By Andrew Stuart: The first production motorbike is up for sale this Sunday (April 25) in Stafford.

The 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller is set to go for between £40,000 and £60,000 at auction. It’s being sold at the Stafford County Showground, during the Carole Nash International Classic Bike Show.

The Hildebrand brothers, Henry and Wilhelm, developed the motorcycle in partnership with Alois Wolfmüller and his mechanic, Hans Geisenhof, in the late 1800′s.

Their design was powered by a twin-cylinder, water-cooled, four-stroke engine displacing 1,488cc, which until relatively recent times was the largest power unit ever fitted to a motorcycle. It only has a maximum power output 2.5bhp at 240rpm, but was capable of speeds approaching 30mph.

Ben Walker, the head of motorcycles at Bonhams, spoke to StaffsLive:

Bonhams auctioneers have over 500 lots for sale at the show, with bikes ranging from modern day Ducatis and Hondas, to classic bikes such as the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller and a Brough Superior – of the type ridden by Laurence of Arabia.

The Brough is described as the “Rolls Royce of motorcycles”, and is set to fetch between £110,00 and £130,000. It was built by George Brough, and first shown to the public in 1924. It built on previous versions of the bike, and employed an entirely new 980cc JAP v-twin engine. It also came with a guarantee in writing that it could do over 100mph – a feat not achievable by most of the road going cars of the time.

The sale starts at10am.