I was involved with old motorcycles in 1967 and I can tell you they weren't worth a lot of money. Even a really nice WW1 era bike would be worth a few hundred dollars. A swap for a new Yamaha 350 would have been seen as fair. A 350 was the biggest most expensive bike a Yamaha dealer had at the time. A friend of mine had a good original 1913 Harley Davidson V twin, in the early seventies a Harley dealer offered to trade a new ElectraGlide for it, I was surprised he turned it down. He explained 'if I want a new Harley all it takes is money, where would I get another 1913'. Another thing, there wasn't much information around about old bikes, Floyd Clymer published a few books reprinting old ads, occasionally a motorcycle magazine had an article on a vintage model, but there was no internet, no books or magazines devoted to old bikes. They came along much later. On the other hand it was well known that there had been dozens of makes of motorcycles in the early days that no longer survived, that may have made a few hundred, a few thousand, or maybe only 2 or 3 bikes. For something like the Traub to turn up would be unusual but not that unusual. At the time it was 50 years old and bikes from the twenties, thirties and earlier turned up all the time. You point out that the Model T put a lot of motorcycle dealers and manufacturers out of business, but there were a LOT of motorcycles sold in the teens and up to 1922 or 23. By the late 20s motorcycle sales were down by 75% and that was before the depression. So there were quite a few WW1 era bikes put away and forgotten in garages and basements. The buyer may have figured it was one of those obscure makes like Reading Standard, Cyclone, Thomas or Flying Merkel. He would have had no way of knowing it was unique. The bike itself does not look home made. When you say one of the Traubs was a motorcycle dealer and the other a machinist who worked for a company that did contract work for Indian, it makes me suspect the bike may have been a prototype or experiment that was never produced and was sold off to an employee when they were through with it. The front fork is typical Indian, wonder what other parts may be from Indian or by the same designers?
I really enjoyed this story. My parents first apartment was just down the road from where the bike was found and my grandparents lived 4 miles away when the bike was built.
From what I recall Richard also made telescopes by hand in the 1930s in Oak Park Illinois. There is also some minor info in local Chicago newspaper in the teens about Traub and motorcycles. Glad he's finally being recognized as the builder. Brantislan.
Thanks for the view I plan on going back up there this year and ill get a better video and better quality of the Story behind it and some of the other cool stuff he has
The bike has essentially no history known and most is speculation and small bits so def would be problematic, a movie on if traub became a company would be cool tho
In case you haven't realized it yet, RU-vid will store the settings of the last video you watched and apply them to the next one. (Assuming your cookies haven't been deleted.) So if you turn off subtitles for one video, then they will stay off for any subsequent videos you watch. Or actually vice-versa, since subtitles "off" is the default setting. So you apparently turned them on for a video a couple of months ago and so they've stayed on for all the others since then.
I think the gearbox is from a 1916 Thor, as well as the kickstarter arm, clutch, primary cover, gearbox mounting frame lug, complete rear wheel (rear hub and brake assembly included), rear fender and rear stand clip, complete front wheel. I think the front fender is from an 1916 Excelsior, as well as the front leafspring. I also think the rear package rack is frome the same donor Excelsior, but adapted to fit this bike, as well as the front forks. Seat and carb is, indeed, also from donor bikes, maybe the Thor or Excelsior as well. I think most of the engine, the frame, gastank, oiltank, toolbox, handlebars, linkages, exhaust are home made, but of very high standard, just unique and indeed, ahead of it’s time. Therefore I think the bike is built in a time that a lot of motorcycling or engineering enthusiast wanted a better bike, but could not afford it. These individuals went to the junkyards to collect the best stuff out there, combining it with new ideas and putting it all to practise, and the Traub is born. I take of my hat for the person that built it, either if it’s built in the teens, twenties, or even in the early sixties.
Well I cannot say your the greatest orator but darn you do some serious justice in telling this amazing story on an amazing bike. And no you don't talk to much for this story.
The "German Triumph" is mentioned because Bud Ekins (Stuntman in the film "The Great Escape") judged a wartime BMW wouldn't have made the proposed jump so a post war Triumph twin was used instead, so not German at all but a faked one for the film. Triumph did have a German connection as can be seen at the following link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_(TWN)
How many motorcycles from the WW1 era, and for that matter WW2, were torn apart and scrapped for the small amount of metal in them to support the war efforts? Lost to time and only known about from paper history.
So sad those guys who built this never got the chance to progress and get it into mass production, we could all be now be riding the ultimate bike, rather than the garbage on offer today.. but then again that is the sacrifice of mass production .. quantity over quality etc.. R.I.P. Brough Superior.. ;)
And that most important member of the cast... Pattern maker... I don't think a foundry would accept your credentials as a mould maker, how very dare you?.. ;) hehehe
Superb story !! Except Triumph motorcycles are British - not German (minute 3:53) The film producers probably used Triumph motorcycles in the film because they were readily available and most viewers couldn´t tell the difference with German BMWs, Zundapps, DKWs, NSUs, etc)
That's a good observation... I caught that too about the Triumph motorcycle made in Germany.. or maybe I may have misunderstood him but I think I heard that too
It is verry quiet I didn't have a chance to review the footage untill I got home and found out the audio wasn't good I plan on redoing this video in the future
Came through fine on my cheap tablet. But for the little bit of rustling with the mic, I thought it was a great story and presentation. Thanks so much.
I was already back home when I reviewed the audio we were camping off motorcycles so it was recorded on a old go pro im wanting to go back and get the story again with better audio
I Found Yellowstone National Park and I Found the Wright Brothers First Airplane......oh, I meant that I "saw" them, not that I had actually Discovered them, as the title of this video proclaims.
"We found" BULLSHIT A Pom talking for the sake of talking telling a story that does not need to be told over and over , it happened in 1968, Dale has had the bike for 25 years in full public view in his museum , except when it is being ridden or showed elsewhere, YOU FOUND NOTHING , 24 mins of Pommy bullshit! Click bait , looking for easy Xmas money. Glad I didn't watch long enough for an ad to appear..
Thanks for commenting i dont get paid for any of my videos still don't to this day if its your first time witnessing click bait you should probably step away from the internet before your feelings get hurt
Use high quality head set. As Bose or Dr. Beat. You’ll then hear it. The most interesting motorcycle story I have ever heard in my life. So awesome. Thanks Mr. Channel Guy !
