The Flying Merkel Motorcycle poster – Charles Shoup – 1913

The Flying Merkel Motorcycle poster – Charles Shoup – 1913

The flying Merkel … J.P. Schantin crossing the great American desert on his flying Merkel motorcycle. According to this fantastic early vintage motorcycle poster The Flying Merkel was, at the time, the only Motorcycle in the world with a self-starter and two-speed gearbox. The motorbike was originally made by the American motorcycle manufacturer Merkel with the Flying Merkel in production between 1911 and 1917.

Struggling to keep the business going  Joseph Merkel merged his business twice with other manufacturing companies. The company was relocated each time and the “Merkel” brand name was changed to “Merkel Light” and later to “The Flying Merkel”. In 1911, Joe Merkels company was taken over by Miami Cycle and Manufacturing Company and changed the trademark to ‘Flying Merkel’. With the change, the motorbikes were painted in a bright, glossy orange paint described as Merkel Orange.

In 1914, the company introduced the self-starter as mentioned on the poster. According to the Flying Merkel website “a self-starter mechanism was introduced, that turned out to be rather unreliable. The high purchase price of a Merkel slowed down sales, as mass-produced cars became cheaper every year. A 1914 Flying Merkel V-Twin was listed in the catalogue for $305 against Ford’s Model-T with a price tag of $650. Within 3 years Ford’s price dropped to only $345 against Merkel’s $260.

There doesn’t seem to be a great deal of information about the hero in the poster. Mr Joseph Philip Schantin, so we’re grateful to have found two sites online that provide a little bit of detail about him.The first is the Classic Moto blogspot that have a brief article and a couple of interesting photos that are worth a look at. The site explains “Schantin decided to ride from Portland Oregon to New York city based on a dare.

He purchased a new 1912 Flying Merkel motorcycle that had two cylinders and produced 7 hp. He then rode down the West Coast through San Francisco and Los Angeles and then went East through Arizona, New Mexico all the way to New York City and then extended his trip ride to Portland Maine. The roads and riding conditions were terrible at that time, there were no real roads in many places and when it rained you had to push your bike until it could be ridden again. Oh, and by the way, he had a prosthetic leg.

He started out with a friend who turned back when they got to Arizona, his friend had enough of the whole deal. Joseph just continued on. After riding to Portland, Maine he stayed a few hours then headed back home by the Northern route through Canada. He covered around 10,000 miles in 4-5 months time.”

Another website nwsage.net in an article from today in history for the date August 9, 1912 article that describes the portion of the journey to New York City stating. “August 9, 1912 – Joseph Philip Schantin arrives in New York City riding a Flying Merkel motorcycle. Mr. Schantin was en route to Portland, Maine after a harrowing journey through the Southwest from Portland, Oregon. 

After he completed his Portland to Portland adventure, “Joe” became something of a local celebrity and acquired the Pacific Northwest franchise for Harley Davidson motorcycles. Few were aware that he had lived his life since early childhood with a wooden leg.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and poster for just £22.