She Who Flirts With Death

The ever so handsome CeDora, a pioneer female stunt rider from the turn of the century. The toast of the Vaudeville circuit, the young CeDora thrilled audiences across the country as she gracefully piloted her specially modified Indian motorcycle around the inside of a giant 3-ton steel ball known as The Globe of Death.

First reports of CeDora’s amazing act surfaced in April of 1909 when she appeared on the cover of The Motorcycle News magazine. At that time she was performing in New York City’s Hippodrome theatre, the largest theatre of its type in the world. 1909 was still a very early time in the motorcycle’s development, iconic manufacturers like Harley-Davidson and Excelsior were still getting their feet underneath them and the sport of professional racing was just beginning to take shape. As such it wasn’t the most common occurrence to see a woman riding a motorcycle, much less one performing death-defying stunts. A pioneer in every sense, CeDora’s attire in that first photograph was quite possibly the most shocking thing about her, high cut shorts and a short sleeved shirt were downright shocking in 1909.

CeDora traveled all over North America throughout the teens, her show not making across the Atlantic due to World War I. Thrill shows like the Globe of Death, Whirl of Death, Silodromes, and later the Wall of Death became a staple of the American carnival culture and still to this day audacious men and women alike risk their own health and safety to delight crowds across the country with their spectacular, death-defying shows. CeDora was most likely the first of her kind and was certainly a pioneer in American motorcycle culture. Here she poses for a snapshot in early 1917 onboard her prized Indian “Globe” machine, the same machine she rode her entire career. It should be noted that in the world of rare early Indian one-offs and unique modified motorcycles, CeDora’s bike, though it has been restored is one of the few that is accounted for and can be seen if searched for on the web.

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Harry Glenn, Atlanta Motordrome 1913

The American Motordrome, bygone cathedrals of enthusiastic risk, triumph, and tragedy. It was inside these large wooden saucers that a new breed of professional, the restless gentlemen of a newly dawned 20th century put their lives on the line every week to the delight of the enraptured masses.

For those few daring enough to compete on these steeply banked, and often times roughly constructed board tracks a good life awaited, one full of adrenaline, accolades, and prosperity, but not all crossed the finish line. For many of these young men, most with young families to support, a more gruesome fate would greet them as their throttle’s dilated. Still many skirted death, piloting their raw and untethered purebred motorcycles to victory and becoming American icons as they traveled the country to battle inside the motordromes.

Twenty six stadium motordromes were built between 1909 and 1914, the majority of which were a 1/4 mile long with banking ranging from a soft 20 degrees to a nearly vertical 62 degrees. The Great War hastened the inevitable end to what had been the intense and tumultuous 5 year boom of the American motordrome. The inherent danger of increasingly capable machines, frequent weather disruptions, an exceedingly high cost of maintenance, and a growing public distaste for the tragic gore that resulted after all-too frequent accidents made for the saucer’s abbreviated life span. Though the motordrome moniker would live on in the larger wooden speedways and smaller traveling thrill shows that were to come, the circular wooden bowls that spawned the name and helped create a new American industry disappeared, officially being banned in 1919.

A southern pioneer and lifelong ambassador, Georgia’s Harry James Glenn was one of this new breed, a man of exceptional grit who questioned all limits inside America’s motordromes. A glint in his eye and a half smile, Harry is seen here with his factory Indian racer in front of the 56 degree track of the Atlanta Motordrome in the summer of 1913, his first season on the boards.

Read more about Harry’s incredible life story and the Atlanta Motordrome, as well as countless other tales from the beginning of American motorcycle culture inside the pages of Georgia Motorcycle History, available exclusively HERE

St. Louis Motordrome, August 1912

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A quick glimpse inside the 1/4 mile board track motordrome in St. Louis from its opening weekend, August 1912. With a banking of 62 degrees it was the steepest ever constructed.

The Civilian Indian 8 Valve

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Today’s post is a departure from my ongoing tribute to the history of motorcycling at Daytona Beach, that series will continue but I wanted to mix it up a bit.

This photo intrigued me from the moment I first laid eyes on it. As usual I initially came upon it on one of the countless blogs online, bottomless wells of knowledge and vaguely captioned images. However, it is thanks to the limitless reach of social media that I was able to connect with the lovely couple from Australia who own the hardcopy. They were kind enough to send me a digital scan and with my very limited photoshoping abilities I tried to clean it up a bit, revealing a handful of surprising details. The most curious feature in the photograph, the one that has caught many an eye on its trip around the interwebs is without question the Indian factory 8-valve racing engine cradled inside a civilian production frame. To this day it is the only such machine I have ever run across. There is still much to learn about this unique machine and the men around it, but here is what I have uncovered so far.

The image comes from the city of Lordsburg, California, today known as La Verne, a town just east of Los Angeles near the foothills of Mt. Baldy. Located on the north side of 3rd Street between D and E Streets, the Lordsburg Cyclery served the area in all matters motorcycle and bicycle. As often the case with these early local shops, the Cyclery also acted as the headquarters for any and all men of motorsport, providing a mustering point for the local clubs and a base of operations for spirited races. From events at the local track, to impromptu road races through the town’s small streets, to weekend tours into the beautiful canyon country of Southern California, the Cyclery was always involved. This was undoubtedly due to the enthusiasm of the shops two owners, Henry Hixson and Frank Palomares, each avid motorcyclist and amateur racers. It is one of those gusty owners, Henry Hixson that is posing here in front of his shop with a very special Indian motorcycle. 

Though the photograph reads 1915, this machine as well as the facade of the Cyclery appears to date the image closer to 1912, though an exact date remains a mystery. This civilian production model Indian features a hard tail frame, front leaf spring suspension, acetylene headlamp, passenger seat assembly, and the large Indian script logo on the tank. The standard 7HP, 61ci production engine however is missing, in its place is a small-base 8-valve racing engine, a very peculiar setup for two reasons. The first of which is that there is no documentation or even an off hand mention that I have come across of an 8-valve motor ever having been fitted into a production chassis. It is by no means a far stretch of the imagination however to think that a racing engine could have been fitted into a stock setup by a wily and well-connected amateur, which is most likely the case here with Hixson. The second reason being that the small-base 8-valve racing engine was a relatively new development for the factory in 1912, having only just made its debut the year prior. If this photo does in fact date to 1912, it would have to have been a very special case for one of these early production racing engines to find its way into the hands of a privateer or dealer, though it was not an impossibility. Henry Hixson would've had to be a hell of dealer to pick up one of these early overhead valve racing engines from the factory, otherwise he acquired the motor by more entertaining means. Whatever the case may be, the machine was sure to have been a ripper and its rider, Henry Hixson the envy of the local motoring set.

Hopefully over time more details about Hixson, the Cyclery, or this wonderful 8-valve Indian will emerge but until then we can let our imaginations run wild as we have yet another wonderful look back into the early days of American motorcycle culture.