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59 free Motorcycle trivia questions with answers — technology quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
53 free Motorcycle trivia questions with answers. Motorcycle trivia gets far more interesting once you leave the brochures behind. These 59 questions cover the first petrol-powered machine of 1885, the best-selling motor vehicle ever built, the cylinder angle behind the most famous exhaust note in the world, and the sound a company once tried to trademark. The quiz also takes in racing and riding: the Isle of Man mountain course and its unhappy record, the year the TT lost its world championship status, MotoGP's engine rules, Evel Knievel's bone count, the neurosurgeon whose research put helmets on riders' heads, and half a million people descending on the Black Hills every August. Every answer was checked against a primary reference before publication, so the dates, capacities and statistics here are accurate rather than pub wisdom. Difficulty runs from easy warm-ups to a few that will only fall to someone with oil under their fingernails.
30 of 59 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was the first internal combustion, petrol-fuelled motorcycle?
The Daimler Reitwagen
Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built it in Germany in 1885. It had wooden wheels and two outrigger supports.
Q 02Which 1894 machine was the first series production motorcycle?
The Hildebrand & Wolfmüller
It was also the first machine to be called a motorcycle. Fewer than two thousand were built.
Q 03Roughly how many new motorcycles were sold around the world in 2021?
58.6 million
Car sales that year came to 66.7 million. In much of Asia and Africa the small-capacity motorcycle is the family vehicle.
Q 04Which machine is the biggest selling motor vehicle of all time?
The Honda Super Cub
Its 60 millionth unit was produced in April 2008, and the 100 millionth came in 2017. It has been in production since 1958.
Q 05In 2024, how did the US motorcyclist fatality rate per mile compare with car occupants'?
About 27 times higher
The 2024 figures were 28.00 against 1.05 per 100 million miles. Helmets cut the risk of death by 42%.
Q 06In which year was Harley-Davidson founded?
1903
It is one of only two American manufacturers to survive the Great Depression.
Q 07What angle separates the cylinders in a classic Harley-Davidson V-twin?
45 degrees
The narrow angle makes the cylinders fire at uneven intervals. That is what produces the famous exhaust note.
Q 08What did Harley-Davidson try to trademark in 1994?
The sound of its engine
The uneven firing intervals produce the 'potato-potato' rhythm. The company abandoned the attempt in June 2000.
Q 09Which company bought Harley-Davidson in 1969, presiding over a period of quality problems?
American Machine and Foundry
It streamlined production and cut the workforce. Riders called the machines of that era by unkind nicknames.
Q 10In which year was the first Isle of Man TT held?
1907
Racing on public roads there has continued for well over a century. The mountain course runs to 37.73 miles.
Q 11How long is the Snaefell Mountain Course?
37.73 miles
It is made up of ordinary public roads, closed for racing. Riders pass through villages, over a mountain and past stone walls.
Q 12How many people have died in official practices or races on the mountain course between 1907 and 2023?
156
It is by some distance the deadliest motorsport event in the world. The organisers publish the toll openly.
Q 13Why did the Isle of Man TT lose its world championship status after 1976?
The title moved to a British Grand Prix
The FIM transferred it to the United Kingdom for the 1977 season. Top riders had refused to compete on safety grounds.
Q 21Which 1952 film sent Vespa sales past 100,000?
Roman Holiday
Audrey Hepburn rode side-saddle behind Gregory Peck through Rome. Few product placements have ever worked so well.
Q 22How many world championships did the most successful Grand Prix rider in history win?
Fifteen
Giacomo Agostini took eight in the 500cc class and seven in the 350cc class. Rossi and Marquez have nine each.
Q 23Who is the most successful champion in Grand Prix motorcycle history?
Giacomo Agostini
He won fifteen titles, eight in the 500cc class and seven in the 350cc class. Rossi and Marquez have nine each.
Q 14Which rider holds 26 TT race wins, second only to his own nephew?
Joey Dunlop
He was Michael's uncle. The family name dominates the event's record books.
Q 15Which slogan launched in 1963 to sell small step-through bikes in America?
You meet the nicest people
The campaign ran for twelve years. It deliberately separated motorcycling from its outlaw image.
Q 16When did production of Honda's famous step-through model pass its hundred-millionth unit?
2017
It had reached 60 million by 2008 and 87 million by 2014. No other motor vehicle comes close.
Q 17What lets a rider change gear on a Super Cub without a hand lever?
A centrifugal mechanism
It works with a plate clutch slaved to the foot-shift lever. That is why the machine suited riders who had never ridden before.
Q 18Which Italian company makes the Vespa?
Piaggio
The first model appeared in 1946, built at Pontedera. The name is Italian and Latin for wasp.
Q 19What does the word 'Vespa' mean?
Wasp
The shape of the body suggested it: a fat rear and a narrow waist. The name stuck on the spot.
Q 20What did the Vespa's designer, Corradino D'Ascanio, think of motorcycles?
He hated them as bulky and dirty
That dislike is exactly why the scooter has a step-through frame and enclosed engine. He was an aeronautical engineer by training.
Q 24In which year did rule changes begin phasing out the 500cc two-strokes?
2002
Four-strokes dominated within a season or two despite costing more. The class was renamed at the same time.
Q 25What was Evel Knievel's real first name?
Robert
He was born Robert Craig Knievel in Butte, Montana in 1938. The stage name came from a jail cell nickname.
Q 26Which Idaho gorge did Knievel try to cross in a rocket-powered machine in 1974?
Snake River
The vehicle was called the Skycycle X-2. Its parachute deployed too early and the attempt failed.
Q 27Roughly how many bone fractures did Knievel suffer during his career?
More than 433
Guinness recognised the tally. He attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp jumps.
Q 28What injuries did Knievel suffer in his famous Caesars Palace crash?
A crushed pelvis and femur
He also fractured his hip, wrist and both ankles. He returned to jumping within months.
Q 29By how much do motorcycle helmets reduce the risk of death, according to the research?
42%
They cut the risk of head injury by 69%. The figures are among the most replicated in road safety.
Q 30Whose fatal crash prompted the research that led to compulsory military helmets?
T. E. Lawrence
He was not wearing a helmet and died six days after the crash. Hugh Cairns, the neurosurgeon who attended him, took up the research.