Video: Imme R100, a classic for its time
2024 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-10 16:54
Between 1948 and 1951 Riedel AG manufactured in Germany just over 10,000 units of this Imme R100, a revolutionary motorcycle ahead of its time. Because while most motorcycles of the time still used diamond-shaped tube frames at Riedel AG they designed the Imme R100, a compact and light motorcycle, with a curved tube chassis, which supported a single-arm front fork, which used the rear swingarm (also single-arm) as the exhaust pipe and the engine as the pivot axis of the latter. Would you like to take a look at this peculiar motorcycle?
The beginning of the history of Riedel AG is well known. In post-war Germany, the aeronautical engineer Norbert Riedel realized that the country needed a cheap vehicle to re-start the economy and motorize the country. While in Italy they bet on Scooters (Lambretta and Vespa) in Germany they bet on simple motorcycles with small displacement and two-stroke engines that are easy to maintain. Riedel, like Corradino D'ascanio, came from the aeronautical industry, and applied his knowledge to the motorcycle that he designed. It is even said that the design of the engine was very similar to that used to start the reactors of the Messerschmitt Me262.
The 99cc single-cylinder two-stroke Made of light alloy, with a monoblock stock, it was capable of giving 4.4 hp at 5,800 rpm. A power that only reached the 125 of the time like the DKW 125 RT or the Vespa 125. The engine integrated a three-speed gearbox without neutral gear. One system kept the clutch engaged while the engine was idling in first gear. As there was no neutral gear, the first gear was in the middle of the selector, while the second gear was geared down and the third gear up, but always passing through the first gear.
The engine, with its peculiar oval shape, pivoted, held on one side of the chassis jointly with the single-arm rear swingarm. So the chain always kept the tension. Those same swingarm tubes served as the tailpipe. And the suspension was entrusted to a spring located under the seat. That spring also had a rubber stopper to prevent the suspension from reaching the limit. At the front, the fork used a single arm and a Girder system with springs for suspension. Wheels (measure 2.5 x 19 inches) They were interchangeable with each other, with only three screws they were disassembled, leaving the drum and the transmission crown on the rear wheel and only the drum on the front.
In the few years that the company was up and running produced just over 10,000 units of the Imme R100. Arriving to manufacture 100 units a week. The "Export" model with battery, electric horn, center stand, odometer, a more comfortable seat, some chrome, and lime green and glossy black colors with outlined details in 1950 it cost 850 German marks. But only a year later, in 1951 the company declared bankruptcy due to the debts it accumulated. So now the Imme R100 is a collector's item as well as an example of design ahead of its time. So advanced that one of these perfectly restored Imme R100s appeared at the Guggenheim Museum's Motorcycle Art Exhibition.
And I thought that the Gilera CX 125 late 90's was advanced. And it was just a revision of a motorcycle designed 50 years before.
Below you can see one of these Imme R100 on the go for a campsite in a concentration.
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