Pierce Four

Pierce Four

Pierce Four at The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit in Memphis
Manufacturer Pierce Motorcycle Company
Parent company Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company
Production 1909–1914
Engine 696 cc T-head inline-4[1] with compression release
Bore / stroke 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 in.
Top speed 60 mph (97 km/h)[2][3]
Power 4 hp or 7 hp[1]
Transmission Shaft drive
Frame type 3 1⁄2 inch tubing[4]
Suspension Front: Leading link fork
Rear: rigid
Tires 28×2.5 in. pneumatic
Weight 275 lb (125 kg)[1] (dry)
Related FN Four, Henderson Four

The Pierce Four was the first four-cylinder motorcycle produced in the United States.[5][6][7] The model is included in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Classic Bikes[8] and Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. Touting its inline-four engine as "vibrationless", Pierce sold the motorcycle for $325,[2] rising to $400 by 1913, which was expensive at the time, making it popular with "more prosperous sportsmen".[9]

Development and design

Percy Pierce, president of The Pierce Motorcycle Company, created as a subsidiary of Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company, had acquired a European 1908 FN Four and brought it to America to disassemble and study.[10] The company's engineering team used it as a "reference" for at least part of the two years they took to develop the Pierce Four.[4][11] The results were innovative, with a stressed member engine and shaft drive,[6] and a frame that both hid the control cables and held oil and gasoline internally.[12][13] The large diameter tubing is said to have increased strength and reduced parts count for less expensive manufacturing.[14] Unlike FN's engine, the Pierce had a T-head, and cam-driven intake valves rather than automatic (opened by atmospheric pressure).[5]

Early models had no clutch and fixed gearing, like the competing FN Four, but this was soon corrected in 1910 when a two-speed transmission was fitted.[6]

Fate of Pierce Motorcycle Company

The motorcycle is said to have cost more to build than its sale price and eventually bankrupted Pierce Motorcycle Company after fewer than 500 were built.[7]

Exhibitions and collections

The Pierce Four was exhibited in the Guggenheim Museum's The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition in Las Vegas.[15] Examples are held in permanent collections of several museums, including the National Motorcycle Museum in Iowa,[16] the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Ohio,[17] the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Alabama,[18]Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum in England and the Dreamcycle Motorcycle Museum in Sorrento, British Columbia.[19]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 American Motorcyclist 2005, p. 71
  2. 1 2 Silverman 2013
  3. ↑ Duckworth 2012, p. 30
  4. 1 2 Hodgdon, p. 28
  5. 1 2 Hodgdon 1976, p. 27
  6. 1 2 3 Dumitrache 2011
  7. 1 2 Clayton 2008
  8. ↑ Motorcycle Hall of Fame 2010
  9. ↑ Hodgdon 1976, p. 34
  10. ↑ Edwards 1997, p. 43
  11. ↑ de Cet (2002, p. 360) states that Pierce "did not copy" the FN Four but "its influence...was apparent".
  12. ↑ Clayton (2008) states that fuel was carried in the top tube and seat tube. Oil was carried in the down tube.
  13. ↑ Motorcycle Hall of Fame states that (steel?) tubes were internally coated with copper.
  14. ↑ d'Orléans 2013
  15. ↑ 2003 Art of the Motorcycle Show Photo Gallery, Motorcycle USA, retrieved 2013-10-28
  16. ↑ 1912 Pierce Four, National Motorcycle Museum
  17. ↑ Classic Bikes: 1911 Pierce Four, American Motorcyclist Association Motorcycle Hall of Fame
  18. ↑ "2011 Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum: 1910 Pierce Four", Photo Gallery, Motorcycle USA, retrieved 2013-10-28
  19. ↑ http://www.dreamcycle.ca/

References

See also

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