ALT-4 The Evolution of the Motorcycle
Motorcycle is a cheap mode of transportation in the world especially in some parts of Asia and Africa. The usage of motorcycles is most prevalent in India and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The key reason for the wide usage is the high level of poverty and bad roads in these countries. Motorbikes, as they are otherwise called, are designed to go on long distance trips, travel on difficult terrains where the topography is very bad for cars, and also able to traverse jammed traffic situations in cities.
The invention of motor cycles dates back to somewhere in the 19th century, though it cannot be traced to the evolution of any particular device or inkling. Early story about bikes can be the linked to the attachment of a small steam engine to a bicycle by Pierre Michaux and his son Ernest in Paris in the 1860s. Their inventions was called thevelocipede. One of the employees of Pierre Michaux, Pierre Lallement was believed to have carried the idea to the United States of America around the same period and got it patented.
Louis-Guillaume Perreaux, a French engineer, in 1886 improved on the velocipede with a single cylinder run with alcohol as the fuel. The advent of the petroleum driven motorcycle is believed to have started in Germany in 1885 by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Bad Cannstatt, close to Stuttgart. These fellows called the motorbikeReitwagenwhich means "riding car". In the late 1800s, industries that manufacture bicycles went into designs that accommodate internal combustion engine. The first set of motorcycles that went on sale came out in 1894 and a lot of improvements went into its design to transform it from a bicycle to an appropriate motorcycle. The following year, E.J. Pennington from the United States of America invented the high speed motorbike that could run at a speed of 93km/h.
Royal Enfield, an English engineering company manufactured a motorcycle with the engine in the front but connected the rear wheel with a belt. In the same year Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company came up a motorbike called ‘Single’. The engine was produced for the company by Aurora Firm in Illinois.
The demand for motorcycles for racing, military and leisure brought about a lot of innovation in term of engine size, the kind of fuel used and purpose built functions. This was evident in a series of processes embarked upon by some American, Asian and European manufacturers.
The largest producers of motorcycles are found in Asia today particularly Japan through companies like Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha though its inventions began in Europe.
