I've often wondered whether I could repeat it: to cross the continental US from San Francisco to New York on a gutless motorcycle with wooden wheels. But there are roads now. When George Wyman did it in 1903 there were only tracks, and he had to retreat to the railway crossties to make any progress at all. When he completed his 3800-mile journey on the afternoon of July 6, 1903 he became the first person to cross the continent with a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. The stuff of legends.

Here he is at the end of his epic journey, by which time his California sported a pair of Thomas Autobi front forks, the originals having "crystallized" and broken on the journey.

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