In 2021 the 100 years of Moto Guzzi, still alive and kicking. It wasn’t the only significant relapse, however.
It’s fair to remember too another motorcycle manufacturer what a long time ago one of the most important in the world, with two- and four-stroke performance at a high technical level. This is the German Zündapp, born in Nuremberg 1917 to manufacture and import electrical equipment and detonators in the motorcycle sector in 1921.
The name of the company is derived from what it originally built, that is, from the union of the first letters of the words Ignition and device (Ignition and device).
The motorcycle debut took place in 1921 with the At 22. The 2.25 hp engine was a very simple two-stroke single-cylinder head and cylinder made from one piece and was connected directly to the rear wheel via a belt.
A model with a separate two-speed transmission was derived from this first bicycle. A big step forward was made in 1924 with the At 249 equipped with a three-speed gearbox and chain final drive. At the end of the year the company passed the 10,000 motorcycles mark.
The validity of the products from the Nuremberg house immediately proved to be excellent, which had a positive impact on sales and helped the brand to quickly become popular.
In the early 1930s, the Zündapp it was the second German homeland (according to DKW) as the number of motorcycles produced. During this time, he was evaluating the idea of entering the automotive industry with a revolutionary “people’s car” with a rear engine, which was carried out in cooperation with the Porsche (to which we owe the original drawing of the vehicle).
In 1932 three prototypes were built. This car, called Type 12, it was a living one Ancestor of the Volkswagen Beetle. For this purpose, Zündapp proposed (and built) a water-cooled five-cylinder radial engine.
In 1933 the first appeared K-series motorcycle, with boxer engine Four-stroke and with gearbox last tree, characterized by a typical double cradle frame made of pressed sheet metal and by the gearbox in which the drive and output shafts were connected by chains and not by gears.
The K 500, which was produced up to 1940, had lateral timing, like the exceptional ones K 800 with four counter-rotating cylinders it had 22 hp at 4300 rpm. The most powerful models had the distribution with rods and rocker arms and were distinguished by the initials KS. The model of 600 cm3 (KS 600, with 75 mm bore and 67.3 mm stroke) developed 28 hp at 4,700 and was built in considerable numbers between 1938 and 1941.
In the 1930s when the company’s technical director was the great designer Richard CakeAs the “father” of the boxer with shaft drive (and more), Zündapp produced a large number of excellent single-cylinder two-stroke engines. Intensive research and development has also made it possible to develop an advanced washing system with three transfer channels and flat-top pistons.
Out of the box was the brave but unfortunate DS 350 Four-stroke engine with 17 hp at 5200 rpm (production from 1937 to 1940).
During the Second World War the Zündapp also built for the German armed forces 18,000 KS 750, all combined with the buggy (whose bike was riding). In this case the cylinders were not arranged against each other, but rather a V 170 ° to increase the ground clearance of the heads.
After the war the KS 601 replaced the KS 600; the sport version of this model developed 34 hp at 6000 rpm. Production of the boxer twins, the last four-stroke Zundapps, ended in 1958.
Models like the scooter were widespread in the 1950s Nice and the DB 605 “Elastic”. The changes were with sliding keys. In 1958, production was relocated to Munich, where mopeds had been built for several years.
Zündapp suffered only to a limited extent from the market crisis that led to well-known brands leaving the scene between the late 1950s and the beginning of the following decade. Off-road motorcycles have become one of his great strengths.
In 1967 a new model series appeared with displacements between 50 and 140 cm3in which the ribbing of the cylinder (inclined) was horizontal and not perpendicular to the barrel; that of the head was radial.
By doing seventies the off-road vehicle has had a golden time and the Zündapp is confirmed right at the top of the Duetempistica technique, Build motorcycles Street (KS), from regularity (GS) and even from cross (MC) who have been very successful with young people and have achieved excellent results in the competitive field.
The shifts were there 50, the 175 and the 125; the latter has also been widely used by us. The gearbox was an expansion ball and the cylinder had an integrated barrel, first chrome-plated and then with an insert nikasil.
the Water cooling arrived in the middle of the decade, but only for some models. The products were so good that if the Laverda decided to build a road 125 and turned to the German company to supply engines.
So was born LZ 125 which has been available in several versions since 1978 for a total of approx 24,000 copies.
With the new KS 125, which was presented in 1980, a whole generation of motors of unprecedented design should be born, finally equipped with reed mounts. However, it was about a real swan song because in 1984 the Zündapp had to close its doors.
Comments are closed.