"But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right ... and that's when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms." -H.S. Thompson
Late 1920's Harley-Davidson Two Cam Special
One of the most expensive motorcycle’s available in the teens was the Henderson Four. The 1918 4-cylinder, 3-speed cost $325 alone without a sidecar, over $7,000 today, add another $1,500 or so for a sidecar. So without question if you were piloting one of the most luxurious machines around you had to dress the part, and how better to express your status than with a leather cape and a cigarette. Unfortunately we don't know if homeboy is missing an arm or just trying to keep his pimp hand warm, but in either case keeping your threads clean and your machine dirty remains a proper way to handle your business.
A battered but still standing gentleman named Oscar Rolland Markel from Ashland, OH, posing with his beloved Harley-Davidson sidecar rig which is just as equally mangled. Oscar was a truck driver, a policeman, and a contractor in the Ashland area, he even built a roller coaster at the Chippewa Lake Amusement Park and fancied himself an aspiring Wall of Death daredevil. According to the family history site that this photo was found on, Oscar would make periodic trips up to visit one of his brothers who lived on 70 miles north on Lake Erie. There he would load up on as much fish as he could fit into the cooler that he kept in his sidecar. As he returned home to Ashland he would then sell his fresh catch along the way, filling his tanks and pockets as he motored along. There is no mention of the circumstance around his wreck which left the two in such a poor state, but hopefully when the spill occurred it was just a load of dead fish in the sidecar and not his lovely wife Bernice.
Here is the family's website if you would like to learn more about Oscar and his life. FryFamilyAshland.com
Winter Is Coming... the cold is just around the corner so it is time to start preparing your power-sleds folks. The variety of utilitarian adaptations and applications for which the motorcycle was used as a foundation spans a spectrum from coffee grinders to snow mobiles. In October of 1916, 100 years ago this week Motorcycle Illustrated published a four page spread which included instructions and schematics on how readers could use their own machines, some basic building materials, and a bit of elbow grease to produce their own Motor-Snowsters. That article could very well have been the inspiration for the machine in this photo taken in the dead of winter, 1916, or maybe it was just all of that snow. Built by the driver Mr. Harlan Ramey, a local mechanic from Ames, Iowa, the modified 1913 Harley-Davidson twin was no doubt acquired from his friend and boss Bill Thul who owned and operated Ames Motorcycle Company. Thul, who most likely assisted Ramey in constructing the sled is seen riding on the passenger seat, and the lovely Ms. Niva Nichols, a relative of Thul’s has the coziest seat just behind the chain-laden rear tire. The story goes that after the photo was taken the trio then set off to a local creek which had frozen over to run the machine out at whatever speed they could handle. Good luck with your sleds folks, I look forward to seeing them ripping it up this winter, Im lookin at you @thefrozenfew.
If you want to learn a bit more about Ramey and his wonderful contraption check out the Ames Historical Society page who have put together a great bit of history around the photo.
