Modern motorcycles are twice as efficient as early engines
Inventions
By precisely timing a mist of fuel into a vortex of air, modern bikes achieve a level of combustion that older engines could only dream of.
In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler's first motorcycle engine relied on a primitive surface carburetor that essentially let fuel evaporate into the air. It was a messy, inefficient process that wasted a quarter of every drop of gasoline. Today, high-tech sensors monitor the exhaust in real-time to maintain a perfect chemical balance of roughly 14 parts air to one part fuel. This precision allows a 150cc engine to squeeze out 12 horsepower while burning 98% of its fuel, a feat that once required much larger, thirstier machinery.