What are motorcycles made of?
Motorcycles take 9 things directly, among them steel, aluminum, paint, car engine, tire and ball bearing. Trace them back and you pass 66 made things on the way to 26 raw materials.
How motorcycles are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
- Steelat Weld the frame
- Aluminumat Weld the frame
- Paintat Paint the tank and frame
- Car engineat Drop the engine in
- Tireat Fit forks, swingarm and wheels
- Ball bearingat Fit forks, swingarm and wheels
- Copper wireat Mount brakes and wire it
- Printed circuit boardat Mount brakes and wire it
- Gasolineat Fuel up and run it
From the ground: 26 raw materials
- Crude oil through gasoline
- Coal through aluminum
- Water through paint
- Silica sand through car engine
- Natural rubber latex through tire
- Sulfur through tire
- Iron ore through steel, manganese
- Limestone through steel, quicklime
- Air through steel, argon
- Dolomite through steel, magnesium
- Manganese ore through steel, manganese
- Natural gas through steel, manganese
- Bauxite through aluminum, alumina
- Titanium ore through paint, titanium dioxide
- Copper ore through printed circuit board, copper
- Corn through gasoline, ethanol
- Sugarcane through gasoline, ethanol
- Quartz through steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Timber through steel, magnesium, metallurgical silicon
- Rock salt through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash
- Zinc ore through printed circuit board, solder, silver
- Lead ore through printed circuit board, solder, silver
- Tin ore through tire, brass, tin
- Trona through printed circuit board, fiberglass, soda ash
- Silver ore through printed circuit board, solder, silver
- Sugar beet through gasoline, ethanol, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 57 things
Metals 15
Pig ironMagnesiumSteel scrapManganeseAluminaSteel wireBrassSheet steelCopperSolderCokeZincLeadTinSilver
Chemicals and fuels 30
Oxygen gasQuicklimeArgonPetroleum cokeTitanium dioxidePigmentCarbon blackNaphthaHydrogenEthanolPropaneSulfuric acidCaustic sodaChlorinePropyleneAmmoniaMethanolBenzeneEthyleneStyreneNitric acidSoda ashPhenolAcetoneCharcoalToluenePara-xyleneEthylene glycolCarbon dioxideFormaldehyde