The Find Of The Decade - One of the first ever motorbikes up for auction

Manufactured in Munich, Germany, the Hildebrand & Wolfmuller is of the utmost historical significance as the first powered two-wheeler to enter series production, and is the first such vehicle to which the name 'motorcycle' (motorrad in German) was ever applied.
The 1895 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller motorcycle sounds like a modern motorcycle in its specification - twin-cylinder, four-valve, water-cooled, 1488cc engine - but it is indeed as unconventional as it is rare. Check out the diagram and you'll see the rear wheel doubled as a pseudo flywheel and indeed, the piston connecting rods and the pushrods that actuate the valve gear are also attached to the rear wheel, there's no clutch, no brakes and there's a lot of restoration work to be done.
Patented in January 1894, H&W's motorcycle was greeted with enthusiasm and plans were drawn up to build a factory in Munich to produce it. It was also licenced to a firm in France and marketed there as 'La Petrolette'. The H&W was capable of speeds approaching 30mph, an exciting prospect at a time when powered road transport of any sort was still a novelty. Opinions differ with regard to how many machines were produced, figures range from as low as 800 to as high as 2,000. Survivors are, needless to say, exceedingly rare.