If you like quirky bikes from the early period, there is no doubt that you have cast your eyes over an American Pierce. This 1912 Model 12 was one such motorcycle that was built by the illustrious Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company of Buffalo, New York. And it is quite rare, with only the one cylinder. Oh, and its for sale.

Words: Rich Orriss

Photos: Yesterdays

Pierce motorcycles were born from a company already renowned for quality engineering. Before entering the motorcycle market, Pierce-Arrow had built bicycles, automobiles and even luxury touring cars that would become some of the finest American vehicles of their era. The motorcycle project was championed by Percy Pierce, who in 1908 travelled to Europe and returned with a Belgian four-cylinder machine built by Fabrique Nationale (FN).

Inspired by FN, Pierce launched its own four-cylinder motorcycle in 1909 – the first four-cylinder motorcycle built in the United States. Rather than copying the FN directly, Pierce improved upon it. The American machine used mechanically operated side valves in a T-head layout rather than FN’s atmospheric inlet valves (a configuration FN themselves would later adopt).

The Pierce Four quickly earned a reputation for refinement and durability, marketed under the proud claim of being “vibrationless”. The company soon expanded the range to include a single-cylinder model, designed to offer similar engineering quality in a simpler and lighter package.

The Pierce Single

The Pierce single was introduced in 1910 with a 592cc engine, but by 1912 the design had evolved into the Model 12, featuring a larger 644cc side-valve engine with twin-cam valve operation and a longer stroke. Despite being the smaller model in the Pierce line-up, the factory claimed the single possessed “the efficiency of a twin with the simplicity of single-cylinder construction.”

Performance was impressive for the era, with a claimed top speed of around 55 mph – more than adequate on the rough roads of the early twentieth century.

What made Pierce motorcycles truly distinctive, however, was their construction. The frame was formed from massive 3½-inch diameter steel tubes, which doubled as fuel and oil tanks. This clever idea afforded the machines a clean, uncluttered appearance while also improving structural rigidity.

Another unusual early feature was a shaft drive. Like the FN Four, power was transmitted to the rear wheel through an enclosed shaft rather than a chain or belt. Early machines used this direct drive, but from 1910 onwards a two-speed gearbox was fitted as standard, and so in came belts and chains. It was such engineering details that made Pierce motorcycles remarkably sophisticated for their time, when motorcycles were just coming to life.

Luxury Engineering and Its Cost

Pierce motorcycles were built with the same philosophy that guided the company’s automobiles: quality above all else. Each machine was carefully engineered and largely manufactured in-house rather than assembled from catalogue parts.

This commitment to excellence came at a price. The Pierce four originally sold for $325 in 1909, rising to $400 by 1913. In comparison, a brand-new Ford Model T (which provided four wheels to cart the family around with protection from the elements) could be purchased for $600. It was an expensive bike, but who cares – it looked the business!

While the motorcycles were admired for their quality and performance, the high cost limited sales. Production numbers remained low, and by 1914 the Pierce motorcycle venture had come to an end. Only a few thousand machines of all types were produced, and surviving examples are exceptionally scarce today.

A Century of Family Ownership

The story of this particular machine is quite remarkable. Its first owner, Roy Walter Glaser, was born in 1893 in the Cincinnati area of Ohio. By the age of nineteen he had purchased this Pierce, which he kept alongside an automobile and sidecar in his garage. Glaser worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a signalman and remained a lifelong bachelor, devoting much of his time to his work and possessions.

After his death in 1984, the motorcycle passed to his nephew, Jack Mesley. Although Mesley did not ride motorcycles himself, he carefully stored his uncle’s Pierce in the garage of his Lockland home, preserving it in remarkably untouched condition. When Jack Mesley died in 2004 the machine passed to his wife Shirley, and the Pierce remained with the family until it was finally unearthed by Dale Walksler, by which time it had remained within the same family for over one hundred years. This was covered in the series “What’s in the Barn” where Dale remarked about the machine – “its probably in the list of the world’s rarest motorcycles”.

A Rare Survivor

Today the machine stands as an outstandingly original survivor. It retains many period details including its Mesinger cavalry saddle, optional pillion seat and passenger footrests, and an Old Sol acetylene headlamp and tail lamp with distinctive red side jewels. A Seiss hand-cranked horn, manufactured in 1914, is mounted on the handlebars.

The Pierce has undergone a sympathetic restoration since it was wheeled out of the basement by Dale Walksler and carries with it a fantastic air of history.

Pierce motorcycles appear only rarely on the market, and many surviving examples reside in museums or long-established private collections. Machines like this Model 12 are a genuine time capsule from the earliest years of motorcycling, and with its remarkable originality and history, it is incredibly special.

The bike is currently with Yesterdays Motorcycles in the Netherlands. Click here for more information.

an article by The Girder Club

— the home of vintage motorcycles, tall tales, and machines that refuse to behave —

If you would like to be kept up-to-date with the latest news and information on vintage motorcycles, feel free to sign up to our newsletter, which we aim to ping out each month.