Something for inspiration

[Retrax]

Something for inspiration, vintage and boardies

I had a chance to get up close and personal with some beautiful vintage bikes today. I know the owner of MidAmerica Auctions. Ron has a ton of bikes in, preparing for an upcoming Mecum Auction. Pics to follow.

 

[Retrax]

Almost every one of these bikes is from the partial collection of Mike Doyle

 

[Retrax]

This one was my favorite. The only aftermarket parts are the four valve heads. They expect it to fetch $75,000 to $100,000

 

[Retrax]

Check out the additional handle bar steering linkage and momentary blade style kill switch

Front badge and another angle of steering

 

[Retrax]

In case Sportscarpat wants another one, or anyone else is interested, he also has a GT-40 available. It was never titled and has the original MSO so the buyer will be the first official owner. It has less than THREE miles on it. I think the odometer says 2.6 miles. It is believed to be the lowest mileage GT in the world. It still has all the interior tags and labels on it. I have a few more pics of some of the other bikes I will post later.

 

[birdmannn101]

I'll bet that seat is really comfortable for long rides.

 

[wret]

Great pics!

 

[Retrax]

Henderson four cylinder, Vincent, and HRD bikes

 

[Retrax]

Douglas horizontal twin

 

[Retrax]

Harley Davidson

Open exhaust, fixed pedals

 

[Retrax]

Having the opportunity to see these early bikes in person gave me a lot of ideas for my future projects. I hope you guys enjoy the pics. They don't do justice to actually seeing all of them in person.

 

[buba]

thanks for posting retrax

do you know anything of how the collection was amassed and the activity of this Doyle???

certainly a room of HEAVY METAL

 

[Retrax]

Ron told me Mike Doyle is a major collector out of Dixon California. Ron wrote an article about it in the February 2014 issue of Mecum Monthly. Doyle was a self made man starting off working at, and then buying, a gas station. This expanded to a very successful tire shop.

He started buying bikes in 1990 and slowly acquired over 130 of them, restoring about a third of them himself. The article has some nice pics of a 2014 Indian F Head twin wth electric start, which I didn't get a chance to see. There's also a 1941 indian 4 cylinder, Harley XA Military, a 1948 Ford Flathead with less than fifty miles, and another 1941 indian wearing olive drab paint with tan leather (it is an 841 Military model).

Really amazing stuff. It was like being at a museum. The only thing I can compare it to was the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, except for the fact that I had full access to Ron's show floor all to myself for as long as I wanted These will be at the Mecum auction in Houston Texas on Sunday, April 13th.

 

[buba]

thanks retrax--

a super collection and skills to have restored to what certainly appears to be factory
new- like condition

just great