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The "Einspur," generally credited as the first motorcycle, 1885.

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"The Evolution of the Bicycle"

This poster shows the typical evolinear model of bicycle design.

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The Rover “Safety” bicycle, introduced at the annual cycle industry exhibition, the Stanley Show, in London, 1885.

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Just one illustration of the array of alternative bicycle designs in the late 1880s.

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"Modern Pegasus"

This 1819 caricature by Wiliam Heath mocks speeding dandies on their hobby "horses."

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“Man is the animal which rides,” pronounced Charles Pratt in the opening to The American Bicycler (1879), pictured here with his “steed.”

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Taking a "header."

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The bicyclist and motorcyclist retain the equestrian riding position, sitting upright on the "saddle" midway between front and rear.

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Ads associated tricycles with age and debility.

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Wealthy, young males on their Ordinaries at Hampton Court, 1877.

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By the late 1880s, tricycles became identified with women.

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Edward C. F. Otto's dicycle offered a safer alternative to the Ordinary.

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Suzuki's Burgman: "Scooter on the outside, Sportbike on the inside."

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A "domestic" arrangement on four wheels.

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Motorcycles:scooters = men:women.

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The 1958 Ariel Leader with its "vestigal" tank showing the persistence of "type form."

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The Safety bicycle, rather than the Ordinary, established the "type form" of two-wheeled vehicles.

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Louis Perreaux created a metal velocipede with a steam engine in 1871.

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The 1920 Megola placed a rotary engine in the motorycle's front wheel.

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The Zero, with its electric motor, is indistinguishable from a gasoline-powered sport bike.

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The Copenhagen Wheel discreetly adds a motor to any bicycle.

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The Ryno, a modern unicycle unfettered by associations with witches' brooms.

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The 1923 Ace XP4, the motorcycle that inspired J.T. Nesbitt's Bienville Legacy.

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The Bienville Legacy designed by J. T. Nesbitt.

© Steven E. Alford and Suzanne Ferriss 2016
All Rights Reserved