"Make it a Motorcycle!" blared the Shaw Mfg. Co. literature, imploring bicycle riders just after the turn of the century to add one of its single-cylinder engines to their machines and travel at speeds up to 35 mph. Stanley W. Shaw was rightfully proud of his 240cc, 2½-horsepower creation, manufactured in Galesburg, Kansas, starting in 1904. "The castings are accurately made, scientific patterns being used which, together with up-to-date molding machines, insure uniform castings," boasted an advertisement of the day. The well-made engine clipped to an existing bicycle frame's front downtube, fed by a gasoline tank hung from the top tube and attached via leather belt to a pulley on the rear wheel.

In 1912, Shaw acquired the foundering Kokomo Motorcycle company and made complete motorcycles until 1920, when the firm changed direction to focus on tractor attachments, eventually being swallowed up by the John Deere company. This 1907 example, among the earliest machines Hobday collected, is equipped with wooden rims and a period acetylene lamp.