If you read this house of lords debate it gives an idea of how rapidly the british welcomed the victorian invention of the motorcycle:
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/comm ... olumn_1484For those that don't want to trawl through, the 1903 debate contains a speech by Lord Scott montague:
"The State has therefore rightly considered that a man who travels from London to. York is a person who ought to pay the proportion of the upkeep of the roads, and these grants-in-aid are made on account of the long-distance traveller, and only half the cost is borne by the localities. It has been said several times during the debate that this is a class question. It is not a class question.
Do hon. and right hon. Gentlemen realise that there are 20,000 motor cycles in this country? I venture to say that by this time next year there will probably be three times as many motor-cycles as motor-cars."
20,000 motorcycles by 1903.
If you research the hansards further you find that motorcycles had become the iron - horse of the proffessional and tradesman.
They would've been used on ROADS in PDNP just as anywhere else in the country.
Goverment had identified the military potential for motorcycles as early as 1901:
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/comm ... 06_HOC_171