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Like 'em BIG?
- by Pete Snidal
It takes all kinds to make a world! Bill Gelbke, We Salute You!

A friend brought me home this poster one Christmas in July (another story), from a swap meet in LA. It's been hung on my shop wall for some time, but I brought it down this morning and scanned it, figuring it was time to honour a True Man Of Vision with this little web-based article.
These are largish images, and may take a little extra time to load, but they can't be smaller - not for a thing of these proportions!
What I said! This is not photo-trickery; this is an actual, home-built motorcycle, of obviously heroic proportions. Thunder-trikes, eat your hearts out! Here's "Wild" Bill Gelbke, of Boscobel, Wisconsin, astride his art-piece and daily ride. What a guy, and what a bike!

This sucker is SO big, I had to scan it twice!
(And I'm only talking about the machine!)

Here's what you see after you blink, turn your head a bit to the right, and take another squint.
Is this a motorcycle, or is this a
MOTOR
CYCLE?

Some close-ups
This gargantuan machine was obviously built by a man not unskilled in the ways of heavy-duty fabrication - and not afraid of any pussy engineering terms like "scale effect." I'm guessing he's a trainman by trade - they're the guys who spend their 8 hours doing little chores like replacing the trucks under railway cars, straightening out bent boxcar chassis, and other light work like that. Not a job for the faint-hearted!
Lets's look, for example, at the steering arrangement. It looks as if Bill must have incorporated Power Steering into the unit, judging by the rigging above the carburetor, and the hydraulic lines going to it. Linkage is apparently ball-joint-ended tie rods from the unit (you can just see the end of the left handlegrip) to the front fork crown. No anal-retentive agonizing over routing the front brake lines, either! Form follows function: they look just fine where they are!

The Front End

The front forking is handled by a massive dual-shock trailing-link Earles-type fork. You can also see the serious hydraulic front brake, which I'll just bet is dualled with one on the other side. Font fender is full coverage - I guess Bill doesn't want to be covered with roadspray on his rainy-day cruises. Headlight - a full-size 7" unit salvaged from some auto application - is dwarfed by the rest of this magnificent front end.

Power
Bill sensibly didn't go overboard with the engine. You might expect some overdone power, like a 454 Chevy punched out to 505, or a 500 Caddy V-8, but instead a much more practical Chevy 4 - were they a 230? Keeping this monster going down the road and around the bends would be, I'm sure, enough of a chore without having to factor in handling a lot of rearwheel-spin.

In this view, you can also see the right-front hydraulically operated hold-up stand. I'll bet the stands are extended by means of a valve in the control panel at the operator/engineer position. Note also the truck-style rear view mirror. It would appear that the exhaust system is dualled. Nice bending!

The Drive Line
Bill seems to have chosen the best option for such a machine - shaft drive. The front U-Joint is just below the passenger seat, and the shaft appears to go to an angle-drive unit at the side of the rear wheel. The look of the unit is unfamiliar to this writer, but note the manner of fixing it to the frame - very heavy-duty, and obviously skilled and professional. Dual shocks again in the rear, and it appears to be a swingarm frame - the pivot being hidden behind the muffler. The graceful curve of the cantilever bar to the upper shock mounts shows the work of a well-qualified artisan.
Hydraulic line into the Left Rear Holdup Stand confirms my suspicion about how they're extended. These would also be handy if it came time to change a tire - note "Continental" spare mounted at rear in spiffy Naugahyde cover. There's some normal Drive Chain in the picture, too! - he welded up drive chain footboards!
Not For Everybody
Like the man says at the shared-time condo sales, this may not be the machine for everybody. But if you're ever tired of seeing yourself coming down the road on just another look-alike wimpy little poser machine, such as an 80-inch Harley or Indian, or a totally-flumboed Gold Wing, you may be interested in giving "Wild" Bill Gelbke, of Boscobel, Wisconsin, a call. But you better be Man Enough to ride a Real Motorcycle!