The wiry DeRosier started his racing career riding bicycles. In 1898m he got the opportunity to ride on one of the new French pace bikes owned by Henri Fournier.
They were large-engined two-wheelers that were used for pacing bicycles in an effort to help the riders achieve faster speeds. Fournier agreed to let DeRosier try one and he demonstrated so much skill that he was hired to ride the machines at bicycle races in Paris.
In 1901, Jake who was considered one of the top cycle pacers in the US, met the co owner of Indian Motorcycles, Oscar Hedstrom. He was offered a job and a motorcycle to race.
DeRosier worked for Indian for a short time, but ended up becoming a factory sponsored board track racer.
DeRosier had not only won the National Federation of Americas Motorcycles Championship in 1908, but held every FAM speed record there was to hold in 1911.
Excelsior's V-twin, pocket-valve motor was nearly unbeatable. At Chicago's Riverview motordrome, in August of 1911 an Excelsior set a record for the mile, burning up the boards at an average speed of 88.9 mph.
By September, the former Indian rider was in the saddle and not only did he win the feature event at Riverview, he set an unofficial world record for the kilometer, at a speed of 94 mph. With DeRosier riding, Ignaz Schwinn's motorcycle company, Excelsior quickly became a serious race contender. Excelsior was being hailed as the fastest bike on the boards! DeRosier's tenure at Excelsior proved brief.
Jacob DeRosier's career, which saw him ride in over 900 races, came to an end on March 12, 1912, he suffered severe injuries to his left leg and thigh at Los Angeles.
Quebec has had it's share of talented riders!

No article on Quebec motorcycling would be complete without talking about the Gref family.
The Gref family is another of those families that has motorsports in their blood.
Charles Gref Sr. was born in 1912. His love affair with the motorcycle began in 1937 and by 1947 he was the Canadian Champion in the expert class of the Canadian Trials. He went on to be a director of the CMA and the president of the Montreal Motorcycle Club.

He went on to be a driving force in Quebec motorcycling. Not only did he found Moto International and Harley-Davidson of Montreal, but he was responsible for organizing many a race and could always be found promoting the sport.
Normand Gref, Raymond's brother won 153 trophies during his racing career. Today, Normand is the used motorcycle sales manager at Moto Internationale.
Like his grandfather before him, Charles Gref Jr., the president of Moto International and Harley-Davidson Montreal had the motorcycling bug, only it found Charles Jr. much earlier in life.
At the age of 13 he had already won a number of trophies. He won the Miller Trophy, which in trials riding is the top honour in Eastern Canada, in both 1976 and 1977. His first win of the Miller Trophy came exactly 26 years AFTER his grandfather had won it!
Charles Jr. excelled in motocross, enduro, acceleration competitions and snowmobiling and the experiences he gained from being a competitor has helped him continue the tradition of Moto Internationale and Harley-Davidson Montreal being consistently top dealerships in Canada.
Quebec has produced so many inspiring motorcyclists, Yvon Duhamel, Duc du Four, Marc St Laurent, Pierre Corbeil, Paul Noiseux and many, many others. It is no wonder that Quebec has one of the highest concentration of riders in Canada.
I hope you enjoyed our little ride through Quebec's impressive history of motorcycling.
Next time we begin exploring Atlantic Canada!
Interesting Historical Tidbits:
1901 - The Montreal Canadians are founded
1912 - Louis Cyr, born in Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville QC the world's strongest man dies of Bright's Disease (Kidney Disease)
1922 - The first prototype snow machine called the Snowdog was engineered by Joseph-Armand Bombardier
1928 - Women became recognized as legal "persons" by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
1929 - Montreal QC becomes home to the third oldest motorcycle club in Canadian history, The Sports Motor Cycle Club (SMCC).
1931 – Canada's first television station, VE9EC, begins broadcasting in Montréal
1936 – Air Canada founded on August 11 as Trans-Canada Airlines.
1941 - Legislation is changed to allow women to enlist in the Canadian Forces.
1942 - Montreal celebrates it's 300th birthday
1942 - The Women's Royal Canadian Navel Service (WRENS) is established.
1942 - Genevieve Bujold, a Canadian actress best known for her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days is born in Montreal
1947 - General Electric invents the electric washing machine
1948 - Barbara Ann Scott becomes the first Canadian woman to win the World Figure Skating championships.
Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame
Charles Gref Jr.
1909, The Great Motorcycle Invasion by Mark Dill
American Motorcycle Hall of Fame
FirstSuperSpeedway.com
Findagrave.com
Indian Motorcycle Classics
Chronologie de l'histoire du Québec Canadian Encyclopedia - Women in the Military