William Chadeayne

William Chadeayne was an early long-distance motorcyclist from Buffalo, New York. He set a transcontinental record for North America in 1905, going from New York City to San Francisco in 47+1⁄2 days.[1][2] He was an officer of the Thomas Auto-Bi company and rode one of their motorcycles on the transcontinental record-setting trip.[1]

William Chadeayne in San Francisco at the finish of his 47-day transcontinental trip on October 30, 1905

Transcontinental trip

Chadeayne's transcontinental journey took place between September 13 and October 30, 1905. He described the roads even east of the Mississippi as "unspeakably vile ... seas of mud or oceans of sand", taking exactly two weeks to arrive in Chicago.[3] Chadeayne's time of 47.5 days beat the previous record of 51 days set by George A. Wyman two years earlier.[4][5] As for Wayman Chadeayne found there were insufficient roads in America at the time so he rode on railroad tracks for six or seven hundred miles of the journey. In the portion from Ogden, Utah to San Francisco he was nearly killed by a train.[1][6]

The motorcycle he rode was a 3 horsepower (2.2 kW), single-cylinder 1906 model year Auto-Bi which cost $145 new.[7][8]

The trip was recognized as the second transcontinental motorcycle trip in North America, and one of the first ten by any form of motor vehicle.[5]

References
  1. The Automobile 1905.
  2. Rafferty 1999.
  3. Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review 1905a, p. 13.
  4. Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review 1905b, p. 107.
  5. Automobile Blue Book 1907, p. 561.
  6. Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review 1905b, p. 109.
  7. Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review 1905b, p. 111 (company advertisement)
  8. The Motor Way 1906, p. 15.

Sources
  • "Motorcycle transcontinental record trip", The Automobile, p. 689, December 21, 1905
  • Rafferty, Tod (1999), The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Motorcycles, Philadelphia, PA: Courage Books, p. 22, ISBN 0760313989
  • "Chadeayne reaches 'Frisco", The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review, New York, LII (1), September 30, 1905
  • "Chadeayne reaches 'Frisco", The Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review, New York, LII (6): 107, 109, November 4, 1905
  • "Descriptions of Motor Cycles", The Motor Way, vol. XIV, no. 22, pp. 15–16, May 31, 1906
  • "Table of transcontinental automobile trips and table of transcontinental motor cycle trips – to 1907", The Automobile Blue Book, New York, New York: The Class Journal Company, vol. 1, p. 561, 1907
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