Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

istory places th e . founding of t h e American Motorcycle Association in the year 1924, but by no stretch of the imagination did the AMA emerge full -blown and begin to function as an organizati on o f motorcycle enthusiasts at that time. Rat he r, th e American Motorcycle Association was itself th e p roduct of trial and error. of various unsuccessful attempts to put together a nation-wide body that would be responsive to the needs of an emerging group of sports men. The AMA was an ama lgamation of several previous organizations which were improved, changed and. in some cases, done away with during the early 1900's. Traditionally, the Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) is thought to be the seed from which the American Motorcycle Association grew . While this is true in a sense. the picture is considerably more complex and a look at the pre-1924, pre-AM A era is a pre-requisite to any legitimate study of the history of the American Motorcycle Association . THE EARLY YEARS For obvious reasons, the early h ist o ry of t he sport of m o torcycl ing is closely tied to the then more established sport of bicycling. The common love of two wheels and the fact th at m o t o rcy cles were b ut a natural ex tension of the bicycl e lead to a kinship among the so-called "wheelmen" of the early 20th century. The first "motorcycle magazine" was actually 'a b icycle b i-weekly known as THE BICYCLE WORLD, dating back to 187 i . Shortly after the tum of the century, the publication became THE BICYCLE WORLD AND MOTOCYCLE REVIEW. It served then as the journal of the wheelmen, and it serves today as the primary source of information about the formative period of the story of rno torcycling in America. Even at the genesis of m o to rcy cl ing, whe n t he mac hines were little more than bicycles with motors adapted to relieve the burdensome chore of peddling, speed had a certain appeal. Motorbikes were used to pace early bicycle competitions and it didn't take lon g for pace riders to realize the potential of racing the motorized two-wheele rs . As early as 1905, motorcycle racing in America had established itse lf as a sport with a fu t ure . A thread w hi ch winds through th e en t ire h ist ory of the AMA is th at o f chartere d cl ubs and clu b acti vities. In fact, it was a lo cal cl ub th at ign i ted th e spark leadi ng to th e form at ion of th e first national motorcycl e org ani zati on. th e F eder ation of Am eri c an Mo t or cycli sts . In the spring of 1903, the Ne w York Mo to rcycle Club agreed th at ther e might be m erit in the ide a of a n ational mo tor c ycle ent husias ts' o rganizatio n and fo rm ed a co m m it t ee to investigate th e m atter. In mid-April , th e com m ittee rep ort ed th at resp on se to its inquiries on th e subjec t h ad bee n very positive and recom mend ed an effort to create such an organ izati on . Spurred b y th e first m ajor legisl ati ve problem to co nfront m o t orcycl ists --a New Yo rk law req uirin g registra tio n of moto rcycles as m otor vehicles--the New York Mo t o rcycle Cl ub an nounced its inten tion o f organizing in respo nse to the " d eep -ro o ted an d growing desire fo r a national organization." During the summerof 1903, theNew York Motorcycle Club was joined by the Alpha Motorcycle Club in the project. Use of the Kings Co unty Wheelrneri 's clubhouse in Brooklyn was offered to hold a meeting. The September 12, 1903 edition of THE BICYCLE WORLD AND MOTOCYCLE REVIEW carried the announcement, "Federation Formed" with the sub-headline, "Motorcyclists Banded at an Enthusiastic Meeting--Objects Well Defined and Country So Districted and Officered as to Facilitate Results." In the sty le of the era, an un na med chronicler of the occasion described September 7, 1903 and the creation of the Federation of America n Mot 0 rcy c1ists as "a great 'd ay for motorcycling." He p o in t ed o ut th at until then, motorcycling "had been like a rudderless and half-manned bark . tossing and to be tossed whither the wa ves mi gh t sen d it : it headed in n o particular d ire ct ion ." That unhapp y state ca m e t o an en d with the Brooklyn o rgan izational meeting when "the cralt was boarded b y a willing a nd enthusiastic cre w; th ey soon stepped a rudder, h oi st ed sail and tu rne d the prow toward a purposeful d e s t in at i on , wh ich is to say that motorcy cling now has a pil ot an d protector in the Federation of Ame ri ca n Motorcy clists." H ist o ry would prove that the writer's nautical analogy an d op timistic o utloo k t oward the fledgling o rga ni zation were basically correct , th ough the 16 -year hi story of th e FAM was, a t. best , a pa tchwo rk o f success and failure. Ninety -three m en were present fo r the co ncep t ion of o rganized motorcycling. Am ong them was George M. Hendee, th e Indian m otorc ycle manufacture r, wh o bro ugh t wi th him 109 sign ed membershi p p ledges from thro ugh out New Eng land . The mee ti ng was chai re d by George H. Perry , in troduced as "a man w ho knows what i t is to conduct aldermanic sessions and who is one of the martyrs to the cause, having ridden in a New York police patro l wago n and contributed $5 to the city treas ury fo r failure to display a New Yo rk label on his motor bicycle." Boasting those impeccable credentials, Perry conducted the meeting "p leasantly but none the less firmly," and in short order the Federation of American Motorcyclists had a slate of officers and a constitution. R .G . Betts of New York was elected president, George H_ Perry of New H a ven , Connecticut was na med vice-president for the Eastern District, with other vice -presidents named as follows: Western District, B.B . Bird, St. Paul, Minn: Southern District, W.W. Austin, Daytona , Florida and Pacific Dis trict, Don E. Campbell, Sa n Francisco, California. The singular nature of the constitution of that organization 3

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