When pioneering engineers were hard at work in the nascent motorcycle industry at the turn of the last century, single-cylinder and then twin-cylinder engines reigned supreme. However, some early builders had devised multi-cylinder platforms. Take British engineer Colonel Capel Holden; he developed a water-cooled opposed 4-cylinder engine around 1894.
Meanwhile, fellow British designer Charles Binks, perhaps better known for his carburetors, designed an inline-four in 1903 that was branded as an Evart-Hall. Quantity production never ensued and the Binks machine lasted until 1905. Then there was FN, or Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre of Belgium, and its 4-cylinder model.
Arms to wheels
First introduced to the public in 1905, FN’s Four wasn’t the earliest example of a multi-cylinder machine, but the company does have the distinction of marketing the first full-production four. Fabrique Nationale got its start in 1889 as an arms manufacturer, building under license Mauser-designed rifles. Looking to diversify, FN launched shaft-driven bicycles in 1896, together with chain-driven models. While continuing to make great strides with arms production, FN further diversified with the production of automobiles in 1899, followed shortly after with a motorcycle
