Study of the earliest practical designs reveal most of them to be a very primitive adoption of a bicycle frame with a simple flat head iron motor, generally clutchless and single speed, driving through a flat belt. This motor might be positioned wherever the whims of its creator saw fit, from a position above or alongside either front or rear wheel, to the center of the bike's frame--even built into the center of the wheel! A lad on a pedal bike often could beat them, and the pedal bike was far more reliable over any real distance.

Boys being boys, however, races occurred between these primitive motorized bicycles simply because there happened to be more than one around. Manufactures seeing the action going on began to back the more talented riders, hoping to spur sales. Most machines, barely able to chuff around at much above a brisk walking pace reacted to this new abuse by breaking in any number of ways: connecting rods and crankshafts broke, valve heads popped off, cylinders warped and cracked, certainly plugs failed and pistons seized and broke up as the motor literally ran red hot.

Engine placement became more as we have today as weight distribution and other practical and mechanical considerations bowed to the effects of handling, achieving a more centralized mass and a lower center of gravity. Style and fashion caught up with function, resulting in a more winning combination benefitting the rider, whether on road or track.

As overworked engines failed, manufactures worked diligently to correct the weaknesses which could kill sales as quickly and dramatically as a race win proved able to boost them. As the improved power units raised the maximum speed, frames too developed to prevent breakage and to provide the increased control now demanded from the increased power levels.

Now flat head motor designs lost out to the newer and faster overhead valve types where valves were functioned by pushrods. A few four valve head layouts entered the winner's circle only to lose out later to even newer overhead camshaft designs, single and then double shafts leading the way.

After visiting Indians from America trounced the Brits, they switched over from belts to chain drives because their superiority had been proven. They also adopted the multi-ratio transmission, a far more flexible and reliable set-up. The desire to lessen weight and improve cooling to enhance performance lead to the replacement of cast-iron with aluminum. The use of bronze for cylinder heads enjoyed a brief usage before giving way to a light alloy, thus enabling a decrease in weight and allowing higher compression ratios.

At first hairpin valve springs proved more resistant to breakage and were quicker to change during a race, but as coil springs got the benefits of better steel and heat treating technique they proved more reliable at high r.p.m. and so came into wide spread use as speeds rose. And so it went, every component experiencing failure and then being improved. Valves no longer broke, dropping into their heads and destroying the upper half of the motor, and con-rods resisted failure at far greater engine speeds. Proper oil pumps replaced splash lubrication providing pressure fed oil all around. All of this development compressed into a few years, rather than decades, all of it directly benefiting the touring rider desiring trouble free and long-lived machines. Even more directly, racing provided the impetus for constant improvements in frames, brakes, suspension, and tire technology, thus adding to the rider's safety and comfort. To recount two commonly used examples, I have only to mention that the British Velocette factory was the first to employ foot shift control of their gearboxes, immediately copied by every other designer world wide for road and track, and the rear frame layout termed monoshock, now a feature of all motorcycles of any performance consequence, is near identical to that design used in every Vincent ever made, and was originally patented in 1928.

Thus it is clear that in every facet of performance, reliability, and safety, where precise control and the sure response of powerful brakes can dramatically effect one's life in a tight, demanding situation, it is racing development that saves the day, materially adding to our safety and comfort while ensuring us a better chance at survival in today's traffic.