Vintage Monark by Scott Wallenberg

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My first exposure to Motocross was in 1969. I was 13 years old. My Dad (Wally Wallenberg) owned a TV shop and traded an 8 track tape player for a Honda 50cc bike. He immediately rekindled a love affair with motorcycles that he had had back in the 40's before he was in WWII. It didn't take long to outgrow the Honda so he upgraded to a used 1966 Suzuki X-6 Hustler. My Dad's buddy Carroll Erskine was a TV shop customer of his and it turned out he also had a Honda 50 and soon after they became riding buddies.

Not long after my Dad got the Suzuki, Carroll bought a Honda 305 to try and keep pace with my Dad. We spent the summer going to watch the flat track races at Santa Fe Speedway southwest of Chicago in a suburb called Hinsdale. There we got to see all the great local riders from that era like Bart Markel, Roger Reiman and Neil Keen. Santa Fe also hosted a National and we got to see the National champs like Dick Mann and Mert Lawill.

Once a month was TT night and there (aside from the movie The Great Escape) was my first exposure to watching a motorcycle jump, Oh I loved to watch that! I mowed lawns and earned the $75 price for my own Honda 50 as well. I rode that bike everyday in our tiny yard in the city pretending I was racing at Santa Fe... Read more


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1963 Monark 500

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via : The AMA

Monark’s origins stretch all the way back to 1913, when the Esse brand was introduced. The name changed to Monark in 1927, and when MX got its start in Europe after World War II, the company got involved in the sport.



Monark bikes earned success in the prestigious International Six Days Enduro. And in 1959, Swedish rider Sven Lundin rode a 500cc Monark to the FIM World Championship, repeating that achievement in 1961.


The company’s line of competition machines used the standard formula of the era: a single-cylinder four-stroke engine in a lightweight frame. Monark specialized in the second half of that equation, combining hand-built chassis and top-shelf suspension components. To provide the power, the company purchased engines from several of the premier manufacturers of the day.


This 1963 Monark 500 is a good example. Starting with a 500cc four-stroke by Albin, another Swedish company, Monark came up with frame geometry that moved the rider farther forward, then pared the rest of the machine down to its essentials.


This particular machine, owned by John Sawarzhki, is one of the rarest bikes in the “Motocross America” exhibit in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio. Not only is it a Monark, but it was restored by none other than Motorcycle Hall of Famer Dick Mann, who earned two championships in dirt-track racing, but was also among the earliest American MX enthusiasts.


The Monark company survived into the 1970s, ultimately following its competitors into the two-stroke era of off-road motorcycling. But by then, the Japanese brands were beginning to dominate the sport, and Monark went out of business in 1975.



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