motorcycles-main-pic-motorcycles
The first internal combustion, petroleum fueled Motorcycle was the Petroleum 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 two
outrigger wheels to remain upright while turning. The inventors called their invention the Reitwagen
("riding car"). It was designed as an expedient testbed for their new engine, rather than a true
prototype vehicle. Many authorities who exclude steam powered, electric or diesel two-wheelers from
the definition of a motorcycle, credit the Daimler Reitwagen as the world's first motorcycle.
If a two-wheeled vehicle with steam propulsion is considered a motorcycle, then the first was the
French Michaux-Perreaux steam bicycle of 1868.

This was followed by the American Roper steam velocipede of 1869,
built by Sylvester Howard Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Roper demonstrated his machine at fairs
and circuses in the eastern U.S. in 1867, and built a total of 10 examples. In 1894, Hildebrand &
Wolfmüller became the first series production motorcycle, and the first to be called a
motorcycle (German: Motorrad). 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. Until World War I, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world was Indian, producing
over 20,000 bikes per year. By 1920, this honour went to Harley-Davidson, with their motorcycles being
sold by dealers in 67 countries. By the late 1920s or early 1930s, DKW took over as the largest
manufacturer. After World War II, the BSA Group became the largest producer of motorcycles in the
world, producing up to 75,000 bikes per year in the 1950s. The German company NSU held the position
of largest manufacturer from 1955 until the 1970s.

NSU Sportmax streamlined motorcycle, 250 cc class winner of the 1955 Grand Prix seasonIn 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 advanceddesign, but after the deaths of four NSU riders in the 1954–
1956 seasons, they abandoned further developmentand quit Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Moto Guzzi
produced competitive race machines, and by 1957 nearly all the Grand Prix races were being won by
streamlined machines. 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 Walter Kaaden's engine work in the 1950s.
Today, the motorcycle industry is mainly dominated by Japanese companies such as Honda, Kawasaki,
Suzuki, and Yamaha, although Harley-Davidson and BMW continue to be popular and supply
considerable markets. Other major manufacturers include Piaggio group of Italy, KTM, Triumph and
Ducati. In addition to the large capacity motorcycles, there is a large market in smaller capacity (less
than 300 cc) motorcycles, mostly concentrated in Asian and African countries. An 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 Honda emerging as the world's
largest manufacturer of two wheelers. Other major producers are Bajaj and TVS Motors. For example,
its Splendormodel has sold more than 8.5 million to date

GO TO en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle
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