You’ll find a shedload of additional stories in 1895 and 1896. Foremost of these is a comprehensive report on the unshackling of British road transport. As The Autocar put it: “To-day, November I4th, 1896, is a red-letter day, not only in the history of automobilism, but in that of England itself, for it marks the throwing open of the highways and byeways of our beautiful country to those who elect to travel thereupon in carriages propelled by motors, instead of in horse-drawn vehicles or upon bicycles.” Engines are noisy so you’ll also find: “Beneath the motor is a box, into which the exhaust passes and expands before escaping into the air. In this way the noise arising from the exhaust is suppressed.” And as well as making a petrol-engined trike (and a horribly effect machine gun) Hiram Maxim took to the air, briefly, in a biplane with a crew of three and two stream engines powering 18ft props, nine years before Orville and Wilbur did their thing at Kittyhawk.
Motorcycle Timeline 