Motorcycles were invented in 1885. The first motorcycle that is generally considered as such was the "Daimler Reitwagen," designed and built by German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885. This motorcycle was powered by a gasoline internal combustion engine and is widely recognized as the first true motorcycle.
Before this, there were steam-powered two-wheeled vehicles, like those created by Sylvester Howard Roper in 1867 and others in the late 1800s, but these are not usually counted as the first motorcycles in the modern sense.
Summary of key points:
- 1867: Early steam-powered bicycles (velocipedes) appeared.
- 1885: Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach invented the first gasoline-powered motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen.
- The Daimler Reitwagen used a one-cylinder Otto-cycle engine and had a wooden frame with two wheels and stabilizer wheels.
- This invention is considered the true birth of the motorcycle as we know it today.
