After Heinrich and Wilhelm Hildebrand from Munich had made their prototype motorcycle using a small steam engine, they joined forces with Alois Wolfmuller to manufacture a design patented by Wolfmuller and Hans Geisenhoff, as reported in today’s edition of the Express and Echo in 1894,
It is considered to be the first production motorcycle. Around 2000 were manufactured in Germany and France until 1896.
The engine, which ran on benzene, was a water-cooled 1,488cc (90 mm × 117 mm) twin-cylinder four-stroke producing 2.5hp at 240rpm.
The pistons travelled together (firing alternately) with their connecting rods pushing cranks on the rear wheel, like a locomotive engine. The rear wheel acted like a flywheel and it used rubber bands to pull the pistons back up the cylinders.
Frightening though it sounds, the bike could reach speeds of up to 30mph, with the rider relying on a simple spoon brake that pushed against the front tyre to bring the machine to a halt
Unsurprisingly, it was horribly expensive and unreliable.
