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