Vintage wheels
Drive up to Allen’s Cycle at 6319 N. Pittsburg St. and you expect to be able to buy all the parts and accessories necessary to enjoy the ride on almost any motorcycle around.
But poke around inside the steel-clad building and you’ll find much more.
As you stroll toward the repair shop, your walk takes you not only back where “super mechanic” Ray Hobb does his thing but back in time as well.
A sizable collection of motorcycles immediately catches the eye. These are not just products out of the box, but rather, blasts from the past.
Jim Allen and his brother, Mike, have taken over the business that their dad, Jim Allen Sr., started some 20 years ago. They have bikes from all over the world on display.
“We have two out of England, a couple of Spanish (bikes), ones from Czechoslovakia and West Germany,” said Jim Allen Jr.
“The bike I had back in 1974-75 when I rode for the Cooper factory” is his prize possession, Allen said.
“(It’s) a 1975-and-a-half, 250 Cooper.”
Manufactured in Mexico, these motocross bikes “were semicrude-looking, but back in the day, they were fast,” Allen said.
Another eye-catcher is a bike adorned with a British flag. “That’s a 250 Grease Challenger,” Allen said.
It invaded the United States a year or two after The Beatles and Rolling Stones in the 1960s.
“Those bikes were out of England and real competitive back in their day,” Allen said.
Allen did trials riding in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and his Canadian national No. 1 machine is on the crowded bench.
Trials riding is a cross-country style of racing in which competitors tackle the natural terrain.
One bike melds the minds of flat-track racing with Indy car technology.
“This little Hodaka flat-tracker was a coalition design by Jim Tipke, ‘Captain Dirt’ (Jim Poffenroth) and rider Matt James,” Allen said.
“Tipke Manufacturing was the manufacturing outfit,” he said.
“Went to him because of his involvement in Indy car and sprint chassis. What better mind to pick for strength and durability?”
The trio built the lightweight little bike, and it proved to be a big success.
“They ran them up and down the coast and at Stateline Speedway, Darrell Triber’s old place, with quite good success,” Allen said.
Sure, Allen’s Cycle has the appearance of a motorcycle museum, but “we also do restoration for several customers,” Allen said.
“I’ve got a Bultaco Alpina we restored for … Dr. David Turner, who’s a dentist here in Spokane.”
Allen also worked on a bike for Dale Stevens, of Camp Motorsports. “We restored his RM 400 that was featured at the motorcycle show,” Allen said. “He wanted one as a kid. Now he wants to go vintage racing. We helped Dale out and built him one.”
Allen’s Cycle is everything motorcycles. Well, almost.
“About the only thing we don’t do is Harley (Davidson). We try not to just throw them out on the street. We try to help ‘em out,” Allen said.
“We love to do restorations,” he said. “We’re one of the only shops in town that will work on the older stuff.”
“Our theory and motto is: ‘If the customer is willing to pay and be a little patient and we can find parts, we’ll fix it for them if we can,’ ” Allen said.