The New Crocker Motorcycle Company: Reviving an Icon
(Page 3 of 4)
November/December 2007
By Margie Siegal
Crocker started out building his own carburetor, but quickly reverted to a Linkert M5. Linkert built special versions of the M5 for Crockers, and these have a small “c” cast into the bodies. The new Crocker factory has located a small supply of vintage Linkerts for preproduction models, but the production replicas will have Mikuni carburetors.
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The original Crocker produced spark via a 6-volt Edison Splitdorf magneto. The replica will have electronic ignition, housed in a case that appears to be a magneto, and the 12-volt battery is hidden in a vintage-style black battery case.
The front end is a copy of the original, but with better metal and springs. The original triple tree is a two-piece casting, but Markus has designed a one-piece casting that is neater and, he claims, stronger. The single-leading-shoe brakes have aluminum shoes and modern brake lining materials, and are mounted on high-tensile aluminum hubs.
It’s so much like the original that Chuck Vernon, a respected Crocker expert, wasn’t able to tell a reproduction frame from the original until he spent five minutes examining it. Concerned that the new engines will be mistaken for the old, engines produced by the new Crocker company will have very different serial numbers. “We do not want to tamper with the original bikes,” Markus states.
Will it fly?
Chuck is guarded on the question of the new Crocker’s potential success. “I question,” Chuck muses, “whether the Crocker name itself carries enough recognition to make the new factory a successful concern. I do hope they succeed. I also hope that by reflecting the Crocker lineage in a recognizable way, the new bikes will enhance the older bikes.”
“Crockers have gotten so expensive,” says Daniel Statnekov, a well-known collector of American racing motorcycles, “that owners don’t really ride them any more. It didn’t use to be like that. My first ride on a Crocker was on Chuck Vernon’s. He just said, ‘Go out and ride it.’ Without modern replicas, people today would not readily have the experience of riding what was the Superbike of its day.
“You could probably have a similar experience riding a modern motorcycle, and it would probably perform better and be more reliable. The ride quality of a Crocker is very much like a Harley Sportster. The difference is, people get passions, and Crockers seem to evoke those passions. The guys in Canada who are making Crockers will be successful if enough people get passionate enough about Crockers to buy one,” Daniel says.