A 1915 Cyclone V-Twin motorcycle — manufactured by the Joerns Motor Manufacturing Company in St. Paul — recently sold at a Las Vegas auction for $1.32 million, a record sale for a vintage motorcycle.
The Joerns plant was in St. Paul from 1912 to 1917, until it was purchased and later moved to Sheboygan, Wis. The sale surpassed the $935,000 paid for a 1908 Harley-Davidson Strap Tank in 2023. Both auctions took place at Mecum Las Vegas Motorcycles.
The motorcycle has a 61 CI, air-cooled V-Twin engine and a single speed transmission. It has a single-speed gear box with a foot-operated clutch and twist grip controls for the carburetor and ignition. The restoration work was done by expert restorer Stephen Wright, according to Mecum officials.
A page from a Cyclone motorcycle brochure. A 1915 Cyclone V-Twin motorcycle — manufactured by the Joerns Motor Manufacturing Company in St. Paul — sold Feb. 2, 2025 at auction in Las Vegas for $1.32 million, a record sale. (Courtesy of Mecum Auctions)
Painted yellow, the motor bike has a red insignia on the gas tank bearing the name of the manufacturer “Joerns Motor MFG Co., St. Paul, Minn.” in curlicue.
A brochure for the motorcycle announces it as “The Speed Sensation for 1915.” It further states:
“The ‘Cyclone’ motor is unique. Without a radical change in principle, it has proven its ability to produce sufficient additional power to upset all precedents. The first model built lowered all previous speed records before it was three months old.
“‘Speed is no test,’ say some. But why not? What makes speed possible? Power! What creates power in an internal combustion engine? The explosion of the largest possible volume of gas compressed into the smallest possible bulk, multiplied by the rapidity with which these explosions follow one another.”
According to a 2000 article in Cycle World magazine, the Cyclone was, indeed, fast. An earlier model in 1914 bested competitor brands — an Indian and an Excelsior — at the Twin Cities Motordome in St. Paul and broke the three-mile record at the track.
The name of the buyer was not released by auction officials.
The bike was part of the Urban S. Hirsch III Collection of motorcycles, many of them pre-1916 models. Hirsch, a Los Angeles businessman and avid motorcycle collector, passed away last year.
Related Articles
St. Paul firefighters use rope rescue for teen who slipped 30 feet down bluff
St. Paul City Council considers one-for-one tree replacement mandate
Crime down 6%, ridership up 6% on Metro Transit year-over-year, officials announce
MN DVS counter leaves St. Paul’s University Avenue for Transfer Road
B Kyle: On public safety in St. Paul: progress made, more work ahead
Leave a Reply