advertising hype. "all he has to do is press the button". Must of had electric start!

              Typical of the advertising of the day. I'd also like to share some of the unknown articles of HD's history I have found. I came across most of this stuff looking for more proof Perry Mack was HD's first employee and helped design their first production motor in 1904/05.
              Attached Files

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              • #8
                You are right. Dumb ass attack on my part. 1901. I can't read my own writing.

                I have talked with Herb recently. He is doing really good. He has been busy writing and researching a new article for our club magazine. It will be another good one.

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                • #9
                  Thanks for the positive update on Herb. Yourself, badger34, Tommo, and of course Herb have given so much of your time to uncovering these priceless gems of early motorcycle history. Any time I see a post by any of you, it's like a gift. Thanks for your hard work, and dedication.
                  Eric Smith
                  AMCA #886

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                  • #10
                    First HD registered in Wisconsin. June 25, 1909 Reg. #5.
                    Attached Files

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                    • #11
                      jacobsen.jpgJacobsen In Racine made 12 prototype Cycles to compete with whizzer.. Thi one is mine and I know of another in Racine that was restored. Jacobsen wanted to prove reliability of them by Having the Racine Explorer Scouts ride them around Lake Michigan. There is an article in the Racine Journal Times.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by cabanadan View Post
                        [ATTACH=CONFIG]22369[/ATTACH]Jacobsen In Racine made 12 prototype Cycles to compete with whizzer.. Thi one is mine and I know of another in Racine that was restored. Jacobsen wanted to prove reliability of them by Having the Racine Explorer Scouts ride them around Lake Michigan. There is an article in the Racine Journal Times.
                        I have to add this to my list. What year? It appears to be an attachment to a normal bicycle. Maybe not as it seems to have a srpung fork. So I am assuming it was never produced? Thanks so much for sharing this info. I've always heard that America made over 200 motorcycles over the years but if you include the ones lost to history, the prototypes, experimental's and home builds it's much higher.

                        I wonder why it never went into production? It looks like it would work very well.

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                        • #13
                          OK, I found the ordinance that was passed to allow the registration of motorcycles in Milwaukee starting in the fall of 1904. I first thought it was a county ordinance but it was a City of Milwaukee ordinance. My remembry isn't so plenty good. It was passed on Sept. 6th, 1904 and signed by the mayor, Cornelius Corcoran on Sept. 8th. Sec. 8,9,10 and 11 applied to motorcycles. Now if it was implemented and or enforced is another question. Laws were being passed all over the country at this time to restrict motorcycles.

                          This ordinance was passed a couple days before the first mention of Harley-Davidson in the public record which we know from Herb Wagner's research. In another newspaper article they talked about 2 Harley's racing at the State Fair Park 1 mile dirt track on Sept. 10th, 1904 and mentioned HD by name for the first time along with the racers. Neither finished the race according to my article. And 9 months later Harley-Davidson won the next race they entered, and the next, and the next, etc. In 1905 I'm sure it was with a different motor and maybe a different motorcycle all together. Unless we find a photograph from that 1904 race we will never know.

                          If I was living in the Milwaukee area I would first check in person with the City of Milwaukee, then the Milwaukee County Historical Society and last the Milwaukee Public Library on Wisconsin Ave. The library is where Herb found the oldest known photograph of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a person. June 12th, 1905. 10 days after HD won it's first motorcycle race ever.

                          Below is the ordinance which I found in the Milwaukee Daily News from Sept. 4, 1904.
                          Attached Files
                          Last edited by pem; 07-24-2018, 05:29 PM.

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                          • #14
                            Very interesting stuff here......
                            Rich Inmate #7084

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                            • #15
                              I believe there were two HD at the race in 1904. I'll post all the entry and results articles. Notice the difference between the papers.

                              Milwaukee Free Press 09/04/1904
                              Milwaukee Free Press 09/08/1904
                              Milwaukee Free Press 09/09/1904
                              Milwaukee Daily News 09/08/1904
                              Attached Files

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