Author Topic: Today in Excelsior History  (Read 2915 times)

Offline Traveller

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Today in Excelsior History
« on: December 29, 2015, 09:05:10 AM »
December 29, 1912: Lee Humiston is the first man to hit 100 mph, riding an Excelsior motorcycle.

Offline Donkey Hotey

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Re: Today in Excelsior History
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2015, 01:43:39 AM »
Great reminder. For some reason, this source says December 30th.

http://www.statnekov.com/motorcycles/lives5.html


Quote
On December 30th, 1912, Humiston circled the banked one-mile oval on his direct-drive Excelsior in 36 seconds flat, to become the first motorcyclist in the world "officially" timed at 100 mph.  One week after his milestone accomplishment, "The Humiston Comet," (as he was promptly nicknamed by the press) surpassed DeRosier's record for 100 miles, trimming nearly seven and a half minutes from the fatally injured rider's best time.

Excelsior had won the race to the magic 100 mph mark and they had smashed the Indian-held record for the 100-mile distance as well.  The publicity was enormous. Every school boy in America knew that a man had traveled at 100 miles per hour on a motorcycle, and that he had accomplished this feat on an Excelsior built in Chicago
« Last Edit: December 30, 2015, 01:41:48 PM by Donkey Hotey »
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