Which company built the first U.S. production motorcycle?
Although motorcycles have been around in one form or another since the 1860's, the first U.S. Production motorcycle was Orient-Aster, built by the Metz Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1898. It had a French built Aster engine that was a copy of the "Mother of All Motorcycle engines", the DeDion-Buton. It beat out George Hendee's (Hendee Manufacturing Co.) Indian motorcycle by 3 years (1901), and Harley-Davidson by 4 years (1902). It was 51 years ahead of the Whizzer Co., which began producing bicycle engines in 1939, but didn't sell its first pre-assembled motorized bicycle, the Pacer, until 1948.
More Info:
motorcycle.com
What are your thoughts on this subject?
55 Comments
timdrumm
Metz - now who doesn't know that? Me! But caught on to this tidbit and filed it away securely - thanks to Quiz Club.
Bonnie Oliver Binford
Hae heard many time it was the Indian, but guess I was misinformed. (American Pickers) Thanks a lot LOL
Marie Giles
I didn’t know
Pamela Clutts
weathernco, Metz was the first production motorcycle.
Claire Mitchell
What a surprise! Thank you. I will never forget that because I was stationed in Metz, France, for four years while in the military.
Laurie Bowman
Good question, people need to read the question & understand it before they answer it.
Laurie Bowman
Debbie Dunton, so what? How many questions have you submitted?
Joyce Bruns
Got it wrong, so therefore I have to conclude that this is a trick question, right?...snicker! I chose Indian, as did the majority, so at least I have plenty of company.
weathernco
Incorrect it was the Marks Motocycle in 1896. Do your research better.
Barbara Glasper
I don't know why I picked Harley Davidson,knowing how guizz club does.
Cheryl McMeekin
Guessed wrong, but great question
Wanda Pelchat
I'd been led to believe it was Indian!! My bad....
Vonda Summers
Metz, first guess was Indian.
Janice Fish
The Orient-Aster was built by Metz.
Jim Hubbard
Do people not understand the difference between "Look, I built one of this thing" and "Wow, I built 100 of this thing and I have people selling them for me"? The question asked for the first "production motorcycle", which means that more than one was built. Going back and finding an example of a company building a single motorcycle prototype at an earlier date does not mean those were "production motorcycles".
If you people spent half as much time learning from your mistakes than you did trying to tear down people who took the time to research and write questions on QuizzClub, you'd probably make fewer mistakes.
Lisa Zornes Stolp
Never heard of them before.
Eric Brown
Both my Dad and Uncle were both motorheads and stuff like this was the 'icing on the cake' cake for them. So for me this was an easy one to get right.