Riding Into History: Riders Will Retrace Lindbergh's 1921 Trip On Antique Motorcycles | News

Gene Harper stands with his 1924 Excelsior Series 20 S motorcycle, nearly the exact same model a young Charles Lindbergh rode on a 3,400-mile journey to Florida and back in 1921. He said it has been his dream to recreate that trip for 30 years. He and three other riders will embark on that journey, Sept. 3, in Madison, Wisconsin, and end in Little Falls, Sept. 24.

Hans Coertse of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, sits astride of his 1923 Excelsior, which he will ride on a recreation, next month, of Charles Lindbergh's 1921 cross-country ride.

A photo taken in about 1942 shows Stewart Maclellan's grandfather, Angus, left, and father, Donald, working on Angus' 1921 Excelsior Series 20S motorcycle. Stewart will be riding that exact bike in September, as he participates in the Lindbergh Ride.

Alex Bernhardt of Chicago will be riding this 1920 Excelsior motorcycle on a trip from Wisconsin to Florida and eventually ending up at the Lindbergh House and Museum in Little Falls. The trip is meant to recreate a 1921 ride taken by Charles Lindbergh.

Open the camera on your smartphone and point it at this coded image. A link will pop up that, if you click it, will take you to Gene Harper's Lindbergh Ride forum.

Hans Coertse of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, sits astride of his 1923 Excelsior, which he will ride on a recreation, next month, of Charles Lindbergh's 1921 cross-country ride.

Long before Charles A. Lindbergh became an international icon in 1927, for being the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean, he went on another long-distance trip.

Rather than the Spirit of St. Louis, however, he was riding his 1920 Excelsior Series R motorcycle. And it wasn’t the foggy skies above the Atlantic he was battling along the way, but about 3,600 miles of roadway — most of which was in unimaginably poor condition by today’s standards — throughout the Midwest and southeast United States.

The trip took him from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, to Camp Knox — now Fort Knox — in Kentucky, and eventually to Jacksonville, Florida. When he missed meeting up with his father, he took a “more westerly route” back to his home in Little Falls. In all, he spent about 19 - 20 days on the road.

On Sept. 3, four members of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA) from throughout the world will retrace Lindbergh’s route on motorcycles nearly identical to the one he was riding when he made the trek in the summer of 1921. All will be riding Excelsior Series S motorcycles made between 1920 and 1924.

“It’s been 30-plus years,” said Gene Harper, a retired firefighter and paramedic from Denver, about when he learned the bike for which he had a kit was the same as what Lindbergh rode. “This has been my dream since then.”

Harper fell in love with antique motorcycles as a child, a passion passed down from his parents. He got the first in his collection of nine when he was only 13 or 14 years. It is a stable that includes familiar names like Harley Davidson and Indian. The latter of those includes a 1924 Chief that he rode from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, — 3,400 miles — as part of the Motorcycle Cannonball, with his wife along for the ride in a sidecar.

Excelsiors — of which he owns three — have always been among his favorites. Made by well-known bicycle manufacturer Schwinn, Harper said they were “number three” behind Harley and Indian in the early part of the 20th Century, but they went out of business in 1931.

“I’ve always liked the oddballs,” Harper said. “All of my antique motorcycles except one are oddballs. Everyone has a Harley or an Indian, but the Excelsiors, they’re different, not common. The Series 20, which we’ll be riding, are very uncommon. It was sort of a forgotten model.

“In fact, when the four of us are riding, you’ll probably never, ever see four of these together again,” he continued. “There are probably 25 or 30 of them that I know of around the world.”

Harper acquired the “bones” of his first Excelsior restoration project in 1989. At the time, he said he knew nothing about them, so he reached out to Charlie Carter, former editor of the AMCA Magazine. Carter was a known Excelsior Series 20 enthusiast.

It was during his conversations with Carter that Harper learned Lindbergh rode a 1920 Excelsior and that he took it on a cross-country trip. Prior to that, he said he had “no particular interest in Lindbergh,” other than perhaps reading about him when he was young.

After he learned of Lindbergh’s 1921 trip, Harper said he “tried to find out anything and everything” about it.

“I’ve learned the most through direct quotes from him and letters that he wrote during the trip,” Harper said.

With that, he began to dream of one day riding in Lindbergh’s treadmarks on a cross-country trip of his own, meticulously mapped out to mirror the original journey as closely as possible.

In the time since, he was able to piece together three Series 20 kits “made up of worn out, broken, rusted and bent parts.” Two of them, he wrote in a forum entry about the trip on the AMCA’s website, were sold to close friends “with the stipulation that they must restore the bike and join me on this historic trip.”

As such, he’ll be joined by three intrepid souls on his journey. Alex Bernhardt, of Chicago, will be riding a 1920 Excelsior; Stewart Maclellan, of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, will be riding his grandfather’s 1921 Excelsior; and Hans Coertse, of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, will be riding a 1923 Excelsior.

“(Alex) is the underdog in my book because he is newer to the restoration process and riding old bikes, plus he has a wonderful family history with the bike,” Harper wrote on the forum. “So far, he has proven that he is up to the task.

“Hans has competed in the Motorcycle Cannonball three times and was the overall winner in 2014 on a (1924) Scout,” he continued. “He is by far the most experienced rider of the bunch.”

They will also be joined by Bill Maron, of Evergreen, Colorado, who will drive the support vehicle, complete with a trailer full of all the necessary gear, tools and parts. John Olsen, of Madison, Wisconsin, will be along to photograph and document the journey.

After years of painstaking restoration, Harper’s 1924 Excelsior was fired up for the first time in November 2021. As of late June, he said he had about 500 miles on the odometer and made all the necessary adjustments and modifications to have the bike ready for his dream trip.

“I’m really looking forward to the day we leave Madison and start riding,” Harper said. “That’s what it’s all about. I know when it’s over there will be a huge letdown.”

As Harper was restoring the bike, he was also taking in as much research as possible about Lindbergh’s trip. This included his own journeys to places such as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan — where the actual bike Lindbergh rode is kept today, though it is not on display — and the Charles Lindbergh House and Museum in Little Falls.

As he worked to retrace Lindbergh’s route from letters and photos he took along the way, Harper learned there was a map on which many of his routes — by motorcycle, car and airplane — were drawn out. It was in Little Falls where he found a replica of the map.

“The map has been huge,” he said. “I was able to transpose it onto a modern map.”

That helped him figure out some of the routes Lindbergh took while at artillery training at Camp Knox, which included several caves not far from the installation. Some of the places he rode in 1921, Harper said, were small towns at the time and are now big cities. Some of the towns and roads don’t even exist anymore, or the latter has been replaced by an interstate or major highway.

“These bikes will run 60 miles per hour, but not for long,” Harper said. “The brakes are horrible. There are actually two rear brakes and no brakes on the front.”

They will be traveling at about 45 - 50 miles per hour and will do their best to avoid major highways and cities as much as possible while still following Lindbergh’s route. All told, they’ll cover about 3,422 miles over 22 days — 19 days of riding with rest days built in — and arrive at the Lindbergh House and Museum, Saturday, Sept. 24.

Before that, however, one part of the trip Harper said he is looking forward to is when they spend Sept. 5 - 6 in the area around Fort Knox. While there, they’ll be visiting Mammoth Cave, Crystal Cave and the Lincoln Museum at Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky. All of those were areas Lindbergh himself visited during his time at the camp.

“Everything is scheduled out down to gas stops and meal stops throughout the whole route,” Harper said. “In some places, we’ll be on exactly the same road as he was.

“Things like that, where we know we’re on the same road, I’m excited about that,” he added, later. “Another interesting thing is, in a lot of those places, he was probably the first person ever to ride a motorcycle on those roads.”

Open the camera on your smartphone and point it at this coded image. A link will pop up that, if you click it, will take you to Gene Harper's Lindbergh Ride forum.

Throughout the trip, Harper said he will be posting photos and letters from Lindbergh that coincide with where they are on the journey. Anyone who wants to follow along can do so by going to forum.antiquemotorcycle.org/bboard/forum/general-amca-forum/parking-lot-chatter/301197-the-lindbergh-ride-2022/page2. One does not have to be an AMCA member to view the posts, but they cannot leave a comment.

The forum also includes much more about the trip — including a day-by-day schedule — the riders and the preparation that went into the motorcycles and the route.

It all culminates, Sept. 24, when the four road-weary travelers will ride up to the Lindbergh House and Museum sometime in the afternoon. Harper said members of the Viking Chapter of the AMCA from the Twin Cities will be on hand to welcome them back. He encouraged anyone else who would like to see their motorcycles and learn more about the journey to join, as well.

“The climax will be actually pulling up there to the Lindbergh House in Little Falls like he’s coming home,” Harper said. “We’re going to end our trip where he ended his. I hope there will be people out there and there will be a bit of a to-do about it.”

“The climax will be actually pulling up there to the Lindbergh House in Little Falls like he’s coming home. We’re going to end our trip where he ended his." - Gene Harper, Lindbergh Ride organizer

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Your comment has been submitted.

There was a problem reporting this.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.