Episode 037 · Out Nov 10, 2026

The first motorbike had a fire under the seat

On 10 November 1885, Paul Daimler – Gottlieb Daimler's teenage son – rode the "Reitwagen" from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim: wooden frame, wooden wheels with iron rims, two little side wheels, half a horsepower and about 12 km/h. Its hot-tube ignition sat right under the saddle, and the story goes that the seat caught fire. The twist: Daimler and Maybach built it as a test rig for their "grandfather clock" engine, not as a motorbike. Steam bikes came earlier, but most historians call it the first petrol motorcycle. The original burned in 1903 – today's are replicas.

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