Twin-Pot Dictatorships

Written by Michael Fordham

Although Germany is not synonymous with passionate success in biking or motorsport, the fact is that motorcycle knowledge, know-how and technology introduced by German companies has been exported to every corner of the planet. We gathered together fifteen of the most interesting German two wheelers ever produced.

: The new straight six concept from BMW is set to solve structural problems with the in-line six cylinder format

: Franz Langer built this 2000cc single cylinder NSU in 2007: a record-breaking size for a one-pot

: The MZ 125 was ridden to Victory by East German Ernst Degner, who famously defected to the west and introduced Suzuki to the secrets of two stroke technology

: In 1939 Georg Meier was the first non-English rider to win the Senior Tourist Trophy on his BMW compressor machine

: The R32 was the first motorbike to be produced under the BMW brand. It introduced the twin boxer and driveshaft format that survives to this day.

: In the 1950s MZ dominated motorcycle sport in East Germany

: Despite sharing a name with an STD, NSU were a successful manufacturer of motorbikes before and after WW2. This 350 dates from 1939

: Manufacturer DKW produced many military vehicles for the Wehrmacht. This half-tracked ‘kattenkrad’ was in use all over the European theatre

: This Yamaha 250 was, according a variety of sources, copied and manufactured under license from the DKW 350 – another example of Japanese successfully copying german bike tech.