Motor Bicycle Building

edited by Paul N Hasluck
reprinted by Lindsay Publications

Here you get a reprint of a very scarce book from 1906. Back then if you wanted a motorcycle, you had to build one. From scratch!

Here you get the details on building a 3-1/2 hp engine (3-1/2" bore x 2-1/2" stroke) around which you build a bicycle frame. It's not speculation. This is a motor bicycle that was actually built and probably terrified the local gentry.

Most of the book deals with the castings that form the joints in the frame, and the fabrication of the engine itself. And that means lots of detail in fabricating the piston, connecting rod, muffler, points, cams, valves, spray carburettor, ignition coil, and all the rest. If you were sharp enough to build the engine, then you were expected to know how to adapt wheels, handle bars, brakes and the usual other components from a standard safety bicycle of the era.

No doubt, this was a multi-part construction article that appeared in "Work" magazine (British) at the turn of the 20th century. All of the detailed text and drawings have been brought together in one book that we offer at a price that is a small fraction of the cost of an original copy should you be able to find one.

Neat little book. Worth having even if you never build a motor bicycle. Perhaps the plans might provide the ideas needed to adapt a small existing engine to an old bicycle frame. You could make it look old. Exhibit it in the next Mad Machinist's Day Parade. And get run out of town on a rail!

I can understand why copies are scarce. Who would want to part with their original? But now you can have a quality reprint. Order one. 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 softcover 160 pages

No. 23136 ... $10.95