# Pierce Four

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Type of motorcycle

Pierce Four Pierce Four at The Art of the Motorcycle exhibit in Memphis Manufacturer Pierce Motorcycle Company Parent company Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company Production 1909–1914 Engine 696 cc T-head inline-4[1] with compression release Bore / stroke 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 in. Top speed 60 mph (97 km/h)[2][3] Power 4 hp or 7 hp[1] Transmission Shaft drive Frame type 31⁄2 inch tubing[4] Suspension Front: Leading link fork Rear: rigid Tires 28×2.5 in. pneumatic Weight 275 lb (125 kg)[1] (dry) Related FN Four, Henderson Four

The **Pierce Four** was the first four-cylinder [motorcycle](/source/Motorcycle) produced in the United States.[5][6][7] The model is included in the [AMA](/source/American_Motorcyclist_Association) [Motorcycle Hall of Fame](/source/Motorcycle_Hall_of_Fame) Classic Bikes[8] and [Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum](/source/Barber_Vintage_Motorsports_Museum). Touting its [inline-four engine](/source/Inline-four_engine) as "vibrationless", Pierce sold the motorcycle for $325,[2] rising to $400 by 1913, which was expensive at the time, making it popular with "more prosperous sportsmen".[9]

## Development and design

1910 Pierce Four motorcycle on display at the [Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum](/source/Barber_Vintage_Motorsports_Museum), Birmingham, Alabama.

1911 Pierce Motorcycle

George N. Pierce, owner of the GN Pierce Company, built refrigerators and bird cages in the 1890s, and expanded into bicycle manufacture by 1892, with the famous 'arrow' logo. Many of their bicycles used a shaft drive for the rear wheel. Three members of the GN Pierce board of directors traveled to Europe in 1900 to acquire new technology, and they purchased a DeDion engine to power a new automobile.

Pierce's son Percy was a competition driver of [Pierce automobiles](/source/Pierce-Arrow_Motor_Car_Company). By 1907, he was appointed head of the new Pierce Cycle Company, with the intention of producing motorcycles. Following factory tradition, he traveled to Europe for technical inspiration and acquired a Belgian [FN Four](/source/FN_Four) in 1908, which was shipped back to the Pierce factory for study.[10] As the world's first production four-cylinder motorcycle, the FN was the apex of current technology, and the Pierce engineering team used the FN as a reference for their own four-cylinder motorcycle introduced in 1909: the Pierce Four.[4][11]

The new Pierce was innovative, with a [stressed member engine](/source/Stressed_member_engine) and [shaft drive](/source/Driveshaft),[6] and a frame of very large-diameter tubing, that both hid the control cables and held oil and gasoline internally.[12][13] The large diameter tubing is said to have increased the frame's strength, and reduced the number of parts required, making manufacture less expensive.[14] Unlike FN's engine, the Pierce had a [T-head](/source/T-head_engine) sidevalve motor, and cam-driven intake valves rather than the 'automatic' (opened by atmospheric pressure) inlet valves of the FN.[5] The Pierce was thus quite an improvement on the FN, and was the first four-cylinder motorcycle manufactured in the USA. Early models had no clutch and fixed gearing, like the competing FN Four, but the 1910 model was greatly improved, with a clutch and two-speed transmission.[6]

## Fate of Pierce Motorcycle Company

The motorcycle is said to have cost more to build than its sale price and eventually bankrupted Pierce Motorcycle Company after fewer than 500 were built.[7]

## Exhibitions and collections

The Pierce Four was exhibited in the Guggenheim Museum's *[The Art of the Motorcycle](/source/The_Art_of_the_Motorcycle)* exhibition in Las Vegas.[15] Examples are held in permanent collections of several museums, including the [National Motorcycle Museum](/source/National_Motorcycle_Museum_(Iowa)) in Iowa,[16] the [Motorcycle Hall of Fame](/source/Motorcycle_Hall_of_Fame) Museum in Ohio,[17] the [Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum](/source/Barber_Vintage_Motorsports_Museum) in Alabama,[18] [Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum](/source/Sammy_Miller_Motorcycle_Museum) in England and the Dreamcycle Motorcycle Museum in Sorrento, British Columbia.[19]

## Notes

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ama_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ama_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-ama_1-2) *American Motorcyclist* 2005, p. 71

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-silverman_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-silverman_2-1) Silverman 2013

1. **[^](#cite_ref-duckworth_3-0)** Duckworth 2012, p. 30

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-hodgdon28_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-hodgdon28_4-1) Hodgdon, p. 28

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-hodgdon27_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-hodgdon27_5-1) Hodgdon 1976, p. 27

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-dumitrache_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-dumitrache_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-dumitrache_6-2) Dumitrache 2011

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-clayton_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-clayton_7-1) Clayton 2008

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ama2_8-0)** Motorcycle Hall of Fame 2010

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Hodgdon 1976, p. 34

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Edwards_10-0)** Edwards 1997, p. 43

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** de Cet (2002, p. 360) states that Pierce "did not copy" the FN Four but "its influence...was apparent".

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Clayton (2008) states that fuel was carried in the [top tube](/source/Top_tube) and [seat tube](/source/Seat_tube). Oil was carried in the [down tube](/source/Down_tube).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Motorcycle Hall of Fame states that (steel?) tubes were internally coated with copper.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** d'Orléans 2013

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** [*2003 Art of the Motorcycle Show Photo Gallery*](http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/180/Motorcycle-Photo-Gallery/2003-Art-of-the-Motorcycle-Show.aspx), Motorcycle USA, retrieved 2013-10-28

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** [*1912 Pierce Four*](http://www.nationalmcmuseum.org/featured-bikes/1912-pierce-four/), National Motorcycle Museum

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** [*Classic Bikes: 1911 Pierce Four*](https://web.archive.org/web/20131029204811/http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/asp/classics/bike.asp?id=93), American Motorcyclist Association Motorcycle Hall of Fame, archived from [the original](http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/asp/classics/bike.asp?id=93) on 2013-10-29

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["2011 Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum: 1910 Pierce Four"](http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/66567/Motorcycle-Photo-Gallery-Photo/2011-Barber-Vintage-Motorsports-Museum.aspx), *Photo Gallery*, Motorcycle USA, retrieved 2013-10-28

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["Home"](http://www.dreamcycle.ca/). *dreamcycle.ca*.

## References

- ["1911 Pierce Four"](https://books.google.com/books?id=9fYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA71), *[American Motorcyclist](/source/American_Motorcyclist)*, **59** (7): 71, July 2005

- Clayton, Graham (March–April 2008), ["America's early in-line fours"](http://www.motorcyclemojo.com/2008/03/america’s-early-in-line-fours/), *Motorcycle Mojo*

- de Cet, Mirco, ed. (2002). [*The Illustrated Directory of Motorcycles*](https://books.google.com/books?id=wNzyIcw2vxoC&pg=PA360). St. Paul, MN USA: Salamander Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7603-1417-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7603-1417-9).

- Duckworth, Mick, ed. (2012), [*Motorcycle: The Definitive Visual History*](https://books.google.com/books?id=cQ6-B-tbcqMC&pg=PA30), [Dorling Kindersley](/source/Dorling_Kindersley), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0756690526](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0756690526)

- Dumitrache, Alina (May 23, 2011), [*1910 American Pierce Four Wins Villa d'Este Motorcycle Best of Show*](https://www.autoevolution.com/news/1910-american-pierce-four-wins-villa-d-este-motorcycle-best-of-show-35596.html)

- Edwards, David (August 1997), "Four-runners: the essential guide to inline-fours", *[Cycle World](/source/Cycle_World)*, pp. 42–43

- [Hodgdon, Ted A.](/source/Ted_Hodgdon) (1976), *Motorcycling's Golden Age of the Fours* (third ed.), Lake Arrowhead, California: Bagnall Publishing Company, [ASIN](/source/ASIN_(identifier)) [B0006CR2Q2](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006CR2Q2)

- ["1910 Pierce"](http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1910-pierce.htm), *HowStuffWorks*, [How Stuff Works](/source/How_Stuff_Works), 26 September 2007

- Motorcycle Hall of Fame (2010), [*1911 Pierce Four: When two cylinders were not enough*](https://web.archive.org/web/20131029204811/http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/asp/classics/bike.asp?id=93), [American Motorcyclist Association](/source/American_Motorcyclist_Association), archived from [the original](http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/asp/classics/bike.asp?id=93) on 2013-10-29

- d'Orléans, Paul (April 4, 2013), ["Bicycles and a Pierce 4"](http://thevintagent.blogspot.com/2013/04/bicycles-and-pierce-4.html), *The Vintagent*, retrieved 2013-10-21

- Silverman, Daniel (January 23, 2013), ["Retro: 1911 Pierce Four-Cylinder"](https://rideapart.com/2013/01/the-pierce-motorcycle/), *Ride Apart*

## See also

- [List of motorcycles of 1900 to 1909](/source/List_of_motorcycles_of_1900_to_1909)

- [List of motorcycles of the 1910s](/source/List_of_motorcycles_of_the_1910s)

- [List of motorcycles by type of engine](/source/List_of_motorcycles_by_type_of_engine)

- [Indian Four](/source/Indian_Four)

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Pierce Four](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pierce_Four).

- [High resolution images](http://copakeauction.auctionflex.com/showlot.ap?co=9768&weid=30991&weiid=11207966), Copake Auction

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Pierce Four](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierce_Four) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierce_Four?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.