Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar from a saddle-style seat.
Motorcycle designs vary greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising, sport, and off-road riding. Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle and being involved in other related social activities such as joining a motorcycle club and attending motorcycle rallies.
The 1885 Daimler Reitwagen made by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Germany was the first internal combustion petroleum-fueled motorcycle. In 1894, Hildebrand & Wolfmüller became the first series production motorcycle.
Globally, motorcycles are comparable numerically to cars as a method of transport: in 2021, approximately 58.6 million new motorcycles were sold around the world, while 66.7 million cars were sold over the same period.
In 2022, the top four motorcycle producers by volume and type were Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki. According to the US Department of Transportation, the number of fatalities per vehicle mile traveled was 37 times higher for motorcycles than for cars.
Types
The term motorcycle has different legal definitions depending on jurisdiction.There are three major types of motorcycle: street, off-road, and dual purpose. Within these types, there are many sub-types of motorcycles for different purposes. There is often a racing counterpart to each type, such as road racing and street bikes, or motocross including dirt bikes.
Street bikes include cruisers, sportbikes, scooters and mopeds, and many other types. Off-road motorcycles include many types designed for dirt-oriented racing classes such as motocross and are not street legal in most areas. Dual purpose machines like the dual-sport style are made to go off-road but include features to make them legal and comfortable on the street as well.
Each configuration offers either specialised advantage or broad capability, and each design creates a different riding posture.
In some countries the use of pillions is restricted.
History
Experimentation and invention
The first internal combustion, petroleum fueled motorcycle was the Daimler Reitwagen. It was designed and built by the German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Bad Cannstatt, Germany, in 1885. This vehicle was unlike either the safety bicycles or the boneshaker bicycles of the era in that it had zero degrees of steering axis angle and no fork offset, and thus did not use the principles of bicycle and motorcycle dynamics developed nearly 70 years earlier. Instead, it relied on two outrigger wheels to remain upright while turning.The inventors called their invention the Reitwagen. It was designed as an expedient testbed for their new engine, rather than a true prototype vehicle.
The first commercial design for a self-propelled cycle was a three-wheel design called the Butler Petrol Cycle, conceived of Edward Butler in England in 1884. He exhibited his plans for the vehicle at the Stanley Cycle Show in London in 1884. The vehicle was built by the Merryweather Fire Engine company in Greenwich, in 1888.
The Butler Petrol Cycle was a three-wheeled vehicle, with the rear wheel directly driven by a, displacement, bore × stroke, flat twin four-stroke engine equipped with rotary valves and a float-fed carburettor and Ackermann steering, all of which were state of the art at the time. Starting was by compressed air. The engine was liquid-cooled, with a radiator over the rear driving wheel. Speed was controlled by means of a throttle valve lever. No braking system was fitted; the vehicle was stopped by raising and lowering the rear driving wheel using a foot-operated lever; the weight of the machine was then borne by two small castor wheels. The driver was seated between the front wheels. It was not, however, a success, as Butler failed to find sufficient financial backing.
Many authorities have excluded steam powered, electric motorcycles or diesel-powered two-wheelers from the definition of a 'motorcycle', and credit the Daimler Reitwagen as the world's first motorcycle. Given the rapid rise in use of electric motorcycles worldwide, defining only internal-combustion powered two-wheelers as 'motorcycles' is increasingly problematic. The first internal-combustion motorcycles, like the German Reitwagen, were, however, also the first practical motorcycles.
If a two-wheeled vehicle with steam propulsion is considered a motorcycle, then the first motorcycles built seem to be the French Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede which patent application was filed in December 1868, constructed around the same time as the American Roper steam velocipede, built by Sylvester H. Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts,
who had been demonstrating his machine at fairs and circuses in the eastern U.S. since 1867. Roper built about 10 steam cars and cycles from the 1860s until his death in 1896.
Summary of early inventions
First motorcycle companies
In 1894, Hildebrand & Wolfmüller became the first series production motorcycle, and the first to be called a motorcycle. Excelsior Motor Company, originally a bicycle manufacturing company based in Coventry, England, began production of their first motorcycle model in 1896.The first production motorcycle in the US was the Orient-Aster, built by Charles Metz in 1898 at his factory in Waltham, Massachusetts.
In the early period of motorcycle history, many producers of bicycles adapted their designs to accommodate the new internal combustion engine. As the engines became more powerful and designs outgrew the bicycle origins, the number of motorcycle producers increased. Many of the nineteenth-century inventors who worked on early motorcycles often moved on to other inventions. Daimler and Roper, for example, both went on to develop automobiles.
At the end of the 19th century the first major mass-production firms were set up. In 1898, Triumph Motorcycles in England began producing motorbikes, and by 1903 it was producing over 500 bikes. Other British firms were Royal Enfield, Norton, Douglas Motorcycles and Birmingham Small Arms Company who began motorbike production in 1899, 1902, 1907 and 1910, respectively. Indian began production in 1901 and Harley-Davidson was established two years later. By the outbreak of World War I, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world was Indian,
producing over 20,000 bikes per year.
First World War
During the First World War, motorbike production was greatly ramped up for the war effort to supply effective communications with front line troops. Messengers on horses were replaced with despatch riders on motorcycles carrying messages, performing reconnaissance and acting as a military police. American company Harley-Davidson was devoting over 50% of its factory output toward military contract by the end of the war. The British company Triumph Motorcycles sold more than 30,000 of its Triumph Type H model to allied forces during the war. With the rear wheel driven by a belt, the Model H was fitted with a air-cooled four-stroke single-cylinder engine. It was also the first Triumph without pedals.The Model H in particular, is regarded by many as having been the first "modern motorcycle". Introduced in 1915 it had a 550 cc side-valve four-stroke engine with a three-speed gearbox and belt transmission. It was so popular with its users that it was nicknamed the "Trusty Triumph".
Postwar
By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest manufacturer, with their motorcycles being sold by dealers in 67 countries.Amongst many British motorcycle manufacturers, Chater-Lea with its twin-cylinder models followed by its large singles in the 1920s stood out. Initially, using a converted Woodmann-designed OHV Blackburne engine, it became the first 350 cc to exceed, recording over the flying kilometre during April 1924. Later, Chater-Lea set a world record for the flying kilometre for 350 cc and 500 cc motorcycles at for the firm. Chater-Lea produced variants of these world-beating sports models and became popular among racers at the Isle of Man TT. Today, the firm is probably best remembered for its long-term contract to manufacture and supply AA Patrol motorcycles and sidecars.
By the late 1920s or early 1930s, DKW in Germany took over as the largest manufacturer.
In the 1950s, streamlining began to play an increasing part in the development of racing motorcycles and the "dustbin fairing" held out the possibility of radical changes to motorcycle design. NSU and Moto Guzzi were in the vanguard of this development, both producing very radical designs well ahead of their time.
NSU produced the most advanced design, but after the deaths of four NSU riders in the 1954–1956 seasons, they abandoned further development and quit Grand Prix motorcycle racing.
Moto Guzzi produced competitive race machines, and until the end of 1957 had a succession of victories. The following year, 1958, full enclosure fairings were banned from racing by the FIM in the light of the safety concerns.
From the 1960s through the 1990s, small two-stroke motorcycles were popular worldwide, partly as a result of East German MZs Walter Kaaden's engine work in the 1950s.
Today
In the 21st century, the motorcycle industry is mainly dominated by Indian and Japanese motorcycle companies. In addition to the large capacity motorcycles, there is a large market in smaller capacity motorcycles, mostly concentrated in Asian and African countries and produced in China and India. A Japanese example is the 1958 Honda Super Cub, which went on to become the biggest selling vehicle of all time, with its 60 millionth unit produced in April 2008.Today, this area is dominated by mostly Indian companies with Hero MotoCorp emerging as the world's largest manufacturer of two wheelers. Its Splendor model has sold more than 8.5 million to date. Other major producers are Bajaj and TVS Motors.