Motorcycle history
Part 1
The first Motorcycle?
I often find myself asking the question “what if…?” What
if forks weren’t called forks? What if no one had invented
drinking straws? Who sat down and actually decided that
toilet paper was a necessity, not just a luxury? And what did
their friends and family think and say when these inventors
announced their fabulous plans to change the world one
convenience item at a time? I’m sure that Martin Cooper’s
wife probably thought to herself “What in the hell is he
thinking??” when he shared his idea in 1973 to revolutionize
the world with the modern day cell phone…but we all know
how that turned out for him.
So this thought process has lead me to the following question…
Who in the hell sat down and looked at their bicycle, and
with what I assume was complete and utter disappointment
in its slow moving, two wheeled existence and said…”I can
make that bitch fly!” Well that person just happened to be
a Massachusetts born son of a carpenter, named Sylvester
Howard Roper. Roper made his living as a machinist in
Boston, but began inventing at an early age. By the age of
twelve he had constructed a small stationary engine, and at
only fourteen a locomotive engine. Roper continued to invent
throughout his life, including guns, sewing machines, and
finally steam powered carriages and bicycles.
You may be saying to yourself, a steam powered bicycle is not
a motorcycle, but I believe it is clearly a predecessor to our
modern day two wheeled objects of affection. Riding on two
wheels began with a primitive push bike on which the rider
sat, but there were no pedals. The rider propelled himself
forward by pushing his/her feet on the ground (a Flintstone’s
bike if you will). Next came the high wheelers with a huge
front wheel and a small rear wheel, and nearly impossible to
ride. Finally came the “safety bicycle”. Quite the invention in
and of itself considering it had wheels of equal size, as well
as a set of pedals to drive the rear wheel through a chain
linkage.
The evolution of two wheel travel continued and it became
a common means of personal transportation. Later it would
come to be seen as a “racing” vehicle, so of course it wouldn’t
be long until someone looked at the bicycle and knew that it
had a higher purpose. An evolutionary need to be better, and
by better of course I mean faster.
I like to imagine that Roper arrived home after a long day to
his little inventors shop out back, tired after a long day, and
an even longer ride home on his bicycle. He sits down with a
cold one and stares at his two wheeler…”stupid bike anyway.
No worldly reason it should take me so long to get home each
night. Keeps me from working on the things I love.” Then it
hits him…the light bulb moment…”I’m gonna make this SOB
fly!” Fast forward through hours and hours of painstaking
disappointment and doubt to the design that actually works,
and Ta-Daa! The first motorcycle is born.
The year is 1869, and the world was about to change.
History states that when Roper began riding his two wheeled
contraption it was not well received. It apparently spooked
horses, and was loud, as well as emitting a noxious odor
14 Thunder Roads Magazine® Colorado
when he rode through town. Rumor has it, he was actually
arrested once for riding it, but had to be released when it
was determined they could not find any laws he was actually
breaking….and; the moder