Vintage Iron At Middletown Motorcycle Mania

MIDDLETOWN, CT – With thousands of bikes to ogle, it’s impossible not to find one (or 10 or even 100) at Middletown Motorcycle Mania that a rider wouldn’t love to have in his or her own garage. Wherever one turned at the annual event on Wednesday night, there was an eye-catching bike. RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland talked to a few of the owners of vintage machines:

Katie Carlson of Middletown rode in on a 1981 BMW R65 that she’s only owned for four months.

“I bought it stock,” she said, explaining that she then chopped the handlebars, chopped the sub-frame and added a new exhaust – giving it a cafe appearance.

“I actually just finished it last week,” she said.

Heads turned and photographers gathered when Carlson rolled the bike of out the line of antique bikes, got atop it and began striking some poses.

Also coming a short distance was George Gilbert, who lives across the Connecticut River in Portland, CT. He brought his yellow 1951 Indian Roadmaster that he said he’s owned for eight or nine years.

“I ride it a fair amount. It’s uncomfortable going over 60 (miles per hour),” he said.

Gilbert owns “about 15” motorcycles but maintains that he’s not a collector. “I bought bikes. I used them. I never sold them,” he said in explaining why he has so many.

Gilbert’s Indian sports a personalized license plate. The “OSCR” refers to Oscar Hedstrom, who designed the first Indian motorcycle in 1901 – in Middletown. The prototype then went to Springfield, MA where original Indians were manufactured between 1901 and 1953.

Jeff Zelek of Newington, CT brought his 1967 Yamaha YR-1, a 350cc model with a racing heritage that was very fast back in its day.  “They claimed they took their racing bike and turned it into a street bike,” said Zelek of Yamaha’s strategy.

Zelek has owned the bike for three years. He recalled watching the movie “Grand Prix” and seeing one of the drivers riding up on a Yamaha 250 Catalina. That hooked him and made him pursue the YR-1. Of particular appeal were the chrome fenders, the chrome on the gas tank and the candy blue color.

“I fell in love with it immediately. It’s a work of art,” he said.

Among the oldest bikes at Middletown Motorcycle Mania was a 1919 Neracar owned by Tom Lewandosky, a collector who asked that his city of residence not be revealed. Of all the bikes ever made, the Neracar is unique.

– Bud Wilkinson