Saturday, January 08, 2011

Well That's A Crock...er
Wouldn't you love to indulge yourself with a rare Crocker Motorcycle, the first superbike that could reach 110 mph in the 1930's? The one's that gave both Indian and Harley Davidson such a headache back in the day command anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 to even $350,000 fully restored. They were the fastest thing on two wheels handsdown straight from the factory. No other production motorcycle could beat it and if any did, Crocker would pay the owner the full price of the bike. The engine's internals were made extra tough to withstand high speed abuse and with a square bore of 61ci and plenty of meat left over in the cylinders could be bored to make 90ci.
Sad thing is, is that Al Crocker died to soon when hit while testing one of his creations.

The good thing is, Crocker, so I've heard,  has been reborn and you can build a new Crocker. Below are pictures of a new Crocker engine being born and a finished one in the picture below. Check out the website below the pictures and decide for yourselves.  Me, I'm just drooling over the whole thing while indulging in the Man Al Crocker as I always like reading and studying about these men who build their machines from concept to reality. Inspiration is drawn from each one with my fascination of how these original defunct motorcycle companies began, what drove the man, how'd he do it and what hoops did they have to jump through to keep their dream alive.
I'm also fascintated by a man in our own time who is shaking and moving in much the same way these previous Icons did, Aniket Vardhan is a man to watch these days as he has what these previous motorcycle pioneers did.








http://www.crockermotorcycleco.com/

2 comments:

FLHX_Dave said...

I didn't even know what a crocker was until I was educated by BigD a few years ago. All I know is I saw one for the first time in a motorcycle museum and I was in love at first sight.

The last one, original, of which they think there is only a couple of hundred produced sold for $450,000.00

But for 60k you can get a kit! Someday maybe...it's the only thing i would spend that much cash on.

WooleyBugger said...

Crockers are just so, I don't know the proper word, awe inspiring bikes. Just think how much farther along they were than anything out there. It's a true shame Al Crocker couldn't keep the factory going in the depression era.
Cool tidbit is that his friend and fellow racer, Paul Bigsby, designed the V-Twin for Crocker and later went on to make his own Guitars and invented the tremelo/vibrato arm and the pedal steel Guitars.
Funny huh? Went from the music of sweet motorcycles to music of another kind in Instruments.