MONDAY, 15 JUNE 2009A motorcycle (also called a motorbicycle, motorbike, bike, or cycle) is a single-track,[1] two-wheeled[2] motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions. Being the most affordable form of motorised transport, in some parts of the world they are also the most widespread (e.g., Vietnam).[3][4][5]
Arguably, the first motorcycle was designed and built by the German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Bad Cannstatt (since 1905 a city district of Stuttgart) in 1885.[6]
The first petroleum-powered vehicle was essentially a motorised bicycle, although the inventors called their invention the Reitwagen ("riding car"). However, if a two-wheeled vehicle with steam propulsion is considered a motorcycle, then the first one may have been American. One such machine was demonstrated at fairs and circuses in the eastern U.S. in 1867, built by Sylvester Howard Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts.[6]
A pre-war Polish Sokół 1000
In 1894, Hildebrand & Wolfmüller became the first motorcycle available for purchase.[7]
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