Two-Wheeled & Small Vehicles
Early motorcycles, motorized scooters, rare bicycles, and historic small vehicles.
Explore the inventions that helped turn bicycles, engines, and compact machines into a new era of personal transportation.
The Birth Of Personal Transportation
From bicycles to motorized scooters, this exhibit traces the early ideas that changed how people moved.
This collection features early motorcycle milestones, rare bicycles, motorized attachments, scooters from around the world, the 1886 Benz Motorwagen, and unusual machines that helped shape personal transportation history.
Small Machines, Big Ideas
Before cars filled the roads, inventors were experimenting with bicycles, engines, steam power, and scooters.
The history of personal transportation did not begin with one simple invention. Some point to the 1867 Roper Velocipede, a steam-powered two-wheeler, while others recognize the 1885 Daimler-Maybach Reitwagen as the first motorcycle because it used an internal combustion engine. Around the same time, the 1886 Benz Motorwagen helped define what would become the modern automobile. This exhibit brings those early breakthroughs together with rare bicycles, Whizzers, motorized attachments, and experimental machines that show how inventors kept searching for faster, easier, and more practical ways to travel.
What To Look For:
- Early motorcycle milestones
- 1886 Benz Motorwagen
- Rare bicycles and Whizzers
- Jet-powered Harley
The Rise Of The Scooter
Affordable, simple, and easy to ride, scooters helped bring motorized travel to more people.
Scooters became especially popular after World War II, when many countries needed affordable transportation that was easy to build, easy to maintain, and practical for everyday travel. Their small engines, step-through frames, and compact size made them useful for commuting, deliveries, and city streets around the world. This collection includes scooters from different countries, along with a 1916 Autoped — recognized as the first motorized scooters and one of only eight still in existence.
What To Look For:
- 1916 Autoped motorized scooter
- Scooters from around the world
- Postwar scooter design
- Compact engines and step-through frames
First Machines
Steam, gasoline, and bicycle frames helped launch the earliest motorcycles and motor vehicles.
Scooter Boom
Affordable scooters became practical transportation after World War II changed production worldwide.
Rare Innovations
From the 1916 Autoped to a jet-powered Harley, this collection celebrates bold small-vehicle ideas.
A Glimpse Into Personal Transportation History
Ready to See It in Person?
Explore the machines that changed personal transportation.
Your visit includes early motorcycles, rare bicycles, scooters from around the world, the 1915 Autoped, the Benz Motorwagen, a jet-powered Harley, and more.
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