Bicycle builders who later went on to make Automobiles

[30DodgePanel]

We know many of the auto manufacturers built carriages first, but has anyone ever put together an expanded list of auto manufacturers that first started in bicycles? I've searched the web and can't find much without hours and hours of digging.

I can't help but wonder if an A to Z list would be more substantial than we might realize...

 

I'll start it off with a few from secondary sources like Wiki and newspaper ads, so feel free to correct me with any details and add names you've found. I'll try and edit daily as others input.

 

Primarily interested in those of the North American Continent but feel free to include any worldwide and I'll edit as time permits.

 

USA & Canada

Columbia (see the many Pope ties for explanation Columbia (automobile brand) - Wikipedia)

Dodge Brothers (E&D or Evans & Dodge - prior to Olds and Ford relationship)

Duesenberg (Bicycle shop in Des Moines IA)

Duryea (anyone have a name for this bicycle co?)

Lozier (1895 H.A. Lozier Co manufactured bicycles on St Clair Ave in Toronto Junction)

Mason (Duesenberg bicycle ties)

Pierce-Arrow (in 1896 The George N. Pierce Company added bicycles to the product line of many household items)

Pope (Indiana Bicycle Co then later became Pope Waverly and other Pope names may have been associated with this)

Rambler (G&J - Gormully & Jeffery or American Bicycle Company then later became Nash then Rambler again)

Reber (Acme Bicycle Co. then later Acme Motor Car Company)

Russell Motor Car (CCM Canadian Cycle & Motors was established by the amalgamation of several bicycle manufactures such as Lozier)

Stoddard-Dayton

Thomas Motor Co

Waltham (Orient Bicycle)

Waverly

Winton ( Winton Bicycle Co)

 

Britain 

Alldays & Onions

Bayless-Thomas (ties to Excelsior bicycles and motorcycles)

BSA (originally was Ariel Bicycle)

Calcott

Campion Cycle Car (Although only a prototype Car and was never produced due to WWI)

Chater-Lea

Commer (Originally Whippet Bicycle)

Hillman

Ivel Motor Car (search Dan Albone)

Morris

Peugeot

Riley Motor

Rover

Singer

Star Motor Co

Sunbeam

Triumph

 

France

Adolphe Clément-Bayard - Wikipedia

Clement - many French and British automobile ties are related to the name Clement, refer to the Wiki link for explanation

Alcyon

Decauville 

Hurtu

 

Germany

Adler 

Brennabor

Opel

Simson-Supra

Wanderer

 

The rest of the world

Graf & Stift (Austria)

Laurin & Klement (Czech - Acquired by Skoda Works 1925)

Leutner & Co (Russia)

Minerva (Belgium)

Steyr-Daimler-Puch (Austria)

Scania (Sweden)

 

Notable Mentions that may be interesting to some and trivial to others:

Curtiss - although not an automobile manufacturer he deserves mention. He was a Western Union bicycle messenger, racer and bicycle shop owner prior to motorcyles, aviation and we can’t forget about the Curtiss Aerocar camper.

Frisbie-Hoeft deserves a mention. He (Frisbie) produced two six cyl engines in his bike shop, later went on to invent the cap gun and other famous  toys many of us played with Frisbie Motor Company ⇒ Frisbie-Hoeft Company - everythingaboutboats.org

and A Brief History of the Frisbee - New England Historical Society

Garford (Invented a bicycle seat in 1892)

Harley Davidson oddly never built bicycles, they started with "motorized bikes". (Are you as shocked as I am?)

Husqvarna

Indian Motorcycles

Lycoming (deserves a mention due to the impact the engines made in the auto industry. The history traces back to a 1891 bicycle called "The New York Bicycle" Lycoming Engines - Wikipedia

Matra

Micajah C. Henley built bicycles but was famous for inventing roller skates. He lived two doors from the Wright Brothers and sold Wilbur his first bike for $10

Mochet Velocar

Morgan Super Sports

Norton (Morgan and Norton both have ties to Matchless one of the oldest British motorcycle and bicycle marques)

NSU and Volkswagen ties into Neckarsulm Motorenwerke (Germany 1873 knitting manufacturer that began bicycles in 1886)

Overman Wheel Company - Albert H. Overman later reoganized the wheel company into the Overman Automobile Co and produced the

Victor Steam Carriage. He later merged with Locomobile.

Radio Flyer (famous toy wagon had ties to the bicycle and still admired by many in the hobby. One of latest even being the electric Tesla "Flightspeed" for kids)

Rudge-Whitworth

Solex

Speedwell (Australia)

Suzuki actually started with weaving looms and went straight into building four cylinder engine prototypes) 

Victoria (Germany)

White and Poppe Limited was a proprietary engine building and gearbox manufacturing business est in Coventry England 1899

Wright Brothers (Wright Cycle Company before the impact they made to aviation)

1900 Van Cleve Catalogue (wright-brothers.org)

 

Frisbie Pie truck I recently found on the web and thought of this thread

 

Last edit 8/13/2023 10:08 am MST

Edited August 13, 2023 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers went from bicycles directly to airplanes, skipped the whole car thing.  That said, Curtiss did try to make a plane that could be driven on the road in 1917.  Maybe the road part was OK, but the plane was too heavy to really fly.  Curtiss did drive his own V8-powered motorcycle to 136 mph in 1907.   

[oldcarfudd]

Rambler, became Jeffery, became Nash, became Rambler again, became defunct.

[keiser31]

Pierce Arrow made bicycles.

George N. Pierce Company of Buffalo, New York manufactured this bicycle around 1900. The Pierce Company also made early Pierce Motorette automobiles. In time, the Pierce automobile became known as the Pierce-Arrow, while the Pierce bicycles and Pierce 1- and 4-cylinder motorcycles were built by the Pierce Cycle Co., a subsidiary of the original company. The Pierce Cycle Co. was headed by Percy Pierce, son of George, when receivers were appointed for it in 1910. The bicycle was donated to the Smithsonian in 1928.

Edited August 5, 2023 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

Thank you gentleman for adding to the list. I'll continue to edit as we go. 
This should be very interesting once we see how profound the impact is to all fields whether it be bicycles, other household items or automobiles...

 

2 hours ago, Gary_Ash said:

Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers went from bicycles directly to airplanes, skipped the whole car thing.  That said, Curtiss did try to make a plane that could be driven on the road in 1917.  Maybe the road part was OK, but the plane was too heavy to really fly.  Curtiss did drive his own V8-powered motorcycle to 136 mph in 1907.   

 

Thanks for mentioning both, Gary.

 

I firmly believe these men deserve a place on this list, but for now, since this is an automobile forum the obvious is to include only those who manufactured automobiles, however, I will include them because of the significant impact they made to the transportation industry. 
I'm sure there will be others who will need mentioning along the way.

 

Pretty amazing list so far, I'm excited to see who else will be mentioned. 

 

 

[Jubilee]

   What always impressed me about the Wright brothers bike shop is that their chief mechanic built a 12 hp aluminum block engine weighing 180 lbs. in about 6 weeks.
  He said they made it up as they went along just using a lathe and a drill press.

That’s a pretty well rounded bike shop.

[1939_Buick]

Cycle to auto manufacturer not unusual in EU & UK

Rover (UK) is another.  Made Landrovers and Rovers.  Rover has a long history as part of various companies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_(marque)

 

Quote

Rover is a British automotive marque that was used for over a century, from 1904 to 2005. It was launched as a bicycle maker called Rover Company in 1878, before starting to manufacture autocars in 1904.

Peugeot (France)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot

 

Quote

The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810,[3] with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applied for the lion trademark. Armand Peugeot (1849–1915) built the company's first car steam tricycle. They joined forces with Léon Serpollet in 1886; this was followed in 1890 by an internal combustion car with a Panhard-Daimler engine.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycles_Peugeot

 

Peugeot is now a founding part of Stellantis, that includes Fiat-Chrsler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellantis

 

May find more auto makers here->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bicycle_brands_and_manufacturing_companies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr-Daimler-Puch

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by 1939_Buick (see edit history)

[Robert G. Smits]

Arthur Garford invented the padded bicycle seat in 1892 and sold over a million in the early years.  He went on to form the Garford Company which manufactured the chassis and mechanicals for Studebaker 1904-1911 in Elyria, Ohio  He manufactured the Garford automobile  1912-1913 when he sold to Willis.  Garford trucks were produced into the 1930's

 

The Duesenberg brothers had a bicycle shop in Des Moines, Iowa and produced the Mason Automobile for lawyer Edward Mason 1906-1909. Brothers Fred and August designed the car and power train.  Marketing efforts promoted its strength by driving it up the 47 steps of the Iowa State Capitol building.

[8E45E]

That happened a lot in Great Britain. Riley, Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam, Singer, BSA, to name some more.

 

Craig

[30DodgePanel]

16 hours ago, Robert G. Smits said:

The Duesenberg brothers had a bicycle shop in Des Moines, Iowa and produced the Mason Automobile for lawyer Edward Mason 1906-1909. Brothers Fred and August designed the car and power train.  Marketing efforts promoted its strength by driving it up the 47 steps of the Iowa State Capitol building.

 

Embarrassed that I'd forgotten about Fred and Augies bike story...

I married my wife in Des Moines and used to work at the Capitol building years ago and should have remembered this. 

Thanks for the reminder, Bob.

 

Dave

Edited August 6, 2023 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

17 hours ago, 1939_Buick said:

 

May find more auto makers here->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bicycle_brands_and_manufacturing_companies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr-Daimler-Puch

 

 

Definitely more on that list. I've only glimpsed at it and already found a few that i'll be editing to the first post soon.

Thanks for the link

 

Dave

[prewarnut]

I can ad Frisbie-Hoeft in Middletown, CT although technically Russell Abner Frisbie sold bicycles and didn't manufacturer them.

[Robert G. Smits]

John Stoddard added “Tiger” brand bicycles to his line of farm machinery from 1890 to 1898.  In 1905 he began producing Stoddard Dayton automobiles.  He went into bankruptcy in 1913 with Maxwell purchasing the assets. (From Walt’s memorabilia thread)

[oldcarfudd]

A skirt, no chain guard, no helmet, a muddy road and a cliff - what could possibly go wrong?

[Robert G. Smits]

Every third person wasn't a lawyer back in the day!!

[Terry Bond]

Speaking of the UK - William Morris, Upon leaving school at the age of 15, apprenticed for a local bicycle-seller and repairer. Nine months later, after his employer refused a pay increase he set up a competing business repairing bicycles in a shed at the back of his parents' house. He soon opened a new shop, and as business began to grow, he began assembling bicycles, labeling his product with a gilt cycle wheel and The Morris. Morris successfully  raced his own bicycles competing as far away as south London.

 

He began to work with motorcycles in 1901, designing the Morris Motor Cycle, and in 1902 acquired new buildings where he repaired bicycles; operated a taxi service; and sold, repaired and hired-out cars. He held the agencies for Arrol-Johnson, Humber, Belsize, Hupmobile, Singer, Standard, and Wolsley.   In 1910 he built a  new workshop known as "the Oxford Garage."   The name quickly changed to "The Morris Garage."  

 

Morris automobiles were built there beginning in 1912 and became one of the best selling automobiles in the world.  In 1921, Cecil Kimber was hired as a Sales Manager, and quickly became General Manager a year later.  He introduced  the famed MG the following year.

Terry