Two-wheeled motorbikes (motorbikes, motorbikes) have been and are a popular means of transport in many countries. Along with demand, motorcycle manufacturing companies in many countries have constantly competed to create and improve designs and technical characteristics to affirm their brands. It can be said that a motorbike is not only a means of transportation but also a work of art. People own motorbikes not only to travel but also to express their hobbies.
In Vietnam today, there are many brands, each brand has many models and many generations of motorbikes circulating on the roads, making the collection of two-wheeled motorbikes very diverse.
The second half of the 19th century: The history of motorcycles begins
The idea of a motorcycle seems to have occurred to many engineers and inventors especially in Europe after the birth of inventions: steam engine (James Watt), electric motor (Michael Faraday) , bicycles, internal combustion engines (Etienne Lenoir),… during the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. The above idea was expressed by the introduction of “motorized bicycles” models. “ around the second half of the 19th century, marking a milestone in the history of motorcycle development.
1868 – In France
The Michaux-Perreaux steam engine bicycle was the first motorcycle created in France by Pierre Michaux and Louis-Guillaume Perreaux. Pierre Michaux (June 25, 1813 – 1883) was a blacksmith who supplied parts for Parisian commercial vehicles in the 1850s and 1860s. Louis-Guillaume Perreaux (February 19, 1816 – April 5, 2016) 1889) was a French engineer who designed the first alcohol-fueled steam engine bicycle in France. Their car was patented in 1868 and in 1869 was presented to the public.
To this day, there still exists some controversy about the author of this car due to Perreaux’s age recorded in the patent. However, most recognize it as a Michaux-Perreaux motorcycle. Currently, the only original Michaux-Perreaux is kept at the Ile-de-France museum
The Michaux-Perreaux consisted of a wrought iron frame, designed in the form of a bicycle frame with a raised seat to create space for a small steam engine. The pedals mounted on the front wheel of the bike are still retained from the bike. The front wheels are larger than the rear wheels, both made of wood covered with wrought iron, with wrought iron spokes. The engine is mounted on the vertical bar of the frame inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, behind it are the boiler and fuel and water tanks. It was a one-cylinder steam engine made of plated copper (external combustion engine), with a capacity of 0.5 horsepower. The engine’s motion is transmitted to the rear wheel by a mechanism consisting of a pulley wheel and a belt. However, the first car still did not have shock absorbers and brakes.
When driving a Michaux-Perreaux, people first light the alcohol fuel to boil the water and turn it into steam, then the driver gets on the seat and uses his foot to step on the pedal to move the car forward. increases the steam pressure in the cylinder so that the engine can operate and pull the vehicle. Michaux-Perreaux’s maximum speed at that time reached 15km/h.
1869 – In America
Leaving the land of wine, we went to the US Texas sub-committee to see people who love nature – cowboys riding horses and shooting guns before going to the US National Museum to learn about the second candidate vying for the throne ” the first motorbike”.
The first steam-powered bicycle in France was born not long after in the United States, in 1869, Sylvester H.Roper first introduced his steam-engined bicycle in Massachusetts. Sylvester Howard Roper (1823 – 1896) was a prolific inventor in many fields. Currently, the prototype of the Roper1869 steam motorcycle is kept at the US Smithsonian Institution
The Roper is still a combination of a steam engine and a bicycle, but the engine is placed between two wheels like a modern motorbike. In terms of structure, Roper includes a steel frame, designed in the form of a bicycle frame with 2 equal wheels. The distance between the front and rear wheel axles is 49 inches. The two wooden wheels are armored on the outside, 34 inches in diameter. Hanging under the seat is a coal boiler, attached to the frame by a pair of springs. At the rear wheel, on each side of the frame, there is a set of cylinder pistons, with pipes connecting to the boiler. In addition, a short boiler chimney stood up from behind the seat.
The engine’s motion is transmitted to the rear wheel by a connecting rod-crank mechanism. The footrests are attached to both ends of the front axle. Roper has an engine capacity of 0.5 horsepower and a speed of 16km/h. The Roper is considered to have many modern motorcycle features, including a cable attached to the handlebar to operate the throttle, a chain from the handlebar to pull a curved metal plate like a spoon against the front wheel like brake system.
The operator prepares to operate the Roper by opening the side door at the bottom of the boiler, igniting coal in the blazing furnace to boil water in the boiler and create steam to power the engine. Water is supplied from the tank in the upper part of the boiler. When the steam pressure is high enough, the driver tightens the cable to “accelerate” the vehicle forward.
Roper’s neighbors reported that many pedestrians were scared and annoyed by the noise and acrid smoke when he rode the car he created into the street. He even went to the police station for that reason but was quickly released because the patent had been granted.
1885 – In Germany
Taking a direct flight from Washington to Berlin, my friends and I are now in the country of famous beer and sausages, but we have to temporarily “hold back” to carry out our main mission on the journey, which is to find understand the third candidate for the title “first motorbike”.
A replica of the Reitwagen is located at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart
Replica of the Reitwagen of the Honda Motegi museum, Japan
The candidate for the title of “the world’s first motorbike” here is called Reitwagen, made by a German named Gottlieb Daimler (1834 – 1900) in 1885. Patent number DRP 36,423 was awarded to Gottlieb on August 11, 1886 in Germany. The Reitwagen prototype was lost in a major fire in 1903 at Daimler’s DMG factory in Cannstatt, so the Reitwagens on display in several museums are exact copies of its drawings and records.
How did Daimler build the Reitwagen? From his passion for mechanical engineering, Gottlieb Daimler showed his passion for mechanical engineering while still in high school. In 1852, Gottlieb Daimler did not follow his father’s baker’s profession but decided to choose mechanical engineering and left his hometown to start a mechanical engineering job in Graffenstaden. In 1857-1859, he returned to study mechanical engineering at Stuttgart Polytechnic University. Then, to expand his technical knowledge, he went to several European countries to work on JJ Lenoir’s internal combustion engines, locomotives,…
In 1863, Daimler befriended Wilhelm Maybach, a 19-year-old industrial designer who later became his long-term partner. In 1872, Daimler and Maybach went to work for Nikolaus Otto’s company. Within the company, Daimler and Maybach joined the engineering team with Otto focusing on building four-stroke gasoline engines. In 1877, Otto patented the four-stroke internal combustion engine. In 1882, Daimler and Maybach left the Otto company with the same idea they had formed before, they established a manufacturing plant to jointly research and develop small high-speed engines that could be installed on a variety of vehicles. on the ground, on the river and in the air.
Secretly, diligently solving difficulties. Daimler and Maybach clearly know that the limitations of the existing Otto engine are the ignition and fuel supply systems – This is the difficulty that they must solve. Maybach found inspiration in a drawing by Watson British engineers. After many tests, Maybach has come up with a “hot tube” ignition system that ensures stable ignition and can accelerate the engine as desired.
The above system is structured and operates according to the principle: a tube is heated from the outside, directed into the cylinder at approximately the position of the future spark plug. When compressed by the piston in the cylinder, the fuel mixture resists the hot tubes and is burned naturally. During the research and manufacturing process, the two men kept the creative activities absolutely secret.
Inside the factory where Daimler and Maybach worked day and night in secret
Horizontal 4-stroke gasoline engine with hot tube
The race to receive a patent
Although knowing that the Otto DRP 532 4-stroke gasoline engine patent is still valid, with the difference in engine size, the built ignition system and especially with the verbal art of G.Daimler The patent for a horizontal 4-stroke gasoline engine with a hot tube was granted on December 23, 1883. Anticipating a patent race with Otto, Karl Benz and other inventors, only one Weeks after the patent for the “horizontal 4-stroke gasoline engine with hot tube” was granted, G. Daimler filed another patent for a system for “controlling the speed of the engine by how to control the exhaust valves” to protect his invention.
Pendulum clock motor model
An improved version of the engine followed, a four-stroke, single-cylinder vertical engine, named the “pendulum clock” (because it looked like a grandfather clock) and patented in September. April 1885. In “pendulum clocks” , the crank mechanism and flywheel were for the first time enclosed in an oil- and dust-proof crankcase, on which was a gas-cooled cylinder. It is designed to be compact and suitable for installation in many types of equipment: weight 60kg, cylinder capacity 264cc, capacity 0.5 horsepower (0.37kW) at 650 rpm (650rpm). This is considered the forerunner of modern gasoline engines.
The Reitwagen was born
Photo of the Reitwagen prototype
Daimler and Maybach installed a “Pendulum clock” in a wooden bicycle creating the first motorcycle and named it Reitwagen or Einspur. In 1885, Daimler filed a patent and a year later he was awarded a patent for his Reitwagen car.
The Reitwagen is composed of a wooden frame, wooden wheels lined with steel on the outside, handles and saddle. The two small wheels act as kickstands, similar to the two training wheels on a child’s bicycle just starting to learn to ride. The backward T-shaped handle is made of steel. The seat is a U-shaped metal plate covered with leather and placed directly on the engine. Reitwagen weighs 90 kg, has a cylinder capacity of 264cc and uses gasoline or kerosene as fuel. The transmission system to the rear wheel is based on a pulley and belt mechanism. Reitwagen can achieve a maximum speed of up to 12km/h.
The Reitwagen must be started before being ridden and operated. To start the engine, first light a small flame under the hot fire tube and use the crank to rotate the engine a few times. It takes about a minute after starting the engine to run well. The driver gets on the seat and presses the lever to control the transmission system for the vehicle to run.
Because there is no clutch, to change speed, the operator acts on the belt support wheel to select the pulley wheel for the belt (similar to the mechanism for shifting discs and cassettes on bicycles today). Two selectable speeds are 6 or 12km/h depending on the pulley selected by the belt.
Historic moment – first test . Daimler’s son Paul, 17 years old, became the first motorcyclist on November 10, 1885, when he rode a Reitwagen from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim and back (about 10km) at a speed of 12km/h. Given the road conditions at the time, the Reitwagen hardly had a comfortable journey. However, the biggest problem encountered was the heat of the engine fire under the seat.
First motorbike accident
Sylvester H.Roper’s car – USA in 1894.
Still a steam engine after more than 25 years of improvement and development since the birth of the 1869 Roper. The 1894 Roper was involved in the first motorcycle accident with its inventor.
Analysts’ comments – the debates are gradually being resolved
Using a broad definition for a motorbike, there were two early steam-powered two-wheeled vehicles, one built in France by Louis-Guillame Perreaux and Pierre Michaux in 1868, the other built in the United States by Sylvester Roper soon followed, which he demonstrated at fairs and circuses in various places. With a sufficient definition for a motorbike being two wheels and an internal combustion engine, the Reitwagen built in Germany by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885 was the world’s first moped, the appearance of it is a beginning to a history of development of more than one hundred years.
A debate has arisen over who was the first motorcycle to be invented, with some arguing that two wheels and a steam engine should be considered. Although it was not developed, its birth inspired the In later innovations, others emphasized that an internal combustion engine was a key component. Most experts agree: “The Reitwagen built in Germany in 1885 was the world’s first motorcycle.”
However, Reitwagen is only a test result in the 4-stroke internal combustion engine development project of Daimler and Maybach, so it has not been commercially produced. The first mass-produced motorcycle was the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller “Motorrad” (or H&W Motorrad) created by brothers Henry and Wilhelm Hildebrand in collaboration with Alois Wolfmüller and Hans Geisenhof and patented in September. January 1894 in Germany. The car is equipped with a 4-stroke gasoline engine, 2 parallel cylinders with a capacity of 1489cc, capacity of 2.5 horsepower at 240 rpm, water-cooled. Speed is about 45 km/h. This was also the first time the phrase “motorcycle” (in German, “Motorrad” ) was used. They organized production in Munich and also licensed the production of this car in France under the name “The Pétrolette” .
Replica of the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller
What was special about the first motorbike?
Daimler Reitwagen has revolutionized transportation with its special features:
“riding car” design: The Reitwagen’s overall design resembles a small horse-drawn carriage, earning it the nickname “riding car”. This design choice is intended to provide a more stable, and comfortable experience than a motorized bicycle.
Wooden bicycle frame: Reitwagen’s frame is crafted from solid wood, like a traditional bicycle. This frame provides the necessary structural integrity and support for the vehicle.Gasoline Engine: At the heart of the Reitwagen is the groundbreaking single-cylinder Otto cycle engine. This engine runs on gasoline, allowing the motorcycle to generate power and propel itself forward. It marked a significant advance in the use of internal combustion engines for transportation.
Injection carburetor : To ensure efficient combustion in the engine, Reitwagen used an injection carburetor. This carburetor precisely mixes fuel and air in an injection pattern, optimizing the fuel-air mixture for improved performance and power output.
Two-wheel configuration: The Reitwagen has an aligned two-wheel configuration similar to modern motorcycles. This design provides stability and maneuverability, allowing the rider to navigate a variety of terrain with relative ease.
Armored Wheels: Armored wheels, which enhance traction and durability compared to traditional wooden wheels, allow the motorbike to handle rough surfaces and uneven terrain more effectively than before tires Compressed air was born.
Dual kickstand wheels: The Reitwagen has two kickstand wheels, also known as stabilizer wheels, with one wheel placed on each side of the vehicle. These extra wheels provide additional stability during the early stages of riding and at low speeds, compensating for the balance challenges inherent to motorcycles.
The invention of the world’s first real motorbike, the Daimler Reitwagen, marked the beginning of a new era in the history of motorbikes, changing the concept of traveling on two wheels.