Today in motorcycle history, March 6, 1900

   

  

  Builder of the first chopper, internal-combustion engine pioneer, Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler dies at 65.

  When Gottlieb Daimler joined Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz as technical director in 1872 he met up with Nikolaus Otto, inventer of the four-stroke-cycle, also known as the Otto Cycle, a system characterized by four piston strokes (intake, compression, power, and exhaust).  It was during this time he became convinced steam engines were an outmoded form of power for the future.  Wilhelm Maybach, a man who also understood the drawbacks of steam, soon joined the quest to produce and perfect the gasoline engine.

  In 1881 Daimler and Maybach set up a factory for developing light weight, high-speed internal combustion engines.  At first, the development of a reliable self-firing ignition system seemed impossible, but after many a long night an air-cooled single-cylinder engine operating at 900 rpm was developed.  This new design was 770 rpm faster than Otto’s engine.  Daimler and Maybach patented this design in 1885. 

  Daimler then built what is considered by many the first gasoline powered motorcycle.  This engine with workable controls was installed in a two-wheeled wooden frame with two outrigger wheels.  Soon they then added a king-queen seat, sissy bar and apes.  On the tank they painted the name 'Reitwagen'.


  On November 10, 1885, Daimler’s son Paul, 17, completed the first run on the motorcycle from Cannstatt to Unterturkheim and back (about eight miles).  Given the conditions of roads at the time, it could hardly have been a comfortable ride.  The only problem was that the heat of the engine set fire to the saddle.  Next stop - Sturgis.