Who invented the motorcycle?

It's widely believed that the person who invented the motorcycle was the german engineer Gottlieb Daimler in 1885. A motorcycle had already been invented in the 1860s by an american, Sylvester Roper from Roxburgh/Massachussetts, but the engine was the significant difference here: Roper's "Steam Velocipede" ran on a steam engine, whereas Daimler's motorcycle, or "Reitwagen" how it was called, sported a combustion engine. The engine was 0.5 break horse power strong and a successful 3 kilometer test run was completed on the 10th November 1885. A wealth of pictures can be found if you copy and paste "Daimler's Reitwagen" in the Google image search.


Unfortunately the man who invented the motorcycle got pretty busy with engine-powered four wheel-carriages and neglected the further development of the motorcycle. Nevertheless, in 1894 the first motorcycle produced in series came on the market. It was produced by the german company "Hildebrand & Wolfmüller" in Munich. Due to technical and financial issues however, production stopped after only 3 years.


So, who invented the motorcycle for the masses? In 1901 two business men from Massachussetts, George Hendee und Oscar Hedstrom, start production of the "Indian" in Springfield. Not soon after that, another german entered the competion in Coventry/England. Siegfried Bettmann from Nürnberg starts producing "Triumph" motorcycles in 1902. In 1903 the famous Harley Davidson was born. After initially only producing 3 motorcycles a year, William Harley and the brothers Arthur, Walter and William Davidson become world leaders in 1920 with 28980 motorcycles produced.


To sum up:

Inventor of the first motorcycle (combustion engine)?
Gottlieb Daimler
Inventor of the first steam driven motorcycle? Sylvester Roper
When was the motorcycle invented? Steam 1860, Combustion engine 1885
How powerful was Daimler's engine? 0.5 bhp When was the first motorcycle produced in series? 1894 in Munich