Big D Cycle

Where classic British bikes live again!

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OUR HISTORY

Founded by Jack Wilson and Pete Dalio in 1963, Big D Cycle has been setting records and winning races for over 40 years. Originally the shop was located in Oak Cliff, Texas. Jack understood how to build race winning bikes for famous riders such as Gary Nixon, John Minono, Johnny Allen, Mike Kidd, and others. He built over 60 world speed record setting motorcycles, and countless road racers and dirt trackers. Jack was a no nonsense kind of guy, with a true passion for motorcycles. In 1975 his no BS approach had scared off all his potential riders for Bonneville, so Jack piloted a big bore 1000cc Trident to a 192.34MPH record at the age of 48. This is just one example how amazing of a man Jack was. Jack Wilson passed away in May of 2000; his contributions to motorcycling world will be admired forever.
Jack hired Keith Martin in 1986, and Keith soon began racing for Big D. Eventually Keith would become part owner of Big D and become Jack’s right hand man. Under the teachings of Jack, Keith too became an expert in the art of Triumph Motorcycles. In the 90’s Jack was getting elderly and decided to sell Big D. Keith made the decision to branch out on his own and opened RPM Cycle in Dallas. We then operated under the RPM name for the next ten years, selling and servicing both the new Triumphs and the classics.
During this time Keith made a name for himself and also became renowned for building top quality restorations and competition machines. One such Restoration completed at RPM was the “Texas Ceegar” streamliner originally built by Jack Wilson and piloted by Johnny Allen to a 214MPH Record in 1956. The streamliner had been at the National Motorcycle Museum in England for years and was a victim of the 2003 fire that occurred there. The burnt remains were crated up and shipped to Keith at RPM. Many man hours later, Keith (with the help of the RPM staff, NTNOA, and Ed Mabry) had the streamliner looking exactly as it did on the salt the day it set the record in 1956. After ten years, Keith decided to give up the new Triumph franchise and purchase the rights to the Big D name. With a new location and the old name, Keith set out to focus only on the classic bikes and to continue producing quality work only the Big D name is known for.