In 1885, German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach attached a small, single-cylinder petroleum engine to a reinforced wooden bicycle frame, creating the Daimler Reitwagen (“Riding Car”). Widely recognized as the world’s first internal combustion motorcycle, this primitive machine even featured two small wooden outrigger wheels on the sides—essentially making it a motorized bicycle with training wheels.

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Despite its wooden frame, wooden wheels, and top speed of just 7 miles per hour, the Reitwagen demonstrated that a gas-powered engine could successfully propel a two-wheeled vehicle. Though the original prototype was tragically destroyed in a factory fire in 1903, replica models around the world still showcase the humble, wooden beginnings of modern motorcycling.

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