59 Fun Facts About Motorcycle

What was the first internal combustion, petrol-fuelled motorcycle?

Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built it in Germany in 1885. It had wooden wheels and two outrigger supports.

Which 1894 machine was the first series production motorcycle?

It was also the first machine to be called a motorcycle. Fewer than two thousand were built.

Roughly how many new motorcycles were sold around the world in 2021?

Car sales that year came to 66.7 million. In much of Asia and Africa the small-capacity motorcycle is the family vehicle.

Which machine is the biggest selling motor vehicle of all time?

Its 60 millionth unit was produced in April 2008, and the 100 millionth came in 2017. It has been in production since 1958.

In 2024, how did the US motorcyclist fatality rate per mile compare with car occupants'?

The 2024 figures were 28.00 against 1.05 per 100 million miles. Helmets cut the risk of death by 42%.

In which year was Harley-Davidson founded?

It is one of only two American manufacturers to survive the Great Depression.

What angle separates the cylinders in a classic Harley-Davidson V-twin?

The narrow angle makes the cylinders fire at uneven intervals. That is what produces the famous exhaust note.

What did Harley-Davidson try to trademark in 1994?

The uneven firing intervals produce the 'potato-potato' rhythm. The company abandoned the attempt in June 2000.

Which company bought Harley-Davidson in 1969, presiding over a period of quality problems?

It streamlined production and cut the workforce. Riders called the machines of that era by unkind nicknames.

In which year was the first Isle of Man TT held?

Racing on public roads there has continued for well over a century. The mountain course runs to 37.73 miles.

How long is the Snaefell Mountain Course?

It is made up of ordinary public roads, closed for racing. Riders pass through villages, over a mountain and past stone walls.

How many people have died in official practices or races on the mountain course between 1907 and 2023?

It is by some distance the deadliest motorsport event in the world. The organisers publish the toll openly.

Why did the Isle of Man TT lose its world championship status after 1976?

The FIM transferred it to the United Kingdom for the 1977 season. Top riders had refused to compete on safety grounds.

Which rider holds 26 TT race wins, second only to his own nephew?

He was Michael's uncle. The family name dominates the event's record books.

Which slogan launched in 1963 to sell small step-through bikes in America?

The campaign ran for twelve years. It deliberately separated motorcycling from its outlaw image.

When did production of Honda's famous step-through model pass its hundred-millionth unit?

It had reached 60 million by 2008 and 87 million by 2014. No other motor vehicle comes close.

What lets a rider change gear on a Super Cub without a hand lever?

It works with a plate clutch slaved to the foot-shift lever. That is why the machine suited riders who had never ridden before.

Which Italian company makes the Vespa?

The first model appeared in 1946, built at Pontedera. The name is Italian and Latin for wasp.

What does the word 'Vespa' mean?

The shape of the body suggested it: a fat rear and a narrow waist. The name stuck on the spot.

What did the Vespa's designer, Corradino D'Ascanio, think of motorcycles?

That dislike is exactly why the scooter has a step-through frame and enclosed engine. He was an aeronautical engineer by training.

Which 1952 film sent Vespa sales past 100,000?

Audrey Hepburn rode side-saddle behind Gregory Peck through Rome. Few product placements have ever worked so well.

How many world championships did the most successful Grand Prix rider in history win?

Giacomo Agostini took eight in the 500cc class and seven in the 350cc class. Rossi and Marquez have nine each.

Who is the most successful champion in Grand Prix motorcycle history?

He won fifteen titles, eight in the 500cc class and seven in the 350cc class. Rossi and Marquez have nine each.

In which year did rule changes begin phasing out the 500cc two-strokes?

Four-strokes dominated within a season or two despite costing more. The class was renamed at the same time.

What was Evel Knievel's real first name?

He was born Robert Craig Knievel in Butte, Montana in 1938. The stage name came from a jail cell nickname.

Which Idaho gorge did Knievel try to cross in a rocket-powered machine in 1974?

The vehicle was called the Skycycle X-2. Its parachute deployed too early and the attempt failed.

Roughly how many bone fractures did Knievel suffer during his career?

Guinness recognised the tally. He attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp jumps.

What injuries did Knievel suffer in his famous Caesars Palace crash?

He also fractured his hip, wrist and both ankles. He returned to jumping within months.

By how much do motorcycle helmets reduce the risk of death, according to the research?

They cut the risk of head injury by 69%. The figures are among the most replicated in road safety.

Whose fatal crash prompted the research that led to compulsory military helmets?

He was not wearing a helmet and died six days after the crash. Hugh Cairns, the neurosurgeon who attended him, took up the research.

In which month and year did the British Army make helmets compulsory for its riders?

Hugh Cairns's research drove the change. Civilian riders followed decades later.

Which body sets stricter helmet standards with racing in mind?

Its certification is voluntary and tougher than most legal minimums. Racing organisers often require it.

In which US state is the Sturgis rally held?

It takes over the Black Hills region every August. Attendance has historically been around half a million.

In which year was the first Sturgis rally held?

The Jackpine Gypsies motorcycle club organised it. Clarence 'Pappy' Hoel founded it.

What was the peak attendance at the Sturgis rally, reached in 2015?

Typical years draw about half a million. The 75th anniversary also saw the highest number of fatalities.

In which year was Ducati founded?

The company is based in Bologna. It made radio components long before it made motorcycles.

Which valve system is Ducati famous for?

Fabio Taglioni championed the design. It closes the valves mechanically rather than with springs.

Which carmaker acquired full voting rights in Ducati in 2012?

That brought the marque into the Volkswagen empire. It won its first premier-class title in 2007.

Which rider gave Ducati its first Grand Prix world championship, in 2007?

Francesco Bagnaia took the manufacturer's second in 2022. Fifteen years separated the two titles.

In which city is Harley-Davidson headquartered, on the site of its first 1906 factory?

The original backyard shed was later moved to the Juneau Avenue plant and stood there for decades as a shrine.

Which outboard-motor pioneer helped Harley and Davidson with their bigger early engine?

He was building gas engines of his own on the city's Lake Street at the time; his name went on to become a famous outboard-motor brand.

Harley-Davidson's polite muffler earned its 1906 model which advertising nickname?

A brand later famous for trying to trademark its exhaust note began by boasting about how little noise it made.

Besides Harley-Davidson, which other American motorcycle maker survived the Great Depression?

The two rivals fought on the racetrack from the 1910s, and the reborn rival still exists under Polaris.

The 'hog' nickname traces to a 1920s Harley racing team that did what after a win?

The company later turned it into the acronym HOG, the Harley Owners Group, but lost a 1999 case trying to trademark the word itself.

Roughly how many military Harley-Davidsons, mostly WLAs, were produced during World War II?

Production of the WLA restarted in 1949 for the Korean War, and many wartime bikes carry 1942 serial numbers regardless of build year.

Harley-Davidson's three-wheeled delivery vehicle, in production until 1973, was called what?

It outlived most of the delivery firms that bought it and became a police-department favourite for parking enforcement.

Which Italian maker did Harley-Davidson part-own from 1960, importing its 250 cc singles under its name?

The plant was sold to Cagiva in 1978, and the same Castiglioni family later took MV Agusta off Harley's hands for a reported three euros.

For how much did 13 investors led by Vaughn Beals and Willie G. Davidson buy the company from AMF in 1981?

Two years later the Reagan administration granted tariff protection against big Japanese bikes, buying the new owners time.

Which 1990 Harley model has a name wrongly linked to atomic bombs and put it back atop the heavyweight market?

The name simply reflects how wide the bike looks head-on; the Fat Man and Little Boy story is a debunked myth.

Harley-Davidson's first electric motorcycle, released in 2019, is called what?

One was used in March 2020 to break the 24-hour distance record for an electric motorcycle, and the brand was later spun off as its own company.

The first Harley-Davidson factory outside the United States opened in 1998 in which country?

The Manaus plant sits in a free economic zone in the Amazon; the Thai plant and a short-lived Delhi-area subsidiary came much later.

The fork-mounted fairing on most Electra Glides is nicknamed after which animal?

The 'Batwing' shape is the quickest way to tell a full-dress touring Harley from a Road King, which wears no fairing at all.

Which three-wheeled 1884 English design was the first commercial self-propelled bicycle?

He showed the plans at the Stanley Cycle Show in London two years before Karl Benz; the Merryweather Fire Engine company built it in 1888.

What was the first production motorcycle built in the United States, in 1898?

Charles Metz built it at his factory in Waltham, Massachusetts; the Indian Single followed in 1901.

Which 1915 Triumph, nicknamed the 'Trusty Triumph', is often called the first modern motorcycle?

It paired a 550 cc side-valve four-stroke with a three-speed gearbox and belt drive, and served despatch riders in the First World War.

BMW's first motorcycles in 1923 introduced which engine layout, still a company hallmark?

The boxer engine and transmission sat in one aluminium housing and drove the rear wheel by shaft rather than chain.

Roughly how many M20 motorcycles did BSA supply to the British armed forces from 1937 to 1950?

Royal Enfield also built military bikes, including a 125 cc model; in the 1930s Britain had more than 80 motorcycle makes.

In which year did Honda become the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer?

It went on to popularise the across-the-frame four-cylinder engine, and Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha had all begun building bikes in the 1950s.

Which Indian company has emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of two-wheelers?

Its Splendor model alone has sold more than 8.5 million units in the sub-300 cc market that dominates Asia and Africa.