New Werner

New Werner
	1904 Werner
Manufacturer	Werner Motors
Production	1901–1908
Predecessor	Werner 1897 "Motocyclette"
Engine	217 cc single-cylinder, four-stroke, surface carburetor
Bore / stroke	62 × 72 mm
Power	1.5 hp (1.1 kW)
Ignition type	Platinum hot tube ignition or battery and trembler coil
Transmission	Rawhide belt drive
Weight	c. 100 lb (45 kg) (dry);

The New Werner was a motorcycle produced by Werner Motors beginning in 1901. It replaced Werner's 1897 model, whose motor placed above the front wheel caused handling problems.^[2]^[3] Production ceased in 1908.^[4] Some 50, now known as the "Leitner Rossiya Motorcycle", were also produced under license in Russia with Fafnir engines at the Riga bicycle works.^[4]

The New Werner's lasting innovation was to place the engine at the lowest point in a bicycle-style diamond frame, where a bicycle crank would have been (the bicycle pedals, crank and redundant chain were relocated rearward and retained for starting and hillclimbing assistance). The pattern of low-mounted engine inside some kind of motorcycle frame became the standard motorcycle layout for the 20th century.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

The intake valve was automatic (actuated by atmospheric pressure) and the exhaust valve was cam driven.^[9]

At 30 miles per hour (48 km/h), it was the fastest production motorcycle from the time it was introduced until the 1911 model year FN Four was introduced.^{[citation needed]}

The New Werner was selected by Cycle World's Kevin Cameron as the most influential motorcycle of all time.^[10] It was shown in the Guggenheim Museum's 2001–2003 The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition in Las Vegas.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

^ Kelly, p. 61
^ Grace's Guide
^ Bonhams: "The [1897] Werner, however, was not without its shortcomings, not the least of which was the dreaded 'sideslip', a consequence of the design's high centre of gravity, whereupon the hot tube ignition would cause the fallen machine to catch fire."
^ ^a ^b Kelly, p. 56
^ Louis and Currie, p. 22: "The Werner engine position was so logical, so absolutely right, that the new machine was to be the prototype of motor cycles for years ahead."
^ Setright 1976, p. 15: "[T]he New Werner provided an archetype for the modern motorcycle, the crystalline form that was to be multiplied and mirrored a thousand times... in which they passed from being experimental playthings of a lunatic minority to becoming the recreational or workaday transport of a considerable number."
^ Setright 1979, p. 26: "the layout [was] copied everywhere..."
^ Bonhams: "The 1901 Werner is generally acknowledged as the first powered two-wheeler to carry its engine in the frame where the bicycle's bottom bracket and pedalling gear had been located, and thus is credited as the progenitor of the modern motorcycle.
^ Louis and Currie, p. 22
^ Cameron 2012