Berita Hari Ini: Motorcycles used to look very different


	March 18, 2026

Original photo by © Mark Lucey/ Alamy

The first motorcycle had more wheels than the first car.

On November 10, 1885, German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach unveiled the first motorcycle. Known as the Reitwagen, or "riding car," it demonstrated new possibilities for compact, engine-powered vehicles that could reliably carry a rider. But it looked quite a bit different than the sleek, high-speed motorcycles we're familiar with today.

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		Numbers Don't Lie

Speed (in mph) that earned the world's first speeding ticket in 1896

Honda Super Cub motorcycles sold as of 2017

100 million

Year Yamaha started as a musical instrument company

1887

Year Harley-Davidson is thought to have originated the term "hog" for its bikes

1920

Folding motorcycles were parachuted out of planes.

World War II sparked a wave of rapid innovation, and one of its stranger byproducts was the Welbike, a small folding motorcycle developed for British paratroopers. Designed to fit inside a standard parachute supply canister, the bike was dropped from aircraft alongside troops and assembled upon landing. The U.K.'s Excelsior Motor Company made around 3,600 Welbikes between 1942 and 1943. Though they could be unpacked and quickly ridden at a top speed of about 30 mph after landing, their lightweight design didn't make them the most durable vehicle, and few Welbikes actually made it into service. The design later influenced civilian bikes such as the Corgi, which started production in 1948.