Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE O ne of the best-known rac- ing motorcycles of Ameri- ca's Golden Age of motorcycle racing in the 1910s, was the St. Paul, Minnesota-built Cyclone. When Cyclone launched its 61 cubic inch (1000cc) overhead- cam V-Twin in 1913, it proved to be the fastest motorcycle of its era. The rider who is most closely associated with Cyclone was Don Johns. Johns was hired to be a factory Cyclone racer towards the end of the 1914 racing season. While his stint with Cyclone lasted only a year, Johns helped make the mo- torcycle a legend in racing circles. That legend was large enough that 100 years later a restored Cyclone once owned by Steve McQueen fetched the highest price ever for a motorcycle at an auction at the time, with a selling price of $852,000. Johns was a leading motorcycle racer in the early era of the sport. He competed as a professional from 1912 to 1916. The diminutive rider was an ace at board track, dirt track and road racing, and he won a number of FAM champion- ships as well as numerous West Coast and regional titles. Johns was born in Topeka, Kansas, but his family moved to P124 set these marks in California, DeRosier rode the very same ma- chine in his famous match races at the Brooklands with British star Charles Collier. Johns won his first race at a track in San Bernardino, Califor- nia, in 1909, riding a Thor. He lied about his age to enter the event, since he was just 14 at the time. Even though he tipped the scales at barely 100 pounds, Johns became known as be- ing a sometimes scrappy and aggressive rider. Once he was suspended from competition for six months after punching a racing official in the nose after he disqualified Johns for holding another rider back with his arm when the rider tried to pass. Johns got his big break in 1911 when he beat Hap Alzina and Clarence Briggs in a try-out Los Angeles when he was just five years old. His childhood home was across the street from an Indi- an dealership and he began hang- ing out at the shop as a young boy. He began riding motorcycles when he was 11. He was especial- ly attracted to racing and worked whatever odd jobs he could find at the races, just so he could attend. Several of the top riders of the early 1910s took notice of the kid who was always hanging around the track. Indian's Jake DeRosier hired Johns as a gopher at the races and helped mentor him on his riding, as did Charles "Fearless" Balke. A few years later Johns set amateur speed records riding DeRosier's factory Indian. In fact, a few weeks after Johns RIDING A CYCLONE Don Johns at 16 years of age. Johns was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.