But, what about it? What was really the first motorcycle in history? First, before the motorcycle was the bicycle, and well before, in the Mesopotamia of more than 5,000 years ago, it was the wheel. An essential element not only for the motorcycle, but also for the history of humanity.

Without the invention of the wheel, the motorcycle would not exist. From that first clay disk, used for pottery, it was passed to the wooden one, spreading through Europe and Western Asia in the fourth and third millennium B.C. through its use in rudimentary carts of draft animals.

Gradually modifications were developed, becoming a more sophisticated element. In the S. XIX the metal spokes were included and the adhesion problem was solved with a rubber coating. Finally, the Scottish Jonh Boyd Dunlop endowed the wheels with an air chamber, which he invented and patented in 1888.

The bicycle also has a lot to say in the history of the motorcycle, especially since it is the origin of its basic structure: wheels, seat and handlebars.

In 1817, Baron Karl C.L. Drais von Sauerbronn succeeded in developing the bicycle in Germany, a first two-wheeled vehicle arranged in line, and with a steering device, which took a cart as inspiration. Of course, that first machine had neither pedals nor chain. Baptized as ‘La Draisiana’ in honor of its inventor, it was driven by friction of the driver’s feet with the ground.

Quickly, the following year in Scotland, Kirk Patrick McMillan appeared, to add the pedals, increasing their performance, and in the 60s, in France it would be taken as a reference to create the veloped, which linked the rotating cranks and pedals to the wheel hub lead.

However, it was not until 1885 that the one considered the first modern bike appeared: the ‘Rover safety bicycle’, whose creator was the Englishman Jonh Kemp Starley. This had two equal wheels, unlike bicycles, and operated by a chain, unlike the previous ones, much more unstable and complicated to handle.

At the end of the century, these first bicycles became very popular, especially in Great Britain and the US, thanks above all to their prominence in advertisements for endless products.

So, we are clear about the origin of the bicycle, but if what we want is to discover which was the first motorcycle in the world, we must investigate a little more. Let's see.

Until the internal combustion propellers were invented, it was the steam engines, which operated with coal, the protagonists of the Industrial Revolution. It was the Scottish engineer James Watt who was in charge of improving them and popularizing steam engines, so that many others took advantage of them by incorporating them into another series of inventions such as the bicycle.

Among them, the American Sylvester Howard Roper, who developed the steam velopeptide between 1867 and 1869 in Boston, which some consider to be the first motorcycle in history, after creating a steam carriage, also one of the primeval cars . Interestingly, Roper died in 1896 of a heart failure while driving his machine on track speed tests. In the tests they included several runners, among them in the professional Tom Butler corridor, which could not compete with the 64 km / h of the newly created steam velocipedo.

In parallel in Europe, the French Pierre Michaux and Louise Guillaume Perraux, did the same by creating a steam-powered bicycles that were used until the end of the century. Its use was limited by the arrival of internal combustion engines, much less expensive and more efficient.

For other historians, however, it would not be until 1885 when the birth of the first motorcycle in history, which would have an internal combustion engine.

The ‘Reitwagen’ (mountable vehicle) was the work of one of Germany’s leading industrial engineers: Gottlieb Daimler, along with fellow Wilhem Maybach, who also developed other self-propellers. It must be said that the prototype only reached 12 km / h, but the creators decided to stop working on the project to devote themselves entirely to the car industry.

In 1894, the brothers Hilderbrand and Alois Wolfmüller created in Munich the first series production motorcycle in history, managing to attract the attention of the public by presenting the vehicle as a tool to improve mobility and transport.

The machine was somewhat rudimentary, with a two-stroke four-cylinder, which produced 2.5 hp at 240 rpm, and could reach 45 km / h. Its center of gravity was low, since the engine was arranged flat on the bottom and parallel to the ground, while the fuel tank was tilted and had a carburetor on the surface. A breakthrough for the time and a gem for lovers of ‘old bikes’.

But, what about it? What was really the first motorcycle in history? First, before the motorcycle was the bicycle, and well before, in the Mesopotamia of more than 5,000 years ago, it was the wheel. An essential element not only for the motorcycle, but also for the history of humanity.

Without the invention of the wheel, the motorcycle would not exist. From that first clay disk, used for pottery, it was passed to the wooden one, spreading through Europe and Western Asia in the fourth and third millennium B.C. through its use in rudimentary carts of draft animals.

Gradually modifications were developed, becoming a more sophisticated element. In the S. XIX the metal spokes were included and the adhesion problem was solved with a rubber coating. Finally, the Scottish Jonh Boyd Dunlop endowed the wheels with an air chamber, which he invented and patented in 1888.

The bicycle also has a lot to say in the history of the motorcycle, especially since it is the origin of its basic structure: wheels, seat and handlebars.

In 1817, Baron Karl C.L. Drais von Sauerbronn succeeded in developing the bicycle in Germany, a first two-wheeled vehicle arranged in line, and with a steering device, which took a cart as inspiration. Of course, that first machine had neither pedals nor chain. Baptized as ‘La Draisiana’ in honor of its inventor, it was driven by friction of the driver’s feet with the ground.

Quickly, the following year in Scotland, Kirk Patrick McMillan appeared, to add the pedals, increasing their performance, and in the 60s, in France it would be taken as a reference to create the veloped, which linked the rotating cranks and pedals to the wheel hub lead.

However, it was not until 1885 that the one considered the first modern bike appeared: the ‘Rover safety bicycle’, whose creator was the Englishman Jonh Kemp Starley. This had two equal wheels, unlike bicycles, and operated by a chain, unlike the previous ones, much more unstable and complicated to handle.

At the end of the century, these first bicycles became very popular, especially in Great Britain and the US, thanks above all to their prominence in advertisements for endless products.

So, we are clear about the origin of the bicycle, but if what we want is to discover which was the first motorcycle in the world, we must investigate a little more. Let's see.

Until the internal combustion propellers were invented, it was the steam engines, which operated with coal, the protagonists of the Industrial Revolution. It was the Scottish engineer James Watt who was in charge of improving them and popularizing steam engines, so that many others took advantage of them by incorporating them into another series of inventions such as the bicycle.

Among them, the American Sylvester Howard Roper, who developed the steam velopeptide between 1867 and 1869 in Boston, which some consider to be the first motorcycle in history, after creating a steam carriage, also one of the primeval cars . Interestingly, Roper died in 1896 of a heart failure while driving his machine on track speed tests. In the tests they included several runners, among them in the professional Tom Butler corridor, which could not compete with the 64 km / h of the newly created steam velocipedo.

In parallel in Europe, the French Pierre Michaux and Louise Guillaume Perraux, did the same by creating a steam-powered bicycles that were used until the end of the century. Its use was limited by the arrival of internal combustion engines, much less expensive and more efficient.

For other historians, however, it would not be until 1885 when the birth of the first motorcycle in history, which would have an internal combustion engine.

The ‘Reitwagen’ (mountable vehicle) was the work of one of Germany’s leading industrial engineers: Gottlieb Daimler, along with fellow Wilhem Maybach, who also developed other self-propellers. It must be said that the prototype only reached 12 km / h, but the creators decided to stop working on the project to devote themselves entirely to the car industry.

In 1894, the brothers Hilderbrand and Alois Wolfmüller created in Munich the first series production motorcycle in history, managing to attract the attention of the public by presenting the vehicle as a tool to improve mobility and transport.

The machine was somewhat rudimentary, with a two-stroke four-cylinder, which produced 2.5 hp at 240 rpm, and could reach 45 km / h. Its center of gravity was low, since the engine was arranged flat on the bottom and parallel to the ground, while the fuel tank was tilted and had a carburetor on the surface. A breakthrough for the time and a gem for lovers of ‘old bikes’.