Page 20 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – November 2019

The Rich, if Brief,
History of
ACE MOTORCYCLES
Photo © Open Image Studio LLC
1924 ACE on display at AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame
The year was 1924. The Roaring ’20s were in full swing, the American Motorcycle Association (now known as the American Motorcyclist Association) had just been formed, and the princely sum of $400 would buy you a powerful, lightweight Ace.
Ace was the brainchild of AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer William Henderson, who found himself at creative odds with his employer, the Excelsior Motor Manufacturing and Supply Co.
While Excelsior was focusing on beefy, heavyweight motorcycles, Henderson preferred to build lighter and sportier machines. So, he left to form his own company in 1919.
Henderson and Max Sladkin of Haverford Cycle Co. joined forces and founded the Ace Motor Corp. in Philadelphia. Henderson was chief engineer and he again turned to the four-cylinder concept he had used successfully before.
By Daniel Clepper
Henderson and his brother, Thomas, had developed the four-cylinder engine as the Henderson Four in 1911. The engine was an F-head configuration, meaning that the intake valves were in the cylinder head, while the exhaust valves were in the engine block.
Henderson motorcycles gained international fame when Carl Clancy rode one around the world in 1913.
The brothers sold their company to Excelsior’s Ignatz Schwinn, who continued manufacturing the Henderson motorcycle until 1930.
When William Henderson and Max Sladkin introduced the Ace in 1920, it was an immediate success with the motorcycle press and drew international attention.
By 1922, the factory was going strong, and Ace was on stable footing. The company even made a name for itself in then-popular long-distance and cross-country contests.
Future Hall of Famer Erwin “Cannonball” Baker set a transcontinental motorcycle record on an Ace in 1922,
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