Paley Takes Griffon Out of Mothballs

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

The late afternoon email from Cornwall collector Will Paley stated, “I’m heading to Mohawk State Park to fire up the Griffon.” Unfortunately, it didn’t get noticed until it was too late to get there to witness his excursion, so I can only imagine what the motorcycle looked like and sounded like on the road.

What’s a Griffon? It’s a French-made motorcycle that dates back more than 100 years. Paley’s Griffon, complete with “moteur a 2 cylinders,” is either a 1906 or 1907 model. He’s not sure which. It was brought to the U.S. in 1910 by a man in Salisbury, who died shortly thereafter. It sat for 85 years before Paley acquired it in 1995.

The Griffon features a 493cc engine that was made in Switzerland and has a top speed of 45 miles per hour. Paley kept it mothballed in recent years, occasionally loaning it to museums to display, but he mentioned recently that he planned to put it back on the road. He did so this evening. “It made it out and back – a few miles. I’ll be riding it quite a bit between now and October to shake the bugs out,” he said in a later message.

Here’s hoping that RIDE-CT.com can be there the next time that Paley rides the Griffon.

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Doc’s Motorcycle Parts has penned in Sept. 9 as the day for its 43rd annual Customer Appreciation Day and Bike Show. Hours will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s always a fun event.

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Blame the absence of posts in recent days on Triumph. The loan of a Scrambler for a week diverted my attention, but the bike got returned yesterday. A review will be forthcoming.

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RIDE-CT.com is in the market for another motorcycle having sold the 1994 BMW R100RT. That bike suffered total transmission failure. After getting a $4,000 quote from Max BMW to rebuild it, I mulled the situation for a few days and opted to sell it “as-is.” The bike’s now gone and I’m close to buying a reliable replacement.