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Coming up at the MidAmerica Auction in Las Vegas January 7-9, 2010 (yes, I'll be there providing 'color' commentary during the auction itself), among the 499 other motorcycles, will be this very interesting 1913 Flying Merkel replica, built by restorer extraordinaire Chris Cutler.
The machine is a faithful reproduction of legendary Maldwyn Jones' hand-built racer, as assembled during the winter of 1912/13 and raced until 1915.
Maldwyn Jones was picked up by Merkel in 1909, and soon proved himself an ace tuner and rider, beating the immortal Cannonball Baker (and doesn't it help to have such a memorable monicker) in his first year on the track, and going professional in his second year racing. Merkel's front forks became the standard racing fork of the day, on dirt or board tracks, and the firm achieved great things with Jones in the saddle.
In 1911, the firm was sold to the Miami Cycle and Mf'g Co of Ohio, and the firm no longer supported racing, but allowed Jones free run of their parts and obsolete motorcyles, which he modified heavily, creating this machine. Keeping the Merkel chassis and 500cc engine, he added an overhead-valve Jefferson cylinder head, and built up his own high-performance camshaft. In the 1913/14/15 racing seasons, the bike ran 42 races total, winning 24 outright, placing second 10 times, 3rd thrice - the rest were DNFs or crashes. A truly phenomenal record during an extremely competitive period of American track racing.