Roadog

Roadog is a motorcycle built by engineer and motorcycle enthusiast Wild Bill Gelbke between 1962 and 1965. A total of two were built. Gelbke, who had attended engineering school in Wisconsin and at University of Southern California, had worked for McDonnell Douglas and also owned two motorcycle shops in Chicago and Hammond, Indiana. He wanted to create a motorcycle that was dependable and was able to cruise at highway speeds comfortably for long periods.[2] Gelbe constructed and welded the frame himself using 4130 chrome-molybdenum tubing, and equipped the machine with a Chevrolet 153 engine and GM powerglide transmission.[1] The shaft drive was constructed from a Chevrolet 1-ton truck differential that was cut in half.[1] The complete bike is 17 feet (520 cm) long and weighs 3,280 pounds (1,490 kg).[1] Its great size and weight make the bike impossible for most people to steer until it is moving at a speed of at least 15 miles per hour (24 km/h), and when at rest it is held up by hydraulic rams that are deployed by the driver.

Gelbke was known for riding the bike up and down Cicero Avenue and Addison Street in Chicago in the 1960s, and he made regular cross-country trips on it from 1966 through 1978,[1] logging over 20,000 miles in one year.[3] When he died in 1978, the bikes were put into storage.[1] Posters depicting Gelbke on a Roadog were a popular item among classic motorcycle enthusiasts; in the mid 1980s, motorcycle enthusiast and swap meet organizer Buzz Walneck began searching for the motorcycle, finally placing an ad in his monthly magazine Walneck's Classic Cycle Trader, receiving a tip and discovering a bike at the home of Gelbke's mother. He purchased it and has displayed it at his swap meets and motorcycle shows.[1] Walnek later sold his bike to the National Motorcycle Museum, where it is on display.[4] The other Roadog is privately owned by a Wisconsin man named Anthony Shablak, who "bought it to ride it" but has been unable to find an insurer to cover it.[5]

Roadog introduced several firsts to motorcycle design, including dual headlights, automatic transmission with reverse gear, the hydraulic stands, and front and rear disc brakes.[3] In 2001, Roadog was displayed in a special exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.[3]

The Roadog was offered for sale at an auction which took place on September 9, 2023, in Anamosa, Iowa.

It was later purchased on a second chance offer by the noted YouTube personality Sean Kerr from the Bikes and Beards channel. It was announced on the channel's YouTube video posted on October 20, 2023.[6]

Sean wanted to have the Roadog running so he brought it to Matt Walksler at the Wheels Through Time Museum[7] of American motorcycles just 5 miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. The whole mechanic team of the museum helped working on the bike until they could have it running.

Sean won the rock/paper/scissors challenge and had the privilege to ride the Roadog first in a long time. The weight, length and specificity of the monster bike makes it so difficult to ride, Matt then took place on the seat and succeeded in putting it back on the road for a few miles ride : "that's the scariest thing I've ever done" he would say later.

Matt driving and Sean as passenger could bring back the Roadog to the museum where Matt offered to buy the bike, Sean sealing the dealing with a friendly handshake, so finally, the Roadog should soon become one of the biggest curiosity of the Wheel Through Time museum[8] and to be seen by all the visitors.