NEW MOTORCYCLE CAN ATTAIN SPEED OF 100 M. P. H! (Feb, 1929)
NEW MOTORCYCLE CAN ATTAIN SPEED OF 100 M. P. H!
RECENTLY the Ascot Paulhan Co.. of London, announced a new model motorcycle that is attracting wide attention.
This machine is of the conventional type but has been vastly improved both in appearance and in mechanical make-up. The most noteworthy of these changes is the new panel of instruments that is placed neatly between the handle bars. The windshield is formed as a part of the front panel and is divided into two parts. The upper half can be adjusted to fit the height of the rider. A windshield wiper is standard equipment.
How does he have his head wrapped around the windshield like that?
Comment by Charlene — November 13, 2009 @ 3:54 am
You can die quickly, crashing at 100 mph, or go slowly of lung cancer or emphysema . . . .
Comment by Don — November 13, 2009 @ 6:46 am
Charlene,
I thought the same thing at first. However, the background is dark that we see through the windshield. Look carefully at the edge of the windshield and you can see that above the tip of the rider’s nose and lower part of his face is behind the windshield’s upper corner. The way the white page shows around the close cropping of the windshield gave the illusion to me that his entire head was beside and in front of the windshield. What tipped me off is the very slight shading on the portion of the smoking rider’s face that is behind the windshield.
Comment by William Deering — November 13, 2009 @ 9:54 am
As this was said to be the first motorcycle that could travel at 100 miles per hour, I thought it would have been important in the history of the motorcycle. My initial web search turned up no mentions whatever of this company making motorcycles except here.
But the truth soon emerged:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.....otorcycles
They did not spell the name of the company, founded by Cyril Pullin, correctly.
Comment by John Savard — November 13, 2009 @ 12:44 pm
Reaching 100 mph on a modern motorcycle is scary enough; I can only imagine what it must have been like on one of these . . . .
Comment by Don — November 13, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
I think that the reason the rider is smoking is to demonstrate that the windshield works so well he can smoke without hot ashes blowing into his ungoggled eyes.
Comment by Repack Rider — November 13, 2009 @ 11:51 pm
Repack Rider: Since the kickstand is down he’s just having a cigarette while posing.
Comment by Firebrand38 — November 14, 2009 @ 12:45 am
Poseur!
Comment by Don — November 14, 2009 @ 8:45 am
Did no one notice that when they cropped the picture they cut out the back tyre.
Comment by JMyint — November 14, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
Seems, that MM got the name wrong. That’s actually Ascot-Pullin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.....otorcycles Here’s a short description of it and other Brittish manufacturers: http://www.ianchadwick.com/motorcycles/britbikes/ And a nice colour picture: http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/B.....Pullin.htm Seems that it was quite advanced for it’s time, but the sales didin’t catch on.
Comment by Jari — November 14, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
Jari: You really should have read post #4 before sharing your “discovery”.
Comment by Firebrand38 — November 14, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
Oh, bummer…. I really should have read the whole thread again, as Firebrand38 pointed out. All that time wasted in research… Erm, let’s call it independent verification, shall we?
Comment by Jari — November 14, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
JMYNT, no that’s a white panel in the chainguard that makes it look like that. The picture at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....c_1928.JPG shows it more clearly.
Comment by Don — November 14, 2009 @ 8:43 pm
100 mph? maybe in a long downhill. The bike had only 17hp, top speed was probably 60 mph. It was notoriously wobbly above 55mph, having sent a moto-journalist to the hospital in a crash due to the wobble.
Comment by Jorge Pullin — November 16, 2009 @ 5:08 pm