Pretty amazing piece of history… 80 Cubic inch handmade motor with 1917 plates…Harleys had a 36.5 cubic inch motor in 1921. This thing must have been awesome for it’s time!
Mystery of the Traub Motorcycle
In 1967, a plumber doing renovations of an apartment building outside Chicago tore down a brick wall and found what would prove to be a baffling mystery to vintage
motorcycle enthusiasts - a one-of-a-kind motorcycle bearing 1917 plates and the name
"Traub". The building’s elderly owner admitted that his son had stolen the bike before going off to WWI, never to return. But where the bike came from and who made it remains a unknown to this day
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Traub Motorcycle Currently residing in the Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, North Carolina,
the Traub is considered by many to not only be the rarest motorcycle in their collection,
but in the world. The Traub was sold to Torillo Tacchi, a bicycle shop owner in Chicago
after its discovery who later sold it to Bud Ekins - famous as Steve McQueen's stuntman -
while Ekins was on set of the Blues Brothers movie in the late 1970s. The Traub was later
sold to collector and restorer, Richard Morris, who then sold it to Wheels Through Time Museum
curator, Dale Walksler, in 1990. It has been on permanent display in the museum ever since.
Don't think this unique motorcycle is merely a museum piece though. Walksler rides the Traub
fairly regularly. When asked about the engine components, he enthusiastically replied,
Everything inside the engine is just magnificent. The pistons are handmade, and have gap-less
cast iron rings, the engineering and machining being simply years ahead of their time.
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The Mysterious Traub at Wheels through Time "When comparing other top motorcycle makes and models of the era,
the Traub has no equal. Comprised of a sand-cast, hand-built, 80 cubic-inch
"side valve" engine, the machine has the ability to reach speeds in excess of
85 mph with ease," says Walksler. Aside from its few off-the-shelf components,
the Traub has many unique handmade features. The three-speed transmission
is thought to be one of the first of its kind and the rear brake, a dual-acting
system that employs a single cam that is responsible for pushing an internal
set of shoes, while pulling an external set, has never been seen on any other
American motorcycle.
"For a machine to have such advanced features, unparalleled by other motorcycles of
the same era, is truly outstanding," said Walksler. "It's my opinion that The Traub was
an attempt at a new breed of motorcycle. But how on earth could a machine have been
produced in such great form, with capabilities that far exceed that of any comparable machine,
without the knowledge of the rest of the motorcycle industry during that time."
The hunt for the Traub's elusive origin hasn't stopped. "While we may never know why
the machine was placed behind that wall, we do hope to one day find out more about
its history and the genius that created it," said Walksler.
To learn more about the Traub and the Wheels Through
Time Museum 's other 240 bikes, visit their site.
http://www.wheelsthroughtime.com/
