Today in motorcycle history, January 31, 1952

 

 

 

  Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend, Alberto Granado set out on a journey to reach the United States in 1951. The pair navigate a Norton through the lands of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela.

  On January 31, 1952 they arrive in San Martín.  Che Guevara describes the location, "San Martín lies on the yellow-green slopes that melt into the blue depths of Lake Lacar".

   Guevara has a very crucial revelation in this location.  He writes, "Although often on our travels we longed to stay in the formidable places we visited, only the Amazon jungle called out to that sedentary part of ourselves as strongly as did this place.  I now know, by an almost fatalistic conformity with the facts, that my destiny is to travel...".

San Martin de los Andes, Neuquen, Argentina

Today in motorcycle history, January 30, 2002

  Indian Motorcycle Corp. announces it will complete its journey back into the marketplace this year with the introduction of the 2002 Chief, outfitted with the first Indian-designed engine in 45 years.

  The new 100-cubic-inch V-twin was engineered at Indian's headquarters in Gilroy, Calif.--near Monterey--and is being built by a custom-engine manufacturing contractor in Livonia, Mich.

  The new Chief, due in dealerships this spring, will be the flagship of Indian's line, which includes the sport-styled Spirit and the cruiser-styled Scout. Both models will continue using the 88-cubic-inch engine Indian has been buying from Wisconsin motorcycle engine maker S&S Cycle Inc.

Indian, headed by former HBO Video President Frank O'Connell, is a resurrection of the original Indian Motorcycle Co., which built the first American-made, mass-produced motorcycle in 1901 and went out of business in 1953.

  The new Indian was started in 1998 and began selling motorcycles in 1999.

  By using an engine of its own design, Indian regains the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) status that went to the grave with its predecessor.

  The new Powerplus 100 engine replicates the design of the original Indian V-Twin, with rounded cylinder heads and serrated rocker covers, but uses modern technologies such as computerized electronic ignition.

 

  So much for completing the journey, someone must have forgot to fill the tank because this version of the Indian Motorcycle Corporation went into bankruptcy and ceased all production operations in Gilroy on September 19, 2003.  50 years since the original ceased production. 

  Happy anniversary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today in motorcycle history, January 29, 1999

  Excelsior-Henderson today announced that on Saturday, January 30, 1999, it will ship the first revenue 1999 Super X motorcycle to one of the Dealers in the Excelsior-Henderson National Dealer network.  Production and shipment of the Super X will now ramp-up slowly during the remainder of the first quarter of 1999.  A portion of the initial production bikes will be designated for the Excelsior-Henderson Demo Team and marketing events, such as the World of Wheels Show in St. Paul on Febuary 12-14, and Daytona Bike Week on February 27-March 7.  The Excelsior-Henderson Road Crew Demo Team will conduct demonstration rides for visiting bikers during Daytona Bike Week.  Dealer shipments will accelerate during March and the second quarter of 1999.
  "It was truly exciting to see the first Super X complete final quality testing, crated in the Excelsior-Henderson branded shipping crates, and loaded on a truck to be delivered to one of our nationally recognized Excelsior-Henderson dealers," stated CO-founders Dan, Dave and Jenny Hanlon.  "We now look forward to publically showing the new Super X at the  World of Wheels Show in St. Paul, and at Daytona Bike Week," added the Hanlons. 

  Before their steel-toe Chippewa boots could kick it into third gear the impending financial market collapse of 1999-2000 resulted in Excelsior-Henderson having difficulty completing the next scheduled capital infusion, and became an indirect casualty of the financial marketplace. Therefore, on December 21, 1999, Excelsior-Henderson filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization.   Then like a hot-potato, the company was sold to a Florida investment group, which later filed for reorganization. Production of motorcycles never commenced.

   In case you're interested there is an official Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycles website still out there cruising the cyber-highway, which is about all the highway they ever saw.

   The bikes are gone, but an Excelsior-Henderson book was published,  ironically titled "Riding The American Dream". 

Today in motorcycle history, January 25, 2003

I came across this article while in search of the must-know motorcycle information that I feel obligated to tell you about. 

                                                A victim of fashion
  TOKYO: This season’s fad for extra long scarves claimed another fashion victim when a Japanese woman fell from her motorcycle after her two-metre long muffler got caught in the bike’s rear wheel, police said Tuesday.

  The 20-year-old college student was in a coma after the accident but regained consciousness on Tuesday. Still her condition remains serious as her scarf almost choked her to death.

  “Long, long scarves became fashionable among young women after Hidetoshi Nakata, the football player, wore one that almost touched the floor,” a spokesman said.

  The motorcycle accident followed a similar incident in November, when a 26-year-old Japanese woman suffocated to death after her long scarf was caught in the engine of a go-cart.

 

  Do you think they had long, long gloves and long, long hats to go with the long, long scarves?

Today in motorcycle history, January 24, 1901

  Edward Turner is born.  Or dare I say Triumph is born.  Edward Turner was not just a British motorcycle designer but he created motorcycle history time and time again.

  He was born in Camberwell in the London Borough of Southwark, on the day King Edward VII was proclaimed King.

  In 1915, Turner had his first ride on a motorcycle, a Light Tourist New Imperial.  Ten years later in 1925 "The Motor Cycle" published drawings by Turner of an OHC single he had designed, using a series of vertically stacked gears to drive the overhead camshaft.  A subsequent redesign used bevel gears to drive a vertical camshaft, operating the valves through rockers.  The only shared aspects of the two designs were the bore and stroke, 74 mm × 81 mm (2.9 in × 3.2 in), with the barrel being sunk into the crankcases.  The head could be removed from either design complete with undisturbed valve gear.

  Turner built his first bike in 1927, using his second design, a 350 cc OHC single.  "The Motor Cycle" published a photograph of Turner's patented engine, mounted in his motorcycle called the Turner Special.  The Special was registered for road use with the London County Council as YP 9286.  It used Webb forks and a three-speed Sturmey-Archer gearbox. 

   In 1928, while working for a motorcycle shop on Peckham Road, he conceived the square four.  The idea was laughed at by BSA, but Ariel jumped at it.  It would become the legendary Ariel Square Four.

  In July 1937, Turner introduced the 500 cc Speed Twin.  The 5T Speed Twin became the standard by which other twins were judged, and its descendants continued in production until the 1980s.

  In 1901 Edward Turner was born and the world rejoiced.

Today in motorcycle history, January 23, 1966

   It all begins with the simple twist of the throttle and a dream.  And a bottle of Private Reserve.

   Evel Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevils debut at the National Date Festival in Indio, California.  Evel jumps two pick-up trucks parked back-to-back (an estimated 45 feet) riding on a Norton Atlas. 

   The show was a huge success. 

    Knievel received several offers to host the show by himself after their first performance.  He turns it down.  Their next performance is on February 10, 1966 in Barstow, California.  During the performance, Knievel attempts a new stunt where he would jump, spread eagle, over a speeding motorcycle.  Unfortunately, he jumped too late and the motorcycle hit him in the groin (high-pitched ouch), tossing him fifteen feet into the air.  After his release from the hospital, he returned to Barstow to finish the performance he had started almost a month earlier.

   Evel Knievel and His Motorcycle Daredevil's broke up after the Barstow performance because injuries prevented him from performing.  After recovering, Knievel started traveling from small town to small town as a solo act.  To get ahead of other motorcycle stunt people who were jumping animals or pools of water, Knievel started jumping cars.  He began adding more and more cars to his jumps when he would return to the same venue to get people to come out and see him again.  Knievel hadn’t had a serious injury since the Barstow performance, but on June 19, 1966 in Missoula, Montana, he attempted to jump twelve cars and a cargo van.  The distance he had for take-off didn’t allow him to get up enough speed.  His back wheel hit the top of the van while his front wheel hit the top of the landing ramp.  Knievel ended up with a severely broken arm and several broken ribs.  The crash and subsequent stay in the hospital were a publicity windfall.

   With each successful jump, the public wanted him to jump one more car.  On May 30, 1967, Knievel successfully cleared sixteen cars in Gardena, California.  Then he attempted the same jump on July 28, 1967, in Graham, Washington, where he had his next serious crash.  Landing his cycle on a panel truck that was the last vehicle, Knievel was thrown from his bike.  This time he suffered a serious, brain-rattling concussion.  Then after nearly a month, he recovered and returned to Graham on August 18 to finish the show. 

Today in motorcycle history, January 22, 1970

  Floyd Clymer dies in Los Angeles at 74.

  Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Floyd Clymer was a pioneer in the sport of motorcycling, as a racer, a motorcycle dealer and a distributor.  He was a magazine publisher, a racing promoter, an author, and a motorcycle manufacturer.

  In 1904, at the age of 10, Floyd was selling new Reos, Maxwells and Cadillacs in his hometown of Berthoud, Colorado, to which his father, a physician, had moved the family after Floyd was born in Indianapolis.

  Clymer and his younger brother, Elmer, made an unsuccessful reliability run from Denver, Colorado, to Spokane, Washington, in 1904 that ended with their Flanders 20 breaking down repeatedly on the open plains of Wyoming and eventually being hauled to Washington aboard a railroad flatcar.  By then, however, Clymer had discovered motorcycles and he knew immediately he had the bug.  

   By 1916 he had become a member of the Harley-Davidson factory team.  He set a world 100-mile record that same year, in addition to a Pikes Peak record, but was eventually forced out of competitive motorcycle riding by a back injury.  Undaunted, he turned to promoting AMA motorcycle races in the Midwest and elsewhere.

   In the mid-1940s, Clymer, perhaps unknowingly, created a new genre of journalism. He put together a selection of photos, text, statistics, and articles on old cars first published when they were new into a single, thematically chaotic volume called Floyd Clymer's Historical Motor Scrapbook.  In the early Forties, magazines covering automotive history were virtually nonexistent in the United States, unless someone stumbled onto one of the great British publications such as The Motor or Autocar.  His widely distributed opening volume created a sensation, earning Clymer a glowing 1944 book review in Time and written testimonials from luminaries including California governor Earl Warren, Charles W. Nash and Orville Wright.

   Floyd Clymer was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.