Amazing Motorcycle RIDE with steam engine. Motorbike built by Sylvester Howard ROPER in 1869 year. One such machine was demonstrated at fairs and circuses in the eastern US on 1867. Roper’s first velocipede of 1867–1869 used a purpose-built frame rather than adapting an existing velocipede frame by retrofitting a steam engine, but one contemporary newspaper account does assert that Roper repurposed a velocipede frame, and Setright and motoring author Roland Brown say Roper used a hickory wood frame built by the Hanlon Brothers, who made and demonstrated boneshakers at fairs and circuses, although the Smithsonian’s Roper has an iron frame.
source.image: WildlyFunny
It had a wheelbase of 1,200 mm and two 860 mm diameter wheels made of iron bands on wooden felloes with wooden spokes. It had a rigid, forged iron fork, and a solid handlebar with wooden grips. Unlike the modern twistgrip, where the grip on only one side is a sleeve that rotates around the handlebar to open the throttle, the Roper velocipede’s entire bar was rotated with both hands, and it had a dual function.
When turned forward, the throttle opened, and when turned backwards it applied the spoon brake on the front wheel. The seat doubled as the water reservoir; or the water tank can be described as saddle shaped. A hand pump transferred water from this tank to the boiler.
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The boiler was between the wheels with a “nautical looking” chimney from the boiler angling backwards behind the rider, with the firebox in the lower half of this housing, all of which hung from the frame with a spring to absorb shock, while two stay rods attached the bottom of the housing to the back of the frame. There were three water level cocks on the left side, near the water pump, and a drain valve on the bottom. The two cylinders, with bores of about 57 mm were located on either side of the frame, from the upper part of the boiler near the chimney, connecting to 2+1⁄2 in (64 mm) cranks on the rear wheel.
