History of the motorcycle by 1902, and would rise to 32,000, its best ever, in 1913. Indian produced over 20,000 bikes per year. The oldest surviving Russian-manufactured motorcycle, the Rossiya, dates from 1902. The American company Harley-Davidson started producing motorcycles in 1903. During this period, experimentation and innovation were driven by the popular new sport of motorcycle racing, with its powerful incentive to produce tough, fast, reliable machines. These enhancements quickly found their way to the public's machines. Chief August Vollmer of the Berkeley, California Police Department is credited with organizing the first official police motorcycle-patrol in the United States in 1911. By 1914,
Victoria (motorcycle) Victoria (motorcycle) Victoria was a bicycle manufacturer in Nürnberg, Germany that made motorcycles from about 1901 until 1966. It should not be confused with a lesser-known, unrelated Victoria Motorcycle Company in Glasgow, Scotland that made motorcycles between 1902 and 1928. In its early decades Victoria in Nürnberg fitted proprietary engines purchased from various manufacturers including Fafnir, FN, Minerva and Zédel. In 1920 Victoria launched the model KR 1, which has a 494 cc BMW twin-cylinder side-valve flat twin (boxer engine) mounted longitudinally in the motorcycle frame. The engine produced and transmission was via a two-speed gearbox. When BMW started making