The motorcycle can be classified as a motorized vehicle with less than four wheels. Using this description, the invention of the motorcycle is usually attributed to Gottlieb Daimler and his assistant, Wilhelm Maybach. During the process of developing the internal combustion engine, these two German engineers installed a four-stroke, one-cylinder engine on a wooden bicycle equipped with wooden wheels. They built and drove this motorcycle in 1885.

The claim of Daimler and Maybach, however, is disputed by the British, who maintain that the English inventor Edward Butler invented the motorcycle a year earlier. This claim arises from the fact that Butler was issued a patent for a motorized tricycle in 1884; yet, apparently, his machine was not built until 1887. Neither the Daimler-Maybach nor Butler version was put into production for various reasons.

The first mass-produced motorcycle was introduced in 1894 by two Germans, Hildebrand and Wolfmuller, who built over 1,000 models. Many...