The Motorcycle Enthusiast Blog

The motorcycle is a single-track motor vehicle which varies in design according to their purpose or tasks. Some are more suited to quickly navigating through traffic while others are focused on cruising and long-distance traveling (touring), and still others are purpose-built for racing, with a final group known as dirt-bikes favoring off-road use.

Motorcycle history dates back from the second-half of the 19^th century. The concept of the motorcycle came from the “safety bicycle.”

When factoring in smaller versions such as mopeds and scooters, the motorcycle comes out on top as the second most common type of motor vehicle in the world, second only to the traditional automobile. It is also the most affordable form of transport (motorized) for most of the world’s population. Worldwide, there are around 200 million motorcycles in use including scooters, mopeds and other motor-powered 2 or 3 wheelers.

Some individuals take them on road trips as a comfortable and leisurely form of travel.

Some of the High Points in Motorcycle History:

The World's First Motorcycle

1885: Wilhelm Mayback and Gottlieb Daimler built the first petroleum-powered vehicle; soon to be named the motorcycle, in Germany.

*Nicolas August Otto invented the “Otto Cycle Engine” in 1876, which is the first “4-stroke internal combustion engine.” His former employee then, Gottlieb Daimler, built it into a motorcycle (which was a wooden bike attached with an engine) 9 years later.

1894: The first motorcycle that can be bought by the general public was built by Hildebrand and Wolf Muller. Since then, the motorcycle has outgrown its 2-wheeled origin, which is the bicycle.

1903: The Harley-Davidson Motor Company was launched in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

1920: Harley-Davidson Motor Company became the largest producer of motorcycles.

1928: DKW became the largest manufacturer.

1946: The Honda Motor Company was launched.

*During World War II, the United States became the largest producer of motorcycles until the 1950’s.

1952: The Suzuki Motor Company, Ltd. was launched.

1954: The Kawasaki Heavy Industries was launched.

1955: The Yamaha Motor Corporation was launched.

*1955 was also the year when the first streamlined racing motorcycles began being developed.

1959: The first Japanese motorcycle manufacturer (Yamaha) enters the US market.

*NSU Motorenwerke AG became the largest racing motorcycle manufacturer until the 1970’s.

1980’s: Some car elements like the radio and even air-conditioning have been incorporated into motorcycles.

*From the 1960’s up to the 1990’s, the two-stroke motorcycle became popular.

Today, some of the biggest names when it comes to motorcycle manufacturers include Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Ducati and the Harley Davidson.

Motorcycle manufacturers in recent years have been developing faster, more powerful models that are loaded with new features such as integrated GPS systems.

1990’s – 2007: motorcycles have come a long way in just over 100 years since they were invented. At the end of the 1990’s the quality of production motorcycles was exceptional, but the driving force that propelled the market into the new millennium was creating unique motorcycles that nobody else had.

The Custom Motorcycle Phenomenon

“Custom” motorcycles have been around almost as long as the motorcycle itself. Every since motorcycles became available to the public in a wide scale, people have been coming up with ways to personalize them.

Custom motorcycles are broken down into two major categories, “Factory Custom” and “Tailor Made”. Factory Custom motorcycles are versions that are highly stylized and have some tuned aspects such as engine design or frame geometry which are very different from the standard production models. They are very unique and expensive and they are usually produced individually and in very limited quantities as opposed to the mass produced “stock” bikes.

Tailor Made Custom Motorcycles

Tailor Made bikes are usually either stock motorcycles that are torn down and rebuilt with precision performance and styling component parts or they are built completely from scratch with the different elements being ordered from specialty manufacturers.

Some of the most famous iterations of custom motorcycles were built in the 1990’s and early 2000’s by the now-famous Jesse James of West Coast Choppers or by Orange County Choppers to name a few. Because of their exceptional cost, some of these custom motorcycles serve as fashionable “status-symbols” for their owners.

The first seven years of the 21^st century saw surge of interest in taking old motorcycles (or bikes involved in a wreck) and recreating them as unique and powerful works of art. Costs to build one (or have one built for you) can easily cross the $50,000 mark and that doesn’t include the base cost of buying the bike itself.

Factory Custom Motorcycles

A good example of the Factory Custom motorcycles would be the CVO division of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company. Each CVO motorcycle is assembled by hand by a single technician that has had years of experience on the mass production line. Only two motorcycles are built by one technician each day with each of these CVO technicians only building 300 custom motorcycles in any given year.

Harley Davidson motorcycles are all known for their high quality but a Custom Harley-Davidson that comes from the CVO team is usually easily distinguished from other models by their upgraded “Screamin’ Eagle” engines, upgraded components, and unique custom paint schemes.

Recently, the worldwide recession has impacted a number of motorcycles manufacturers. For almost a decade people were taking out risky mortgages on their homes in order to buy over-the-top custom motorcycles all the while thinking that nothing could go wrong. Things changed for the worse of course and today there has been a serious shift from custom motorcycles back to the factory produced versions.

Some companies have closed their doors, but others, like Harley Davidson have taken the fight to the enemy and continue to develop exceptional bikes that push the envelope in style, performance, and comfort. Riders are dusting themselves off, climbing back on a bike, and are happy to find that things are not so bad for them as they once thought.