Board Track Motorcycles Question

[strad]

I was wondering if one of our more knowledgeable motorcycle aficionados might know the answer to something I have been wondering about.
Notice in this picture of a 1914 Yale board track racer has two chains and I wonder if the one on the right side is solely for the purpose of starting the bike and the one on the left the actual drive chain.
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[AJI]

I was wondering if one of our more knowledgeable motorcycle aficionados might know the answer to something I have been wondering about.
Notice in this picture of a 1914 Yale board track racer has two chains and I wonder if the one on the right side is solely for the purpose of starting the bike and the one on the left the actual drive chain.
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http://www.stradsplace.com/photos/1914_ ... acer_2.jpg
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http://www.stradsplace.com/photos/1914- ... acer-3.jpg

You're pretty much correct. One is for pedal power to get the bike moving, the other is for the engine.

[johnny comelately]

maybe this as well "then a 1914 Yale 2-speed twin (both still bearing bicycle pedals and chains as backup).
from - http://ridermagazine.com/2014/12/02/the ... le-museum/

[bdr529]

I was wondering if one of our more knowledgeable motorcycle aficionados might know the answer to something I have been wondering about.
Notice in this picture of a 1914 Yale board track racer has two chains and I wonder if the one on the right side is solely for the purpose of starting the bike and the one on the left the actual drive chain.
.
http://www.stradsplace.com/photos/1914_ ... acer_2.jpg
.
http://www.stradsplace.com/photos/1914- ... acer-3.jpg

You're pretty much correct. One is for pedal power to get the bike moving, the other is for the engine.

Yes it's for starting the bike, I know on the early bikes you still had to peddle when starting from a standstill, just like a moped
it's nice to know you could still peddle the motorcycle like a regular bicycle if you ran out of fuel

guy starts the bike up 2.17

[Big Tea]

I am probably way of track and into the realms of 'old wives tales' here, but I seem to recall my grandfather telling me one time that the engine would not run slow enough to 'pull off' so the bike had to be started before the engine was engaged. I asumed that the bike had no clutch to 'slip' from standstill?

Ps I do not know what bike it was just that it ran inside a track in a hall that was like a huge barrel.

[strad]

Thanks for the info guys.
Quite the task with fantastic result from this fellow.
Thanks for the video bdr529