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KENZLER-WAVERLEY <\/span>| <\/span>1910-14 <\/span>| <\/span>United States <\/span>:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n The Kenzler-Waverley name represents the first chapter of one of the more intriguing stories in early American motorcycle history, a story that moved through four names and several locations before closing in 1914, and whose central figure left a mark on the industry well before he ever founded his own company.<\/p>\n Perry Ellis Mack was born in 1879, and by the time he was twenty-five he had achieved something that would make him unique in the annals of motorcycling history: he had become Harley-Davidson’s first employee. On June 3, 1905, Mack took one of the new big-bore Harleys to the Milwaukee Mile. He bolted around the oval, coming in first in the three-mile race, clocking nearly 48 mph and setting both a new state and track record of one minute sixteen seconds. He continued his role as an essential asset to the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. until leaving in 1906 to explore his own ideas in motors, motorcycles and cyclecars, blazing his own trail as a pioneer in OHV engine design.<\/p>\n In December 1910, the press announced a new and innovative OHV single engine manufacturer. The Waverley was manufactured in Milwaukee and was the brainchild of Perry E. Mack, who debuted his new vertical-overhead-valve engine in 1910, making it one of the earliest motorcycles to have valves upstairs. The company only sold engines initially, to the Kenzler Company of Cambridge, Wisconsin, under the Kenzler-Waverley name.<\/p>\n The overhead-valve configuration gave the engine a significant advantage on the race circuit. The single, and then the twin, gained a reputation as an excellent racing machine due to the better breathing afforded by overhead valves. In 1911 the Kenzler team fitted the Waverley single into an Indian racing chassis, and with Ralph Sporleder behind the bars won several events including several open races competing with twins. Beating larger-capacity twin-cylinder machines with a single was a powerful demonstration of what the OHV configuration could achieve.<\/p>\n The manufacturer went through four name changes in a fairly short time. It started in Cambridge as the Kenzler-Waverley Co., then became Waverley Manufacturing. Its third incarnation was PEM, after the initials of company owner Perry E. Mack. When the company moved to Jefferson in 1912, it eventually took on the name of the city where it was manufactured: the Jefferson motorcycle was born. An interesting feature of the twin roadsters was the use of short-link suspension both front and rear, with suspension controlled by short bell cranks connected to leaf springs, providing one and a half inches of travel to absorb bumps, another innovation from the Waverley Company.<\/p>\n When the company moved to Jefferson, they ultimately opened Universal Machine Company in Milwaukee. The Mack PEM motors were manufactured in the twin configuration at seven and nine horsepower and as OHV singles at four and five horsepower. The engines were available outside the Jefferson name to other motorcycle builders and cyclecar manufacturers. Dudley Perkins started his dealership with Al Maggini and sold Deluxe and Jefferson motorcycles in 1913 in San Francisco. Perkins, a racer, supported the shop’s marketing with his racing victories. His successful Jefferson twin was called “little Jeff.”<\/p>\n WWI rocked the world from 1914 to 1918 and impacted the materials needed to manufacture motorcycles and engines. The Jefferson brand was reliable, well made and fast, but couldn’t survive as a company. During 1914 the company closed. Unfortunately, innovation and race wins simply weren’t enough to keep small manufacturers alive in those brutal early days of the American motorcycle industry.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KENZLER-WAVERLEY\u00a0 |\u00a0 1910-14\u00a0 |\u00a0 United States\u00a0 : The Kenzler-Waverley name represents the first chapter of one of the more intriguing stories in early American motorcycle history, a story that moved through four names and several locations before closing in<\/p>\n