| The motorcycle we are enjoying now has simple | | | | crankshaft constituted the rear axle. |
| beginning. It has only developed into a powerful | | | | Two years after, Hildebrand & Wolfmueller was |
| machine in time. Most of the riders are not even | | | | patented. It had a step-through frame, with its fuel |
| aware of its past so let us bring back the time and | | | | tank mounted on the downtube. The engine was a |
| have a quick sojourn to rekindle motorcycle parts | | | | parallel twin, mounted low on the frame, with its |
| and motorcycle per se history. | | | | cylinders going fore-and-aft. The connecting rods |
| In 1867, Sylvester Howard Roper invented a | | | | connected directly to a crank on the rear axle. It |
| two-cylinder, steam-engine motorcycle that is | | | | used a pair of stout elastic bands, one on each side |
| powered by coal whose connecting rods directly | | | | outboard of the cylinders, to help out on the |
| drive a crank on the rear wheel. Roper was also the | | | | compression strokes. It was water-cooled, and had a |
| one who invented the steam engine car. If steam | | | | water tank/radiator built into the top of the rear |
| engine would suffice the standard for a motorcycle | | | | fender. |
| then this can be treated as the very first motorcycle. | | | | After a year, DeDion-Buton built an engine that was |
| In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler invented the very first | | | | used for the mass production. This engine was a |
| gas-engined motorcycle. It was an engine attached | | | | small, light, high reviving four-stroke single which used |
| to a wooden bike. In 1876, Daimler used the | | | | battery and coil ignition. |
| new-engine called "Otto Cycle Engine" the first | | | | In 1898, Orient-Aster, the very first US produced |
| "Four-Stroke Internal-Combustion Engine" which was | | | | motorcycle was built by the Metz Company in |
| invented by his employer Nicolaus August Otto. | | | | Waltham, Massachusetts. This motorcycle used an |
| Daimler later teamed up with Karl Benz. The two | | | | Aster engine which was a French-built copy of |
| created the Daimler-Benz Corporation, which is | | | | DeDion-Buton. |
| responsible for the first motorcycle mostly made up | | | | In 1907, Harley-Davidson made their first V-twin bike |
| of wood. | | | | - the very first off-road bike.. This version can climb |
| In 1892, Millet, a 5-cylinder engine was built. The | | | | hills. This was the start of more progressive models |
| cylinders of Millet rotated with the wheel and its | | | | of motorcycles that up to this instant is still growing.... |