CS Clancy Centenary Run
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:23 am
The first Round the World trip by motorcycle began in 1912 in Dublin. It’s recounted in the book “Motorcycle Adventurer” by Greg Frazier, multi RTWer himself and author of several motorcycle travel books. The main part of the book is a reproduction of the set of magazine articles wired back by Carl Stearns Clancy to New York from various stages of the journey. Apart from anything else the book is a great insight into what the world was like in the years just before the First World War. It’s on Amazon at
More info can be found at www.horizonsunlimited.com/clancy
Two Americans, Carl Stearns Clancy (whose father had been born in Ireland) and Walter Storey had two new Henderson motorcycles shipped to Dublin via Liverpool from the Henderson factory in Detroit. After being uncrated, put together and registered Clancy took Storey, who had never ridden a motorcycle before, to the Phoenix Pk in Dublin city for some instruction. They had two unsuccessful starts to their trip – the first on the 21st Oct when they were stopped by a “Dublin Bobbie” who made them go back and have number plates made up and fitted to the front mudguards and then on the following morning their second attempt was brought to an abrupt end when Storey’s bike was hit by a Dublin tram. They made arrangements to have his bike fixed and headed off finally on the 23rd, two-up on Clancy’s bike.
They went to Donegal via Newtownbutler and Lisnaskea. Having heard of the unrest surrounding the Home Rule issue in Ireland at the time they decided that before entering Ulster they should get some practice with their handguns so they pulled off the road at a quiet spot near Lough Erne and took a few pot shots at some trees. They visited Donegal, the Giant’s Causeway, and then followed the Antrim coast to Belfast. Clancy returned to Dublin by train where he picked up Storey’s repaired bike and drove back to Belfast from where they got the ferry to Glasgow. On the way south through England Clancy proudly tells of doing 17 miles in a half hour (34 mph) and notes that there were no speed traps to be seen. Among the places visited in the UK were the Lake District, Chester, Oxford and Stratford on Avon and finally London.
They left England through Tilbury near London and landed in Rotterdam from where they travelled through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and then to North Africa via the Balearic Islands. Storey had to return to the US while they were in Paris but Clancy decided to go on alone. From Majorca he had the bike shipped to Algiers and drove to Tunis before getting the ferry to Naples in Italy. He intended touring in Italy and then having the bike shipped to India, but having being advised about the non-existence of roads and the non-availability of fuel he was shipped to Sri Lanka, and then went on to China and Japan. He arrived in the USA in San Francisco and rode across the USA from West to East. Getting across the Rockies on unpaved roads was some achievement.
The bikes were 1912 Hendersons made in Detroit, with a 934cc 7hp 4 cylinder engine – reportedly the fastest bikes around at the time. It’s amazing to think that almost 100 years later a similar trip is still an adventure and a dream for many of us. Had he any idea what he was starting?
A number of us (including hopefully an Irish Henderson owner) will set out from Dublin on 23rd Oct 2012 and retrace the Irish part of the trip. Some UK motorcyclists have indicated that they will do some or all of the UK part, Glasgow to London. If you’re interested in joining in, for whatever distance suits and wherever along the route – UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain or even further afield, put up a post and hopefully we’ll join up the dots as far as possible.. Greg Frazier himself will do the US part of the trip and will be joined by many others along the way.
Pennants embroidered with the words “Around the World” were made for the guys by two girls they met on the ship crossing the Atlantic, and the idea has emerged that a reproduction pennant could be passed from person to person (being posted or couriered where obstacles occur) to represent the progress of the trip.
There’s a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/CSClancyCentenaryRun If you’re a Facebook user please visit and “Like” the page and if you’d like to join in you can click “Join” or even “Maybe” on the Facebook Events page at
I’ll add further events pages for other countries as the need arises.
I have a few interesting photos from the 1912 trip including a map of the route through the UK, which I'll post up when I can figure out how, and if there is any interest.
Thanks for reading,
Feargal (Glenboy)
More info can be found at www.horizonsunlimited.com/clancy
Two Americans, Carl Stearns Clancy (whose father had been born in Ireland) and Walter Storey had two new Henderson motorcycles shipped to Dublin via Liverpool from the Henderson factory in Detroit. After being uncrated, put together and registered Clancy took Storey, who had never ridden a motorcycle before, to the Phoenix Pk in Dublin city for some instruction. They had two unsuccessful starts to their trip – the first on the 21st Oct when they were stopped by a “Dublin Bobbie” who made them go back and have number plates made up and fitted to the front mudguards and then on the following morning their second attempt was brought to an abrupt end when Storey’s bike was hit by a Dublin tram. They made arrangements to have his bike fixed and headed off finally on the 23rd, two-up on Clancy’s bike.
They went to Donegal via Newtownbutler and Lisnaskea. Having heard of the unrest surrounding the Home Rule issue in Ireland at the time they decided that before entering Ulster they should get some practice with their handguns so they pulled off the road at a quiet spot near Lough Erne and took a few pot shots at some trees. They visited Donegal, the Giant’s Causeway, and then followed the Antrim coast to Belfast. Clancy returned to Dublin by train where he picked up Storey’s repaired bike and drove back to Belfast from where they got the ferry to Glasgow. On the way south through England Clancy proudly tells of doing 17 miles in a half hour (34 mph) and notes that there were no speed traps to be seen. Among the places visited in the UK were the Lake District, Chester, Oxford and Stratford on Avon and finally London.
They left England through Tilbury near London and landed in Rotterdam from where they travelled through the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and then to North Africa via the Balearic Islands. Storey had to return to the US while they were in Paris but Clancy decided to go on alone. From Majorca he had the bike shipped to Algiers and drove to Tunis before getting the ferry to Naples in Italy. He intended touring in Italy and then having the bike shipped to India, but having being advised about the non-existence of roads and the non-availability of fuel he was shipped to Sri Lanka, and then went on to China and Japan. He arrived in the USA in San Francisco and rode across the USA from West to East. Getting across the Rockies on unpaved roads was some achievement.
The bikes were 1912 Hendersons made in Detroit, with a 934cc 7hp 4 cylinder engine – reportedly the fastest bikes around at the time. It’s amazing to think that almost 100 years later a similar trip is still an adventure and a dream for many of us. Had he any idea what he was starting?
A number of us (including hopefully an Irish Henderson owner) will set out from Dublin on 23rd Oct 2012 and retrace the Irish part of the trip. Some UK motorcyclists have indicated that they will do some or all of the UK part, Glasgow to London. If you’re interested in joining in, for whatever distance suits and wherever along the route – UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain or even further afield, put up a post and hopefully we’ll join up the dots as far as possible.. Greg Frazier himself will do the US part of the trip and will be joined by many others along the way.
Pennants embroidered with the words “Around the World” were made for the guys by two girls they met on the ship crossing the Atlantic, and the idea has emerged that a reproduction pennant could be passed from person to person (being posted or couriered where obstacles occur) to represent the progress of the trip.
There’s a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/CSClancyCentenaryRun If you’re a Facebook user please visit and “Like” the page and if you’d like to join in you can click “Join” or even “Maybe” on the Facebook Events page at
I’ll add further events pages for other countries as the need arises.
I have a few interesting photos from the 1912 trip including a map of the route through the UK, which I'll post up when I can figure out how, and if there is any interest.
Thanks for reading,
Feargal (Glenboy)
