Motorcycles

When the Elite 250 was introduced, it was the largest scooter for the American market as, previously, the largest scooters available in the US were the Lambretta X200 (1966)...

This Honda scooter is designed so the handle bars and the seat can be folded down so it can be loaded into the back of a car.  It was...

Honda’s revolutionary advertising slogan, “You meet the nicest people on a Honda,” shattered the myth that bikes were only for tough guys and rebels.  Single-handedly, Honda had made motorcycling...

Honda can be said to have introduced motorcycling to the masses in the U.S., with the 1959 introduction of the C100 Super Cub–the world’s best-selling vehicle. The Super Cub...

In 1931, the Italian Industrialist, Ferdinando Innocenti founded a successful engineering company most well-known for producing scaffolding and other steel pipes and joints. Just after the war he saw...

ItalJet founder Leopoldo Tartarini was a pilot, and later a factory racer for Ducati. When an injury prevented him from competing in the top ranks, he still had a...

ItalJet founder Leopoldo Tartarini was a pilot, and later a factory racer for Ducati. When an injury prevented him from competing in the top ranks, he still had a...

Russia has always had a strong domestic production base for motorcycles, having its largest plant (Imz-Ural) built to produce 400,000 motorcycles per year. The difficult realities of the post-Soviet...

After the decline of the armaments industry, in 1929 Czech engineer and inventor František Janeček began producing motorcycles. He purchased the German motorcycle company Wanderer from Winklhofer & Jaenicke...

  Frantisek Janecek opened a mechanical shop in Prague that made armaments for European armies.  After WWI that business declined and he decided to diversify by building motorcycles in...

{gallery}motorcycles/mbk_magnum_racing_xr_2002{/gallery} Motobécane was a French manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles established in 1923.  Motobécane came from two slang words:  “Moto” for motor and “bécane”  for bike.  The company...

A monowheel is one big wheel with the rider and engine inside the circumference. It differs from a unicycle which has the rider above the wheel. The first known...

In the early 1900s, small towns and farms in America were far from the centers of commerce and the idea of mail-order shopping was essential. Large catalog retailers offered...

The Neracar was the design of Carl Neracher and produced by his company, Ner-A-Car Corporation, in Syracuse, New York. The unique features of a low-slung frame, friction-drive, and hub...

NSU began motorcycle production in 1901, four years before they began producing cars.  The company prospered with motorcycles , and although air-raid bombing during World War II destroyed their...

The NSU Fox was the first entirely new design motorcycle after World War II.  The Fox used a 98cc four stroke engine which was very new, as most motorcycles...

During the communist regime in Poland, scooters were associated with the freedom and luxury of the West. After World War II, when the motoring industry had numerous difficulties to...

  In the 1950s and ‘60s there were over 300 motorcycle manufacturers in Italy.  Paglianti was one of the small manufacturers in business from 1948-1966.  They built 49cc mopeds...

The Peugeot Scoot’elec is considered to be the first successful mass-market electric scooter. It was based on and shared many parts with Peugeot’s entry-level gas scooter, the Zenith. Although...

Fonderie Officine Rumi (F.O.R.) was founded in 1906 in Bergamo, Italy by Achille Rumi. They originally supplied cast components for the textile machinery. During the Second World War, Rumi...

In 1935 Californian E. Foster Salsbury, an innovative businessman, was impressed when he saw pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart using an old small motorized two-wheeler Motoped around Burbank’s Lockheed Airport....

Long before internet shopping there was the Sears Roebuck & Co. catalogue. Started as R.W. Sears Watch Co., the mail-order firm offered watches and jewelry in the late 19th...

  Johann Puch & Company of Austria was focused on the manufacture of motorcycles for the first half of the twentieth century.  Post-war Europe needed small, economical transportation, and...

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Unique in the world, the Snow Hawk is made from the fusion of three powersports which include the motorcycle, watercraft, and snowmobile.  The Hawk Junior 60 is a small...

Unique in the world, the Snow Hawk is made from the fusion of three powersports which include the motorcycle, watercraft, and snowmobile.  The Hawk Junior 120 is a small...

 The Solex motor bicycle was built as the result of two French engineers endeavoring to create a better bicycle. They formed a company named Solex in 1905 to produce...

Introduced in 1971, the Solex 5000 was the hip and trendy version of the 3800 model, aimed squarely at the youth market.Although they share the 3800’s engine, 5000s have...

 Quite a departure from Solex’s other offerings, the Flash debuted in 1969.Instead of the roller-style transmission over the front wheels, this model features a drive-shaft that connected the fan-cooled...