The Cyclone Motor Manufacturing Company manufactured the Cyclone Motorcycle. Andrew Strand designed the Cyclone. He was of Swedish descent and had worked in the American automobile industry. The motorcycles were manufactured by the Joerns Motor Manufacturing Company in St. Paul, MN, from 1912 to 1917.
With many improvements over motorcycles of its day and high performance, the Cyclone motorcycles were competitive in both board-track and dirt-track races. The motorcycles had a 61 cu in / 1,000 cc V-twin with overhead cams, shaft drive, and other impressive features that gave it high performance with 45 hp.
How fast was it? In 1914, it broke Excelsior’s record by reaching 111 mph. The Cyclone bikes were estimated to have a top end of 115 mph.
With only 13 Cyclones left, the price tag for one of these is high. In 2015, a Cyclone owned by Steve McQueen was sold at auction for $852,000.
The company closed after finding that the Cyclones could not compete in the marketplace with lower-cost competitors’ motorcycles.
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