The story of The Spiral, America's oldest motorcycle

It looked ready to ride, resting in the middle of a nearby country road on a foggy morning in late 1996. At the time I first laid eyes on it, The Spiral was not well known outside of a small group of collectors of old machines. Today, it's value would be well into the mid-six figure range as links to the early days of motorcycling have been recognized for their historical value by a larger audience. It was preserved rather than restored, a one hundred year old time machine that was unmolested. This was a rare beast indeed, one man's vision of what motorcycling could be, built at a time of great innovation.

Many seemingly unrelated events took place the world over that would ultimately lead to the introduction and development of the first gasoline driven internal combustion powered automobiles and motorcycles. In 1776 Alexander Volta discovered that explosive gases can be ignited by electric spark. In 1799 American Eli Whitney developed interchangeable parts to speed up the production of muskets and farm equipment. By 1815, James MacAdam introduced roads made of broken stone in England.

The early 1880's were and important time for bicyclists when England's Coventry Machinists created a safety bicycle with equally sized wheels. It would lead to the demise of the high-wheelers or 'penny farthing' bicycles which required great skill to ride. Falling from the height the rider was at did prove fatal for a number of early riders. With the advent of the vulcanization by Charles Goodyear and development by Irishmen John Dunlop would leave to the first pneumatic tires greatly improving ride quality. This diamond shape frame would come help create the shape of the first motorcycles once the small four stroke engines were sorted out, but before that happened Nicholas Otto patented the four-stroke internal combustion engine in Germany in 1876. His associate, Gottlieb Daimler would leave Otto and create the first gasoline powered vehicle in 1885.

The following story was told to the niece of Herman Jehle shortly before his death in the early 1950's at nearly ninety years of age. It was re-told to me twenty five years ago by the late collector Harry Buck, who purchased the machine seen in these pictures directly from his niece in the early 1970's for just over one thousand dollars.

In 1895, a man named Herman Jehle, an instructor at the Baron De Hirsh Technical School had a chance encounter with a man on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The man was riding a Daimler-built internal combustion powered three wheeler, with a wooden chassis and running on metal-rimmed wooden wheels. Mr. Jehle was very excited to examine one of these machines up close and asked the owner to consider giving it to the school for his students to learn from. Surprisingly, the machines' owner, whose name has been lost to history, agreed to donate it.

Herman brought the machine to the Technical School as promised and gave great thought as to what to do with it then. After having problems with the ride quality, he decided to discard the original frame and studied the engine. He then set about making his own engine based on what he had learned from the Daimler design. Jehle has use of the complete machine shop as well as his eager students for this purpose. The new single cylinder and head were machined from one piece of solid steel. The cylinder fins are one continuous piece, like that of a screw, giving the machine it's name, 'The Spiral'. Herman installed this engine into a bicycle frame and used a belt drive to turn the rear wheel. In the rain, however, the belt would slip and so he switched ti chain drive. It was also at this point that he decided to scrap the bicycle frame and built a new frame, similar in design, but stronger. The new front forks were sturdy units and the petrol tank featured a cleverly integrated tool box as well. He manufactured his owner handlebars and fenders as well as the direct drive speedometer that would be mounted on the right side of the forks. He installed the recently developed pneumatic tires to soften the jolting he had endured on the often rough roads of the day. The finished creation was completed in 1896, making the Spiral the first complete motorcycle powered by an internal combustion engine made in the United States.

Herman rode the bike constantly and would make continual improvements over the next few years. He would run alongside, hop on a pedal until the engine fired in action. When he stopped, the engine would stop to as no clutch had been developed yet. An "inclinometer"is mounted on the petrol tank and was useful for estimating the steepness of the grade you were climbing and encouraged use of the pedals when the hill was too steep. A Bosch magneto was added in 1900 and a new exhaust pipe was created at that time to curve around the unit. In timing tests, with the original New York Motorcycle Club, it was recorded a top speed of 45 mph on the flat and was said to capable of 65 mph with some modifications to gearing. Herman collected a number of ribbons and awards during this with his two-wheeled wonder.

Riders of motorcycles had to be a determined lot due to the primitive nature of the machines. The ignition system for example, were often the source of fire if the machine was crashed. Front forks collapsed from the constant pounding of the rough roads too. Most early machines required that the oil be hand pumped every 15-20 miles to avoid engine seizure. Punctures of tires was a never-ending source of aggravation for riders. Places to re-fuel their machines were far and few between as well. It's amazing that motorcycles survived this initial period compared to the relatively plush automobiles being produced. Bicycles were also enormously popular and inexpensive as well. It was a time of great innovation and creativity in the mechanized world we were entering at that time period.

By the time Herman Jehle first road registered the Spiral in Newark New Jersey in 1903, the Harley-Davidson Motor Company would produce their first motorcycle. Herman would continue to ride his creation until 1913 when he put it in the front window of his auto parts store in Newark, New Jersey on Halsey Street. According to early registration documents, the Spiral made one one-quarter horsepower. The license plate from that last year of registration is still on the rear fender. Jehle would turn up in newspaper reports from time to time, often demonstrating his Spiral still ran. Eventually his auto parts store closed and the Spiral disappeared from sight for many years.

In the mid-1990's I convinced Harry Buck, the bike's custodian for the last twenty years at that point to allow me to photograph the machine for a story I was doing for Motorcyclist magazine. It would eventually appear in the April 1997 issue of the magazine. Harry, who had a collection of over 115 pre-war machines had been a good friend and agreed to let me do so. He had introduced me to many of the well known collectors of our area in Pennsylvania; guys like Doc Patt and Milby Jones who were some of the founding members of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. They shared with me their passion for early American motorcycles and the adventures of tracking them down. They did it because they had an interest in saving the bikes for future generations, not to flip them for a quick profit. Most of these men, rarely sold anything at all, preferring to trade with other like minded hoarders of two-wheeled memorabilia. What I know, as no doubt countless other young men of my time did, was that these 'old timers' bought and saved these machines because they were compelled to do so, an we are very thankful that they did.

Doc, Milby and Harry have all passed on a few years ago as I write this. I am grateful to have known them and hope to share more stories of their old machines and adventures in future posts.