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The World’s First Motorcycle Recreated Using Only A Photo
Two brothers, along with their friends, recreated the world’s first motorcycle 30 years ago, using only a photograph.
The world's first motorcycle was widely considered as the Gottlieb Daimler's 1885 Reitwagen, was recreated by two brothers and their friends, using only a photograph. This was much before help was available in the form of Google or internet forums.
It has been 33 years since brothers Roy and Ray Behner, along with two of their friends, Jim Carlton and Fred Hoffman turned mere wood into a replica of the Gottlieb Daimler's 1885 Reitwagen.
Ray Behner was able to narrate the story to the American Motorcyclist Association, and here's what he had to say. Also, this is the first trip the creator made from home to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio, to see his creation.
"It took us about eight months, working in our spare time in my garage. It was Jim Carlton's idea. He had a picture (2-inches by 2-inches) of the Daimler machine, and that was all we had to work from. There were no blueprints or anything like that."
Behner was a woodworker with a saw mill and managed to handle the carving and shaping of the wood. Ray, his brother, did the metal work. Hoffman built the crank mechanism, while Jim Carlton performed most of the less-skilled labour.
"Jim had the rule to measure with, and he just started making marks on the workbench. We picked one of the marks that looked about the right radius, and we worked from there."
"The original was a little smaller than ours, but I don't know how much. It's hard to duplicate something you've never seen," said Ray. The project started in 1984 and was finished in November 1985.
Ray says, "We took it out to Anaheim, Calif. It made it 11 miles during the ceremonies. Eleven rough miles."
Days have passed and motorcycles too, like the Kawasaki Ninja H2, which is one of the fastest street-legal production superbike pictured in the image gallery below.