Motorcycle development began in the second half of the 19th century, the idea of a powered bicycle with front and rear wheels of the same size and a pedal crank mechanism to drive the rear wheel, occuring to numerous engineers and inventors around Europe at around the same time. The first steam powered motorbike is credited to Pierre Michaux, a Parisian (France) blacksmith in 1867. However, the first petroleum powered motorbike was produced by Daimler and Maybach in 1885, with the first commercially available motorbike being produced by Hildebrand & Wolfmuller in 1894.
