Excelsior Big X

The Big X was the mainstay of Excelsior motorcycle production through the 1910s and into the 1920s. It carried a 61 cubic inch (1,000 cc) inlet-over-exhaust V-twin engine, driven at first by a belt and later through a two-speed and then a three-speed gearbox. Early machines were grey with red panels, the military model of the late teens was khaki, and the machines of the 1920s were very dark blue with fine gold pinstriping. Soldiers who used Excelsiors in the First World War are said to have called them Big X because of the large letter X on the fuel tank. A very small number were built with a 74 cubic inch (1,210 cc) engine in the 1920s, and many Big X machines were exported, with shipments going to Europe and Australia. It was built in Chicago by the Excelsior Motor Manufacturing & Supply Company, owned by Ignaz Schwinn, and production continued until 1924, when the Super X replaced it.