Thanks to German innovator Gottlieb Daimler and his invention of the very first motorcycle in 1885, new waves of engine-powered bikes began, including the first mass-produced products and patents.
The first recognised mass-produced motorcycle came from Henrich and Wilhelm Hildebrand & Alois Wolfmuller – known as Hildebrand & Wolfmuller – in 1894. From Munich Germany, the factory produced over 1000 machines with a twin cylinder four-stroke engine. The factory ran for about two years and spurred many other creations and productions following it.
Staying within Europe, just a year later in 1895, French firm DeDion-Buton built a revolutionary engine that really threw the common use of motorcycles into mass production. Also using a four-stroke engine, this light version used battery and coil ignition and was a high-revving engine – one of the first like it. This engine was then mimicked by many other products later on, including the world famous Harley Davidson.
Hopping over to the other side of the pond, the first American produced motorcycle occurred in 1898 from Orient-Aster, developed by the Metz Company in Waltham, Massachusetts. Usi
ng the DeDion-Buton model as a base, Orient-Aster’s product became a highly successful motorcycle in the USA.
In the same year, E.J. Pennington’s US model demonstrated a motorcycle that was able to reach speeds of 58 mph, a revolutionary feat in such a short amount of time. It is thought he had been working on his designs since 1895, when the whole world was exploding with innovative engines and bike productions.
The famous Werner Brothers created their first motorcycle patent just a couple of years later in 1900. The Russian-French siblings were the first to coin the term “motocyclette” in 1897 which featured a front-mounted engine that allowed for a more aerodynamic design. Their 1900 patent New Werner then switched to a bottom-mounted engine and had begun to create their own engines rather than buying the design from DeDion-Buton. Then in 1903, they created their Motocyclette with a two-cylinder vertical twin engine that had a capacity of 500 cc.
Also around that time we saw the production from manufacturers such as English Royal Enfield, Triumph, and Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company, as well as the infamous Harley Davidson. Motorcycles were becoming high demand products and spurred the beginning of motorcycle races.
