# Identify this early motorcycle
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 13, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270 "2011-06-13T01:05:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/1 "2011-06-13T01:05:57Z")
I found [this family photo](http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/spoke-/EarlyMotorcycle.jpg) 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.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/2 "2011-06-13T01:39:57Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/3 "2011-06-13T02:07:28Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/4 "2011-06-13T02:31:07Z")
How about a Reading Standard?
> **[1913 Reading Standard](https://auto.howstuffworks.com/1913-reading-standard.htm)**
>
> The 1913 Reading Standard motorcycle was a great example of an early American motorcycle. Reading Standards is best known as the first American motorcycle company to offer a flathead engine. See pictures and learn about the Reading Standard.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/5 "2011-06-13T02:39:38Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> How about a Reading Standard?
>
> [http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1913-reading-standard.htm](http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1913-reading-standard.htm)
That logo looks pretty close.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/6 "2011-06-13T02:47:05Z")
The motor design and belt drive look similar to this [1910 Emblem](http://www.antiquemotorcycles.net/images/new_bikes/large/DSCN0233.JPG).
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### Author:  [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/7 "2011-06-13T03:49:31Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> How about a Reading Standard?
>
> [http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1913-reading-standard.htm](http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1913-reading-standard.htm)
[Yup, here’s the exact model](http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=161), I think.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/8 "2011-06-13T11:36:26Z")
> [@cornflakes](#):
>
> [Yup, here’s the exact model](http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=161), I think.
Excellent detective work, **cornflakes** ; I think that’s it!
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### Author:  [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-early-motorcycle/585270/9 "2011-06-13T16:31:46Z")
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.