Modifying handlebars A group of us 'enthusiasts' banded together and decided that, 2003 being the centennial anniversiary of George's historic accomplishment, we should do something to celebrate that journey. It was decided that a recreation of the ride was perhaps in order.

We started by figuring out what to do about the vehicle itself. A 1905 'Mead Roadster' frame with front fork was acquired and modified in Texas,

These are the pictures of the frame as it was recieved by Sam Lingo in 2002. It looks close enough for our purposes.

Here we have Robert Box doing the modifications to the frame. The rear seat stays and rear chain stays on the left side of the bike were widened to clear the belt sheave for our drivetrain assembly.

This was accomplished by cutting the stays, bending a new piece of tubing (top and bottom), then welding it all back together. After these modifications were completed the frame was stripped bare, prepped, and painted.

Sam also found a crank and Skiptooth chainring for the project. Again Robert Box heated the crank, the bent it with a "dogleg" to clear the engine assembly. While this was happening Sam, in an inspired moment, stamped the names of the Wyman Centennial team into the chainring, to forever preserve the event. Great Idea sam!

These parts were sent out to be re-chromed and came out perfect, if I might add. While shopping in Mexico for those parts, Sam was also able to secure a set of 28"X 1 1/2" aluminum wheel hoops, .120" spokes, and four-ply tires for the project. Sam also supplied the seat, the rear rack, and the front hub for the project.

The special and rather rare threaded bearing cups for the bottom bracket were located, and donated to the cause by Gordon Bradbury of Florida. Many thanks for those parts, as we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to find them.

At this point the frame assembly was put together for a test fit of all the components, just to make sure it was all going to work out like we had been planning.

The frame and components were then shipped to me in Washington state for assembly.

All the while in Puyallup, WA a two-cycle 96cc Westinghouse chainsaw engine was being modified and 'dummied-up' to semi replicate the original 'California' motorbike. We couldn't get a real one due to the facts that: (a) there are only three left in existance as far as our research turned up, and (b) Even if if we could find one, who of us could afford the time and money to purchase and then restore it. Finally (c) barring those other two, who would be crazy enough to take an expensive, ultra-rare, antique motorbike on this sort of ride?!?! (I guess I might be...)

Bob Johnson and I had met earlier that spring at the annual 'Seattle Old Bike Swap'. It was really another case of fate stepping in to put this trip together. Bob scratch builds near exact replicas of antique motorcycles and motor bicycles from the early 1900's. We did not know of each other yet were both inspired by George Wyman's story. Bob had begun work on replicating the California as his own way of celebrating the 100th anniverssay of George A. Wyman's continental crossing.

He had on display the crankcase assembly and cylinder for the 'California' motor bicycle replica. I saw this engine and my heart lept into my throat! I immediately asked the older gentleman who was sitting there if it was an original. He said that that all belonged to the other fella, Bob, and that he'd be back in a few minutes. So I waited. Upon his return I introduced myself and began telling him of our endeavour to re-create the journey by riding across America.

We were both floored that the other had even heard of George Wyman and with that He began to explain to me what he had been doing and that the engine had been cast and machined in his spare time.

I was now in complete awe of this young fella' who was so multi-talented. He explained that he was using a crank from a 5.0 H.P. Tecumseh engine, that the cylinder was from a 1920's era Briggs & Stratton engine, and the rest was hand cast and machined. He showed me the wooden buck that he was working on in order to cast the head for the engine.

I asked if he was from around the Seattle are and he replied "No, I live in Puyallup, kinda south of here." No way. I live on the border of Puyallup. As it turns out, we only live about 15 minutes from each other! We exchaned e-mail addresses, and continued our correspondance, wherein Bob ended up joining our team. He cast two heads - one for his machine and one to "dummy-up" the Westinghouse engine for our 'go' bike.

This next series of pictures shows the process that Bob went through in building this machine:

This first picture shows the 1920's era Briggs & Stratton cylinder, with the wooden form that will be used to create the sand mold used in the head casting process.

Here is the molten aluminum in the furnace, ready to be poured into the mold.

Bob pouring the molten material into the mold...

The part has been cast, has cooled and now Bob begins cleaning the sand away from the part.

Here is the part after all the sand from the casting process has been cleaned away from the head. Now the time has come for the task of cleaning up the head in preparation for the machining process.

Initial machining on the lathe...

and on the Bridgemort vertical milling machine...

Here the crankcase casting gets milled on the Bridgeport.

Here is the engine, minus the head casting. You would be hard pressed to tell the difference from George's "California"...!

A view from the opposite side showing the internal gearing...

and the finished bike on display at the Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup; September 2003! Ain't she a beauty?!?!

In New York the lighting assemblies were being fabricated from old brass alarm clock housings. From Iowa came the internal components for the New Departure Model D Rear coaster brake hub that was taken from my 1949 Schwinn DX. The spoke holes were then drilled out of this hub shell to accept .120" spokes. The 28" X 1 1/2" wheel rims came from Texas as did 1905 period saddle and rear rack. In Washington (state) the hanging fuel tank and rear battery box were being fabricated. Everything was working well until just about a week before departure when it was discovered that the engine we had been modifiying would not work in the vehicle. I made the executive decision to use a Whizzer powerplant.

This caused other issues as the hanging fuel tank now would not fit.

The tank was modified and upon it's being returned to me, I bolted it on. With everything assembled, adjusted, and such I took it out for a test ride. The gas tank began to leak, I will spare you the boring details of the three days spent using different materials, methods, and techniques trying to get that bloody gas tank to hold fuel. Suffice it to say that none of this worked, so I bolted on the teardrop type tank that is supplied with the Whizzer engine kit and pronounced it "good enough!"; as to me the importance was placed on the actual ride and not as much on the recreated vehicle. Unfortunately this caused much heartburn, contention, and dismay to some of my collegues; citing that it did not replicate closely enough the original bike. I wrote in my journal as a response to this, "Too bad kids, it's my ass in the saddle, out there on the road trying to make this trip, not yours. You want to run a problematic tank on your adventure, more power to ya'. I'm just trying to cut down on the amount of problems likely to be encountered while out there in the middle of nowhere"

With only three days until departure, I still had not been able to get the inspection from the W.S.P. (Washington State Patrol)in order to license and register the vehicle. With a stroke of luck we managed to get an appointment on the 11th of May. I had to get up at 4:00 in the morning- after having been up until 1:30 A.M. helping another team member wire the lighting and engine of the bike- in order to transport the bike 2 1/2 hours away for a 7:00 a.m. (sharp!) appointment. We did it. The bike now had a registration, plates, current tags, and therefore was completely qualified to be ridden (legally) on the roadways.

Here are pictures of the bike frame fitted with the fuel tank and the battery box that Bob Johnson fabricated; It really looks sharp, and is starting to resemble an antique motor bicycle.


   The second picture shows the battery box mount that I fabricated completely by hand. It was fun to do that way as a good way of  getting back in touch with my tools and 'bench work' skills.  Come the revolution and the downfall of civilization I'll do okay because I don't need a power tool for every little operation! *Chuckle*

   Anyway, I cut the basic shape with a hacksaw, leaving enough material on all the edges for filing and finish work, then got down to it with the rasp file. Being aluminum it was fairly quick work, the downside being that I had to stop every few minutes to clean the file with a file card.

   Once I was at the point of being almost to my layout line I went to a rough bastard file, again cleaning the file took more time that actually removing the material. from there I went to a medium, then fine files. At this point the bracket was on the money. After all that I measured then marked the layout for the holes. I used a power drill here as I can't find my hand crank drill (it looks like an old egg beater but with a drill chuck) first I center punched the locations, then I used a center drill to ensure that the drill itself would locate properly, then drilled.

   All that was left at this point was to deburr the part, lightly touch up the edges and faces with various grits of sand paper and scotch brite pads, then polish it with Mother's aluminum polish. I mounted the battery box and it fit perfectly.

Modifying The Handlebars


In the first photo we have a set of period bars Donated to the cause by Bob Johnson of Puyallup, WA. From what Bob said they are from right around 1900. These were of the correct shape and bend but since they were from a ladies bicycle they were not wide enough. Therefore some modification was necessary. A section needed to added. Bob included a tracing of the elevation and plan  views of the bars, so with some time spent measuring and calculating with the tracing and the bars themselves I found that a section with a length of 3 1/2 " was needed on each side. I had in my parts pile a set of bars from a 1949 Schwinn to use for donor bars, as I needed to take a section out of these for the 16" chopper I'm building for my niece. These are shown in the second photo.

I blued the areas to be marked with Dykem layout fluid, and began to carefully measure and scribe the cutting lines.

After that was done I attached the tubing cutter to the bars lining up the blade with the scribed lines, whispered a prayer and began to cut.

Once I had all the pieces of the original bars cut I did the procedure over again with the donor bars. Success! Everything was looking good. I took a set of Huffy ATB straight bars and cut 4, 1" sections to be used as an expander joint inside the tubing at the joins.  It was at this time that I took great pains to do the bench work (deburring, sanding, filing, etc) on ALL the parts to be used. I then took the expander joints down to my machinist friend Travis Hoffland of Olympia, Washington. He chucked them up in the vise on his milling machine and, using a 1/4" end mill, cut a quarter of an inch slot length wise in the tubing sections. I thanked him for his help and contribution to 'the cause' and ran (drove) back home.The next series of photos shows the bars being fitted and tack welded together.


You'll also see the newest contributing member to the Wyman Support Team: Mabel,my little mini-dachshund.

Boy, was she ever a terrific help; what with knocking away the things that were, evidently, in the way and by poking her nose in my ear at the perfect, precise moment to make me jump and knock everything around! :-)

The final picture shows the bars completely together with tack welds.

So there you have it.
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© 2003 Rif Raff Productions