Okay, motorcycle enthusiasts, it’s time to flex your knowledge. We’ve collected a few interesting tidbits of information about your favorite means of transportation that you may or may not be aware of.

1. The first motorcycle predates the first car
   Scholars credit Englishman Edward Butler with the invention of the first gas-powered motorcycle, a three-wheeler called the Butler Petrol Cycle. Butler introduced his invention in 1884, two years before Karl Benz patented his original motorcar.

Interestingly enough, three years later in 1887, Yamaha was founded, but not as a motorcycle company. It began as a piano manufacturer.

2. The first Harley-Davidson motorcycles were DIY
   After completing a prototype a few months before, motorcycle Icon Harley-Davidson began selling its engines to do-it-yourself hobbyists through magazine ads in January of 1905. Soon after they began selling complete bikes, and opened their first factory in 1906. The earliest Harleys used a tomato can for a carburetor and topped out at about 24 MPH.

It’s worth noting that Harley-Davidson was not the first American motorcycle company. That was Indian, who opened its first factory in 1901.

3. Speaking of Harley-Davidson…
   The term “hog” is almost as old as Harley-Davidson itself. It comes from the Harley racing team in the early part of the 1900s. The team was known as “The Wrecking Crew,” and team member Ray Weishaar owned a small pig that the team adopted as a mascot. Weishaar was photographed while driving a victory lap with the pig on his gas tank, and it was enough for the name to stick. HOG later became the acronym for the Harley Owners Group, and is still the company’s trading symbol on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1999, Harley-Davidson tried to trademark the name, and failed.

4. Hard to hold on to
   Motorcycles are frequent targets of theft in urban centers. Insurance company data shows that one of every five bikes is stolen. The most popular target? Hondas. Harley-Davidsons are the least-stolen.

5. There’s a lot riding on your front tire
   It’s hard to understate how important a bike’s front wheel is. They have to disperse water three times faster than rear tires, and provide 75% of a bike’s traction on a turn. So it may not be surprising that motorcycle tires are made of 100% engineered synthetic rubber.
   
   Finally, let’s round out this list of shocking facts with a few words of caution.
    

6. Dangerous trends
   We know motorcycle riding can be very dangerous, but sometimes in surprising ways. For example, it might stand to reason that the most powerful bikes would prove to be the most deadly, but that hasn’t always been true. In fact, it is a disturbing recent trend. In 1990, less than 1% of motorcycle deaths occurred with engines larger than 1,400cc. A decade later, that number had risen to 9%. By 2020, the number had grown to 94%.

You might also reason that younger riders are the most at risk. But you’d be wrong. Riders under the age of 29 have long suffered the most fatalities among motorcyclists, but that changed in 2008, when the group fell behind riders 50 and up. The trend has continued ever since.