First motorized bicycle to cross U.S.

Dave31

Dave31

Active Member
George Adams Wyman was the first person to across the United States on a Motorized Bicycle.

In 1903, Wyman rode his 1902 California motor bicycle from San Francisco to New York City in fifty-one days, finishing twenty days before Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first person to cross the continent by automobile.

The California had a 200cc, 1.5-hp four-stroke engine attached to an ordinary diamond-frame bicycle. The cycle was equipped with 28 x 1.5 in. tires, wooden rims, a leading-link front suspension fork, a Garford spring saddle, a Duck Brake Company front roller brake, and a 1902-patent Atherton rear coaster brake.

A leathern belt-drive with a spring-loaded idler pulley directly connected the engine output shaft to the rear wheel. Using a standard steel bicycle frame, the California weighed approximately 70-80 pounds without rider, and was capable of approximately 25mph using the 30-octane gasoline of the day, with a range of 75-100 miles.

http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/rif_addams/
 

Attachments

  • 166_Wyman_Picture_with_California_1.jpg
    166_Wyman_Picture_with_California_1.jpg
    95.9 KB · Views: 413
  • 166_Wyman_Bio_pic_1.jpg
    166_Wyman_Bio_pic_1.jpg
    54.7 KB · Views: 383
Last edited:
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

Thanks Dave, great piece of history.
I bet most of the roads were dirt at the time as well.
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

biknut said:
A real man would do it with 48cc.
Click to expand...

i plan on visiting my brother in san diego during the summer, i live in MA, but mines a 66cc, where's that put me on the list of manliness if i succeed?

although if dax gets that GT50R running in frame, i will be riding a 48cc instead :D
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

matthurd said:
i plan on visiting my brother in san diego during the summer, i live in MA, but mines a 66cc, where's that put me on the list of manliness if i succeed?

although if dax gets that GT50R running in frame, i will be riding a 48cc instead :D
Click to expand...

66cc is huge. I guess you do have to be manly to handle all that power.
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

That is really cool. I am so inspired by stories like this, and the classic build and old pictures and scraps of information are what I then use when I envision a perfect bike. Very cool, I dare someone to make a replica of that bike, who will do it? :D
-LS
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

Several years ago a gentleman on the "other forum" tried to replicate the trip. He wasn't successful, but was still a man in my book.

Made great reading, and demonstrates just how tough travel was before the "improvements" we take for granted. Thanks for posting this Dave.
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

I love these stories. I got in to this hobby because of the stories about my grandfather ridding his Indian motorbike half way across the country to Mt Shasta back in the early 1900s. I would be happy to ride mine across the state.
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

PS, the post#1 says the rider used a 200 cc engine that ran on 30 octane gas! (modern gasoline at the pump is 87-96) So it probably didn't have very high compression, and probably didn't have a really high RPM range. 1.5 hp sounds about like the bike motors of today. I bet 80lb felt like a LOT when riding tall road wheels (with wooden rims and old school tires too!).

I came across this thread by accident while trying to find if anyone had made a home-made drag brake for bicycling down long grades. I was thinking of things like the little wheel on old exercise bicycles that presses down on the tire, and has maybe a knob or nut to tension the washers against the wheel. I was thinking the device could double as a friction trainer for riding a bicycle on rollers (which don't usually have resistance units) or simulating hills on the flat roads here. :-)

Duck Brake, illustrated in old catalog (page 85) Hardware dealers' magazine - Google Books

drawing of brake in action
http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz338/tybrown-photos/bike parts/Ducks_Roller_Brake.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

Tinsmith built a stretch Worksman which looks a lot like the California and was his inspiration, I believe. His is powered by a 4 stroke with EZ transmission.

To think of riding a motored bicycle all the way across the country... it is a **** of a long way by car, by train... what must that have been like? We think we get "that look"... what did the open mouthed people along the way think of this new thing, this new machine with a man riding it across cow pastures, down trails and muddy roads, over mountains, across the prairie... hoping he could find gasoline before he ran out. What do you do if it breaks down? Wow. That is epic and would be a great accomplishment even today. Hat's off to Mr. Wyman.
SB
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

I went on some road trips when I was a kid and sometimes saw bicyclists on the sides of the highways in Arizona and New Mexico. I wondered if they had motors because they were usually pulling boxy 2 wheel trailers with all their camping gear.
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

How was he able to do that? I can't imagine there were that many gas stations back then. Maybe he offered money to people for siphoned gas?
 
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

Perhaps it ran on moonshine! :-)

TX is 800 miles across. I think I would be bored out of my mind after a ride from Texarkana to Dallas. Maybe a scenic ride of 100 or even 200mi might be fun, but what was this guy's motivation for crossing the whole country on an MB? Fame? Bets? Boredom of the depression era? Looking for work? Fascinating story though. I am so glad digital cameras are so small now. There are lots of great biking pictures and videos for people who can't travel far.

Even now with Google Maps and Google Earth, I think it would be hard to plan such a trip. Think of all the rough sholders, rough roads, cold nights, tire changes, and more that it would take to get there. It would be a real Iron Butt ride, and probably pretty scary on some freeways and in the mtns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceCOy-RM3DU&feature=player_embedded bicyclist filters through traffic in the Holland Tunnel NY)
 
Last edited:
Re: First MB to cross U.S.

Great thread! dunno how I missed it.

Just met a gentleman yesterday. Thought my bike was a whizzer until he got up close. He had some thing similar in 1945/6

Told me how his buddy had gone from coast to coast on one. Great to hear and see the joy in his eyes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top