Magnacycle

MAGNACYCLE

American FLYEARS NO. 10 IN A SERIES

The chopper as historical artifact

SOME MOTORCYCLES lead more interesting lives than others. This one, for example. Its creator is Jerry Magnuson, who you may know for his Magnacharger superchargers. Back in the early 1970s, Magnuson was a fledging entrepreneur with a line of

Harley parts and a crazy idea that motorcycles of the day were just too tall.

“I wondered what would happen if you did everything you could to lower center of gravity,” says the 62-yearold today. “How low could you go?”

The result, standing less

than three feet tall at the handlebars, was the Sportster-powered Magnacycle, for lack of a better description sort of a recumbent chopper. The design really put something exciting between your legs, namely the Sporty’s rear rockerbox! That curved aluminum I-beam structure up front pulled double-duty as downtube and oil tank. The fuel tank took up residence beneath the swingarm. The bike’s cg was just 16 inches above the asphalt.

By all accounts, handling was amazing. “You could ride it up a mountain road

with just two fingers on the bars,” relates Magnuson. “And I mean ride it hard.” One of those who came away a believer was none other than Dan Gurney, whom Magnuson had worked for as a fabricator in the ’60s. It’s no coincidence that Gurney’s just-released Alligator {Roundup, August) is a low, feet-forward design.

“He really was impressed with the bike,” says Magnuson, who was at the Petersen Museum for the Alligator’s unveiling.

But back in 1973, the bike world was not ready for the Magnacycle. Just 10 do-ityourself kits were produced-retail price $799 per-before a cashstrapped Magnuson sold the concept. The new outfit produced maybe 20 more kits before calling it quits.

Kit #001, shown here, was purchased by

Magnuson’s pal Arlen Ness, not yet

known as King of the Customizers but well on his way. That’s Mr. Ness hisself, looking all Age of Aquarius, in the accompanying snapshot-or is that one of the Doobie Brothers...?

Ness rode the bike for a year, then sold it for $2700 to another friend, Dave Perewitz, then making a name for himself as one of the East Coast’s best hot-rod Harley builders.

“It was a unique piece,” remembers Perewitz, “so far ahead of its time, a really big deal.”

But he, too, sold the bike, making way for projects of his own at the end of ’74. Sadly, the new owner was not kind to the Magnacycle, sliding it into a curb (maybe a front brake would have helped?) and snapping it in half. For the next 20 years, its whereabouts remained unknown. Then, in 1997, Perewitz discovered the bike 25 miles from his Massachusetts home, engine long-

gone and chassis reduced to “a pile of junk, a nightmare,” he says. But the owner wasn’t interested in selling, despite Dave’s history with the bike and despite his two or three inquiries each year. Finally, a year ago, the owner relented, and Perewitz, $ 1000 lighter, had his bike back.

Armed with his own snapshots and old magazine articles, he set about restoring the Magnacycle to show status, truly a labor of love. “You can’t believe the enjoyment I had in building it,” he says.

The finished product, faithful except for the addition of an electric starter, debuted at Daytona Speed Week earlier this year,

where it really wowed the folks.

“All the high-tech, highdollar bikes around, and this thing drew five times more attention than any other cycle I brought down,” Perewitz says.

It seems that at long last, Magnacycle #001 has found a permanent, happy home in New England.

“This is the first bike in 25 years that I plan on keeping,” says Perewitz. “I’m not letting it go again.”

Don’t ya just love happy endings? -David Edwards