FUTURE MACHINE

There weren’t many established design practices in the earliest days of the motorcycle.

In those nascent times, ingenious builders tried just about every form of power, from steam to internal combustion, from one cylinder to more than four. And, they experimented by placing those powerplants in many different positions, from over the front wheel to various locations on and around — and in — the bicycle frame itself.

Eventually, as the motorized bicycle morphed into an actual motorcycle, the layout became somewhat more familiar. Yet, engineers were still tinkering with details, from rudimentary suspension design to fuel tank position to final drive system. By the end of World War I, motorcycle design was more firmly established, yet engineers were still thinking outside the box. In 1918, for example, there was the hub-steered Ner-A-Car, the brainchild of Carl Neracher. A 221cc single-cylinder 2-stroke machine, the Ner-A-Car sold relatively well between 1921 and 1928.

More changes were still to come, including “saddle” style gas tanks, telescopic forks and the adoption of swingarm rear suspension. But, while at risk of over-generalizing the entire motorcycle industry, after all of that creativity, powered two-wheeler design settled into a fairly established pattern. Indeed, there were new materials and new manufacturing processes that helped tighten up tolerances and improve reliability, and certain “eras” of development further refined the motorcycle.

Changes

By the early