5 September 2008The 1915 Cyclone board track racer, which sold for a staggering $520,000.
On 12 July 2008 a new milestone was hit in the motorcycle market – the first American motorcycle to sell for over half a million US dollars and a world record for a motorcycle sold at auction.
MidAmerica Auctions, a St Paul, Minnesota company, was proud to offer for auction one of the rarest, most highly coveted motorcycles at the Inaugural Monterey Motorcycle Auction. The 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer sold for $520,000.
The Cyclone was made by the Joerns Motor Manufacturing Company of St Paul, Minnesota. The engine features shaft-and-bevel driven overhead cams as its most obvious and, for the time, radical feature. The engine presaged modern practice in other ways, including a near-hemispherical combustion chamber, proper caged ball and roller bearings throughout (when other bikes used uncaged rollers or plain bushes), and recessed mating faces on crankcase halves, barrels, and cylinder heads, for a secure fit. Even with a modest 5.5:1 compression ratio, the estimated output from the engine is 45hp.
Few of these board track racers were made in the short span of Cyclone production. The engine, although very successful on shorter tracks, needed further development, especially with lubrication and the underdeveloped metallurgy of the day. It was already very expensive to build, and the factory didn’t have the resources to revamp the engine, so by 1915 the Cyclone passed into legend. The motorcycle at auction was formerly the property of ‘Shorty’ Tompkins.
Only 12 Cyclone motorcycles have been found, and some of those are roadsters. This Cyclone is one of the most correct board track racers, as some others have been heavily remanufactured. It is thought that this Cyclone has all the correct engine internals. With its rarity and unique qualities, it was no mistake this Cyclone sold for a half million dollars.
MidAmerica Auctions has auctioned vintage motorcycles for the past 20 years with over 12,000 motorcycles. The 17th Annual Las Vegas Vintage Motorcycle Auction in January had 500 motorcycles crossing the auction block with a 93 per cent sale rate and $5.3-million in sales.
