There are motorcycle shows, and then there is Oley. Formally known as the Perkiomen National Meet and Motorcycle Show, this event is welcomed into this small town annually, as are the thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts that descend upon the fair grounds at the Oley Fire Company.
This is not your run of the mill biker event. And while there are plenty of bearded, leather-clad and tattooed guys milling around, “beer and broads” is about the last thing they are looking for. And their idea of trouble †figuring out how they are going to get that 1918 Indian home without it being noticed by the wife.
The Perkiomen group and its market’s location is just a stone’s throw from the Reading Motorcycle Club, America’s oldest cycle club, incorporated in 1914. While Wisconsin may be the home of Harley-Davidson and Springfield, Mass., was the home of the defunct Indian factory, the Reading area is the heartland of those who love the early bikes.
One of the larger events in the country, this show is typically sold out when it comes to dealer space. Vendors come in from around the country, with several making the annual trip from California. A couple hundred vendors strong, this is also a place where parts that are almost impossible to find elsewhere are priced reasonably. This is also a place where the prices on early bikes follows suit. This is the place where “people in the know” gather.
Like a kid in a candy store, the public is often times wandering around looking for the entrance to this show, wondering to whom they should pay their admission fee. It is time wasted. A small donation to the Oley Fire Department to park your car is all that is required. For $5, one person or a carload of people can gain access. After all, this is all about antique motorcycles †it is about the love of them †it is not about making money as a flea market.
The bikes are plentiful, and Indians and Harleys abound. In the realm of Harleys, flathead powered bikes are everywhere, knuckleheads are plentiful, as are the panheads. Things start to taper off quickly when it comes to shovelheads and anything beyond that is pure heresy. The eye-candy at a meet like this is the rare stuff; Indian four-cylinder bikes, Henderson four cylinders, Pope, ACE, Cleveland and Excelsior models.
Dick Ollhoff had one of the rarest bikes on the field this year, a 1906 Indian “camelback” tri-car, of which there are a “half-dozen known surviving examples.” The Tomahawk, Wis., dealer had been riding the bike around the market earlier that morning. “It came with a trunk, with no trunk, and for those of us with wives, it also came with a seat that mounted on the front,” said Ollhoff. Quick to add that his wife, Betty, was a part owner of the rare camelback, he said that they are in the process of building a reproduction seat for the front of the bike.
The dealer also offered a good selection of parts that ranged from gas tanks off of bikes from the “teens” to motor parts, fenders and other odds and ends that would otherwise prove nearly impossible to find.
“This is possibly the oldest flathead in Oley,” said Frank Westfall, Syracuse, N.Y., of the 1909 Deluxe Reliance that was displayed in front of his booth. Brought for show, the bike was not for sale. In wonderful yellow paint, the bike was in remarkable original condition and surprisingly complete, missing little more than its original leather drive belt.
Old bikes do not always have to have engines and bicycles are appreciated by this crowd almost as much as the gas powered two-wheelers. An Elliot Hickory bike from about 1880 had wooden wheels and was all original except for a very old repaint, stated Auburn Hills, Mich., dealer David Leitner. Several early motor-bikes were displayed alongside of it, including a 1914 Pope in original condition. “It is exactly as it has been all of its life,” claimed the dealer of the Pope, “except it has weathered a little bit.”
Several early signs for Harley-Davidson dealers were offered at Brian Keating, Plainfield, N.H., along with numerous early bikes, including a police servi-car from the Hadley Police Department’s lineup of Harleys. Sharing the booth was Bob “Sprocket” Eckardt of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., who displayed a rare treasure for every Indian owner: an Indian Motorcycle illuminated sign that had more than likely hung in a dealer’s showroom.
A small collection of Indian Chiefs was offered at Rocky’s, Massillon, Ohio. A trusted source of parts for old Indians, Rocky is considered to be among the favorite dealers at the show. This year, the genteel dealer had a lineup of four Chiefs across the front of his booth, including a running black 1942 Chief in original barn-found condition that had just been sold.
There are parts galore at Oley, crate after crate to pick through. Chances are that the one part missing from an otherwise complete bike will surface somewhere on the field. The challenge is to find it.
Much like Brimfield in the old days, this market that used to take place “on the weekend” has grown in scope. For many years Friday was the day to be there, now it is Thursday for the hardcore shoppers. And heaven forbid †there were those that leaked word that the several vendors arrived on Wednesday night.
Oley is a happening, always the last weekend in April and with few mentions ahead of time on the web or elsewhere. Some information can be found at the website for the Antique Motorcycle Club of America, www.antiquemotorcycle.com . An unofficial contact for the Perkiomen club is Barry Algeo, 610-948-4553, or oleyfleamarket@comcast.net .
