Built in Munich around 1894, the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller is a landmark in motorcycle history. It is regarded as the first motorized two-wheeler offered to the public in series production. Its makers also used the word “Motorrad”, the German term for motorcycle that remains in use today.
The machine differed from modern motorcycles at the heart of its drive system. Connecting rods from a two-cylinder engine were attached directly to the rear wheel. That is a very different solution from the chain, belt or shaft drives that later became familiar. Beneath a recognizably bicycle-like outline was a machine built while the rules of motorcycle design were still taking shape.
This early model shows that the motorcycle did not arrive fully formed in the layout we know today. Inventors had to decide not only where to place an engine, but how to turn its movement into rotation at the wheel. The Hildebrand & Wolfmüller’s direct drive captures that period of experimentation.