Heinkel Scooter Project: Sinshiem Technical Museum- German Motorcycles

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sinshiem Technical Museum- German Motorcycles

Here is a few more photos of the car and motorcycle collection from Speyer, Sinshiem and Munchen Technology museums in Germany. Most of the bikes are of German manufacture and many were completely unknown to me. Unfortunately I don't have the details of all the motorbikes so I'm happy for people to advise me.

A German Phanomen from 1905 (Munich). Phanomen went on to become a truck manufacturer. Their factory was in Zittau in Saxony and after the division of Germany after the Second World War the company came under the VEB conglomerate. The company was renamed Robur.

Germania from 1904 (Munich).

NSU with sidecar

NSU. After the Second World War NSU became Germany's biggest motorcycle manufacturer.

A flying NSU

NSU Bison 2000 racer

NSU 1000 racer

Sinshiem had a large collection of Neander racing bikes and cars from the 1930s.

The Neander motorcycle display

The Neander racer display

Neander racers

Neander 3-wheeler racer

Neander had a very successful racing career between the mid 1920s and 1938 when the company was wound up and given over to war production. NSU and Opel both borrowed ideas from Neander designs.

DKW S500 twin cylinder. In the 1930's DKW was the worlds best selling motorcycle. After the war their engine designs were copied by Harley-Davidson, BSA and the Russian Ural and Pannonian, among many others. DKW itself had a convoluted history, becoming part of Auto-Union and later Zweirad-Union. In East Germany their Zschopau factory became MZ.

Opel were both a car and motorcycle manufacturer. They were later swallowed up by General Motors. In Australia the Holden Astra and Barina are rebadged Opels. In the UK they are sold as Vauxhalls. In response to GM's current financial difficulties, the German government initiated a buy-out of Opel in an effort to save German jobs.

Opel Neander

1920's Puch from Austria

Hercules and Mercedes

Standard motorcycle. In the rear is a Biber mini U-Boat from the Second World War.

A 1920s Zundapp

Zundapp KS601 and sidecar (Munich)

A Zundapp and sidecar. Followed by a BMW.

An early BMW. I don't know why this one was in a case. Obviously a rare and valuable machine.

1926 BMW R62 (Munich)

A BMW

BMW - to my mind this the look of a classic BMW. I'm not a fan of the new models.

The Ardie RBK 200

Horex 500

1954 Adler MB 201

Very rare and stylish for its time - 1920-32 Mars A 20

The Bohemian motorcycle company, Bohmerland (now part of the Czech Republic) had a novel approach to making motorcycles an effective means of mass transport - they built enormous multi-seat bikes. Featuring the longest wheel base of any motorcycle, their normal 300cc production bike was built for three passengers as standard. Stretched models could seat at least four. I'm not convinced these bikes would have been very comfortable for either passengers or rider and the turning circle would have been enormous.