E. R. Thomas Motor Company was a manufacturer of motorized bicycles, motorized tricycles, motorcycles, and automobiles in Buffalo, New York between 1900 and 1919.
Thomas Motor Company
1908 Thomas 4-20 Town Car
1909 Thomas Flyer in an upscale Salt Lake City suburb
A 1907 Thomas Flyer on display in Toronto
A motorized bicycle is a bicycle with an attached motor or engine and transmission used either to power the vehicle unassisted, or to assist with pedalling. Since it sometimes retains both pedals and a discrete connected drive for rider-powered propulsion, the motorized bicycle is in technical terms a true bicycle, albeit a power-assisted one. Typically they are incapable of speeds above 52 km/h (32 mph), however in recent years larger motors have been built, allowing bikes to reach speeds of upwards of 72 km/h.
A VéloSoleX motorized bicycle
1897 Millet motorcycle, showing the common ancestry of motorized bicycles and motorcycles. Note the radial engine built into the back wheel.
1948 American Flyer Whizzer-powered motor bike on display in the Martin Auto Museum
Derny motor-pacing cycle (motor mounted in frame, drive via chain to rear wheel)