“Holy Grail” Monark Hiding In Plain Sight

LENOX, MA – Resting atop a bike stand in the far rear of the showroom at North’s Service here is a light yellow and turquoise motorcycle with a stealth history. Amazingly, the exquisite Swedish-made 1973 Monark enduro model has been hiding in plain sight since 2003 after being restored by Chris North, who runs the Honda, Suzuki and Gas Gas dealership on Route 7.

I’d first noticed the Monark a few years ago during an initial visit to the store, but only returned recently to get more details. That’s when the story of its racing heritage emerged and news of its existence began to spread, with Scott Wallenberg instantly calling it “a Holy Grail bike.”

Wallenberg is publisher of the off-road motorcycle racing magazine “Racer X Illustrated.” He used to race for Monark in the 1970s and is an expert on the long defunct brand, a marque largely unknown to most street riders (as well as many off-road riders). RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland reached him at his home near Boise, Idaho last week.

“I’m flabbergasted. I had not heard of it before,” said Wallenberg, referring to North’s bike. His excitement over the Monark’s existence was palpable and he wondered, “How did I not know of this bike?”

The Monark was shipped to the United States in 1973 – not to be sold by a dealer, but to be raced by a member of a team of Swedish riders participating in what was then called the International Six Day Trial, an off-road event covering hundreds of miles and drawing participants from all over the globe.

The ISDT began in England in 1913 and, not counting hiatuses during World War I and World War II, has been staged annually every year since. Actor Steve McQueen rode in the ISDT in 1964 when it was held in East Germany. The ISDT was renamed the International Six Days of Enduro (or ISDE) in 1981. This year’s event began today in Spain.

The event has only been held in the U.S. twice – in 1994 in Tulsa, Okla. and in 1973 in Dalton, MA. North recalled that a local motorcycle enthusiast from nearby Lee bought the Monark when the Swedish contingent opted not to ship it home after the ISDT. “He had it for a short time and then traded it in,” North said.

The Monark immediately became a plaything for his father, Alan. “It’s the first bike I sat on dirt bike-wise,” he said. “I used to ride on the front of it with my dad driving.” Eventually, once he got a little older, North began riding it himself. “I’d ride it once in a while. Ended up blowing it up,” he said.

The bike then got relegated to a cellar for 15 or 20 years until 2002 when North decided to restore it to mark the 30th anniversary of the ISDT in Dalton. “I restored it top to bottom. Most of the parts are brand new,” he said, explaining that the Swedish team not only left the bike behind but also loads of spare OEM parts.

In 2003, North loaned the restored Monark to Jim Hollerich for display in his Museum of Vintage Trail Bikes in Cheshire, Mass. After two years, it came back to the dealership. “It’s been here since then. It starts, runs,” he said.

As we chatted, North began an online search for Monark information and brought up a website called vintagemonark.com. On it are pictures of the Swedish team, one with a car dealership in the background and another with a motel behind the riders. The car dealership is across the street from North’s Service and the motel is the Lenox Inn next door, suggesting that team members stayed there during their visit.

In the photo with the car dealership, the bikes display numbers and North said the Monark did come with the number plate attached. It was removed during restoration and has been misplaced, but he surmised that was either 109 or 208, meaning that it was likely ridden in the ISDT by either Kurt Gustavsson or his brother, Bengt Gustavsson.

Wallenberg’s name surfaced during later investigation of the website, which is what prompted RIDE-CT to track him down for information on the Monark brand. Monark has its origin in 1902 – a year before Harley-Davidson began – when the first Swedish motorcycle was built by a company called MCB, which began branding bikes as Monark in 1920.

“It’s a very old Swedish company,” said Wallenberg. “They made street motorcycles, bicycles and boats.” Monark’s zenith as a builder of off-road machines was between 1970 and 1976, when it went out of business. “They used to call it the “out of the box winner.’ The biggest flaw was the Sachs transmission, which was very, very finicky,” he said.

Powered by a 125cc Sachs engine, the Monark was expensive for the time. Depending on the version, a new Monark cost from $900 to $1,400. Japanese-made equivalents were selling for $500. As with British bikes of the era, Monark eventually fell victim to the quality and pricing of the Japanese bikes.

Given its pedigree, what is North’s Monark worth today? “The bike is definitely a worthwhile collector piece,” said Wallenberg, who estimated it could fetch as much as $10,000.

Before we hung up, Wallenberg said he knew of another Monark enthusiast in Florida who would be interested in knowing about North’s bike. On another line, he dialed his friend, apprised him of the find and discovered that the guy had just been in Sweden and seen the Gustavsson brothers.

North is now searching for the number plate so RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland can continue the investigation, and possibly hook up with the bike’s original rider in Sweden. Stay tuned…

Swedish team photos courtesy of vintagemonark.com

(Originally published in the “Republican-American” on Oct. 8, 2016.)