I’ve recently been thinking of Inventions I have Never Seen. It was going to be a series called Inventions we Never Had but I checked the first one up and it seems that we did have steam powered motorcycles. It’s a bit like the idea of the Mercian Independence Party. No matter how silly the idea seems, someone has always beaten me to it. It seems that the inventor of the steam motorcycle was also the first man to die in a motorcycle accident.
I thought that a steam powered motorcycle would be great from a number of perspectives (though safety, I admit, wasn’t one of them). It seems I could be wrong, as the Roper only had a range of seven miles. This is unlikely to be useful, though I suppose you could fit extra fuel capacity and carry a big bottle of water. Not sure that stopping to attend to the engine every seven miles is particularly practical, but it’s not the biggest problem with the design. Sitting on top of a boiler with 150 pounds of pressure it it is what I see as the major problem. The 1869 version of Roper’s machine works quite well from that point of view, but the later model seems to put the explosive bits between your knees.
This one, a modern version, has a range of 16 miles, at which point the water runs out. It runs on oil, which seems a bit out of step, as the idea of using steam is surely to get away from oil. Frankly, I’m a little disappointed that steam motorcycles are so limited in range as they seemed such a good idea. I suppose it is the fate of the visionary to be disappointed.
The picture features bicycles, the nearest thing to steam motorcycles I have ever photographed.
I had not heard of this one, but not surprised at what the human brain will come up with and attempt to do. 🙂
Not sure which surprised me most – the Victorian invention or that anybody would bother with a modern version. 😉
I, as they say, cycle under my own steam, grateful not to be sitting astride a potential explosion.
Very good! 🙂
I imagine the newspapers would be full of stories of explosions and scalded nether regions if steam assisted cycling became widespread.
I would categorize this as an invention I had never heard of. 😉
It seemed to be a gap that needed filling, but it’s disappointingly impractical.
Indeed it is.
🙂
Dammit. You got me following a link to a steam bicycle. Is it catching?
A tandem steam bicycle, accessorised by a picnic basket and you wearing a straw boater – I’m sure Jackie would welcome a break from driving duties. 🙂
🙂