Riding Through Time: Vintage Motorcycle Photos of People Posing with Pride, 1920s-1950s

Vintage Wonders Mar 07, 2025

Motorcycles have an interesting beginning anchored in the 19th-century technological developments.

Their family history begins with the “safety bicycle,” which had a pedal-crank system to drive the rear wheel and equally sized front and rear wheels.

Reflecting a shared vision of mechanized transportation, the evolution of the motorbike was molded by the concurrent efforts of engineers and inventors across Europe at the same period rather than from a single invention.

German engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach developed the first petroleum-fueled motorbike, sometimes known as the Daimler Reitwagen, in Bad Cannstatt, Germany in 1885.

Man a circa 1908 3 1/2 horsepower Bradbury motorcycle, somewhere in Victoria, Australia, circa 1908.

During the First World War, when their manufacturing skyrocketed to support military operations, motorcycles were somewhat well-known.

Faster communication, reconnaissance, and law enforcement among the troops were made possible by sending motorcycle replacements for horse-mounted messengers.

By the conclusion of the war, legendary American business Harley-Davidson had committed more than half of its output to military contracts.

Likewise, the British manufacturer Triumph confirmed the importance of its Triumph Type H motorcycles by providing Allied forces with more than 30,000 of them.

Indian motorcycle, somewhere in Scotland, circa 1915.

Germany’s DKW became the top motorbike producer worldwide by late 1920s and early 1930s.

Found and arranged by Steve Given, these fascinating antique images show people boldly posing with their motorcycles between the early 1900s and the 1950s.

Royal Enfield motorcycle, somewhere in Scotland, circa 1915.

Streamlining became more crucial in the development of racing bikes in the 1950s when the “dustbin fairing” presented a means for radical design alterations.

Leading innovators in this field, NSU and Moto Guzzi produced designs well ahead of their time.

Particularly NSU evolved the most sophisticated ideas of the day. But four NSU riders died during the 1954–1956 seasons, which caused the firm to stop expanding and pull out from Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

Triumph Model H registered in Hertfordshire, circa 1916.
Damsel on a Douglas motorcycle, somewhere in England, circa 1920s.
Harley-Davidson motorcycle and sidecar, circa 1920s.
Man on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, circa 1920s.
Man with his Harley-Davidson, circa 1920s.
Reading Standard 1200cc V-twin 18hp 1921 model. The registration number is from Paris, France, circa 1921.
BSA motorcycle, somewhere in Scotland, 1922.
A young lad tries a BSA motorcycle for size in Melbourne, Victoria, 1927.
AJS motorcycle at Wroxham, Norfolk Broads, England, 1929.
BMW R2 single cylinder motorcycle, somewhere in Germany, circa 1930s.
Puch motorcycle and rider, somewhere in Austria, circa 1930s.
Sunbeam 9/90 500cc OHV registered in Cheshire, UK, circa 1930-31.
Zündapp motorcycle, somewhere in Germany during the 1930s.
Harley-Davidson, circa 1936.
A Harley-Davidson and rider, somewhere in Wisconsin, circa 1940s.
Couple on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, circa 1940s.
Couple on a Triumph motorcycle, circa 1940s.
German soldiers on a Zündapp motorcycle during WWII.
Ladies on Meister motorcycles, circa 1940s.
BSA motorcycle in England, 1947.
Puch motorcycle and rider, somewhere in Austria, 1951.
Brough motorcycle and sidecar, on the Isle of Man, 1955.
A team of motorcycles and riders, including a Triumph, Indian and Harley-Davidson, somewhere in Wisconsin, circa 1950s.
Father holding his child on a Pannonia motorcycle and sidecar, somewhere in Hungary, circa 1950s.

(Photo credit: Steve Given via Flickr).

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