Editing Motorcycle (section)

===First motorcycle companies===
[[File:1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller diagram.png|thumb|left|Diagram of 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller]]
In 1894, [[Hildebrand & Wolfmüller]] became the first series production motorcycle, and the first to be called a motorcycle ({{langx|de|Motorrad}}).{{sfn|Setright |1979}}{{sfn|Falco|1998}}{{sfn|Kresnak|2008}}<ref name="Brief History of the Marque: Hildebrand & Wolfmuller">{{cite web |title=Brief History of the Marque: Hildebrand & Wolfmuller |work=Hildebrand & Wolfmuller Motorad, European Motorcycle Universe |url=http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/hildebrand_wolfmuller.htm |access-date=28 June 2007 |archive-date=10 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210063248/http://cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/hildebrand_wolfmuller.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Excelsior Motor Company]], originally a bicycle manufacturing company based in [[Coventry]], England, began production of their first motorcycle model in 1896.

The first production motorcycle in the US was the Orient-Aster, built by [[Metz Company|Charles Metz]] in 1898 at his factory in [[Waltham, Massachusetts]].

In the early period of motorcycle history, many producers of [[bicycle]]s adapted their designs to accommodate the new internal combustion engine. As the engines became more powerful and designs outgrew the bicycle origins, the number of motorcycle producers increased. Many of the nineteenth-century inventors who worked on early motorcycles often moved on to other inventions. Daimler and Roper, for example, both went on to develop automobiles.

[[File:1902 Orient motocycle.jpg|thumb|1902 Orient motocycle]]
At the end of the 19th century the first major mass-production firms were set up. In 1898, [[Triumph Engineering|Triumph Motorcycles]] in England began producing motorbikes, and by 1903 it was producing over 500 bikes. Other British firms were [[Royal Enfield]], [[Norton Motorcycle Company|Norton]], [[Douglas (motorcycles)|Douglas Motorcycles]] and [[Birmingham Small Arms Company]] who began motorbike production in 1899, 1902, 1907 and 1910, respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bikes4sale.in/wp/756/history-of-motorbikes/|title=History of Motorbikes|website=Bikes4Sale|access-date=25 February 2020|archive-date=25 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225233336/https://www.bikes4sale.in/wp/756/history-of-motorbikes/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Indian (motorcycle)|Indian]] began production in 1901 and [[Harley-Davidson]] was established two years later. By the outbreak of World War I, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world was Indian,{{sfn|Walker|2006|p=66}}<ref>{{Cite book |publisher=The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum |title=George Hendee |url=http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=68&lpos=-410px&letter=H&txtFname=&rblFname=S&txtLname=&rblLname=S&discipline=0 |access-date=8 August 2009 |archive-date=13 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313102045/http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=68&lpos=-410px&letter=H&txtFname=&rblFname=S&txtLname=&rblLname=S&discipline=0 |url-status=live }}</ref>
producing over 20,000 bikes per year.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Youngblood |first=Ed |title=The Rise and Fall |periodical=American Motorcyclist |date=June 2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FPsDAAAAMBAJ&q=20,000&pg=PA30 |volume= 55 |issue=6 |publisher=American Motorcyclist Assoc}}</ref>