Today marks the anniversary of the first known depiction of what could be considered a motorcycle. The demonstration was of a steam-powered ‘drais’ (pedal-less bicycle) in the Luxembourg Gardens of Paris in 1818. The contraption, dubbed a Vélocipédraisiavaporianna (steam-powered drais), is depicted in a period lithograph with minimal text explanation, not even the name of its German builder.
Some historians consider the lithograph a joke, as no other documentation of this event has been unearthed to date, but the context of the drawing, and its technical details, suggest it was certainly possible, and it would not have been the first steam-powered vehicle in Paris in that era.
Suggestions that Keith Richards tried to order one remain unverified.
