This week’s Guess That Bike was a popular one, but no one was able to name it correctly. Read on if you’re stumped and want peace of mind!
The short answer is that this contraption:
is a Magnacycle.
The Magnacycle was dreamed up and built by Jerry Magnuson, a tool and die maker based out of Santa Ana, California. It took him nearly a decade to go from the idea to bike #1, but the first bike was acquired by none other than Arlen Ness.
Arlen’s bike, which was sold twice, crashed, went back to the second owner, and then restored. Picture from http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=1654236
According to the builder, he produced about 10 kits before selling the right to another company. They produced about another 20, and that was the extent of the production run. Original MSRP was $799 (another $4000 gave you extras like the exhaust system without muffler, handlebars, crossbrace, instrument panel, battery, fuel gauge, and more), and as you can see, the design was all about getting the center of gravity to be low. The kit was designed to accept a Sportster engine – there were plans for a Magnacycle II with a Honda engine but that never happened.
For more information on this crazy bike, check out Magnacycle.net.
Well, that was a tough one! Got any suggestions for a Guess That Bike feature? Send ’em my way at abhi@bike-urious.com
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Bob K!