# 1903 E R Thomas project



## thehugheseum (Aug 16, 2013)

heres a bike i just get to touch and feel for my number one chum.......1903 e r thomas, this is considered the first mass produced american motorcycle

    this thing is a mess but we dont scare easily, plus we hold these turn of the century motorbikes in the highest regard

   the motor and frame are both a mess, we plan on assembling it but trying not to restore 
















its a big project, any help as always greatly appreciated


----------



## JRE123 (Aug 17, 2013)

MAKES ME DROOL!  
Every time I see a good pictue of a Thomas I copy it to my files.


----------



## thehugheseum (Aug 17, 2013)

thanks.........believe me im drooling too.........i dont own it but the next best thing is building it.........i had a very strong passion to own an e r thomas or even a steffey before i found my g e rounds bike...........we ran into another collector who saw my g e and liked what i had done so he offered up this 03 e r to us........

i really wanted it for myself but thats fairly greedy of me and i was really excited my chum was excited about it

   this e r thomas differs from the majority of the e r bikes in existence.........it is the early version having the big bottom end and the so sexy 2 stud cylinder arrangement

  its gonna be hard for us to top these recent finds but if you stay tuned i think we have even more exciting turn of the century and big boy stuff from the 1910-13 era 

   we are having some wider wood rims built for the e r thomas and we are in contact with the jedi knight of e r thomas bikes so this little broken birdy will likely be assembled back up with a reasonable timeframe

   please feel free to chime in with opinions and of course any help greatly appreciated


----------



## thehugheseum (Aug 17, 2013)

teehee.........just realized i had the motor backwards on those mock ups.......im fired


----------



## fatbike (Aug 17, 2013)

That is cool!!!  Not yours... I hope you wouldn't be the type to mix rusty crusty chrome flaken bike stuff on your kitchen food center island table. Thats where I draw the line but the other than kick ass project and rusty crusty chrome flaken bikes rule


----------



## Motoguzzipaul (Aug 20, 2013)

*1903  E R Thomas*

Hello
 nice find
 I have put my 1903 E R Thomas on hold
 just moved to a new house

 Yours should have a  number on the the cas enear the cylinder
 a four digit  with a 1/2 behibe it on a BB case
  I have the s/n for about  17   some clip on motors ( they have   NO.   infront of the number) 

  Here are a couple of pics


----------



## thehugheseum (Aug 20, 2013)

hell yes!!!!!!!!!! can we be pals?


----------



## Motoguzzipaul (Aug 21, 2013)

*1903 E R Thomas*

sure
     E mail   Guzzipaul@aol.com 
I noticed the frame that you have does not have the correct mount for that  BB motor
  that might be  for a Er Thomas  clip on motor??
 The clip on motors had a  ( A ) after the Number


----------



## bricycle (Aug 21, 2013)

Motoguzzipaul said:


> sure
> E mail   Guzzipaul@aol.com I noticed the frame that you have does not have the correct mount for that motor
> that might be  for a Er Thomas  clip on motor??
> 
> View attachment 110077View attachment 110075




isn't it against the law to have that much kool stuff??


----------



## Motoguzzipaul (Aug 27, 2013)

*1903 E R Thomas*



bricycle said:


> isn't it against the law to have that much kool stuff??




Did you find a  S/N on the motor
 if you dont mind i would like to add it to my list of S/N    Paul


----------



## thehugheseum (Aug 27, 2013)

hi paul i can get you the number please pm me or email  thehugheseum@gmail.com 

   i spoke to the jedi knight of e r thomas bikes the other day and i meet up with him in about 24 hrs......its all very exciting stuff...............also possibly getting another deal handled on another monster very soon hopefully


----------



## thehugheseum (Oct 3, 2013)

ok..........so first off lets correct some erroneous previous info...........while these 2 stud e r thomas motors are different than the clip ons THEY ARE NOT EARLIER......

    not too much new to post but numbers for a fellow caber.........have some wheels in the works and scored a battery box that might be considered correct


----------



## bricycle (Oct 7, 2013)

any progress??


----------



## thehugheseum (Oct 7, 2013)

oh baby steps........im still trying to get a few details straight..........of the motorbike wood rims i see in period pics it looks like a wider than 1 1/2 rim is used yet i have some telling me they were just common 1 1/2s...........also this frame is unsprung and might not even be e r thomas or a very rare variant of that........so basically a huge can o worms

  i work on these projects when i am watching my boy so it can go slow at times,i run a restoration shop (cars) and im pushing the last 2 customers out of the shop before i can get crazy on the cycle stuff.........im transitioning my shop from cars to antique motorcycle and it doesnt happen overnight for me anyway


----------



## thehugheseum (Dec 5, 2013)

while on my recent visit to idaho the cosmos led me to this 40 hole wood rim so its now laced up to the morrow hub we plan to use.......baby steps


----------



## GiovanniLiCalsi (Dec 5, 2013)

Looks like a 1901 Morrow.
Does anyone know if the hubs came in 36 spoke count?


----------



## thehugheseum (Dec 6, 2013)

Very interesting!  Yep having read the ad I agree 1901,I liked that it was 40 hole since its on our motorcycle


----------



## GiovanniLiCalsi (Dec 6, 2013)

Mine is a 1902 model with the swivel arm.
I am going to have the engraving redone and have it nickel-plated.
Hope to find 1902 tandem to use it.


----------

