Fans of the original Indian motorcycle often like to remind their Harley buddies that their Springfield splendor preceded production of the Milwaukee marvel by two years…Indian appearing in 1901, Harley-Davidson in 1903.
The name of his machine, and rightful heir to the title “first USA production motorcycle” was the Orient-Aster, better known simply as the Orient. The Aster relates to the machine’s French-built engine, a copy of the ubiquitous DeDion-Bouton… no, not one of those poshy handbag companies, rather the motor that powered many early motorcycles.
We need to take one small step backwards for motorcycling mankind. The precursor to all motorcycles…Indians, Harleys, Orient…was of course the bicycle and here the link to Metz and the Waltham Mfg. Co. One look at the first incarnation of the bicycle, and you'd have to wonder if the designers were sniffing too much chain lube. Those pedal powered vehicles, now seen in clown acts or July 4th parades, are those mile-high, giant front wheel/small back wheel contraptions that you needed a ladder to reach the saddle. The gravity defying conveyance made its debut at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia after which all the really cool late 19th century dudes and dudettes just had to be seen riding the freewheelin’ two-wheeler.
You also had to be something of an athlete and a daredevil to ride one, perched way up in the stratosphere and navigating muddy ruts described as streets. Fortunately along came the “safety bicycle” in 1880, coincidentally the same year that the first safety razor was invented by the Kampfe Brothers. In any case this new cutting edge variation came with tires that were matched in size and as a result just about anybody could handle it with ease. As a result, the manually powered two-wheeler aka bicycle boom exploded…as did some of the early experimental motors strapped to their spindly frames. But by the 1890s, through dint (and dent) of experiment and perseverance, “motorcycles” were huffing and chuffing around the American landscape. By the first two decades of the 20th Century, something like 300 different American motorcycles came into being, although more than 95% were short-lived, including the Orient.
But back to those “safety bicycles.” One of the early such designs was produced by Charles H. Metz, apparently a rocket scientist on wheels, who conjured up the “Orient” bicycle, apparently a very hot seller. In fact the motivation for attaching an internal combustion engine to a bicycle came about when Mr. Metz wanted a means by which to train his bicycle racing team. A “motorcycle” by way of increasing its speed under its own relatively inexhaustible power would induce the bicycle riders to increase their own performance.
So Metz constructed a tandem pacer bicycle with the pilot sitting up front, the rear passenger operating the DeDion- Bouton engine housed in the rear section, then put it to work on the Waltham bicycle training track intent of giving his team something to shoot for. The idea worked, the Orient bicycle team gaining victory after victory, which naturally translated to increased bicycle sales for the company. A light bulb went off in Metz’s head.
It occurred to Metz that a self-propelled vehicle, minus the sweat of the brow propulsion, might interest the buying public, and his pacer motorcycle was the bridge between the two worlds. In 1898 he had tinkered up various tricycle and quadracycle versions, eventually focusing on a heavy duty version of his production bicycle into which he stuffed the Aster/ DeDion-Bouton engine. Apparently it wasn’t the best handling contraption, but it moved under its own steam and several prototypes were seen trundling around the Waltham bicycle track.
A big believer in advertising, Metz launched a media blitz of his day and made history when his 1899 catalog listed his pace machines as “Orient Motor-cycles” apparently the first published catalog usage of the term motorcycle. Previously the ads and literature of the day had referred to them as motor-bicycles so Metz can also be credited with officially coining the name “motorcycle.” The official public debut took place on July 31, 1900 when Metz launched his invention at the Charles River Race Park in Boston which also happened to be the occasion for the first officially recorded motorcycle speed contest in the United States although it would have a decidedly French flavor in more ways than one.
It seems that the Metz enlisted the riding expertise of a French racing star appropriately named Albert Champion. Metz had imported Champion as both a test rider for his motorized tri- and quadracycles and motorcycles and also as sort of his poster boy to draw attention to the company’s bicycles. True to his name, Champion jumped on the Orient motorcycle (powered by the French DeDion engine) and blasted five miles in a then blistering sub-seven minutes. That was the icing on the soufflé and Metz put the Orient into production.
About a year later, in May 1901, the Orient appeared in the winner’s circle again, this time venturing to the first West Coast bike race which took place at a one-mile Los Angeles horse track. The “factory” rider was Ralph Hamlin who pied-pipered three other riders across the finish line, the 10 lap race completed in 18.5 minutes which factors out to be about 32 mph. (No matter that a thoroughbred horse could clock 45 mph.) The third laurel in the Orient’s crown came the following year when in 1902 the first officially sanctioned endurance race was conducted along the ten mile stretch between the New Jersey towns of Irvington and Milburn.
As a result of these much publicized successes, Orient’s were soon being piloted around by adventuresome riders in many major U.S. cities.
So confident was he in his new motorcycle that Metz said good-bye to the Waltham Co. and opened his own business behind the Woolworth store at Whitney Ave. and Moody St. He was going to build his own motorcycles.
$250 Sticker Shock Circa 1902
The Orient motorcycle was relatively expensive, the MSRP of $250 quite a lump sum more than a century ago. What you got was a two horsepower, gasoline powered engine that carried about five quarts of fuel, good enough to take you 100 miles, again a fair piece at the turn of the century, especially considering the quality of the roads.
About four years later, Metz introduced a two-cylinder version that doubled the horsepower of the single to four. At this point Metz teamed up with the Marsh Co. of Brockton, MA, the merger producing the high quality Marsh-Metz motorcycle appearing in 1908. The Marsh Brothers, W.T. and A.R., had first built their 1 HP single cylinder bike in 1899 as the Marsh Motor Bicycle. By 1902 they had built a 6 HP belt-drive racer that could reach 60 mph. After the merger to form the American Motor Company, the motorcycles bore the name Marsh & Metz or M.M. and would mark another milestone when they produced the first 90-degree V-Twin in the U.S. Marsh and Metz also sold engines to other builders such as Peerless, Arrow and Haverford, but by 1913 the company was no more, Charles Metz switching gears to his automobiles.
The Quest for the Last Surviving Orient Tri-Cycle
While today trikes are thought of as a modern variation somewhere in limbo between bike and car, three wheelers or Tri-Cycles were a prevalent species, both on the street and at race events, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries in England, Europe and the U.S. Three wheels made for a larger frame to carry the powerplants of the day although resistance was strong to such motorized contraptions, particularly from the fans of the horse. In fact, two promising motorized English tricycles, the Meek (not too meek) of 1877 and the Parkyns & Pateman of 1881 were squashed by the road vehicle laws of the day, particularly the Locomotive Acts of 1861 which restricted speeds to 4 mph and required footmen carrying lanterns to give warning of the beastly machine’s advance.
In the U.S. no such laws impeded such progress and an Arizona engineer, Lucius Copeland, designed a steam powered two wheeler but could drum up financial backing until he built a tricycle version. In 1882 the wealthy count Albert DeDion and engineer Georges Bouton teamed up in Paris to build first steam then petrol powered tricycles. Their Dion-Bouton engine, sold in large quantities, let loose the floodgates of numerous motorcycle enterprises around the globe including the U.S.
In the 1890s literature of the Waltham Mfg. Co., there was a slogan that stated: “Gentlemen Prefer Trikes.” One such gentleman is Don Whalen of Sierra Madre, CA, a master restorer of vintage American motorcycles, his Harleys and Indians consistently winning top awards. In conjunction with his partner Rich Bunch he has collected antique and vintage motorcycles representing 39 different American manufacturers other than H- D and Indian. His Arrow Streamliner has previously appeared in the pages of HOT BIKE while his mot recent acquisition, the 1900 Metz Tricycle seen here represents a five-year effort on his part that required navigating the labyrinthine 100-year long path taken by the Orient Tricycle, literally the last of its breed.
While first sold in 1899 by the Waltham Mfg. Co. after they contracted with DeDion-Bouton & Co. in France to sell their line of tricycle and quadracycles, Charles Metz started building his own versions, his design featuring a patented front fork crown but still powered by the DeDion engine. He called it an Orient “Auto-mobile” at the time, the machine capable of carrying 1-3 people as it could be converted from a three- to a four-wheeled vehicle. You had a choice of locomotion; pedal it, propel it by its engine or use both pedal power and engine power. Costing a hefty $450, the water-cooled 2 ¾ HP vehicle could cruise “comfortably” between 10-50 mph and travel about 50 miles before you needed to refill it with naphtha, gasoline or petroleum. There was an auxiliary tank that could provide another 100 miles. The factory promoted its roadworthiness by sending an employee on a 251 mile roadtrip from Waltham to NYC. Travel time was 17 hours while expenses were 40 cents for fuel and five cents for lubricating oil.
Tracing the history of this particular example, Don tells us that the model year 1900 Orient Tricycle was purchased in 1954 by the Harrah’s Collection from the collection of singer James Milton and then restored to its present condition.
There was an interim period when the Orient was owned by Nelson Rockefeller prior to entering the Harrah Collection where while on display it bore a placard that proclaimed: “Sole Surviving Orient Trike.” Delving deeper, the timeline goes like this: from Milton to being displayed in a Connecticut museum then to a Florida museum. Next it was sold to Rockefeller then on to Arkansas, eventually bought by Harrah’s then on to Tom Mognahan of Domino’s Pizza fame, then to antique bike enthusiast and collector Reed Martin in 1992. And lastly and most recently, and after several years of persistency, the last of the Orient trikes passed into Don Whalen’s very capable hands and thereby into the San Jose based Bunch American Motorcycle Collection as of April 2005.
Says Whalen, “I’ve been bugging Reed Martin since I first saw it at the Guggenheim five years ago. I think he finally sold it to me just to get me to stop calling him. I’ve lusted after the trike for years and finally we had a chance to have it. It was a real thrill getting it and pretty much makes my heart pound. When the transaction went through we drove 7200 miles in ten days back and forth from CA to MA to bring it home and that includes a three-day layover in Daytona Beach. So that was a 1000 miles a day, but worth the effort. The trike goes well with the Orient two-wheeler in our collection, a bike we acquired from the Otis Chandler museum several years ago. We now have all the motorcycles that Charles Metz was associated with…a Marsh, a Marsh-Metz Single, a Marsh-Metz Twin, and a Orient Cyclecar as well as the Tricycle…so we cover his whole career.”
After surviving for more than a century, this Orient 3- wheeler has amassed several prestigious awards including an AMA Seniors Badge, a National First Junior and Seniors Award at Hershey, PA, and was featured in the Guggenheim’s “Art of the Motorcycle Exhibit.” It’s also a recipient of a Horseless Carriage badge that qualifies it for the famous London-Brighton event for antique vehicles. Thanks to Don Whalen and Rich Bunch, the Orient trike, the last of its kind, is now back in California just a few miles from Charles Metz’s final resting place, so call it a homecoming.
Riding/Driving Impressions
Asked if it was easy to handle, Don says, with his very dry sense of humor, “No, it requires a buggy whip, according to Reed Martin who’s ridden it. We haven’t fired it up yet although we’re threatening to. Reed has given us detailed instruction how to get it going. The engine fires while pedaling at a relatively low speed but since it is direct drive once you fire it, you are, as they say, en route. It has a little band brake but certainly nothing you could write home about. After removing the sparkplug, I’ve pedaled it around a bit which is a little weird. Reed tells us that once fired and in motion and you find that you need to stop like right away, you reach down, and instead of fooling with the lever to disengage the compression release and shut the thing off, the fastest, easiest way is to pull out the ignition key stud. The ignition stud slides into to make contact across the batteries which then generates the spark. But he adds, ”I guarantee that while you’re doing that it’ll shock the hell out of you.”
Don also points out an unusual means of accommodating a passenger. He would stand on two pads affixed to the top on the rear frame member above the axle, between the muffler, on one side, the coil on the other. He would then put his hands on the rider’s shoulders to maintain his standing riding position. Asked how long he would remain in that position, Don says, “Oh, I don’t know, but that would be an act of faith.”
Sidebar: The Waltham Museum
Charles Metz’s hometown of Waltham, MA, the birthplace of America’s first production “motorcycle,” has some serious history, apparently the location of many “firsts.” In 1813 it boasted the first modern factory in the U.S, a cloth making facility, and is credited as the launching site for the American Industrial Revolution, certainly a fitting place for another revolution, the motorcycle. Other notable contributions occurred in 1845 when James Baker worked on the first sewing machine, while 1854, the Waltham Watch Co. was the first to make watches with interchangeable parts and moreover, the first 100% American made watch.
The company’s advanced machinery helped spur other industries and fanned America’s industrial ascension. Charles Metz and the Waltham Manufacturing Co. intersected in the 1890s which led to bicycles (including their famous one-off ten- seater “Oriten” that toured Europe), various motorcycles and in 1903 the gasoline-powered Orient Buckboard followed by the Metz automobile.
Inside the museum you’ll find examples of 1913 and 1915 Metz 2-seater roadsters, 1915 and 1916 5-passenger Metz Touring cars, a 1903 Orient buckboard, a 1909 Metz Plan Car and assorted Metz memorabilia including catalogs and literature as well as a tandem Orient bicycle. Watching over the collection and the museum’s many other displays is Museum Director Albert A. Arena who has been there since 1971 when the Waltham Museum first opened it doors. Mr. Arena kindly filled in some of the fine points of Orient/Charles Metz history.
The Waltham Mfg. Co., a stock holding company, operated from 1893 until 1909 at which time it went bankrupt but Charles Metz had left in 1902 to start his own Orient motorcycle business. In 1905, another motorcycle maker, Marsh, teamed up with Metz to produce the highly successful Marsh-Metz. Then in 1909 Waltham called Metz and offered him the presidency and ownership of the reorganized company. At this point he started selling the Metz Plan Car (1909-11), perhaps one of the first “kit cars.” It consisted of 14 kits for $25 each that sold all across the country via magazine ads, the car kits including two cylinder opposed piston engines producing 10-12 horsepower. One can be seen at the Waltham Museum. The Plan Car was so successful that in 1911 Metz was able to buy a mansion on 120 acres, the former home of Gov. Gore. During 1912-17 Metz offered a four cylinder water-cooled engine of 22 HP and by 1915 was the largest producer of automobiles east of Detroit, producing over 7,000 cars that year.
“Then something beyond his control put him out of business,” says Arena. “In 1915, a German submarine sank the Lusitania. People were furious so anything German-made, from sauerkraut to cars with German names, all took a hit during World War I. Although Metz made a superior car, one that won the Glidden Tour Race in 1913, sales dropped in 1916-17, and in 1918 the government took over his plant and the Metz employees built 1000 DeHavilland DH-4 warplanes during that year and no cars. To this day the U.S. government owes him money for use of his assembly line. In 1922, he changed the name from the Metz car to the Waltham car, and took the last Metz car off the assembly line and drove it to southern California where he became a millionaire as a land developer in Malibu.”
As far as his personality, Arena, having spoken with two of Metz’s sons, says, “He was ambitious, not ruthlessly ambitious, but hard-working ambitious. He was well liked by his employees and they had a local Metz baseball and bowling teams.” Mr. Metz passed away in 1937 during the same time period when aviatrix Amelia Earhart disappeared while flying over the Pacific. In his last days, greatly concerned about the missing flyer, he asked if Earhart had been found. His wife Elizabeth, out of kindness, replied that yes, she had. Charles Metz is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA.
The latest news flash from the Waltham Museum, home to the Metz exhibit, is that after 33 years in its original location, the city has approved its move to new quarters within the old police station on Lexington street but only on the condition that it raise enough money to renovate the initial ten rooms where the displays will be housed. They have until November 2005 to raise $150,000. Donations, greatly appreciated, can be sent to the Waltham Museum, 17 Noonan St., Waltham, MA 02453 or call 781-893-8017.
More Metz Bicycles: Ultimate Bicycle Museum
Through the wonder of the Internet, researching one article often leads you to many other interesting points on the cyberspace map. Case in point, the Metz Bicycle Museum in Freehold, New Jersey. Created by Mr. David Metz, while unrelated to Charles H. Metz, the two obviously share common ground, that traveled by the bicycle. The Metz Bicycle Museum houses one of the world's finest and largest collections of antique bicycles, dating from the 1850's to the 1950's. We’re talking hundreds of bicycles…boneshakers, highwheelers, quadricycles, tricycles, ordinaries, safeties, children's bikes, trick bikes, and many more unusual and one-of-a kind cycles as well as extensive collections of children's riding toys, kitchen and household gadgets, antique mousetraps, cast iron bottle cap openers, pencil sharpeners, antique cars, and lots more accumulated over the past 50 years by the retired businessman. You can take a virtual tour of the truly fascinating collection by logging on to http://www.metzbicyclemuseum.com. Make sure you check out the 1890s lamplighter bike. You can also talk to Mr. Metz who is always happy to share his collection and knowledge by calling 732-462-7363.
An Orient in Los Angeles
If you venture in the L.A. area, you can get up close and personal with an Orient two-wheeler on display at the Petersen Museum, the bike belonging to Master Restorer Mike Parti. Log on www.petersen.org or call 310-930-CARS.
