Bonhams set a new record for a Hildebrand & Wolfmuller – one of the first production motorcycles ever made.A highlight of the sale was the "holy grail of motorcycles," the extremely rare and historic Hildebrand & Wolfmüller from circa 1894 Germany – the world's first production motorcycle and the machine to which the word "motorcycle" was first applied. After much interest from around the globe it sold to an American collector for a world record price of $161,000.
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1 comment:
hi Frank. These are very interesting motorcycles. A huge displacement, and the connecting rod is attached to the back wheel. It isn't visible here, it is hidden behind the black strap that helps pull the wheel over TDC. See, the wheel is the crankshaft for the motor! Of course that makes for some interesting speed / rpm issues, as there is no gearing to adjust other than the diameter of the rear tire. As an aside, there were a dozen reproductions made a few years ago, almost all sold to museums. Yesterday's in Holland had one of the repops for sale a while ago. I've looked over one of them, and it was almost ready to ride after some tuning to the surface carb. Wouldn't it be fun to take that from London to Brighton?
ciao
Pete
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