motorcycle history Archives

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Many know Trev Deeley through his connection to Harley Davidson and the legacy he brought to the company by being the first distributor of the Milwaukee company in Canada, but not many know that he was also the first distributor of Honda motorcycles in the English-speaking world. In 1957, four years after being appointed general manager of Fred Deeley Motorcycles, Trev came upon an article about a U.S. soldier who had fought in Japan who brought back with him a 250 cc motorcycle made by the Honda Motor Company in Tokyo.

Intrigued, Trev sent a letter to the president of the Honda Motor Company indicating that British Columbia and Japan shared some similarities which could make for a profitable market for the company. This led to a correspondence with the company that resulted in Honda sending Trev a free 250 cc Honda Dream. Regardless of struggling to convince Fred Sr. and Jr., Trev was impressed with the craftsmanship and performance of the bike and became the first distributor of Hondas in the English-speaking world, primarily ordering 50 cc Honda Cubs.

With the Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition’s new exhibit “100 Years of Motorcycling”, we hoped to highlight motorcycles that have made some sort of mark over time, and both the 1960 Honda Dream and the 1963 Honda Super Cub are glowing examples, being the first two models of a Honda Motorcycle tested and distributed by Trev Deeley to an English-speaking market.

Although the 1960 Honda Dream holds significance for being one of the first models of Honda motorcycles to come to the Western world, the Honda Super Cub, which Trev first began distributing, has made great strides, becoming the most produced motor vehicle in history with production passing 100 million units in 2017.

Come check out these incredible bikes and learn a deeper history at the Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition’s newly installed display, “100 Years of Motorcycling”!

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A fashion icon, a racer, a journalist, and a writer, Anke-Eve Goldmann was a pioneer for female motorcyclists, both in Germany and in the United States. In most images, the over-6-foot, dark haired German beauty can be seen riding atop a BMW R69, at the time the fastest Bavarian flat-twin roadster, sporting a leather cat-suit. Although she was never officially sponsored by BMW she almost solely rode bikes produced by the company, displaying the flashy letters of BMW on her classic pudding basin helmet. Her riding gear was designed by herself, with the help of the German manufacturing company Harro, winning her the title of the first woman to wear a once-piece leather racing suit, and aiding female riding fashion in the process, as her designs were approved for public distribution.

Goldmann was often ridiculed and barred from racing due to her sex but that didn’t stop her from competing wherever she could. She participated in speed circuits and endurance races, with her modified for speed BMWs. Unfortunately, she was barred from competing at higher levels or in Grand Prix’s, possibly driving her to help found the Women’s International Motorcyclists Association in Europe in the late 1950’s.

Her passion for racing fueled her journalism career, with articles written for motorcycle magazines such as Cycle World, Moto Revue, and MotorRad. Most notably, Goldmann broke social taboos of the time by crossing into East Germany in 1962 while the Berlin wall was under construction, to document soviet women’s racing. Cold war tensions stopped articles written during this time from being published in European magazines, but they were accepted in American magazines, despite the growing tension of the Cold War Era. Rumor has it that due to her connections and mobility in East Germany, Anke-Eve was approached by the CIA to be a spy, but she refused and stopped traveling to the Soviet Union.

Goldmann’s fast paced and fashionable persona became the influence for André Pieyre de Mandiargues 1963 novel, The Motorcycle. The novel later was adapted into the 1968 cult classic The Girl on a Motorcycle.

Although Anke-Eve stopped riding following the death of a close friend from a riding accident and has stayed out of the public eye since, her legacy lives on through riding fashion, equality, and film.