Jolt my brain!

[jrocky]

I owned a motorbike back about 1954, trying to remember the brand name. It had a two stroke engine, used gasoline mixed with oil. The only features I can remember are a chrome gas tank and that the muffler had a 'fin' type at the rear. Bought it used from a private party.

Thanks for any help!

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Don't have an answer for you, but it sounds like a neat bike. I'm kind of fond of retro type exhausts.

There's a pretty good chance that someone who follows me will have suggestions, if not a positive ID.

good luck

 

[srdavo]

here's a guess....servi-cycle simplex ??




if not....look here,
http://scooter.lst1090.org/index.htm

http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=5998

 

[jrocky]

here's a guess....servi-cycle simplex ??

View attachment 13430


if not....look here,
http://scooter.lst1090.org/index.htm

http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=5998

Thanks srdavo, actually looking at the first link found the 1948 Marman Twin Motor Bike and photo at: http://www.mikeybike.com/marman.html
is the motorbike I owned. All my buddies owned Whizzers then. We didn't have a divers license to ride them but we rode all over the St Paul, Minneapolis area on the motorbikes.

One of my buddies took me to a guy who had the used Marman Twin, I bought it for $15.00 in 1954. The engine ran rough and was not very fast, then one of my uncles who worked as a auto mechanic came over one day to see my dad and asked me how the motorbike ran. I said rough and not very fast. So he had me get on and start it up on the kickstand, and adjusted the carburetor and the engine ran smoothly and I was able to keep up with my buddies on their Whizzers. I rode over to the guy who sold me the bike and said, this sure is a nice bike and revved up the engine. He was surprised and looked disappointed that he sold the bike for $15.00. I sold the bike a year later for $10.00 the fork on the front was broken but the guy who bought the bike said he would repair the broken fork. The buddies and I then went on to own Cushman motor scooters for about two years. My dad found a used Model 53 Military Airborne in a motor cycle shop. Is was repainted red and a metal box added behind the seat and gas tank for storage.

 

[Esteban]

You owned a great piece of history. Very hard & $$$ to find now. Have you ever heard of the old comedian, Groucho Marx ? His brother, Zeppo, who was also in show business, invented the Marman, among other technical inventions. Interesting person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppo_Marx

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Zeppo Marx was inventor of this Marman? How about that.

It's an awfully cool bike. It looked as though they were opposing cylinders, pointed forward and back. Must have been some interesting engineering involved.

 

[DetonatorTuning]

that Marman is awesome for sure.

weren't we just discusing how to mount and "aircraft" oppossed twin in another thread recently ?

this should provide some valuable clues.

steve