German Motorcycle Show
GERMAN MOTORCYCLE SHOW
SLONIGER
EVERY SECOND YEAR the German motorcycle industry holds a general show to boost their products and occasionally introduce a new model or two. 1964 was such a year and the display had moved from Frankfurt to Cologne in the hopes of improving attendance over 1962's rather tepid offering.
It's too early to debate the customer count but the show itself was certainly brighter and more richly laid out, though the tally of new models wasn’t much better than before. German two-wheel production has climbed slightly since the 1962 show though exports are down a little. The U. S.. incidentally, is sixth among German export customers, taking less than 5% of the 43.500 motorized tw'o - wheelers hist year.
The problem is. the German industry hasn’t gotten over the stigma of “poor man’s transport" from post-war days. The new look is sports, though still in the small classes, and the pure motorcycle factories who back scrambler teams and trials men are showing decent growth.
The one-time kings of German motorcycledom like NSU and BMW didn t have so much as one new bike between them.
Despite all rumors. BMW didn’t show their bigger model, nor an automatic, and could only speak at a tangent about the possibility of telescopic front forks -“maybe some day.” NSU showed mostly historic models. Incidentally, Germany’s only factory with a road race team. Kreidler. isn’t a member of the producer’s union and doesn't show' at these events. The U.S.A.. which was represented by Harley-Davidson / Aermacchi two years ago. hadn’t so much as a corner booth in 1964. So much for what they hadn’t — now' about the things that were new'.
It can’t be all coincidence that one of the largest and brightest stands belonged to Zundapp of Munich who seem to believe in motorcycles and particularly scramblers and their offshoots. Of course they took home four German crosscountry classes (50. 100. 125 and 175cc ) this past season as w'ell as three trials titles and narrowly missed winning a couple of other classes, so they have reason to crow. Various mud pluggers ruled the Zundapp stand but there was room for their new KS 50 Super SL. This
50cc mini-motorcycle is typical of the current German trend. Larger bikes (still small by our standards) are used in competition but the vast majority of sales go to the 50cc class, with almost as many true miniature motorcycles sold as socalled mopeds of government - limited horsepower. You don’t need a license for the 50cc mopeds in the 2 hp vicinity but they seem to promote a taste for items like the KS 50 Super SI
The bike w'as broken in with a sixday-and-night rush around Monza earlier in the year when it averaged 52.9 mph with stops, despite fog and rain. The 5.2 hp light-metal two-stroke has a hardchrome bore and 39 x 41.8mm bore stroke dimensions, with 9:1 compression ratio. The 175-pound bike will carry some 340 pounds at “over 50 mph."
Almost all the novelty was in this 50cc class. Sachs brought out an engine which is a virtual twin of the Zundapp in performance. producing its 5.2 hp at 7400 rpm and taking bikes like the Hercules anti Rabeneick to 50 mph as well Like the Zundapp. the Sachs engine has a five-speed, foot-shift gearbox. Hercules has a second new line with Sachs engines in the lOOcc class, delivering 8.2 hp. Their display in Cologne leaned heavily on the so-called GS line of scramblers which have done particularly well in the novice crosscountry classes this past season.
Germany’s hist major volume producer of small motorcycles is the Zweirad Union, made up of DKW. Victoria and Express. Their show star was the Aero 166, suitably re-titled for each marque though the only differences betw-een the three are in paint and labels. This is a 4.6 hp 50cc bike w'ith the virtually obligatory 5-speed gearbox. Victoria, the sporting member of the trio, claimed one scrambles class from Zundapp, the 75cc. with a bored-out version of this bike last summer. and was making much of the fact.
The exception to this rash of 50s w'as Maico who gave just as much space to sport but tended to the larger (for Germany) divisions with new Super Sport 175, 250 and 350cc bikes, as well as 175 and 250cc “Moto-Ball” machinery, all with the identifying wide-rib cylinders. They make much of the fact that Maico builds “true" motorcycles and do just as well in the larger cross-country classes as Zundapp in the smaller, and even sneak a road race winner in among the German novices on occasion.
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The SS models deliver 15. 23 and 29 hp respectively and that last version, the SS 350. is also available with under-square 76 x 78mm dimensions and 354cc for the “over-350” race class where it often wins in the novice division. The normal shape is a square 76/76 for 345cc. Some 95 mph is claimed for this 350/360 size. The Maico scrambler is called a GS-175. 250 or 277. depending, and they had the 250cc German scrambles champion this past season. An example of their special service to sports riders is the choice of oval tube frame (302 pounds for the 250) or the light-weight sport frame coming to the line some 60 pounds lighter. A trials special in the 250 class is just as light and fitted with special gearing for this demanding game which is catching on in Germany. The Maico 250 trials hike produces 14.9 hp/ 5.300 rpm, compared to the scrambler's 23 hp/5800 rpm.
Two further Maico specials — only slightly changed from the Super Sport and GS models but enough to make the difference — are their Moto-Cross and Motoball models. The Moto-Cross comes in 250 (24 hp/6200 imp) and 360 (29/ 6000) sizes, and weighs slightly less than the GS range at 225 pounds. The Motoball hikes arc real specials with springless rear “suspensions" and weights in the 195 pound range to give rapid acceleration.
They use regular Maico 175 and 250 engines and two-speed gearboxes.
Finally. East Zone MZ and Simpson bikes were displayed, with their 6 Day team win only a few days old. The MZ in particular is a very neat piece of equipment and apparently as fast as it is robust. Steyr buch of Austria (known in America through Sears) picked Cologne for the debut of their new light scooter and minimotorbike. both with a 4.7 hp/6800cc. 5()cc engine and four-speed foot shift. The scooter is called the I R 50.
Honda naturally led the foreign contingent and can still claim pride of place in making the motorcycle a sports instrument to have alongside the car in Germany. I hey are beginning to get into private-owner racing now. both cross-country and track. I he recent detail improvements across the line were new to Germany. Yamaha took a stand as well, though their sales are still in the beginning stages.
Germany si ill has its hard core of bike enthusiasts, most of them riding smaller machinery due to the hitter tax on hikes as big as 350. to say nothing of the 500 and 600s. From all appearances, if they hang on to their pets a few more years they will he hailed as the new sportsmen. This feature is being underlined by manufacturers and exhibitors, one showing 150 years of two-wheelers, the other displaying record and race specials from the days of German glory, like the bäum NSU "flying lawn chair" and Noll's recordbreaking bMW three-wheeler from 1955. •
