Two-Wheels gives thanks to Overland Adventurer, Carl Stearns Clancy.
So who is Carl?
Carl Stearns Clancy was the first ‘adventure’ motorcycle rider.
He was the first person to travel around the world on a motorcycle.
Clancy’s 1912 Henderson – a 934cc inline four with one gear and no front brake which made 7bhp and was advertised at the time as the fastest motorcycle in the world.
In 1912, Carl Stearns Clancy undertook the longest, most difficult and most perilous journey ever attempted on a motorcycle. By June 1913 he had made history, becoming the first person ever to travel round the world on a motorbike.
In early October 1912, along with his biking partner, Walter Rendell Storey, he sailed from New York to Dublin, via Liverpool. His bike was a 934 cc 7-horsepower (5.2 kW) 1912 Henderson Four motorcycle. The editor of The Irish Cyclist, Richard J. Mecredy (the inventor of bicycle polo) gave them road maps and helped them plot their route in Ireland. After covering the northern part of the country, they both got the ferry to Glasgow. Storey returned home from Paris, while Clancy continued his circumnavigation of the globe until August 1913. During the trip he rode 18,000 miles in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
Clancy helped finance his trip by submitting details of his epic journey to Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review, a New York-based weekly magazine.
Article written by Nige.
Last update: July 2025
Nige has toured most of the UK and Europe, he aspires to a round the world motorbike trip but for now is settling for any trip he can get, you can be assured that what ever family holiday is being planned, Nige is looking at it from a bike ride aspect.
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