Kohl's Cycle Sales
Kohl's Cycle Sales in Lockport, NY was full of dozens of vintage motorcycles rusting away in a building that was crumbling around them.
Updated July 31, 2019 | By Matthew Christopher
Originally started by a man who was a motorcycle dealer and enthusiast, Kohl's Cycle Sales would buy bikes from other dealers who went out of business or take trade ins. Motorbikes were cheaper and for a time the business flourished, to such an extent that in the 1970's Kohl purchased this building to warehouse them. In the late 1990's Kohl sold the business to another man, who became ensnared in a tax battle with the city over the building. The property was in poor repair and they were asking for much more money than the business generated, so he stopped paying and the building was seized and condemned. After suing the city for ownership of the contents, the new owner gained access to the building in October of 2010, selling a tiny percentage of the bikes but scrapping the rest.
On July 30, 2013 the building burned under suspicious circumstances; three teenagers were witnessed running from the building as it caught fire. It was demolished shortly after.
Kohl's Cycle Sales was dangerously dilapidated when I photographed it in 2010. The roof had collapsed, walls were caving in, and huge holes had rotted in the floors. Falling through two stories onto a pile of rusty bikes would have been bad enough, but the very real possibility that the motorcycles on the floor above might fall on top of me made me uncomfortable also. There is no way to accurately measure how much risk is too much or when you are pushing things too far until it is too late, but without the risk the record doesn't exist.
I've spoken with numerous motorcycle enthusiasts since and they are always heartbroken that these vintage, hard to find relics were left to rot and ultimately were scrapped. It was clear that the collection was a huge labor of love. All dreams have to end eventually, but it's still a shame to see something that mattered so much to someone and could have been enjoyed by so many others lost forever.
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