Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125810
Return WithUs Now to llil :> o z I, ~ w .. I ..~ Z ~ t't 4 W ...J ..... U >U / -Early lc. 1913) pit photo, Note early model pi' ,oeo'sie on left and early model racing van on right. Also note wrap-around white walls. by John D. Ulrich With special thanks to George Thoma of the Thor Power Tool Company Tl:>or motorcycles were the best machines in tbe world in the early days of the century. That was the verdict of the U.S. military after field tests conducted in Texas around 1916. Tbe top . military officials envisioned a mobile motorcycle army as the hot set up for the future. After Thor was decided on as the machine for the doughboys, contracts for 10,000 of the machines were in the works. Unfortunately a bunch of radicals in the miltary -establishment argued that "flying bicycles" pioneered by the The hot sef-up for .:.vinter riding was a Thor with snow chain. Thor enthusiast with trick horn. Wright brothers were better than Thor motorcycles pioneered by Alex Levedabl. The radical faction won out and the motorcycle money went for aeroplanes. Thor motorcycles had come a long way from the days of 1893 when Alex Levedabl -founded the "Aurora Automatic Machinery Company" in one corner of the Chicago Corset Company factory in Aurora, Illinois. 'The company's main product at that time was bicycle spoke nipples, with outside job work on the side. But before the turn of the century Levedabl was manufacturing pneumatic tools sold to the railroad industry through the Hurley brother's marketing firm known as the Independent Pneumatic Tool Company. It was the Hurleys who recruited Diamond Jim Brady as a figurehead president with a handsome salary in return for use of his railroad industry connections. Also before the turn of the century Levedabl's company was producing gasoline engines, which eventually were mounted to bicycle frames - the exact time of his first motorcycle is not known. A lowly bookkeeper ended the searcb for a good brand name wi th a suggestion of THOR, and a new era (financed by Simon Florsheim, the corset company owner) of motorcycles, power tools, and even washing machines was born. Business boomed and expanding Thor production forced the corset company out of its own building. Soon the motorcycle manufacturing operation was moved to Chicago, and a company sbowroom opened among the Pierce 1'rrows, Packards, and Oldsmobiles on "automobile row" in the same CIty. Thor was the most respected marque of the day. Even so, in those days you couldn't just jump on and ride off. It took a special skill to start the machine, and carburetion was not exactly precise. It was ,not uncommon for a motor to freeze up or for a valve to seize in its guide. UlUaily the rider could let the bike cool down, adjust the carburetor,