I found this family photo online. (Yes, this is the best resolution available to me.)
Can anyone identify the early motorcycle in the photo?
The only clue I can give: The rider (a distant cousin) was born in 1900 and resided in California.
Looks like the logo might be that of the Indian brand, which was the largest motorcycle business right after the turn of the century and preceded Harley.
It looks like a Harley-Davidson engine to me, but the frame doesn’t look like H-D. I thought maybe a Pope, but that doesn’t look right either.
How about a Reading Standard?
That logo looks pretty close.
The motor design and belt drive look similar to this 1910 Emblem.
Yup, here’s the exact model, I think.
Excellent detective work, cornflakes; I think that’s it!
Thanks, it was fun to try to find it! Google-fu really, but everything seems to match up–the idler pulley “clutch” for the belt drive, the rocker type seat suspension, the magneto being vertical and beside the carburetor. Even the muffler seems like a match.
Besides, engineering_comp geek got the make right, which was 95 percent of the work.