Today in motorcycle history, September 13, 1972

  



  

  "One-Adam 12, One-Adam 12." In episode 1, sason 5 of Adam-12, Officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) fight to keep the streets of Los Angeles safe.

  A pair of motorcyclists on dirt bikes snatch handbags and go off-road down trails where the police cannot follow in their squad cars.  A local motorcycle club, Kings Choppers MC (Mickey Dolenz portrays "Oiler"), is suspected.  Reed invites them to a community meeting to air their complaints on their alleged constant harassment by "the man".  They show up and their leader, "Skinner" (Edd Byrnes), argues with Malloy that they're not "punk purse snatchers".  Things get heated between the two and Skinner challenges Malloy to a duel and they settle on a dirt bike race.  Jim must then teach Pete how to ride a dirt bike.  After a crash-course he figures he's ready to take on Skinner, he's not.  Malloy loses the race but seems to gain some respect from the Club.  When another purse snatching occurs, the pursuit ends at the dirt trails.  However, this time Kings Choppers are on the other end of the trail and force the thieves back to Malloy and Reed where they surrender.  Los Angeles is  safe and happy once again.

  Today  in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, September 11, 1938

  



  

  

  Aboard an Indian Scout, Ed "Iron Man" Kretz wins the 1938 200 mile Laconia Classic. The race is held at Belknap Recreation Area in Gilford near Laconia, New Hampshire, as part of the New England Gypsy Tour.  It's the only Laconia Classic that was 200 miles, normally it's 100 miles.

  Ed "Iron Man" Kretz was hands-down the greatest American motorcycle racer of his day and the first major star of AMA Class "C" racing. He was a fierce competitor, a biker's biker, who strove to finish, and win, every race.



  Kretz's big breakthrough win came at the 1936 200-mile Road Race National Championship at Savannah, Georgia, where he beat the best riders from across the country. Ed was suddenly one of the best-known racers in the country. He was given a contract with Indian that paid him $200 per month (a nice hunk of change during the Depression) as well as travel and expense money.


  But, the ride that the Iron Man will forever be remembered for was his victory in the inaugural Daytona 200 in 1937.  It would go on to become the single most important motorcycle race in America, and Kretz's win at the very first one earned him a significant place in the history of the sport.

  

  Among his considerable accomplishments were victories at nearly all of the major national events of the late 1930's and 1940's, including the Savannah 200, the inaugural Daytona 200, the Langhorne 100 Mile and the Laconia Classic. Only one major race eluded Kretz over the years– the Springfield Mile. 

  Ed Kretz was inducted in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, September 10, 1936

 

  

  

  In a Match Race for the ages, Australian Lionel Van Praag wins the inaugural Speedway World Championship at London's Wembley Stadium over England's Eric Langton.

  The 1936 Speedway Championship was decided by a run-off when bonus points accumulated in previous rounds by Van Praag and Langton tied them atop the standings.


  As they lined up at the tapes to decide the champion, Langton broke them which would ordinarily lead to automatic disqualification. However, Van Praag stated there's no way he was going to win the title by default and insisted that a race should take place. At the restart Langton made it to the first bend in front and led until the final bend on the last lap when Van Praag somehow darted through a pinhole of a gap to win by less than a wheel length.




  In 2008, Lionel Maurice Van Praag was inducted into the Australian Speedway Hall of Fame.





  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, September 9, 1956

  

  

   At Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Britain's Geoff Duke outrides Italy's Libero Liberati to win the 1956 500cc Class Nations Grand Prix by 0.1 seconds.

  In one of the most nail-biting races in the history of the Nations GP, Gilera team-mates Geoff Duke and Libero Liberati battled each other at every turn, at every straight away. So evenly matched on this Sunday that they even tied for the fastest lap at 1:50.4.

  Libero Liberati would win the 1957 500cc World Championship (Gilera).  Geoff Duke would win the 500cc World Championship in 1951 (Norton), 1953 (Gilera), 1954 (Gilera) and 1955 (Gilera).






  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, September 8, 1971

 




  

  Buyers line up outside Suzuki dealers across Japan as the much anticipated GT750 arrives on the showroom floor.

  The prototype Suzuki GT750 was shown at the 17th Tokyo Motor Show in October of 1970 and after almost a year of fine tweeking it's launched in Japan. Billed as a sports touring bike (GT = Grand Tourismo), it was developed from the highly popular T500 with an extra cylinder and liquid cooling thrown in to quell the rider's hunger pangs.  

  The 739cc two-stroke three-cylinder engine was marketed as the Le Mans in the United States and Canada. A heavy bastard, it tipped the scales at 550 lbs, it was rumored to be nicknamed the "Kettle" in Britain and the "Water Buffalo" in the United States. It had it's pluses though, a five-speed tranny, three-into-four exhaust, 32 mm Mikuni's, 67 bhp with a top-speed of 110 mph.  It also featured Suzuki's SRIS (Suzuki Recycle Injection System) which was a method for lowering the visible exhaust smoke by collecting and burning residual oil/gas lying in the bottom of the crank chambers. This was a first for any two-stroke. A point of pride for Suzuki engineers.

  In 1973 Suzuki  announced that two 295 mm discs were replacing the drum front brake. Making Suzuki the only manufacturer that was offering dual front disc brakes at the time. By 1974 it had increased the top-speed to 120 mph but, as with all the late 1970's big two strokes the GT750 succumbed to stricter emission regulations and competition from technical developments of the invading four-strokes. Suzuki GT750 production finally ended in 1977. 

  The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, includes the 1971 Suzuki GT750 as one of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, September 6, 1901

   

  




  I know, technically, September 6 was yesterday but, I wasn't home. 

  Leon Czolgosz shoots President William McKinley in Buffalo, New York, with an Iver Johnson .32 caliber Safety Automatic revolver.

  Did Czolgosz escape on a motorcycle?  Did President McKinley ride bikes?  No and no.  So, what the hell does this have to do with bikes you ask? Well...

  ...Iver Johnson, a trained gunsmith, emigrated from Norway to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1863.  Starting his own arms company, Iver Johnson & Company, in Worcester in 1883.  Iver began producing bicycles as well  and in 1891, he changed the company name to Iver Johnson's Arms & Cycle Works and relocated to Fitchburg, Massachusetts. After fabricating bicycles for 15 or so years they decided a motor would make them much cooler and in 1907 the Iver Johnson Company motorcycle division was born.

  Their bikes were categorized by engine type, either 'V-Twin' or 'Single Cylinder' configurations. The Iver Johnson, or I-J in biker lingo, basic model specs were:


  For the V-Twin: transversely mounted side-valve 1020cc V-twin, 7 to 8 hp with a top-speed of 65 mph, 58 inch wheelbase and a dry weight of 265 lbs.


  For the Single Cylinder: vertically mounted 500cc single, 4 hp with the throttle twisted and a strong wind at your back 37-40 mph, 46 inch wheelbase and dry weight of 248 lbs.


  According to Jeffry L'H. Tank's "History of the Motorcycle", "...Iver Johnson advertised their machines as "Mechanical Perfection," a boast that was not entirely unbelievable given the number of advanced design features in especially their later models, such as dual crankshafts, nickel-alloy machined parts, chain drive, and a hand-operated three-speed gearbox. Models such as the 1915 I-J Model 15-7 are the finest period examples of motorcycle engineering of the day, along with a very select few others, such as Scotts."



  In 1916 the market for weapons began to seriously outweigh the prospect of motorcycle sales, so Iver Johnson turned its attention to firearms and said 'farvel' to the production of bikes, dropping "Cycle Works" from their name.

  Coincidentally, Sirhan Sirhan shot Presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, California on June 5, 1968 with an eight-shot Iver Johnson .22 caliber Cadet 55-A revolver.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk

Today in motorcycle history, September 5, 1899

  
  

  
  

  


  I came across this bit of motorcycle history and being the kind sort that I am I thought I'd share it with you.

     San Francisco Call, Volume 86, Number 97, 5 September 1899

                                   Fast Time on Motorcycle.

  NEW YORK. Sept. 4.— The cycle race meet of the Atlantic Athletic Association at Manhattan Beach today drew 3000 people. The main event was a twenty-five mile *motorcycle tandem race. First money was won by J. W. Judge and Charles W. Miller, the six-day champion rider, and their time of 39 minutes 58 seconds beat the world's record on any class of machine. J. Stinson and I. Stafford were second; time, 41 minutes 2.5 seconds. Harry Caldwell and H. Ragen were third; time, 42 minutes 30 3.5 seconds.

  *The bikes were all fitted with small, lightweight four-cycle De Dion-Bouton engines. The French motor was popular among turn-of-the-century builders of moto-bicycles, with a bore and stroke of 50 mm x 70 mm they were capable of nearly 1.5 hp.

  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD).  www.nabd.org.uk