Cyclone is a motorcycle that was manufactured by Joerns Motor Manufacturing Company located in St. Paul, Minnesota from 1912 through 1917. Later manufacture was moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

History

The Cyclone was a short-lived brand but made its mark by doing very well on the

board track racing Board track racing was a type of motorsport popular in the United States during the 1910s and 1920s. Competition was conducted on circular or oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks. This type of track was first used for moto ...

circuits of 1910s through the 1920s. Cyclones also did well on the

dirt track racing Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced oval race tracks often used for thoroughbred horse racing. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s ...

circuit of the day winning many races. In 1914, an

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

lost its one-mile speed record title to a Cyclone. In 2015, a 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer previously owned by Steve McQueen was sold for US$852,000 at auction. It was the highest price paid for a motorcycle at auction at that time.

Engine

V-Twin A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Although widely associated with motorcycles (installed either transversely or longit ...

SOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

, 45

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

engine was the powerplant chosen for the Cyclone. The

overhead cam An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...

s were driven by a vertical shaft via bevel gears and the cylinder head had a hemispherical head combustion chamber. All internal bearings were self-aligning rollers made by

SKF AB SKF (Swedish: ''Svenska Kullagerfabriken''; 'Swedish Ball Bearing Factory') is a Swedish bearing and seal manufacturing company founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1907. The company manufactures and supplies bearings, seals, lubrication and l ...

, in an era when many motorcycle engines still used plain bushes on shafts. The Cyclone was capable of over 100 mph top speed, although the engine lubrication was crude, and it was fragile over long-distance races of 100 miles or more that were popular on the board tracks of the era. The Cyclone had no positive lubrication of its overhead camshaft, relying on a small metal well of oil to drip into the cambox, which led to overheating of the camshaft and valves in a long race. Joerns Motor Co. sold the original Cyclone for $350.00. The Cyclone's demise came in 1917, when the Joerns Motor Co. determined that they could not compete with lower cost competition. The design was sold to Ignaz Schwinn of the Excelsior Motor Co., and a few Excelsior SOHC racers based on the Cyclone engine were built, but it was found Excelsior's Big Valve F-head (inlet-over-exhaust) racer could be made faster and more reliable, and the SOHC project was dropped in 1922.Wright, Stephen. American Racer: 1900-1940. 1979, Megden Publishing, Huntington Beach CA. These motorcycles were often painted in Joerns' signature canary-yellow color, however they were also available in dark blue.

References

Vintage Motorcycle: CycloneTheft of Cyclone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyclone (Motorcycle) Defunct motorcycle manufacturers of the United States Motorcycles introduced in the 1910s Manufacturing companies based in Minnesota Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1912 1912 establishments in Minnesota