The History of Motorcycles: From the Very First to 2027

On 1 June 1896, a 72-year-old inventor raced a steam bicycle around a Boston track — and never came back from his last lap. Yet most history books give the title of the first motorcycle to a clumsy wooden machine from Germany. So who really built the first motorcycle — and why did the wooden one win? This is the whole story of the motorcycle — from Drais's running machine and the "boneshaker", the steam velocipedes of Perreaux and Sylvester Roper, Daimler's wooden Reitwagen of 1885 and the first "Motorrad", to Indian and Harley-Davidson, Glenn Curtiss's V8 at 219 km/h, the board-track "murderdromes", despatch riders at war, the Vespa and the Honda Super Cub, the CB750 "superbike", the 605 km/h streamliner at Bonneville — and today's electric and self-balancing motorcycles. With 3D breakdowns of Daimler's 1885 engine, a modern sport bike, and why a motorcycle doesn't fall. CHAPTERS 0:00 The man who died in the saddle 0:52 Before the engine: the running machine and the boneshaker 1:53 Steam on two wheels: Perreaux and Roper 3:50 The wooden machine: Daimler's Reitwagen (1885) 6:31 Inside the 1885 engine: four strokes 7:10 The first "Motorrad" (1894) 8:06 The right shape: De Dion-Bouton and the Werner brothers 8:48 America: Indian, Harley-Davidson, Curtiss and the races 10:12 Motorcycles at war 11:39 The Vespa and the Super Cub 13:19 The superbike: Honda CB750, 300 km/h and the salt flats 14:54 How a modern motorcycle works — and why it doesn't fall 16:04 Safety and electricity 16:59 Motorcycles without riders 17:57 From steam to self-balancing Sources: Smithsonian National Museum of American History; Mercedes-Benz Classic; Boston Globe (June 1896); BMJ (Cairns, 1941); Science (Kooijman et al., 2011); manufacturer press releases (BMW 1988, 2018; Honda 2006, 2017; Yamaha 2017). Photos: Wikimedia Commons (public domain / CC0). Video: Pexels. 3D reconstructions and illustrations: Engines of History.