When the manufacture of the California motorcycle was shifted from the California Motor Company in San Francisco to the Consolidated Manufacturing Company in Toledo in late 1903 - early 1904, the new machines produced looked essentially identical to the old. Sure there were a couple of obvious transitional changes (steel rims replaced wood, and a proper oil tank replaced the antiquated oil cup lubricator), but other than these the owner of an early Yale-Californias (or Snell-California, as both brands were used early on by Consolidated) would be hard-pressed to distinguish their machine from a late California. Inside the motor change crept in by way of a one piece connecting rod and a two-piece crank replacing the original patented design and a new contact breaker, but again nothing major. Defying the almost universal trend, the surface carburettor was still there, and was to last another year. Through 1905 there were only detail changes: for example a change from four dry cell batteries to three, and the introduction of a pioneering twist-grip control for the throttle. By the end of the year the design was looking decidedly old-fashioned (despite the garish paint scheme, featuring broad diagonal stripes across the fuel tank) and a major re-vamp overdue. The model announced for 1906 could be considered the first Yale motorcycle. Even if the California ancestry lived on in the engine layout (continuing the outside flywheel, but now with aluminium crank cases) and the whimsical front suspension, the 1906 model was a true (if lightweight) motorcycle, rather than the motorised bicycles that had come before. AT last the surface carburettor had gone - replaced by a more conventional spray instrument.
The machine was lower, stronger and faster than its predecessors, and despite its light build didn't look out of place compared against other models of the period. Although the "Yale-California" name had been used since the Consolidated buy-out in late 1903, up until the 1906 model no Yale-California carried the Yale name. Or at least carried it as boldly as the 1906 model where the "Yale" name appeared in a waving-pennant logo on the battery box behind the seat. This model carried on for a couple of years with little variation, until the first of the "recognisable" Yale machines appeared for the 1909 season. This was an altogether more robust machine, with a rather conventional inside-flywheel motor, cylindrical fuel tank and battery and coil ignition.
Note that after the 1909 re-vamp no trace of the original California design remained, so it was fitting that the "California" moniker was dropped and the machines were now branded simply "Yale". For 1910 a twin was added to the line up and the Yale machines blended in well with models produced by scores of other manufacturers.
Actually there was one area where the 1910 Yales differed from other machines: the regularity with which they broke frames! It seems that the "Y" junction between the front down tube, its continuation to the steering head and the tank rail was not the design one might have hoped for, so a "1910½" model - featuring a continuous down tube - was hastily put into place. But, hey, by 1910½ the Yale was by now a modern motorcycle, very far from its 1901 roots. Copyright © Leon Mitchell 2007
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