It is little more than 100 years since Man created machines that could take him faster than he could walk. It was with Motorcycles that some of the early pioneers achieved this.
No one can really say where the first motorcycle originated but one of the earliest is The Humber Trike.
The Humber company was formed in 1868 producing Pedal Bicycles in Nottinghamshire. By way of an experiment Humber caused several prototypes of a powered machine to be produced. Many of these came to nothing but one, The Humber Trike went into production.
It was a single cylinder side valve four stroke engine with a direct gear drive to the rear wheels. With bicycle handlebars and brakes it was capable of a mind boggling 40mph. Large spoked wheels and a slim single sprung leather seat would have made this a buttock crunching ride.
The Humber company continued with powered transport and made Motorcycles until the 1930’s but will probably be better remembered for it’s Car production. Although in 1911 were succesful in winning the first Junior TT held over the Mountain Section with one of their early two wheelers.
The depression of the 30’s saw the production of Humber motorcycle come to an end and the bicycle bussiness was sold to Raleigh…. and the rest, as they say…..