Post Listing Update: This BSA hybrid was pulled off of eBay, final sale price unknown. It’d be hard for me to top this introductory line from the seller: “basically, this bike is what you’d get if an ovulating 1949 B33 had unprotected sex with a horny old 1944 M20 sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s.” I’m highly amused …
1912 Flying Merkel Board Track Racer
Post Listing Update: This Flying Merkel was pulled off of eBay, final sale price unknown. If you saw the show Sons of Speed last year on Discovery, you should be familiar with Billy Lane, the owner of Choppers, Inc. As part of the series, Billy revived several board track racers – he was able to find a few engines but …
Power Products Project – Motorized Bicycle
Based out of Grafton, Wisconsin, Power Products was formed in 1946 and was sold to Tecumseh in 1957. One of their products was the “1000” motor, a tiny two-stroke that they would sell to manufacturers and slapped onto all kinds of products – personal lawnmowers, farm equipment like augers, outboard boat engines, go-carts, you name it! Obviously, someone figured it’d …
Vintage Bicycle Pacer in Holland – 1935 Meier-BAC
Louis Bac was an aircraft engineer at Peugeot who had an interesting side project in 1925 – he built approximately 50 examples of a pacing machine to be used at bicycle tracks. The second generation was released in 1932 – it was called the Meier and just 30 of those were built.
1936 BMW R4
Post Listing Update: This R4 was pulled off of eBay, final sale price unknown. As the 30s rolled around and Depression hit, BMW saw the need for a diminutive single-cylinder bike to offer alongside its twins. The sub 200cc R2 sold quite well, but the BMW R4 was an intermediate bike between the budget single and the bigger bikes. The …
1939 Indian Sport Scout
Post Sale Update: This Sport Scout sold for $19,600 after 43 bids on eBay in Cold Spring, New York. After the success of the legendary 101 Scout, Indian did not have much luck with the Standard Scout or Motoplane. They attempted to remedy the common complaints with the Sport Scout in 1934, which was still 15 pounds higher than the …
New Auction Bike – 1928 BMW R62
Post Sale Update: This R62 sold for $52,000 on Iconic Motorbike Auctions in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Today on the auction site we’ve got a rare BMW that’s successfully crossed the US as part of the Motorcycle Cannonball!
Ending Soon – 1913 Excelsior Big Twin with Sidecar
Post Listing Update: This Excelsior did not meet reserve despite 40 bids up to $48,100 on eBay in Alto, Michigan. Excelsiors are already cool by themselves, but this one is even more special thanks to the sidecar and the patina that comes from over 100 years of wear on the original paint. What a beauty!
Experimental “Mini Knuck” – 1938/39 Harley-Davidson XE-4
8-28-19 Update: Well, it looks like this bike has sold, as it’s now on the other side of the country…and the BIN is up by over $50K. Find it for sale in Newtown, Pennsylvania with a BIN of $250,000 here on eBay.. Post Listing Update: This prototype Harley did not get any interest at the BIN of $195,000. Despite a …
McCandless Swingarm Conversion – 1931 Norton International
Post Sale Update: This Norton sold for the BIN of $17,500. 8-18-2019 Update: Four months later, this lovely Norton is back up on eBay but now it’s a classified listing and not an auction. Find it with a BIN of $17,500 or best offer here on eBay. Post Listing Update: This custom Norton did not meet reserve despite 28 bids …
1928 BMW R52
Designed to be a tourer, the BMW R52 featured a 486cc boxer twin that generated 12 horsepower. The three-speed transmission had just been redesigned for this model, during a time frame when BMW was constantly making changes. Due to this, BMW switched to pressed-steel frames by the end of 1929, meaning the rare R52 was produced for just two years.
First Year Knucklehead – 1936 Harley-Davidson EL
Post Sale Update: This EL sold for $120,000 after 20 bids on eBay. Harley-Davidson debuted the Knucklehead motor in 1936 (though it didn’t earn the nickname until after the Panhead was released) and just 1,704 first year examples were built. As HD made several changes to production in the first few months, particularly to timing covers and kickstart gearing, some …
1935 Victoria V98L
Post Listing Update: This Victoria did not meet reserve despite 46 bids up to $3,300 on eBay. Founded in 1886 as a bicycle manufacturer, Victoria produced motorcycles from 1901 through 1968. In the beginning, they used third party motors, but they produced engines in-house starting in 1923 – though this 98L uses a 125cc Fichtel & Sachs powerplant.
Ending Soon – 1949 Lowther/Indian Trike
Post Sale Update: This Lowther sold for $8,000 after 4 bids on eBay. In the late 40s, when Indian was in its death throes, they partnered with the Lowther company of Joliet, Illinois. Lowther had already been producing scooters with a slogan of “Park Avenue Scooters with the Main Street price”. Indian rebadged an existing Lowther scooter and called it …
1938 Velocette GTP
The “Velocette” came about in 1913 as a way to differentiate 2-stroke models from the 4-strokes that Veloce making at the time. Company founders preferred the “ette” to the point that they the renamed the brand. No matter the name, the British firm earned a reputation of a fine builder of top-notch 2-strokers with clever technology such as a oil …