World's Fastest Motorcycle.................

[skyskier]

January 24, 1907, Glenn Curtis expiermental, V-8 powered motorcycle set a speed record of 136 mph @ Ormond Beach (Daytona Beach) Florida ........I don't think trains back then could go that fast ..........

[zlathim]

Looks gangly...

[HappyGilmore]

Those wheels/ tires really held up to that?

[canammx1]

Bike? All I saw was his huge balls.....

[schrode]

Bike? All I saw was his huge balls.....

you'd think he'd need a sidecar to carry those things. THEY'RE HUGE!!!!

[canammx1]

you'd think he'd need a sidecar to carry those things. THEY'RE HUGE!!!!

Might have added some stability

[downonmonday]

Crazy handlebar set up!

[KJ790]

I saw an article on that in a magazine about a month ago. I thought that the drive shaft with open pinion right by his foot was pretty interesting... wouldn't want to have your shoelace get caught in that sucker

[CaptainKnobby]

I wonder what method they used to clock his speed?

[downonmonday]

I believe there is a formula dealing with the distance and how long it takes to go from point A to point B. Math and I do not get along, so I got a degree that didn't require it. lol

[NP4M]

Sweet bike. It must have cornered like a dream.

[capt justin]

speed= distance / time

[slaydirt]

I believe there is a formula dealing with the distance and how long it takes to go from point A to point B. Math and I do not get along, so I got a degree that didn't require it. lol

there is...i used to race sailboats and a guy we used to race with would drop something that floated off the bow and time it to the stern and figure out how fast we were going...it usually was pretty close to what the gps read.

[Redlined]

Bike? All I saw was his huge balls.....

I was thinking the same thing. I can't imagine how poorly that bucket-o-tubing would have handled, and on sand no less.

Guys like this, and the guys who raced boardwalk events make us modern day racers look like sissy's. Which is fine by me!

[philfell]

Some argue that Glenn Curtis should get the credit for first in flight ahead of the wright bros. Regardless his early plane designs were way ahead of his time

[Brisk Eddie]

I saw that bike (or it's twin) at the Curtis Museum in upstate NY. Very impressive to say the least. Big, Big balls for sure! Lots of other cool stuff there as well, including a wagon powered by experimental airplane engines, driven by a prop. They'd drive it around the town to test the engines, scared the crap out of all the horse teams.

Oh, and by the way, that whole area (Finger Lakes) is some fantastic riding.?

[Jeekinz]

Those old engines leaked oil like mad.

[MTBMoto]

Yep a true maniac and one of my hero's!

A bicycle messenger, a bicycle racer, bicycle shop owner, built his own single cylinder engined motorcycles, designed and built a carb from a tomato soup!

Set a motorcycle land speed record at 64 mph for one mile. His biggest accomplishment was, in 1907, Curtiss set an unofficial world record of 136.36 mph, on a 40 horsepower 4000 cc aircraft engined V8 powered motorcycle of his own design and construction. The fastest man in the world, until 1911, and his motorcycle record was not broken until 1930.

Just imagine if G. Curtis and Nikoli Tesla hung out together!?

[OLHILLBILLY]

I bet he had some strong core muscles to hold himself up like that in a 136 mph slipstream. With the bars like they are, I don't see any real way he could tuck on it. I guess aerodynamics wasn't a much studied science back then though.

Brave man there, lotta guys died trying for stuff like that back then. My hat is off to him.

[Benhameen]

I've been 135 plus on a street bike a few times not to mention 100 plus in different cars ive had. My dad took me for a ride on his bike when I was really young, he said we hit 100mph. Every time it seemed extremely fast and a hell of a rush to me.

I can't even image how fast it would have felt back then? I mean we travel around all the time at interstate speeds. How fast can a horse run?

Anyone know of any books about this guy? Im looking for a new read...