Product of the Twentieth Century, its origins actually go back all the way to the late 1700s, when the steam engine was being developed as a source of power. As early as 1785, William Murdock-a pupil of James Watt, inventor of the steam engine-built what was called a steam tricycle. In 1868, an early pioneering effort called the Austin velocipede marked the mating ...
At precisely six a.m. on June 29, 1908, the first motorcycle rider left the starting line, heralding the beginning of the seventh annual Federation of American Motorcyclist (FAM) endurance and reliability contest held in the scenic Catskill Mountains of New York. Of the 65 entrants in the gruelling two-day, 365-mile event, only 61 actually started that morning. ...
The very earliest motorcycle engines were primitive, single cylinder affairs, often grossly under-powered. As engine technology progressed after the turn of the century, multiple cylinder versions began appearing in two-wheeled vehicles It quickly became apparent that the V-twin configuration was logical for motorcycles because it lent itself to the contours of ...
Reverently displayed in a glass case for several years in the lobby of the Harley-Davidson corporate headquarters in Milwaukee is a pristine, all-black motorcycle acknowledged as the oldest Harley-Davidson in existence. Previously called a 1903 model or a 1903/04 model, it is now simply referred to as Serial Number One and holds a special place within the history ...
Gottlieb Daimler, of Wurtemberg, Germany, is generally regarded as the inventor of the first gasoline powered motorcycle, taking his inaugural ride on November 10, 1885. From that humble beginning over a century ago, a sport and industry sprang into being. Hundreds of makers worldwide began producing well over a thousand different models of motorcycles, capturing ...
