The first motorcycle needed training wheels and was really an engine test
In 1885 Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built the Reitwagen, or riding car, in Bad Cannstatt to try out their new petrol engine. It ignored decades of bicycle steering know-how and stayed upright in turns only thanks to two outrigger wheels. Many historians still call it the first motorcycle.
That title is disputed. Steam-powered two-wheelers came earlier: a French patent for the Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede was filed in 1868, and Sylvester Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was showing his steam cycle at fairs and circuses from 1867. In England, Edward Butler exhibited plans for a three-wheeled petrol cycle in 1884 with liquid cooling and compressed-air starting, but it had no brakes and he never found enough investors. The German Hildebrand & Wolfmüller of 1894 was the first built in series and the first sold under the name Motorrad.
Bicycle makers rushed in. Triumph started building motorbikes in 1898 and made more than 500 by 1903, Indian followed in 1901, and Harley-Davidson was founded two years later. In World War I despatch riders on motorcycles replaced mounted messengers, and Triumph sold over 30,000 of its Model H to the Allies; the first Triumph without pedals, it earned the nickname Trusty Triumph. By 1920 Harley-Davidson was the biggest maker, with dealers in 67 countries, until Germany's DKW overtook it.
Racing drove design. In April 1924 a Chater-Lea became the first 350 cc machine to top 100 mph. In the 1950s NSU and Moto Guzzi experimented with enclosing dustbin fairings, until safety worries led the sport's governing body to ban full enclosures in 1958.
Honda's Super Cub, launched in 1958, became the best-selling vehicle ever, reaching 60 million units by April 2008. India's Hero MotoCorp is now the largest two-wheeler maker. In 2021 buyers took home about 58.6 million new motorcycles against 66.7 million cars. The risks are stark: in 2024 American motorcyclists died at almost 27 times the rate of car occupants per mile travelled. A streamlined Honda XL125 once managed 470 miles per US gallon on real roads.
Source: Motorcycle
