Built between 1911 and 1915, the Flying Merkel is one of the most iconic American motorcycles of all time. These are so cool that I’m going to break my personal rule of only featuring bikes with asking prices because I just want to make sure you’re aware of it.
The company was founded by Joe Merkel in the early 1900s – in 1911 it was bought by Miami Cycle of Ohio who changed the trademark to “Flying Merkel” and painted bikes the distinctive Merkel Orange. Other examples of the breed have sold between $200k and $400k at auction, so who knows how much the seller wants for this. A Flying Merkel board track racer currently occupies spot #11 in Paul D’Orleans’ list of most expensive bikes sold at auction – it went for $423,500 at the Mecum Las Vegas auction in March 2015.
This example has the original paint and is claimed to ‘run good.’ THe front fork seems to be a replacement and the seller acquired it at an auction at Harrah’s in the late 70s. Find this American rarity for sale outside of Akron, Colorado here on Craigslist with no asking price.
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Reed S!