3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue 1 & 2 Jan - Apr 2 3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue | Page 68

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
firms included Norton and Birmingham Small Arms
Company who began motorbike production in
1902 and 1910, respectively.
A 1913 FN (Fabrique National), Belgium,
4 cylinders and shaft drive
In 1901 the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing
Company, which had been founded by two former
bicycle-racers, designed the so-called “diamond
framed” Indian Single, whose engine was
built by the Aurora Firm in Illinois per Indian’s
specifications. The Single was made available
in the deep blue. Indian’s production was up to
over 500 bikes by 1902, and would rise to 32,000,
its best ever, in 1913.Indian produced over
20,000 bikes per year.The oldest surviving
Russian-manufactured motorcycle, the Rossiya,
dates from 1902. The American company
Harley-Davidson started producing motorcycles
in 1903.
During this period, experimentation and innovation
were driven by the popular new sport of motorcycle
racing, with its powerful incentive to produce
tough,
fast,
reliable
machines.
These
enhancements quickly found their way to the
public’s machines.
Chief August Vollmer of the Berkeley, California
Police Department is credited with organizing
the first official police motorcycle-patrol in the
United States in 1911. By 1914, motorcycles were
no longer just bicycles with engines; they had their
own technologies, although many still maintained
bicycle elements, like the seats and suspension.
Butler’s Patent Velocycle
An original Vespa with sidecar
68
The First World War
During the First World War, motorbike production
was greatly ramped up for the war effort to
supply effective communications with front line
troops. Messengers on horses were replaced
with dispatch riders on motorcycles carrying
messages, performing reconnaissance personnel
and acting as a military police. American company
Harley-Davidson was devoting over 50% of its
factory output toward military contract by the
end of the war. The British company Triumph
Motorcycles sold more than 30,000 of
its Triumph Type Hmodel to allied forces during
the war. With the rear wheel driven by a
belt, the Model H was fitted with a 499 cc
air-cooled four-stroke single-cylinder engine. It
was also the first Triumph not to be fitted with
pedals, so was a true motorcycle.
The Model
as having
Introduced
four-stroke
H in particular, is regarded by many
been the first “modern motorcycle”.
in 1915 it had a 550cc side-valve
engine with a three-speed gearbox
Vol 4 | Issue 2 |Mar - Apr 2019