Amazing 1899 Perks & Birch Motorwheel!

[New Mexico Brant]

This is a spectacular motorwheel! Located at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, UK.

 

[stezell]

Something tells me we know what you'll be on the hunt for next buddy.

 

[all riders]

wow. what a beautiful rear wheel without the motor! It would be easy to think it's cast aluminum but there is about no chance(a patented method for producing pure aluminum cheaply was issued a couple years earlier and nobody would have gained the casting skills that quickly). Cast steel, or drop forged steel nickle plated--beautiful.

 

[New Mexico Brant]

wow. what a beautiful rear wheel without the motor! It would be easy to think it's cast aluminum but there is about no chance(a patented method for producing pure aluminum cheaply was issued a couple years earlier and nobody would have gained the casting skills that quickly). Cast steel, or drop forged steel nickle plated--beautiful.

Sorry, I have to respectfully disagree, the rims are cast aluminum. Heaps of aluminum was being cast at that time. Two different bicycles were being produced by 1895 almost entirely of aluminum: Lu-mi-num from Saint Louis, and a second company in France. De Dion-Bouton was having their engine casings cast in aluminum in 1897 or 1898.

Lu-Mi-Num Safety Bicycle | Science Museum Group Collection

Safety bicycle made in France and retailed by the Lu-Mi-Num Manufacturing Company, St Mary's Gate, Manchester, 1896

collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk

de dion bouton engine - Google Search

History of aluminium - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[all riders]

Great evidence! The Hall-Herault Process was patented in 1884(ish)--before that aluminum was quite rare and expensive. Obviously manufacturers took advantage of the lower cost right away.

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

Looks like a Singer. They were marketing that device around the turn of the century. They were stuffing engines into every corner of the chassis in those days. Imagine that lump of metal in your front forks, talk about heavy handling. There’s information to be had if you search Singer motorwheel or motorcycle. I think I’ve even read a roadtest of one of those things in an English magazine, not a nice thing to ride as I remember.