Meet the Roadog!

History of "Wild Bill" and Roadog
"ROADOG....FOUND!"

Back in 1965 a guy by the name of William Gelbke, also known as "Wild Bill", had just finished construction on this bike and started touring the United States with it. It is said that Bill put over 20,000 miles on the first year alone on it. It has been seen all over the country.

Bill graduated college in Wisconsin as an electronic engineer and moved out to California for some added schooling at a Southern California University. On leaving there, he was scooped up by McDonnell-Douglas for work in a defense system program. Bill did not like what he was doing and one day quit and decided to build motorcycles ... his way! Earles front fork, lots of power for touring and reliability and an automatic transmission. Add to that a shaft drive and disc brakes! OVER 30-YEARS AGO!

He moved to Chicago and opened up a cycle shop on Cicero Avenue. That was about 1962, when his plan was to build a prototype bike that he would test and ultimately put into production, as a smaller model but powered by an 80-cubic inch, English automotive 4-cylinder engine with automatic transmission... which he did do. More on that later.

With "ROADOG" Bill wanted a bike that would cruise indefinitely at 90+ MPH. No problems there. He wanted one as reliable as could be made. With an "IRON DUKE" 4-cylinder 152" Chevy (used in the Chevy II) engine and Power glide driving through a modified Chevy differential and stopping with Corvette disc brakes, that type of reliability was accomplished. 

The Bike had no side stand, but is parked with the use of 4 hydraulic rams which are individually deployed by the driver.

After touring the country, Bill went back to work on the production model which is called the "Gelbke Auto-Four". While larger than a big Harley, they were quite a bit smaller than ROADOG and employed Austin Mini engine and transmission. About 8 were produced and sold.

Later Bill moved back to his home town in Northern Wisconsin and went into another field. In 1979 Bill was killed in a dispute and "ROADOG" disappeared...

We have heard quite a few stories from old friends of Bill. Some go like this: "Let's take a ride (from Wisconsin), to Oklahoma where you can get a really good steak". Or "Let's take a ride to Texas where they have really good beer"… often done in February or March! Another guy told us of seeing Wild Bill and ROADOG passing him on the toll way here in Illinois at about 100 MPH! Before long he spotted both Bill and a State Trooper on the side of the road. A few minutes later he was again passed by Bill and ROADOG, again doing about 100 MPH! Later he stopped at Bill's shop and asked if he had gotten a ticket. Bill told him that the police officer had stopped him just to get a better look at ROADOG!

Here are some specifications we copied from an article on the bike in a 1972 magazine. It was built and engineered between 1962 and 1965, according to Wild Bill at a cost of $40,000 dollars. The bike is 17 feet long and weighs 3,280 POUNDS! Cruises easily at 90+ MPH. Bill had driven the bike more than 20,000 miles with no problems. Bill claimed it was dependable, had outstanding highway road ability, and was designed for high-speed, long distance cruising. He sure achieved his goals!

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