Seattle Dealer History

While researching early Triumph dealerships in Seattle I found myself yet again on the Jolly Rogers web site.

In the 50’s and 60’s, the man to beat (or more likely be beat by) at the Jolly Rogers track was Bob Budschat. Sponsored and employed by Dewey’s Cycle shop, he rode Triumph and BSA. It is said he could win a race in 2 seconds less time on his 200cc Triumph Cub than on his 500cc BSA. As a salesman, he made Dewey a ton of money, who always had his hand out for more.

Eventually he started his own shop north of Seattle selling Velocette, Norton and Ducati. Now find him retired in Monroe with his supporting wife.

 

I found more on Bob's shop here. 

The Budschat family owned a Ducati dealership in Seattle from 1959 to 1976. They were active in Ducati racing.  Bob’s son, Mike Budschat, still considers the trophy given to him in 1965 by the Ducati factory to be “my most prized treasure from that period.” In Mike’s estimation, among the finest of the Ducati engines of the era was the 450 Mark III Desmo. His father and Boeing engineer Dick Ahrens set about creating a limited run of four motocross bikes built around this street-going engine.

They spared no expense. Ahrens employed his engineering skills to design the frame, made of wafer-thin chromoly steel. The engine received an Imola race cam and the crank was modified, increasing the stroke to make the bike a 490cc. Today the bike retains all its original parts from the 1969 build, right down to the hollow front axle and aircraft-grade titanium bolts. It is astoundingly light, just over 250 pounds. Mike has raced it, and won, at current vintage motocross events around the Northwest.