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Reader Greg G. from Long Beach was recently handed a family photo album from his wife's 83-year-old Grandfather, and was delighted to discover a few shots of this ca.1913 Dayton motorcycle, with a mysterious rider. A few pointed questions to Grandpa revealed that his mother had, in her youth (the photos were taken in 1919) fancied a rakish young man who had a bit of money in his pocket, a motorcycle, and a camera!
One presumes the fellow with the starched, detachable collar and knit tie is the fellow in question, and of course, Great-Grandmother is the heavily-skirted young lady looking ever so bored on the Dayton. How such an expression might have grown on her lovely visage is a mystery, for our hero has gone to great lengths for her comfort, attaching a very large leather cushion to his parcel rack, and covered his rear spokes with Rexine to protect milady's skirts.
Greg says the photos were taken around the Hippodrome in Minneapolis, and sadly, not long afterwards our motorcyclist drowned (swimming is dangerous!), leaving our lady to find a new fellow, who of course turned out to be Greg's Great-Grandfather-in-Law.
The Dayton, built in Chicago by the Davis Sewing Machine Company, was a short-lived creation, using a proprietary Spacke DeLuxe engine (see photo avove) of 998cc from 1911-14, initially a single-speeder with pedaling gear and a clutch; from 1915 a two-speed countershaft gearbox was available, and Dayton began making its own Harley-clone engines. The Spacke motor (also used in Sears motorcycles) was a lovely thing, with engine-turned crankcases, fully enclosed valves, and a geared shaft in the timing case which drove both the cams and magneto (via shaft-and-bevel); very showy from an engineering perspective, but expensive to produce. The Dayton flickered out in 1917, much like the life of our dashing young hero, two years later.
Dale Walksler of the Wheels Through Time Museum has a short youtube video about a Dayton, featured below: