Today in motorcycle history, November 4, 1905

  

  

  

  William Chadeayne rides into *Cheyenne, Wyoming, en route to San Francisco on his record-breaking transcontinental ride aboard his Thomas 'Auto-Bi'.

  William C. Chadeayne, Captain of the Buffalo Motorcycle Club, sets the record for the transcontinental crossing of the United States by a motor vehicle on a 1904 model 44 Thomas 'Auto-Bi', travelling from New York City to San Francisco via Chicago, Omaha, Cheyenne, Ogden (Utah) and Reno (Nevada). 3,800 hard-riding, ass-breaking miles on what now is known as I-80. The record time you ask, 44 days, 23 hours and 50 minutes. A cold beer never tasted so good.

   E.R. Thomas began manufacturing a tricycle powered by a De Dion-Bouton motor beginning on March 12, 1898. An early model of their 'Auto-Bi' (a motorized bicycle) was created in 1900, and public sales of the bike began in 1901. On September 17, 1901, a Thomas 'Auto-Bi' was mentioned in a Japanese newspaper article and went on sale eleven days later, advertised in the same newspaper.

   By 1903, the company was the largest manufacturer of single-cylinder, air-cooled engines.The 1904 'Auto-Bi' had a 2.5-hp, four-stroke 442cc, single-cylinder motor with a belt-driven transmission, capable of reaching speeds of 35 mph. The 'Auto-Bi' was later joined by the 'Auto-Tri', a three-wheeled motorcycle, and then they got fancy and offered the 'Auto-Two Tri', a motorcycle that could hold three riders.

   In 1905, E.R. Thomas motorcycle business was known as 'The Thomas Auto-Bi Company of Buffalo'. By 1912, the demand for Thomas' 'Auto-Bi' had dropped significantly, and the company discontinued all production of two-wheeled machines but continued building cars until 1919.

  A four-cylinder, 60 hp 1907 Thomas Model 35, known as the 'Thomas Flyer', won the 1908 New York to Paris Race, the first and only Around-the-World Automobile Race ever held. The race began in Times Square, New York, on February 12 and covered some 22,000 miles, finishing in Paris on July 30, 1908. Six teams started the race, one American, one Italian, one German, three French (De Dion-Bouton, Motobloc, and Sizaire-Naudin). Only three of the cars finished, the 'Thomas Flyer' which won, the German 'Protos', and the Italian 'Züst'. The original intent was to drive the full distance using the frozen Bering Strait to drive across the Pacific Ocean. In the course of the race, the Flyer was the first car to cross the United States taking 41 days 8 hours and 15 minutes, and in doing so, George Schuster became the first automobile driver to make the transcontinental crossing of the US in the winter. Schuster finished the Around-the-World Race in 169 days, an incredible feat considering the lack of roads and services in 1908.



  *According to 1900 census records, Cheyenne, Wyoming, had a population of 14,087, by 1910 the population had dropped 19.6% to 11,320 brave souls.





  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk