Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE R alph Berndt went largely unnoticed through- out much of his career and that was by de- sign. Berndt didn't seek the spotlight, in fact he mostly tried to avoid it, but there was no deny- ing his accomplishments. Berndt was one of the all-time legendary tuners in American mo- torcycle racing history. Berndt was undoubtedly the preeminent race tuner of the 1950s and '60s. Carroll Re- sweber won four consecutive AMA Grand National Championships riding Berndt-tuned Harley-Davidsons. In all, Berndt machines won 28 AMA Nationals with riders Reswe- ber and George Roeder. Berndt worked at the Harley-Davidson factory, but most of his racing activity was done on his own without backing from Milwau- kee. Berndt was born on Sep- tember 12, 1921 in Merrill, Wis- consin. His father owned an auto garage and that started Berndt's interest in all things mechanical. His love of motor- cycles began in the 1930s after he saw a local man riding a bike through his hometown's streets. Against his mother's wishes, Berndt bought his first motorcy- cle just before being called off to the military during World War II. Showing great patriotic fervor, Berndt's mother donated his motorcycle to the war effort (unbe- knownst to Ralph) while Ralph was serving in Italy. Berndt was greatly distressed when he heard that his bike had been given away, but his agony was somewhat relieved when his unit captured some German motorcycles in Italy. His commander had heard of Berndt's mom's patriotic act and allowed Ralph to keep one of the Ger- man bikes during the remainder of his tour. After the war, Berndt went to work in the Harley-Davidson fac- tory in Milwaukee. He and his wife, Carol, lived in an upper flat of a duplex just blocks from the Harley factory. Berndt worked early on in the frame department and at night he spent countless hours improv- ing on Harley-Davidson's KR racing motor. He made his own cams, developed port and head configurations on his homemade flow bench and tinkered with frame geometry. In the mid-1950s, Berndt began building bikes for an up-and-coming Texan novice rider named Carroll Resweber. The Resweber/Berndt pairing HARLEY-DAVIDSON'S MAN BEHIND THE SCENES P118 (Above) Ralph Berndt was one of the most successful tuners in flat track history with Carroll Reswe- ber winning four consecutive AMA Grand National Championships riding Berndt-tuned Harleys. (Left) At work in the machine shop.

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