World's First Motorcycle For Sale

The Hildebrand & Wolfmüller was the world's first two-wheeled motor vehicle to be dubbed a "motorcycle"

An unrestored example of the very first vehicle to which the name ‘motorcycle’ (motorrad in German) was ever applied is to come up for auction in April. The 1895 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle sounds like a modern motorcycle in its specification – twin-cylinder, four-valve, water-cooled, 1488cc engine – but it is indeed as unconventional as it is rare.

The rear wheel doubled as a pseudo flywheel and the piston connecting rods and the pushrods that actuate the valve gear are also attached to the rear wheel. There’s no clutch, no brakes and there’s a lot of work to be done on a machine that’ll cost you $65,000 to $100,000 before you start. At the end of it all though, you’ll have a bonafide centerpiece for any vehicle museum.

Patented in January 1894, H&W’s motorcycle was greeted with considerable enthusiasm and plans were drawn up to build a factory in Munich to produce it. It was also licensed to a firm in France and marketed there as ‘La Petrolette’.

Despite some impressive demonstration performances by factory riders, the H&W’s shortcomings became all too apparent once deliveries to paying customers commenced, and in early 1897 both the German and French ventures collapsed. Opinions differ with regard to how many machines were produced, with figures ranging from as low as 800 to as high as 2,000. Survivors are, needless to say, exceedingly rare.

Gizmag

Khulsey

Hildebrand & Wolfmüller