Editing Motorcycle (section)

===Experimentation and invention===
[[File:Daimler-1-motorcycle-1.jpg|thumb|Replica of the Daimler-Maybach ''Reitwagen'']]
The first [[internal combustion engine|internal combustion]], [[petroleum]] fueled motorcycle was the [[Daimler Reitwagen|Daimler ''Reitwagen'']]. It was designed and built by the German inventors [[Gottlieb Daimler]] and [[Wilhelm Maybach]] in [[Bad Cannstatt]], Germany, in 1885.<ref name="ThePast1800s">{{cite web |title=The Past – 1800s: First motorcycle |work=The History and Future of Motorcycles and motorcycling – From 1885 to the Future, Total Motorcycle Website |url=http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/future.htm#1800s |access-date=28 June 2007 |archive-date=8 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608130856/http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/future.htm#1800s |url-status=live }}</ref> This vehicle was unlike either the [[safety bicycle]]s or the [[Boneshaker (bicycle)|boneshaker]] bicycles of the era in that it had zero degrees of [[Bicycle and motorcycle geometry#Steering axis angle|steering axis angle]] and no [[Bicycle and motorcycle geometry#Fork offset|fork offset]], and thus did not use the principles of [[bicycle and motorcycle dynamics]] developed nearly 70 years earlier. Instead, it relied on two outrigger wheels to remain upright while turning.{{sfn|Lienhard |2005|pp=120-121}}

The inventors called their invention the ''Reitwagen'' ("riding car"). It was designed as an expedient testbed for their new engine, rather than a true prototype vehicle.{{sfn|Setright |1979}}{{sfn|Falco|1998}}

[[File:Butler's Patent Velocycle.jpg|thumb|Butler's Patent Velocycle]]
The first commercial design for a self-propelled cycle was a three-wheel design called the Butler Petrol Cycle, conceived of [[Edward Butler (inventor)|Edward Butler]] in [[England]] in 1884.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/394358/motorcycle|title=motorcycle (vehicle)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=23 June 2022|archive-date=1 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901010157/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/394358/motorcycle|url-status=live}}</ref> He exhibited his plans for the vehicle at the [[Stanley Cycle Show]] in London in 1884. The vehicle was built by the [[Merryweather & Sons|Merryweather Fire Engine]] company in [[Greenwich]], in 1888.{{sfn|Georgano|2002|p=22}}

The Butler Petrol Cycle was a three-wheeled vehicle, with the rear wheel directly driven by a {{cvt|5/8|hp}}, {{cvt|40|cc}} displacement, {{cvt|2 + 1/4|×|5|in}} bore × stroke, [[Flat twin engine|flat twin]] [[four-stroke engine]] (with [[magneto ignition]] replaced by coil and battery) equipped with [[rotary valves]] and a float-fed [[carburettor]] (five years before [[Wilhelm Maybach|Maybach]]) and [[Ackermann steering geometry|Ackermann steering]], all of which were state of the art at the time. Starting was by compressed air. The engine was liquid-cooled, with a [[radiator]] over the rear driving wheel. Speed was controlled by means of a [[throttle]] valve lever. No braking system was fitted; the vehicle was stopped by raising and lowering the rear driving wheel using a foot-operated lever; the weight of the machine was then borne by two small castor wheels. The driver was seated between the front wheels. It was not, however, a success, as Butler failed to find sufficient financial backing.{{sfn|Georgano|2002|pp=20-22}}

Many authorities have excluded [[steam engine|steam powered]], [[electric motorcycles]] or diesel-powered two-wheelers from the definition of a 'motorcycle', and credit the Daimler ''Reitwagen'' as the world's first motorcycle.<ref name=OED>{{Cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=March 2009 |chapter=motorcycle, n. |quote= 1. A two-wheeled motor-driven road vehicle, resembling a bicycle but powered by an internal-combustion engine; (now) spec. one with an engine capacity, top speed, or weight greater than that of a moped.}}</ref><ref name="Wired20110830">{{Cite news |last=Long |first=Tony |date=30 August 2007 |title=Aug.&nbsp;30, 1885: Daimler Gives World First 'True' Motorcycle |url=https://www.wired.com/2011/08/0830daimler-first-true-motorcycle/ |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |issn=1059-1028 |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-date=22 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222102357/https://www.wired.com/2011/08/0830daimler-first-true-motorcycle/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Kresnak|2008}} Given the rapid rise in use of electric motorcycles worldwide,<ref name=MotorBikeWriter.com>{{Cite web |url=http://motorbikewriter.com/electric-bikes-drive-global-sales/ |title=Electric Bikes Drive Global Sales |date=24 December 2014 |access-date=5 March 2015 |archive-date=20 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320231126/http://motorbikewriter.com/electric-bikes-drive-global-sales/ |url-status=live }}</ref> defining only internal-combustion powered two-wheelers as 'motorcycles' is increasingly problematic. The first (petroleum fueled) internal-combustion motorcycles, like the German ''Reitwagen'', were, however, also the first practical motorcycles.<ref name="Wired20110830" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Barnum|first=Merritt H.|date=August 1963|title=New Image in Motorcycling|journal=American Motorcyclist|volume=17|pages=5|issn=0277-9358}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Wineland|first=Lynn|title=The Complete Book of Motorcycling|publisher=Petersen Publishing Company|year=1964|pages=7|asin=B0007E0SN8}}</ref>

If a two-wheeled vehicle with steam propulsion is considered a motorcycle, then the first motorcycles built seem to be the French [[Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede]] which patent application was filed in December 1868,{{sfn|Setright |1979}}{{sfn|Falco|1998}} constructed around the same time as the American [[Roper steam velocipede]], built by [[Sylvester H. Roper]] of [[Roxbury, Massachusetts]],{{sfn|Setright |1979}}{{sfn|Falco|1998}}
who had been demonstrating his machine at fairs and circuses in the eastern U.S. since 1867.<ref name="ThePast1800s"/> Roper built about 10 steam cars and cycles from the 1860s until his death in 1896.{{sfn|Kresnak|2008}}

====Summary of early inventions====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Vehicle !! Number of wheels !! Inventor !! Engine type !! Notes
|-
| 1867–1868 ||  [[Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede]] || 2 || Pierre Michaux<br>Louis-Guillaume Perreaux || Steam || 
*One made
|-
| 1867–1868 || [[Roper steam velocipede]] || 2 || Sylvester Roper || Steam || 
*One made
|-
| 1885 || [[Daimler Reitwagen]] || 2 (plus 2 outriggers) || Gottlieb Daimler<br>Wilhelm Maybach || Petroleum internal-combustion || 
*One made
|-
| 1887 || [[Edward Butler (inventor)|Butler Petrol Cycle]] || 3 (plus 2 castors)|| Edward Butler || Petroleum internal-combustion ||
|-
| 1894 || [[Hildebrand & Wolfmüller]] || 2 || Heinrich Hildebrand<br>Wilhelm Hildebrand<br>Alois Wolfmüller || Petroleum internal-combustion || 
*Modern configuration
*First mass-produced motorcycle
*First machine to be called "motorcycle"
|}