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THE JACK PINE HARLEY HUMMER

FIRST TWO STROKE TO WIN THE JACK PINE ENDURO

By Matt Cuddy

 

Way before the two-stroke dirt-bike revolution of the early nineteen sixties, HD produced a motorcycle based on the venerable wartime RT125 DKW, a gift from Germany for war reparation. These bikes were aimed at the younger set, and made great paperboy sleds, messenger bikes and cool school transportation. BSA also got the tooling, and called it the Bantam, along with Yamaha copying it with the RY125 (Y for Yamaha I guess).

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1948 Harley Hummer 125 DKW copy.

Harley received the tooling right after WWII, and started producing a clone of the wartime RT125 Deek in 1948, with rigid frames, and annoyingly loud, crude two stroke motors, that belched out choking clouds of white smoke, due to being mixed at 15.1 with four stroke motor oil.

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1959 125 Hummer with accessories!

The Hummer sported hydraulic forks on the later models, and stayed pretty much the same throughout its 19 year production run, until it morphed into the SCAT in 1960 that used a very Buellish swingarm design, with an underslung expanding shock.

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1960 SCAT Harley Davidson Dual-Sport. Look at that Buellish swingarm. Maybe Eric had one...

The bike showcased below is a Hummer that won the two-day Jack Pine Enduro in 1956, at the hands of Leroy Winters. It has Harley kit swingarm and subframe, and is stripped of all street accessories. You can see the strong European influence in the motor design, along with classic Harley styling in the frame and seat/tank area, kind of a neat looking combination.

The bike only had three speeds, and topped out at around 60 mph. V-Twin Harleys & Indian road bikes modified for dirt ruled the Jack Pine Enduro from 1923 to 1955. This 165 HD won in 1956, ending the dominance of the big bikes.

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Modified Hummer 165 that won the 1956 Jack Pine Enduro

Let’s hope Harley can do it again, with bikes produced by you-know-who in Utah.

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