The History Of The Motorbike

Welcome back my fellow learners, today I am going to speak about my favourite subject “motorbikes”.

  

Motorbikes were invented in the late 1800’s, when people basically got fed up using pedal power and began installing engines in their bicycles. In the 1900’s different models of motorbike were being imported from England, and one of a kind motorised bicycles started to show up across the country.  In the first decade hundreds of bikes were being imported, and by the time 1915 showed its face over 2,000 imports had arrived.

The earlier models were just like I said bicycles, but with a small motor added to them, these early models did not come with keys or ignitions, they were kick started by the pedals, this in turn started the motor which turned the wheels, however, the bicycle could still be used just with pedal power. The gears were changed using the hand, and riders never worn helmets, due to the fact the bicycle never went that fast, head lights were not thought of at the time so gas lamps were used to light the way.  

Side cars on motorcycles were introduced in 1913, which increased popularity, due to the fact running costs and prices to purchase these were lower than a car.

Motorcycles hit its peak in the 1920’s when the economic crisis hit, which meant not a lot of people could afford cars, so motorbikes were an acceptable alternative means of transport.

After the 2nd world war the number of motorcycles increased. This was the strongest in the 70’s due to the oil shocks that arose. And, in 1982 over 130,000 bikes were registered, however this fell in the 90’s most due to the price of cars dropping and the gas prices were low.  

In the beginning the most imported motorbike originated from the UK, with the US a close ranking second. However, Japan soon became a front runner in the industry in the 50’s by a little know person call Soichiro Honda, which as we all know today is one of the top selling bikes in the world, (I know I have one) this spelt doom for the UK industry. Names like Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha soon outranked the UK models like Truimph, BSA, Ariel and the beloved Norton.

So there you have it readers, a quick rundown on the history of bikes. Comments are welcome and replies will be quickly replied to.