Today in motorcycle history, April 7, 1972

  


    

  

  The Yankee Motor Company holds an open house for Dick and Judy Workingmann to come and see the new Yankee Z.

  The Yankee was conceived near the Hudson River, in the gritty General Electric town of Schenectady, New York.  In the late 1960's, John Taylor’s Yankee Motor Company was importing Ossa 230cc motocross and enduro bikes.  The Daytona 200 legend Dick Mann was competing, and winning, with these in quarter-mile flat-track races.  His success on board Yankee’s imported Ossa's led to the development of a 250cc Ossa-powered “Dick Mann Replica,” or DMR, which featured a frame completely manufactured in Yankee’s Schenectady facility.  The DMR would provide the test bed for the Yankee Z.

  

  The concept for the engine had been designed by Eduardo Giró of the Ossa factory in Barcelona, Spain. The Z’s heart was the most notable of its myriad of fascinating features. The engine was essentially two Spanish Ossa 230cc two-stroke singles melded together.  By using the internals and mating them with a splined crankshaft the engine could be made to fire with both pistons together, as a large single cylinder engine would and, with a relatively easy method, be made to fire with each piston taking its turn at the top of the stroke, (as most twin-cylinder engines of the time did), turning the bike into one torquey twin with a common crank and cases. 

  Originally, it began with the 230cc. engine cylinders, pistons, and crankshafts, but by the time the motorcycles were actually produced, the Ossa became a 250cc, and therefore, the Yankee became a full-fledged 500cc twin.

  

   The Yankee was the first production motorcycle to have a rear disk brake system.  The Yankee had a 6-speed tranny with the option to lock out low gear so it would comply with the AMA racing rules of the time.  It had stainless steel handlebars and a strong, light frame which was made from chrome-moly tubing with the oval swingarm being totally new to motorcycling.  The forged aluminum fork crowns were produced by the gun-making Smith and Wesson Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.  A quick-release seat and large air filter system was a big plus for the serious dirt ridin' freaks.

  Delays in production were eventually the Yankee's downfall, as lighter, more reliable motorcycles made their way into the American market.  Sadly, by the time the first Yankees rolled off the assembly line in 1971, the weight differences were large enough to make the serious enduro rider shy from owning the Yankee.

Today in motorcycle history, April 2, 1955

  


  

  Chief Dan Mathews and his Highway Patrol are called to the Town and Country Diner to quell a gang of unruly bikers.  Gang?  Unruly?  Hmm.....

  Cafe owner Bernie Sills loathes all motorcyclists because of injuries to his wife and damages to his diner during a renegade biker attack months earlier.  When he threatens non-violent cyclists Joe Keeley and Nick West with a shotgun, he gets a well deserved punch in the face.  A frightened Mrs. Sills calls the Highway Patrol.  The responding motorcycle cop, Officer Jack Anders, is killed in an accident involving a truck while pursuing Keeley and West.  When Dan Mathews and his side-kick Officer Dorsey investigate, Sills tries to blame the bikers for Officer Anders' death.  He exaggerates their behavior in his statements, but he is careful not to mention that he had provoked them by brandishing the shotgun. 

  When Keeley and West are located, Mathews and Dorsey hear a very different story concerning the incident.  Hmm...bullshit, thinks pro-biker Chief Mathews and then he learns of the shotgun threat for the first time.  He decides to test Sills' veracity by watching from a distance while an unshaven undercover motorcycle cop wearing a black leather jacket visits the café.  Sills' sneaks outside, kicks his bike over and attempts to knock it unconscious with his shotgun, the big man that he is.  The Chief and Officer Dorsey move in for the arrest.  Sills' actions leave no doubt as to who was telling the truth, he is dragged away and sent to Alcatraz for the death of Officer Jack Anders.



  Episode is worth watching just to see a 25 year-old Clint Eastwood on a panhead bobber.

Today in motorcycle history, April 1, 1970

  

  


 

  Aviation meets bikerdom, Lawrence Shapiro begins unpacking his luggage at Santa Monica Airport.  Suitcase Cycles is finally a reality.






  Born out of the need for ground transportation after flying his lightweight aircraft to remote areas of Mexico.  Lawrence Shapiro worked day and night designing parts and assembling, breaking down and then reassembling his Honda CT90 until it fit into the luggage compartment of a small plane.

  You fly to an uncharted island and need transportation?  You forgot a toolbox and there's no Professor to assist you?  Not a problem.  No tools were required, one push on a spring-loaded button and a guide pin removal and the entire handlebar assembly is removed.  The same quick-release design was put into the rear fender, utility rack, front and rear wheels and, on the CT90, the entire front suspension, thanks to an ingenious indexed coupler put in the frame's front down tube.

  Suitcase Cycles were available as Honda CT90 and Suzuki TS-90R models.  Though customs as big as a 360cc were made.  They came complete in a wheeled loading tray that easily fit into the luggage bins on small aircraft.






  Excuse me, do need to check this or will it fit in the overhead?

Today in motorcycle history, March 31, 1973

  


  

  

  "The Queen of the Motorcycle Jumpers", Debbie Lawler, jumps her Suzuki 76 feet over a line of parked cars at the Beeline Dragway in Phoenix, Arizona.  

  Debbie Lawler, a.k.a. "The Flying Angel", was one of the most prolific female motorcycle jumpers of all-time. With her blue-and-white helmet, lucky orange bra, and pink hearts sewn all over her baby-blue leathers, she was the third most-popular motorcycle jumper of her era, following Evel Knievel and Super Joe Einhorn.  Mind you, a very small percentage of motorcycle jumpers are women, but that by no means takes anything away from Debbie's accomplishments.




  On February 3, 1974, ABC's Wide World of Sports was at the Houston Astrodome to tape the National Championship Indoor Motorcycle Race, and to also cover Debbie's jump. The 21-year-old earned her biggest exposure to date as she bettered Evel Knievel's indoor record for jump distance.  Her 101-foot leap over 16 Chevy pickups earns her a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

  That was it, Debbie was a sensation.  She appeared on the TV game show "What's My Line?" and in print ads for Eagle Tires.  In response to Ideal's successful Evel Knievel toys, Kenner released the "Debbie Lawler Daredevil Jump Set," reasoning that girls would demand a line of stunt toys that they could identify with.  The Debbie doll had a big pink heart on her white helmet, with her golden plastic mane flowing out over her white jumpsuit.  Her bike was green, with shiny plastic faux-chrome machinery and another big pink heart emblazoned on the side. 

  The toy's packaging depicted a small girl at the helm of the wind-up crankcase that made little Debbie's motorcycle go.  The back of the toy's box illustrated "Wild Rider Action!", eight positions that Debbie could be mounted on the cycle.




  What more could a girl want. 

Today in motorcycle history, March 28, 2002

  

  

  

  

  Canadian motorcycle racer, dealer, importer, sponsor, AMA official, motorcycle collector and designer Trevor Deeley dies at 82.






  "Trev" Deeley was born on March 15, 1920, in Vancouver, British Columbia, into a motorcycling family.  His grandfather and father had operated a Harley-Davidson dealership in Vancouver since 1918.

  During the 1940’s and 1950’s Deeley dominated flat track motorcycle racing in the Northwest.  He became a factory sponsored rider for Harley-Davidson and his bikes bore the number 22 as an AMA expert national plate holder, the first Canadian to have this honor.  

  In 1953, Trev was appointed General Manager of Fred Deeley Motorcycles.  Four years later he became the first Honda motorcycle distributor in the English speaking world.  In 1973 Trevor was approached by Harley-Davidson to become the exclusive distributor for Canada. That same year, Trevor was awarded “Special Constable” status and became the first civilian to ride with the Vancouver City Police Drill Team.


  In 1985 Trev Deeley became the first non-American on the board of directors for Harley-Davidson Motor Company.  He retired from the board in 1993, later that same year he opened the doors of the Deeley Harley-Davidson Museum housing one of the finest collections of motorcycles in the country.


  Trev Deeley was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1995.  This followed with the induction into the AMA Hall of Fame and the BC Sports Hall of Fame.  In 1997 Deeley became the first Canadian to receive the Dudley Perkins Award for his outstanding contribution to the sport of motorcycling.

   Not bad for a kid who began riding at fourteen on a 250cc Francis Barnett.  

Today in motorcycle history, March 25, 1962

  

  



  

  Known to most as the subject of "The World's Fastest Indian",  Herbert James "Burt" Munro celebrates his 63rd birthday by setting a New Zealand motorcycle speed-record for a standing start, open-class, quarter-mile with a time of 12.31 seconds/138 mph aboard his 1936 600cc Velocette MSS. 

  Burt Munro also set six other New Zealand motorcycle speed-records:  

  Flying half-mile, Road, Unlimited Class
Munro Special Indian - 99.45mph, Canterbury, January 27, 1940

  Flying half-mile, Road, Open Class
Munro Special Indian - 120.8mph, Canterbury, January 27, 1940

  Flying half-mile, Road, 750cc Class
Munro Special Indian - 143.6 mph, Canterbury, April 13, 1957

  Flying half-mile, Beach, Open Class
Munro Special Indian - 131.38mph, Oreti Beach, February 9, 1957

  Flying half-mile, Beach, 750cc Class
Velocette 600cc - 129.078mph, Oreti Beach, December 16, 1961

  Flying half-mile, Beach, 750cc Class
Velocette 618cc - 132.35mph, Oreti Beach, May 1, 1971

  During his life, Munro's accomplishments were little known outside a select group of motorcycle enthusiasts. With the release of "The World's Fastest Indian" in 2005, Munro suddenly became a cult hero in New Zealand. The movie became the biggest domestically produced film ever produced.


  His son, John, said that Munro would have shrugged his shoulders and smiled at the popularity he obtained after his passing.


  "I'm sure he would have never believed the popularity the movie gave him," said John Munro. "I think he would have been quietly pleased at being able to share his life with millions of people."






  He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2006.

Today in motorcycle history, March 24, 1972

  

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 Evel Knievel jumps thirteen cars at the 5,600 seat State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Detroit, Michigan. 

 Evel successfully clears the thirteen cars but, he also successfully clears the landing ramp and crashes into the Coliseum's newly erected safety wall and breaks his collarbone.  
 Three weeks earlier, in San Francisco, he broke his ankle and bruised a few ribs attempting to jump fifteen cars.  But, the show must go on...




 Knievel began his snake/barrel/bail/motorcycle/car/bus/canyon jumping career on a 350cc Honda, in 1966 he did two jumps on a Norton Atlas, from March 9, 1967 until October 1968 he used a Triumph Bonneville, April 1969 to August of 1970 jumps were performed on a Laverda American Eagle 750cc and then, the bike he's best known for, a Harley-Davidson XR-750 from December 1970 until he called it quits in 1977.

 Evel Knievel often said that his Triumph was by far the best bike he ever jumped with, hands down. According to Evel – “The Harley’s got a little too much torque when it comes to jumping.”






  The State Fairgrounds Coliseum, aka Hockeytown State Fair Coliseum, is included in the U.S. Natonal Register of Historic Places.