After the Curtiss Double Cylinder engine was adapted for airships, he received an order in 1906 from the U.S. War Department, which stated the Curtiss engines developed “a greater amount of power to the pound than any other known source of energy.” #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on May 21, 2021.
Although that race was promoted to test the top speed the automobile, Oscar Hedstrom set the fastest time on an Indian motorcycle—a record of one minute and three seconds at an average speed of 57.35 miles-per-hour over the mile-long course. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on June 03, 2021.
Although they built just three more of their simple, single-cylinder motorcycles the following year, Harley-Davidson moved to a new building on the company’s current Juneau Avenue site and increased production to fifty motorcycles in 1906. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on April 02, 2021.
Amazingly, Curtiss clocked 136 miles-per-hour—the fastest speed anyone had achieved on a motorized vehicle—on the hard-packed sand before the motorcycle’s driveshaft broke while traveling over ninety miles-per-hour on the return run. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on March 19, 2021.
Before Glenn Curtiss (1878-1930) turned to aviation, he was one of the first to design motorcycles that significantly improved on their bicycle heritage. An avid cyclist and racer, he ran a small manufacturing and retail shop in NY in the late 1890s. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on March 19, 2021.
Can you imagine a undertaking cross-country road trip on a motorcycle…over 100 years ago? To promote the idea of women as military dispatch riders, sisters Augusta and Adeline Van Buren did just that, departing New York for San Francisco in 1916. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on April 26, 2021.
Daughter & mother, Effie and Avis Hotchkiss were the first women to ride across the United States on a #motorcycle. In 1915, with Avis in the sidecar of a Harley-Davidson 11-F, they departed Brooklyn for San Francisco on a 2 month, 9,000-mile journey. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on August 13, 2021.
Excelsior was one of the “Big Three” American motorcycle brands during the 1910s, along with Harley-Davidson and Indian. Like other motorcycle makers, Excelsior had deep roots in bicycling. Their first model used a Thor engine built under license. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on May 10, 2021.
He soon dropped the Hercules name in favor of Curtiss and in January 1907, he entered a modified racing motorcycle fitted with the new V-8 aircraft engine at the Winter Speed Carnival in Ormond Beach, Florida. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on March 19, 2021.
Improvements to twin-cylinder engines, such as the overhead valve arrangement on the 1914 Jefferson racer shown here, allowed riders to exceed 100 miles-per-hour on the largest tracks. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on June 03, 2021.
In 1903, Curtiss introduced one of the first two-cylinder motorcycle engines, a powerful five-horsepower, V-Twin design that boasted a greater power-to-weight ratio than a comparable single-cylinder engine. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on May 21, 2021.
In 1908, the company introduced the Auto-Cycle, a new design made at their seven-story facility in Chicago. The 3 ¼-horsepower Auto-Cycle was a success and demand quickly surpassed supply. On display is a 4 horsepower Model 4B from 1912. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycle
This tweet was posted on May 10, 2021.
In 1913, five Flying Merkel models were available featuring redesigned single- and twin-cylinder engines supported internally by ball bearings, along with wider forks, larger tires, and rear mono-shock suspensions like those found on modern #motorcycles. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on September 08, 2021.
In 2010, Sommer Simmons rode Effie from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, to Santa Monica, California, from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Carlsbad, California, in 2016, and again in 2018 from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles #womenwhoride
This tweet was posted on August 24, 2021.
Motorcycling and aviation legend Glenn Hammond Curtiss was born #OnThisDay in 1878. Before turning to aviation, he designed a series of innovative and influential single- and double-cylinder engines for his pioneering motorcycles. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on May 21, 2021.
Production of Excelsior motorcycles continued until 1931, when Schwinn refocused on marketing bicycles to a Depression-era public.
“Early American Motorcycles” is on view pre-security in the Int'l Terminal and online at https://t.co/gk4H1rFqZs
#EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on May 10, 2021.
Sometime around 1901, Curtiss motorized two of his bicycles with engine castings made by the E.R. Thomas Company. Disappointed with the performance of the Thomas engines, he designed and manufactured his own. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on March 19, 2021.
The 1902 California Motor Bicycle on display in #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles was discovered and restored in the 1970s by newspaper mogul and collector Otis Chandler (1927–2006) and is very likely George Wyman’s cross-country machine.
This tweet was posted on March 05, 2021.
The 1910 Harley-Davidson Model 6 on display features an optional carbide headlamp, which is lit by flammable acetylene gas that is produced by a reaction between carbide pellets and water in the base of the lamp. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on April 02, 2021.
The SFMC quickly reorganized, and in 1908 they hosted events that included a seventy-mile ride to Mount Hamilton and a weekend of racing at Tanforan Park in nearby San Bruno. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on June 24, 2021.
The evolution of motorcycling dates to the bicycling craze of the late-1800s. Bicycle racers found they could pedal with less effort in the slipstream created behind another racer, a "pacer," and then use their reserve energy to pass that rider. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on February 16, 2021.
To no surprise, racing began almost as soon as motorcycles were created, and the first organized race was held in 1901 at Agriculture Park in LA. In 1903, motorcycles participated in the Winter Speed Carnival on the hard-packed sand of Ormond Beach, FL. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on June 03, 2021.
William S. Harley, along with brothers Arthur, Walter, and William Davidson constructed the first three Harley-Davidson motorcycles in 1903 in a small workshop located in the backyard of the Davidson family home in Milwaukee, WI. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on April 02, 2021.
With consistent improvements, the engines increased their power output and decreased in weight over the next few years. Curtiss raced extensively to promote the company and garnered numerous records and wins. #EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on May 21, 2021.
“Early American Motorcycles” is on view pre-security in the Int'l Terminal and online at https://t.co/gk4H1rFqZs. Don't miss the online-only catalog!
#EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on June 24, 2021.
“Early American Motorcycles” is on view pre-security in the Int'l Terminal and online at https://t.co/gk4H1rFqZs. Don't miss the online-only catalog!
#EarlyAmericanMotorcycles
This tweet was posted on June 03, 2021.