The Vintagent Selects: A Tribute to Mert Lawwill

SUMMARY

“Little Mert, Little Squirt got a tricycle they say… rode it down through the town saying watch for me some day, in his heart from the start grew a very special plan, little guys about this size make a mighty big cycle racing man….” – Cycle Racin’ Man from the album Motor-Cycle Man by Buddy Mize (1970).

Mert Lawwill (September 25, 1940 – May 6, 2026) was an American professional motorcycle racer, race team owner and mountain bike designer. He competed in the AMA Grand National Championship from 1962 to 1977. Lawwill was notable for winning the 1969 AMA Grand National Championship as a member of the Harley-Davidson factory racing team. After his motorcycle racing career, Lawwill became one of the top motorcycle racing frame designers and builders. Lawwill then used his experience as a motorcycle frame builder to become an innovative mountain bike designer, developing one of the first bicycle suspensions. He also developed prosthetic limbs for amputees. Lawwill was inducted in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.

Today we remember Mert in film: Mert is featured in a few Vintagent archive films including On Any Sunday (1971), Why We Ride (2013), Angels Of Dirt (2024), and a wonderful spoof by Hoxton Moto filmed at the Malle Mile On Any Other Sunday (2022) which is very loosely based on the legendary Mert Lawwill sequences from the original film. His legacy lives on.

RELATED MEDIA

Read his Obituary to learn even more about the man and the legend.