Huffman Death Bike

[37fleetwood]

ok, here are the photos of the deathbike I found them on the web. I have more but cant find them right now.

here is the rear of my 1939 Twin Flex notice the flat fender braces, they are the best way to tell if you have a 1938. 1939 has more modern braces like mine the rack is different also:

Scott

 

[37fleetwood]

I found the other photos of the "DeathBike"
Scott

 

[Classicriders]

I remember when Bill brought the Death Bike to MLC/AA swaps. He had it sitting in a cargo trailer at MLC partially covered with a blanket. Bill was walking around so I asked his buddy, "how much for the Dayton?" he laughed and said that it wasn;t for sale. I didn;t realize at the time it was THE Death Bike due to the blanket. Later when he had it at the AA show I realized, and felt quite foolish about my previous inquiry.
I have talked with Bill several times over the phone since that meet. This was years ago mind you, but at the time, he said that he wanted to have photos taken of the bike in a Civil War era cemetary. How cool would that be?! Sure would like to have one of those photos.

 

[joe231]

Sorry, I'm new. what is the story on the death bike

 

[walter branche]

deathbike

too read about the bike ,use your search engine, people say it caused the death of huffman co. when the bikes had to be recalled, ..this is the only known example , i will bet the owner has turned down close to 50,000 for this bike.. there are many rumors and tall tales told through out cycle history, some have to be taken as entertainment .later,, walter branche

 

[joe231]

^^^Oh, Ok. Thanks

 

[37fleetwood]

the actual truth about this bike may forever be shrouded in mystery but here are the stories I've heard. first was that the suspension allowed the wheels to pitch sideways since there is nothing holding them straight in the bike. this caused it to throw the chain off and some kid was killed when this happened and jammed the wheel so it wouldn't turn. Huffman then recalled the bike and re-designed the suspension. the next story was that as stated when the bikes showed the tendancy to pitch the wheels funny Huffman recalled the bikes and the recall was so complete that this one bike is the only one known to exist. the bike had sold pretty well and the expense of the recall almost caused the death of Huffman. the last story is that the bikes had a tendancy to break because the springs were too weak and Huffman was forced to recall the bike and as in the other story the expense of the recall was almost the end of Huffman. obviously it wasn't the end of Huffman since they are still in business today. I kinda favour the first story because Huffman was one of the biggest bike manufacturers of the day and wouldn't have that much trouble with the recall of one model of bike. also I would imagine they should have been insured. no one seems to know for sure. who knows maybe someone will find some more somewhere. it is great that the one we do have for posterity is in such great shape. I hope no one minds that I've posted photos I didn't take and of a bike that isn't mine.
Scott

 

[joe231]

Thanks for the info Scott!!

 

[MartyW]

Cool I just learned something new. I always thought that it was a differant bike. Cool pictures!

 

[markghuffman]

Background on Death Bike

This is an old thread but I can add something to the background of the Death Bike.

My grandfather was Horace McKee Huffman, Jr. "Huffy" and he told me a little about the "Death Bike" debacle, though he never referred to it by that term (so far as I can tell it was invented within the hobby).

I was in high school or maybe college in the late 1980's and he was talking about the company. He was making the point that although it became a huge success, for the first two or three decades it was hanging on "by its fingernails." He mentioned and that there was a major recall that almost killed the company. The anxiety was still fresh on his face fifty years later and with a set jaw said with grim determination "I think we got them all back."

He didn't tell me precisely what the design problem was, he just said there was one and that it was dangerous. I can't remember him saying that anyone was killed, but the event still affected him some degree and maybe didn't want to talk about that part of it.

Another reason it could be called the "Death Bike" is that apparently it almost killed the company. At the time Huffman had an exclusive contract to build bikes for Firestone. After the recall Firestone decided it would be prudent to "diversify" its suppliers and gave part of the contract to another company (I don't know which one though one of you no doubt does).