At the turn of the 20th century, Excelsior and Henderson were two of America’s preeminent motorcycle manufacturers. Schwinn bought up both brands in the 1910s and shut them down in September of 1931. Skip ahead 60 years to Minnesota in 1993 and the founding of the Hanlon Manufacturing Company in 1993 – they secured the rights to both the Excelsior and Henderson names, and tried to capitalize on some American nostalgia with the Excelsior Henderson Super X, named after the 1929 model that is credited for being the first modern-day cruiser.
Unfortunately, the new Excelsior Henderson suffered the same fate as the two original companies – the economy tanked and this time around EH couldn’t obtain a round of funding that they were expecting due to the .com bubble. Before that happened, 1,952 bikes rolled off the assembly line over two years. These cruisers seem to have a very loyal following so you’ll have all the help you need from online communities if things go wrong.
This example (#791) has about 20,000 miles and is claimed to be in excellent condition. Per reader David N (who submitted this bike and knows much more about the model than I do), it’s notable that the seller says ‘all mods completed’, as that includes redoing a transmission bearing which is prone to failure – this is about $1,500 of work. I’ve seen a few of these up for sale over the years and this has to be the best price for a solid example I’ve encountered. Find this Super X for sale here on Craigslist for $4,400 in Midway, Illinois.
This bike-uriousity brought to you by David N!