Jim Petty, owner of Gentleman’s Choice Motorcycles.
SENECA — Motorcycles have been a lifelong passion for Jim Petty, owner of Gentleman’s Choice Motorcycles — his own private collection full of antique, restored motorcycles. But how does one gain an interest in the high-speed two-wheelers? He claims his brother to be the instigator of the family.
“As things progressed, we’d do weekend trips with me behind my dad on his 1969 Triumph, my brother on his 1968 Triumph and my mom on a Ducati,” Petty said.
Petty got into dirt bikes as a young teen and entered his first race at 15 years old on a frozen lake in Iowa. After that, he was hooked on motocross, but didn’t stay in it for too long.
“It was an adventure filled with travel and ending up racing the guys I had always looked up to,” he said. “I was pretty good on a local level, but nationally I just wasn’t competitive enough.”
Still, despite dropping out of the competition scene early on, he has a set of shelves in his home dedicated to his many, many trophies — 52, to be exact — from his motocross days.
As for Gentleman’s Choice Motorcycles, Petty began collecting about 16 years ago, buying, restoring and selling motorcycles to work his way up to the bikes he desired. Now, he has around 30 bikes, a number he’s limited in when it comes to expanding.
“I keep getting hung up on that 30 number of total bikes. It’s all I can store comfortably,” he said. “I’ve been aiming to cut the herd down, but it seems when I sell two, I end up buying three.”
All in all, Petty said he’s owned “somewhere between 75 and 100 motorcycles” in his life and has restored somewhere between 25-30, but “hasn’t kept up.”
For Petty, restoring the bike and the work that goes into it – not the ride itself – is the reward. “There’s a different feeling you get from riding on a (older) bike,” he said. “It’s just an accomplishment to get someplace instead of getting there fast and thinking about what you’re riding.”
With the help of his brother, Steve, the two are currently restoring three separate 50-year-old Kawasaki Z1 900s, bikes that have recently broken the $50,000 mark at auctions.
Coast-to-coast
Petty got his start collecting antique motorcycles when he needed something to ride coast-to-coast in a Cannonball event — named after Erwin Cannonball Baker. All 44 other riders were on 1915 or earlier bikes, so he purchased a 1915 Indian Motorcycle for the haul, which is now his current favorite.
“You know, yeah, I’d probably have to say it’s the closest one to my heart I suppose,” he said, laughing.
Baker, who set multiple records when it comes to coast-to-coast riding, took his first voyage on a 1914 Indian Motorcycle similar to Petty’s.
Petty’s first Cannonball event in 2010 involved a drive from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina all the way to the Santa Monica pier in California. He said the trip took around 15 days, with the group traveling 45 mph through the backroads of the United States.
Since then, he has ridden in the event twice — in 2012 from New York to San Francisco, and in 2014 from Florida to Washington, both on a 1927 Indian Motorcycle. All were experiences that he “truly cherishes.”
‘Some of the best in the world’
The history of motorcycle riding is a big part of what keeps Petty hooked on what he does.
“The bikes are cool to work on and ride, and I love to study the history of motorcycle companies from the early days. How they came about, how they struggled to build one or maybe a dozen bikes before going under,” he said “The Great Depression took out many motorcycle brands from around the world. Several American brands were out there in the early days, but only Indian and Harley survived the depression.”
The niche community of fellow motorcycle collectors also keeps him involved.
“I must point out that the people involved with the vintage motorcycles are some of the best in the world,” he said. “I traveled to at least 16 states last year going to see my friends, see their collections, attend vintage meets and enjoy those with the same passion.”
