One of the “Big 3” of American bikes in the early 1900s, Henderson was abruptly shut down in 1931, which is why most people now only remember Harley-Davidson and Indian. At the time, Henderson was producing the favored bikes of America’s police officers, though the company was bought up by Schwinn in the 1910s. The Henderson Streamline KJ was one of the last models produced before the CEO of
Schwinn called his department heads together and said “Gentlemen, today we stop.” The CEO felt that the Great Depression wasn’t going to be over soon, and he decided to shed non-core business lines to focus on bicycles.
When Henderson was shut down, the Streamline (also known as the KJ) was their base model. The KJ was the brainchild of Arthur Constantine, a Chief Engineer who had been stolen away from H-D in 1928. His redesign led to the all-new Streamline in 1929, with improved cooling and a redesigned engine that yielded 40 horsepower. It could top 100 miles per hour, and was technologically advanced for the time, with an MSRP of $435. Want to learn more? Check out this video from Jay Leno’s Garage where he covers a ’31 that he picked up (and amazingly, the engine still hasn’t been apart!)
This specific Henderson Streamline KJ is “95% original”. It seems like all the parts are there, however it’s not all together just yet. This is a rare chance to snap up one of the last Hendersons before the name was bought and someone tried making a modern version for a few years.
Find this Henderson Streamline KJ for sale in Forestville, New York with an opening bid of $50,000