THE FIRST MOTORCYCLE

At the 1885, Gottlieb Daimer dan wilhem maybach, investor from germanyfind the motorcycle for the frist time. At the beginning this creation called ‘reitwagen’ and motorcycle is motorized vehicle that machine propelled.

Over the last two years, we’ve featured all kinds of racer-replica GSX-Rs, Fireblades, R1s and ZX-10Rs etc here on Faster and Faster. But this is one replica that’s really different – it’s a replica of the 1885 Gottlieb Daimler Reitwagen, the very first motorcycle ever made!
Shown at the Australian Motorcycle Expo, in Melbourne, the Gottlieb Daimler replica has been built by one Phil Mumenthaler, who says it took him about 850 man-hours and around $100,000 to replicate the 123-year-old original.
Mumenthaler says he started with a plank of wood bought from a local store, and 18 months down the line, with a huge amount of money spent on hundreds of custom-built parts, the Gottlieb Daimler replica was ready.
For those who need a quick reminder, it was German engineer Gottlieb Daimler who invented the first petrol-engined motorcycle in 1885. With its wooden ‘chassis’ and wheels, the 1885 Gottlieb Daimler Reitwagen (‘riding car’) was fitted with a single-cylinder, four-stroke petrol engine.
With an engine capacity of less than 100cc, and a power output of around one horsepower at 600rpm, the Gottlieb Daimler Reitwagen could hit a top speed of almost 12km/h. The rest, as they say, is history…