1909 Curtiss V-Twin "Roadster"

• MODEL: Roadster
• ENGINE NO: 3302
• ENGINE: V-Twin, Air-Cooled
• HP: 8-10
• SEAT: Persons Manufacturing Co. of Worcester, MA
• SPEEDOMETER/ODOMETER: Stewart Magnetic Type
• CLOCK: Ingersoll Watch Company, Yankee Model

Despite becoming known as the “fastest man on earth” in 1907 for setting a land speed record of 136 mph on an experimental V-8 motor­cycle he built himself, Glenn Hammond Curtiss was not known for his bikes but as an Amer­ican aviation pioneer. Born in 1879 in Hammondsport, New York, he started his engineering career racing bicycles in his youth. By 1902, he built his first motor­cycle engine with a tomato soup can as a carburetor, and his genius only expanded from there. The sixth engine he ever produced, a single-cylinder under the name “Herc­ules” can also be found in the collection of Dick Shappy. (You can read about it at DSClassics.) He quickly found that “Herc­ules” was already patented, and his future endeavors would begin the Curtiss line.

In 1904, he was taking home the gold against even rivals Indian Motor­cycles and even put his 9 HP V-Twin engine into the first successful dirigible in the United States, the Cali­fornia Arrow. Until 1912, he and his team would go on to build, sell, and race motor­cycles out of their Hammondsport garage, but this wasn’t his only successful endeavor. In the same period, Curtiss was the chief rival of the Wright brothers, designing airplane engines, the most widely used U.S. aircraft in WWI, the first amphibious aircraft, and joining the Aerial Experimentation Association. Curtiss was one of the great engineers of the early 20th century, producing innovative and high-performance motor­cycles, including inventing the handlebar throttle, and helping to create the U.S. aviation industry.

This 1909 Curtiss V-Twin Roadster is an extremely rare specimen, considered the "Duesen­berg" of early Amer­ican motor­cycles. A powerful air-cooled engine rated at 8 to 10 horsepower with splash oil lubrication and a dry-cell battery ignition was produced at the G. W. Curtiss Manufacturing Company in Hammondsport, New York. The Audrain Auto Mu­seum reports that this 1909 Curtiss is one of the most well-preserved motor­cycles in the world today and the last of the Curtiss line.