Wayback Machine 1914: Aerothrust Propeller Driven Bicycle

Forget all your wimpy fuel celled and electric powered bikes, I gotta get me one of these! It's a 1914 Aerothrust with a one cylinder four-stroke (you know, the cleaner, less polluting ones) gasoline engine with a Bosch magneto ignition system and battery. No cellphone talking SUV driving matron is going to come close to my laminated wood propeller when I ride this downtown.

According to our source at the Sietch, the bike is an Iver Johnson built in Fitchburg, Mass, in the early 1900s. Aerothrust engines were built in Chicago and then LaPointe, Ill between 1913 and 1919.

Aerothrust was better known for its "Your Fishin' Pal" outboard motors; we don't know what magazine this came from, but the original writer Craig Fitzgerald wrote "If early motorcycling wasn't dangerous enough.. this halfbaked idea of toodling along with a whirring vegetable slicer at your back must've been somewhat daunting."

Sounds like great fun to me. ::the Sietch Blog