Overview

From the smoke-wreathed sheds of Cannstatt to the wind-scoured sands of Ormond Beach, the motorcycle's first three decades unfolded as a pageant of restless curiosity. Pioneers of the Two-Wheeler follows that arc with forensic clarity, charting how steam dreamers, petrol pragmatists, and factory visionaries turned wobbly wooden draisines into chain-driven, multi-gear machines capable of reshaping armies and daily commutes alike. Drawing on patent filings, military trial reports, and production ledgers, the book illuminates the breakthroughs-spray carburetors, high-tension magnetos, triangulated steel frames-that still underpin twenty-first-century superbikes. Equally vivid are the personalities: Muriel Hind and Madame Lefèvre shattering gender barriers on 400-mile endurance runs; Glenn Curtiss coaxing 136 mph from a beach-bound V-eight; factory managers at FN, NSU, and Bianchi teaching assembly lines to hum in six-minute rhythms. Set against the gathering thunder of world war, these stories reveal why balance, simplicity, and open-road exhilaration remain the motorcycle's immutable core. Whether you restore veteran bikes, ride modern café racers, or simply relish industrial history, this narrative delivers a front-row seat to the birth of mechanised freedom.

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9781923545694

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