Vintage & Antique Motorcycles
My vintage & antique motorcycle projects include . . .
The 1911 Curtiss, 1912 Blackhawk, 1950 Vincent, 1966 Benelli and the 1972 Aermacchi Ala d’Oro, to name just a few. Each one has a story to tell . . . if you’re curious.
- The Curtiss. Bruce Lindsay really helped me out on this project. He has an original, unrestored Curtiss, and we spent a lot of time on the phone discussing (in minute detail) every little bit of the frame.
- The Blackhawk. Start of the frame. Engine is lying on the bench. The dropouts were salvaged from a wrecked frame from the same era. They had the correct “look” to them.
- The Vincent. I bought my Vincent in 1974 when I was nineteen. The total price was $600, and I was working in a machine shop for $2.50 an hour. A brand new Norton Commando was $1995, and a used Vincent in good shape was $4000.
- The Benelli. This bike came to me in pieces: wheels, frame, engine, Marzocchi forks from something else, and a Yamaha 650 front hub. The engine was already done. The “trick” was to put it all together as a Vintage race bike. The engine is a 250 single, 2-valve pushrod, with a 4-speed gearbox.
- The Aermacchi Ala d’Oro. It all started innocently enough. I’ve always been fascinated by frames, and I wanted an Aermacchi racing frame. I knew the Trev Deeley Motorcycle Museum had a 1966 250 CRTT, so I got introduced to Trev and asked if I could borrow his racer, strip it down, and make a jig so I could produce my own frame. He agreed.
1911 Curtiss 1912 Blackhawk
1950 Vincent 1966 Benelli
1972 Aermacchi Ala d’Oro
