Standing
inside Mike Smith's barn, home of Antique Motorcycle Works near Oregon
City, is like taking a trip back in time. With dozens of old-fashioned
American motorcycles within reach and a rolling green pasture out the
window, it's not hard to imagine you are back in 1916.
The barn is filled with projects in progress. In the machine shop, Smith's
son Matthew is making bearings from scratch for a 1929 four-cylinder
Henderson engine mounted upside-down on a workbench. Back in the 1920s,
a four-cylinder motorcycle engine was an expensive proposition. Nowadays
an engine like this one costs about $7,500 to rebuild if it is in good
condition, the crankcase not cracked or broken.
Smith and his sons make sheet metal parts from scratch, such as fenders
and gas tanks. They are restoring a 1940 Indian Chief for a customer
in Estacada, which is unusual since most of their work goes out of state.
The largest room in the barn is filled with 40 or so old bikes. A couple
of them have been totally restored and repainted so they look like new.
Others are still in original condition, their paint faded and fuel tanks
and fenders bearing the dents of decades of use. Obsolete brand names
such as Emblem, Thor, and Eagle appear in old-fashioned lettering on
the gas tanks.
Many people are familiar with Harley-Davidson and Indian (which ceased
production in 1953) but in the first two decades of the 20th century,
over 200 American motorcycle companies struggled to become established.
Harley-Davidson, founded in 1903, is the only one that survives.
Collectors have started to value motorcycles in scruffy but original
condition as much as restored ones that have been stripped and repainted.
The restored bikes may look beautiful, but the original versions are
valuable because they are authentic examples of exactly what these machines
looked like in their day.
Smith compared the "preservation restoration" of an old Harley
to the restoration of a Rembrandt painting. The goal is to improve its
appearance without disturbing the original finish. He uses fine steel
wool and solvent to break down surface rust on gas tanks and fenders
without removing the factory paint. A light coat of WD-40 or 10W oil
brings out the original color and protects the finish.
In the old days, it was common to repaint an old motorcycle with ordinary
house paint to freshen up its fading appearance. For example, Smith
showed a 1913 Eagle V-twin made by the American Motorcycle Company in
Brockton, Massachusetts. To reveal the original gray finish underneath,
he had carefully scraped off a layer of red paint with his pocket knife.
"We probably need a shrink out here for what we do," Smith
joked about the obsessive demands of motorcycle restoration.
One
of Smith's rarest and most valuable bikes is a 1914 Harley single-cylinder
racer. He bought it in pieces, with its handlebars and front forks missing,
and it was a while before he realized exactly what he had.
A beautiful restored blue 1913 Henderson four-cylinder cycle was made
here in this barn. "We made the whole motorcycle except the engine,"
said Smith. "The frame, forks, handlebars, wheels, gas tank, and
fenders."
The high cost of
rare parts and skilled labor make it expensive to restore an antique
motorcycle today. For example, Smith recently paid $1,500 for an old
Harley-Davidson gas tank.
The process of restoration may last from one to several years. "If
a guy doesn't have patience, he needs another hobby," Smith declared.
During the summer, Smith travels to swap meets seeking rare parts. He
has already been to Hanford, California, and Canyon City, Colorado,
where he bought a frame for a 1910 Minneapolis motorcycle.
Engines of antique
motorcycles usually survived the years, Smith explained, even as people
threw away fenders, frames, and other parts. On farms, where these old
bikes often ended up, ingenious do-it-yourselfers used the motor to
power a washing machine, a water pump, or do some other chore.
Now spare parts are are as scarce as dinosaur bones. To make new ones,
Smith relies on a group of similar-minded enthusiasts around the world.
He doesn't mind loaning a rare part to a man in Australia he has never
met except on the phone because he knows he will get it back. "It's
a great group of guys," Smith said.
Owners of old bikes swap parts back and forth, using the original as
a pattern to make new ones. Once he has an original part in hand, Smith
makes a mold from plastic epoxy. The mold is filled with wax, and the
wax replica is dipped in a ceramic material to create a mold that will
be filled with molten steel.
Now he reproduces up to 3,000 parts-- not all at one time, of course.He
makes them in small quantities, ten or 20 at a time. So few motorcycles
from this era remain in existence that it might take Smith a decade
to sell a run of 20 parts. For him, the good part of this equation is
that he and his sons are constantly striving to reproduce a new shape
in metal, and this keeps the work fresh. A new challenge is always ahead.
About half of Smith's business is restoring old motor-cycles. The other
half is manufacturing reproduction parts.
Smith began his lifelong obsession with motorcycles at age 16 with a
'57 BSA A10 650-cc motorcycle he bought while attending Downey High
School in the Los Angeles area. This British-made cycle required constant
attention to keep it running. "It was a piece of junk," he
recalled. But Smith learned to work on it and began fixing his friends'
motorcycles as well. His first antique American bike was a '48 Indian
Chief.
In the mid '70s Smith began restoring old motorcycles to show quality.
Around 1987, he noticed that the supply of parts for antique motorcycles
was drying up. That's when he started purchasing the machinery and
equipment to remanufacture them.
Smith's four sons, Matthew, Jeremy, Jethro, and Charlie, were home educated
by Smith and his wife, Rozanne. By age 14, each one had restored a motorcycle
himself. They went on to learn metal working, welding, and machine technology
at Clackamas Community College.
Now three of Smith's sons work for him on motorcycle projects. (One
of them, Jethro, has his own metal fabrication business, called Streamline,
in Molalla. With his brother Jeremy, Jethro Smith fabricated metal parts
for several sculptures that have been placed in Portland's new Eastside
Esplanade park. The Echo Gate, Ghost Ship and Stack Stalk sculptures
were built by an artists' group called Rigga. "They are amazing
fabricators,"
said Rigga's James Harrison of the two Smith brothers.)
Besides his motorcycle business, Smith has been the postmaster in Molalla
for 34 years, and will retire in February 2002. He rides a motorcycle
to work all summer, either his "modern" 1956 Harley Panhead
or his 1913 Harley-Davidson.
To start his teens-era Harley-Davidson, Smith pedals vigorously on two
pedals that operate just like a bicycle. This gets the engine turning
and after a few seconds it barks into life with an authentic old-fashioned
sound. To hear it in action is a treat for anyone who enjoys old motorcycles.
To help others understand antique cycles, Smith gives occasional tours
of his business to clubs and interested enthusiasts. The opportunity
to see a group of early motorcycles up close and to talk to a craftsman
who knows each part of them well is a rare experience.