THIS IS NOT A BIKE for sensitive people. Sensitive people don’t want a vintage, rusty, idle motorcycle in their garage. Alas, we are not sensitive people. Mike Wolfe is one of us, a guy who simply loves a bike because it’s old, or historic, interesting or interesting. Certainly unreasonable, but who cares?
A few years ago, on the TV show America’s Garbage Pickers, I watched co-host Mike Wolfe pull a 1967 Triumph Bonneville out of an old warehouse, and I knew he was a Among us, one of us probably has a case. The sticker on the back of his truck says “My other car is a classic motorcycle that doesn’t run.”
Anyone who has pursued this hobby for a long time knows people like this. The big difference is that Wolfe has a TV show, “America’s Garbage Pickers,” a warehouse, and he gets paid to go around the country and find old motorbikes, old scooters, or even old passenger car that used to belong to Aerosmith.
Over the years, we’ve seen him literally dig vintage bikes from the ground, haul them out of the field or (usually) carefully roll them out of the barn. His personal collection has grown to over 150 vintage bikes, and it was a surprise to announce to Mecum Las Vegas Auction 2023 said he would sell about 70 of his rarest cycles this month. Hoarders, ahem, collectors like him don’t sell their bikes, so this is a rare opportunity to see what he’s amassed before they’re auctioned off in Las Vegas and potentially disappear forever in a new personal collection. Some of our favorites, if we had a warehouse large enough to hold them and cash to buy, include:
Many will tell you that the dysfunction of Harley-Davidson began when the company built its first racing bikes. The Harleys were fine, riding around town, fun bikes in the early 1900s. Even the founder of the company didn’t want to race his commuter cruisers at the time. But they did it anyway, and the V-twin bike was born with riders like Wolfe’s 1914 Harley Factory Racing Twins speed setting. These single-speed bikes dominated the flat races, boardwalks and early grand prix races.
By the 1960s, Harley was successful. Have you ever heard a KR Racer on a pipe rush out of a corner at a flat road race? Yes, you want one too. These first-generation KR bikes have won 13 AMA Class C national championships and 12 Daytona 200 races. We won’t have Evil Knievel and his XR750, or even the current Sportster If it weren’t for these dirt road bombers that would have thrown mud into the stands. Wolfe is a 1962 45-ci version with racing history. Definitely some vibes of this KR in Flat tracker version of Paul Hartman.
BMW purists are probably spitting at their computer screens right now. Who will take one 1951 BMW R67 and ripping off the hinged fenders? Is it important? The first year R67 600cc that Wolfe found seemed stable. The chrome fuel tank is the only other major customization part of this first year’s mostly original bike, which while not original, shows that 70 years ago custom builders had see the potential of locomotives.
Something about Wolfe’s 1950R51/3 impressed me: It was an early cafe racer built from a bike that was definitely not a racer. This awesome custom bike has a vintage, hand-painted fiberglass tank and flat saddle that looks more like the 1970s than the 1950s, and that’s probably when this bike was demolished. Most 1950s locomotives have been fully restored, but it would be a crime to remove disco-era pieces from this classic.
Unlike the BMWs, Harleys, or even the Henderson in Wolfe’s collection, his collection of Indian bikes is superb. They are unreasonable, and they do not run. While other manufacturers are still trying to figure out how to make the two cylinders work, Indian has created beautiful inline four-cylinder cars that look like four stove pipes welded together. and sounds like World War II artillery. This Four Indiansa 1931 with leaf spring front suspension and beautiful rusty finish will sell for big bucks as it was one of the first generation four-cylinder bikes that made India famous before they discontinued the Four in 1942.
Image courtesy of Mecum Auctions, Inc.
