8. Werner – 1900

With small engines mounted above the rear then the front wheels, brothers Eugene and Michel Werner didn’t get it right the first or second time, but with their third attempt the brothers created the prototype of modern motorcycle engine placement. In 1900 the Werners filed the first motorcycle patent for their diamond-pattern bicycle frame with an engine in place of where a bicycle’s bottom bracket would normally reside. Other manufacturers were forced to pay royalties or circumvent the patent by way of loop frames or by using the engine as a stressed member.

1900 Werner