Antique Intrigue

Wedged into the center seat on a Norfolk bound flight, I came face-to-face with the reality of where history had taken me…As I pulled out my notepad to begin my article, my seat-mates became very evident to me. The blonde, tattooed-bracelet-laden pyt to my right intently studied his magazine while the foreign engineer on my left turned the pages deeper into the story of his hardcover.

Seemingly commonplace activity on most flights, it was their selections of reading materials catching my attention – The magazine was the most recent issue of, "Cosmo", the book title referred to women’s memoirs, and there I sat in a lap of motorcycle publications. A sign of the times indeed.

Until I studied Theatre Arts, I had no interest in grade school history lectures about people I never knew or would ever meet. On the other hand, the revelation of conceptual historical events and their significance to socio-demographic trends made sense. That relationship would become the prologue to better understanding the importance of fads and signs, achievements and milestones.

The history of the motorcycle – this rumbling, snorting, centaur - half human, half iron, is only a century old. Demonstrated at fairs and circuses in the eastern US in 1867, Sylvester Howard Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts, introduced a steam-propelled bicycle, known as the Roper Machine. Later, came the charcoal-fired two-cylinder engine whose connecting rods directly drove a crank on the rear wheel. Nicholaus Otto and his assistant, Gottlieb Daimler are credited with building the first motorcycle in 1885. The Einspur, constructed mostly of wood and powered by a single-cylinder had an Otto-cycle engine with a spray-type carburetor. Daimler had no great interest in motorcycles, and shortly afterwards abandoned the project to concentrate on automobile development, later teaming up with Karl Benz to form the Daimler-Benz Corporation

Most of the development during this earliest of eras concentrated on three and four-wheeled designs, since it was complex enough to get the machines running without having to worry about them falling over.

The next really notable two-wheeler was the Millet of 1892. A 5-cylinder engine built as the hub of its rear wheel, the cylinders rotated with the wheel and the crankshaft constituted the rear axle. Just two years later, the first really successful production two-wheeler was patented in Munich. The Hildebrand & Wolfmueller had a step-through frame, with its fuel tank mounted on the downtube. The water-cooled engine was a parallel twin, mounted on the frame, with its cylinders going fore-and-aft. Instead of using heavy flywheels for energy storage between cylinder-firings, it used a pair of stout elastic bands, one on each side outboard of the cylinders, to help out on the compression strokes.

French company, DeDion-Buton significantly impacted mass production in 1895. Developing the mother of all motorcycle engines in a small _ horsepower model using battery-and-coil ignition and a high-revving four-stroke single. With a displacement of 138cc, a total loss lubrication system was employed to drip oil into the crankcase to cool components before being dumped on the ground systematically.

This engine was copied by everyone -- including Pennington, who built the Orient-Aster in conjunction with the Metz Company. The Orient-Aster became the first US production motorcycle, marking 1898 in grade-school history books.

That was the beginning of an industry that would see more than 126 motorcycle companies. Many built a few bikes and then went out of business. Financial troubles defined history with mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies and considerable detours to present day.

Excelsior became Britain’s first motorcycle manufacturer when it began selling bikes in 1896 under the firm’s original name of Bayliss, Thomas and Co. Britain’s Excelsior specialized in small-capacity bikes. Not to be confused with the Schwinn Bicycle Company, Excelsior of Chicago, which produced it’s own range of small two-strokes.

One of the great names of motorcycling’s early years, Matchless was founded by the Collier family at Plumstead in south London in 1899. Brothers Charlie and Harry Collier were leading races, Charlie wining the single-cylinder event at the first ever Isle of Man TT on a Matchless in 1907, and Harry following with a victory two years later.

Springfield, Massachusetts is home to the first motorcycle manufacturer in the United States. Established in 1901, the Hendee Company was opened by bicycle racer and manufacturer George Hendee and New York friend, Oscar Hedstrom. In 1902, the first competitive motorcycle race in America was won on one of his bikes and the company was later renamed…the Indian Motorcycle Company. The bikes deep red color was the Indian’s trademark until the buyout by E. Paul DePont in 1930, resulting in no fewer than 24 color options offered. Large skirted fenders and the head-dress logo became the Indian trademark. During WWI, the War Department chose the Indian Motorcycle for military use. The Indian became the choice for over 3,000 state and local police departments. Cost cutting measures and the decision to build middleweight vertical twins in the late 40’s contributed to its demise. Indian continued in business by importing British machines, notably the Royal Enfields which were sold as Indians. The name was used to sell Italian-made bikes in the 60’s and 70’s. In 1994, Austriaian entrepener Maurits Hayim-Langridge and New Zealand engineer, John Britten revived the company to build V-twin roadsters. Bikes to own: Powerplus, Chief.

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While Hendee was setting roots, Milwaukee gave birth to an American icon. In a 10’ x 15’ shed in the family’s backyard, William Harley, 21, Arthur Davison, 20, along with brothers Walter and William Davidson built a 400cc single-cylinder engine and fitted it into a bicycle frame to complete the prototype motorcycle. By 1907, annual production reached 150 and Harley Davidson incorporated with 17 employees. By 1919, production rose to over 22,000 bikes and 16,000 sidecars. A nosedive in the eightie’s saw HD teetering on the edge of bankruptcy only to be saved by the turnaround efforts of Jeffrey Bleustein. While many companies struggled in 2001 with the global recession, HD held an enviable position with earnings of $435 million on $3.3 billion in revenues, selling 243,000 motorcycles a year. The 7,800 employees earned laurels as Forbes’ Company of the Year and plan to celebrate at their 100th-anniversary blowout in Wisconsin on August 31st. Bikes to own: Model 9E, Knucklehead.

Belgian FN, an arms and ammunition manufacturer and Paul Kelecom will be remembered for introducing the world’s first mass-produced four-cylinder motorcycle in 1904. It was Colonel Sir Henry Capel Holden receiving the honors for pioneering the design of the 1054cc watercooled, flat-four. He went on to design the Brooklands, the world’s first purpose-built race track in 1906.

Based at Brooklands, James Norton, Bob Shelley and racer/tuner, Dan O’Donovan formed Norton Motors Ltd. O’Donovan developed the 490cc BS (Brooklands Special), the world’s first production racing bike. In the 1920s, Norton converted the single-cylinder engine to overhead valve operation, producing the Model 18 roadster. Just seven years later, the firm introduced another technical advance with the CS1, which featured an overhead camshaft. The 1930s were great years for Norton, who won every Senior and Junior TT race but two between 1931 and 1938. Norton’s sporting single during the 1930s was the International, and later the racing version known as the Manx. Parallel twins came next with the Dominator and Commando models. Financial woes many, Norton was bought out by AMC (owners of AJS & Matchless) and later became part of Norton Villiers Triumph. By the mid-1990s Norton’s promising recovery foundered and production was abandoned.

One of the strangest motorbikes of all time, the Munich-built Megola, was powered by a radial five-cylinder engine situated inside its front wheel. Almost as unusual was the sheet-steel frame, which gave an armchair riding position. Despite its unconventional design, some 2000 were built between 1922 and the firm’s closure in 1925.

Only in the annals of yesteryear will you find the name, Brough Superior. These bikes were innovative, exclusive, expensive and fast. They were regarded as the world’s finest, the Rolls Royce of motorcycles. Brough’s numerous innovations included windshields, twin headlamps, crashbars and panniers (basket type saddlebags).

For most of its life, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was Britain’s biggest motorcycle manufacturer, and in the years after the Second World War, it was the largest in the world.. Building its first motorcycle, powered by a Minera engine in 1905, BSA’s reputation grew, notably with a series of reliable and successful V-twins in the 1920s. By 1971, BSA was in financial trouble, recording a massive loss. The once mightly firm was swallowed up by the Norton Villiers Triumph Company. Bike to own: Rocket Gold Star.

Like BSA, Royal Enfield was one of Britain’s larger manufacturers. Like many others, beginning as a bicycle manufacturer, Enfield had adopted the Bullet name for a range of four-strokes. Created to supply the American export market’s demand for cubic inches, Enfield introduced the Interceptor. Their most popular bike, the Interceptor combined impressive mid-range torque and reasonable smoothness.

Innovations came from many, unfortunately most hit financial troubles and the advancements and innovations were passed to other, more stable companies. Rudge Whitworth introduced a spring-up stand and a hinged real mudguard to aid wheel removal. Alfred Scott included novelties like a kick start and foot-change two-speed gearbox on his Squirrel line.

Triumph, a British bicycle firm formed by two Germans enhanced its reputation with the 500cc four-stroke single Model H, later to be replaced by the Model R. Harry Ricardo was responsible for the four-valve cylinder head layout that would later be perfected by Honda some 40 years later. The most famous Triumph of all was the Bonneville of 1959, a sporty 650cc twin. Its name came from the Bonneville salt flats in Utah, where a streamlined Triumph ridden by Johnny Allen had been timed at 214mph in 1956. Not officially ratified as a world record, the ensuing row gave Triumph valuable publicity. Popularity extended to the Trident and later the Hurricane roadsters. Triumph was rapidly successful in Britain. Triumph soon learned to concentrate on its traditional tripes and in 1994 produced its most inspired model, the Speed Triple. Nostalgia played an even greater part in the model that Triumph developed to spearhead its delayed return to America in 1995. The Thunderbird style and smooth torquey engine made it a hit.

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