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Japanese Engineer Soichiro Honda established Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 1948. He oversaw Honda’s expansion from cobbling together mopeds from bicycles and generator motors in a wooden shack to the multinational automobile and motorcycle manufacturing company of today. Many of his early bikes he called “Dream” after his vision of building motorcycles. In 1949, Honda

ItalJet founder Leopoldo Tartarini was a pilot, and later a factory racer for Ducati. When an injury prevented him from competing in the top ranks, he still had a year on his contract with Ducati; a huge publicity tour was undertaken – the Ducati World Adventure in 1954. This 37,282 mile trip was far more

Bianchi was established by Edoardo Bianchi in 1885 Milan Italy, making Bianchi the world’s oldest bicycle company still in existence. Edoardo Bianchi was considered to be the Henry Ford of the bicycle industry. Bianchi also pioneered the front wheel caliper brake and equal-size wheels with pneumatic rubber tires. In 1897, Bianchi expanded into motorcycle production,

Rosario Di Blasi (1919-2008), a former Italian Air Force pilot and engineer, began developing a folding scooter in 1952. In postwar Rome, bicycle theft was common, as any kind of personal transport was in short supply. The story goes that while carrying his bicycle up the 8 flights of stairs to his apartment, Di Blasi

The Centaur Folding Scooter was designed by James Wilford Foster, formerly an American employee of Lambretta, an Italian scooter manufacturer. Marketed as America’s only “full-size” folding scooter, the relatively heavy 90 pound Centaur folded down into its own seat, becoming a 20” x 30” x 16” box to be stowed in a car, boat, or

Harley- Davidson (H-D) started by making motorized bicycles in 1901. By 1904, after testing, they moved on to a bigger engine and loop-frame design that took it out of the motorized bicycle category and down the road to succeeding motorcycle designs. By 1917, they were a very successful company, producing over 20,000 motorcycles for the