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History
of two Wheelers
The
Britannica Encyclopaedia describes a motorcycle as a bicycle or tricycle
propelled by an internal-combustion engine (or, less often, by an electric
engine).
The motors on minibikes, scooters, and mopeds, or motorized velocipedes,
are usually air-cooled and range from 25 to 250 cubic cm (1.5 to 15 cubic
inches) in displacement; the multiple-cylinder motorcycles have
displacements of more than 1,300 cubic cm.
The automobile was the reply to the 19th-century dream of self-propelling
the horse-drawn carriage. Similarly, the invention of the motorcycle
created the self-propelled bicycle. The first commercial design was a
three-wheeler built by Edward Butler in Great Britain in 1884. This
employed a horizontal single-cylinder gasoline engine mounted between two
steerable front wheels and connected by a drive chain to the rear wheel.
The 1900s saw the conversion of many bicycles, or pedal cycles by adding
small, centrally mounted spark ignition engines. There was then felt the
need for reliable constructions. This led to road trial tests and
competition between manufacturers. Tourist Trophy (TT) races were held on
the Isle of Man in 1907 as reliability or endurance races. Such were the
proving ground for many new ideas from early two-stroke-cycle designs to
supercharged, multivalve engines mounted on aerodynamic, carbon-fibre
reinforced bodywork.sa
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