April 22nd, 2019: Collecting

[xoxoxoBruce]

People who collect anything usually try to keep in touch with people with the same hobby. The internet has made that much easier than ever.
But no matter if it’s stamps, teacups, cats, or motor vehicles, there is always the questions...
Who has the biggest item or collection?
Who has the smallest item or collection?
Who has the oldest item and what is it?
Who has the rarest item and what is it?
Who has the most valuable item and what is it?
There’s always a quest to fine the history of every item. It doesn’t seem more than curiosity for most collectors, except some alpha types
who have to know or they’ll explode.

Here is a motorcycle that has made a few people nuts for 50 years, the Traub. This bike is so unlike any other it drives the experts crazy
to not know it’s history. Good bet it was someone named traub but who was he, where and when.

Although there isn’t any information from the time the bike was created until it was found in 1967 in Chicago (either behind a wall or under a porch). Note that the exact location where the Traub was found can’t be nailed down because although both sources are credible, both are second hand.
Now owned by Dale Walksler’s Wheels Through Time classic motorcycle museum in Maggie Valley, N.C., he says in 40 years of dealing with old bikes he has never seen anything quite like the Traub.

Ask him about the components inside the engine, and he’ll tell you with great enthusiasm that “everything inside the engine is just magnificent. The pistons are handmade, and they have gap-less cast iron rings. The engineering and machining are simply years ahead of their time.” During the reassembly process, the only parts Dale had to fabricate were the base gaskets. The bike doesn’t use any other gasket anywhere in the engine, as it is so perfectly machined. While the majority of the components on the bike are handmade, it is the “off-the-shelf” parts that have enabled Walksler to determine an approximate date of 1916 for the Traub.

The rest of the bike is unique. For example, a close inspection of the rear brake reveals a dual-acting system with a single cam responsible for pushing an internal set of expanding shoes, while pulling an external set of contracting shoes. As far as Dale knows, this single-cam/twin-brake system has never been used on any other American motorcycle.
The left side of the bike has two clutch levers, foot-operated, and also a hand lever. The lever gate for the shifter, operating what could have been the first three-speed gearbox on an American motorcycle, features two neutral positions marked with a zero, between first and second, and, between second and third gear.
A beautifully crafted 78ci V-twin engine with a 4in stroke and a 3 7/16in bore. The majority of big displacement engines from the Traub’s era were around 61ci. What is unusual is the adjustable crankcase breather and the engine fasteners, which are unique. The quality of machining is superior, it has handmade pistons with gap-less cast iron rings and only requires base gaskets because it fits together so well.

Wheelbase: 55 inches
Tank capacity: 3.5 gallons gasoline, 1 gallon oil
Range: 125 miles
Horsepower: 4 (an extremely impressive figure for its time)
Bore and stroke: 3.25 by 4 inches
Auxiliary gasoline tank: 0.5 gallon
Speed: "more than the roads will stand"
Gearing: 3.75:1
Mileage: 1,500

Then the mystery, or most of it, was solved.

Back in 1967 a plumber was doing some renovation work to a building in Chicago and discovered a complete 1917 motorcycle with the unusual name of Traub on its tank. The building’s elderly owner admitted that his son had stolen the motorcycle before going off to the First World War, only to never return.

Gottlieb Richard Traub was born in America but was of German descent. Correspondence from a “Richard Traub” to the editor of Motorcycle Illustrated was printed July 1907. The letter's author lists his address at North Paulina St., Chicago, and talks about his homemade four-horsepower motorcycle. A photo is included:

Dear Sir – ... find the enclosed picture and specifications of a motorcycle made by myself throughout engine and all. I worked on this cycle about one year, putting in the time only between 7 pm and 11 pm. I also worked Sundays.

Specifications – Wheelbase, 55 inches; tank capacity, 3 1/2 gallons gasoline, 1 gallon oil, sufficient for 125 miles; power, 4 horsepower; bore and stroke 3 1/4 by 4 inches; auxiliary gasoline tank, 1/2 gallon; speed, more than the roads will stand; perfect grip control; throttle and spark motor is geared 3 3/4 to 1; it has a cycle chain with washers and does good service; has never troubled me yet, and I rode all of 1,500 miles."

Apparently he repaired others but only built one.

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[Gravdigr]

Nice one, Bruce.

[newtimer]

If you're going to spend a year hand-making something unique, you're probably going to keep it for yourself, not sell it. So I bet that the thief stole it from Mr. Traub directly.
Some newspapers of the time might show a reward offered by Mr. Traub in the classified section*.

(* - Kids, "classified section" is what we old-timers call craigslist 1.0)

[Griff]

Traub being German during a war hysteria was probably a nice target.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, and they determined it was finished about 1916/1917.