L'Eroica 1906

Siena, Italy, summer of 1906.
Drenched in sweat, Ettore Castoldi was painfully cycling to his blacksmith workshop outside town, when he decided that he needed a faster bike. A way faster one.He got his hands on an exotic engine coming from France: an Ader unit, V configuration, 46hp. Hefty, unwieldy and specifically built for aviation. He installed the engine on his cherished bike; the rest of the system was bolted, taped or welded anywhere the parts could fit.

The first test drive was pretty much a disaster. The barycenter of the the whole assembly was way too high, and the drive was terrible. Ettore's feelings were clear- everything had to be lowered. Engine. Flywheel. Pilot.
Ettore lowered the seat and extended the handlebars so that he could practically lay down on the frame. He also moved clutch and brake controls to two pedals. Unknowingly, he had essentially invented the bike setup and driving position that would become the cornerstone of modern motorcycling.

This is the 5th entry in my series on fictional prototypes.
It is heavily inspired by the genius work of Clément Ader.
I got the name l'Eroica (the Heroic) from an old school bike race that is held to this day near Siena, Tuscany.