When it comes to motorcycles from the Second World War, the first thing to remember is the "classic" German motorcyclists on BMW models. However, in reality, the best motorcycle of the Wehrmacht was a creation created by not well-known "Bavarians". Moreover, this two-wheeled vehicle was the only 4-cylinder type of transport described in the service of the Nazi army.
Once upon a time in Germany there was a machine-building company Zundapp, which in the middle of the 20th century was known and popular no less than the notorious BMW. Zundapp was founded in 1917. After the war, the company in Nuremberg began to experience financial difficulties. First, the plant was moved to Munich, and by 1984 the company had gone bankrupt altogether. Then it was bought by the PRC authorities for 16 million West German marks. The surviving assembly lines were dismantled and taken to the Chinese city of Tianjin. There they were put back together, founding a new company, Tianjin Motorcycle Co. Throughout its history, the original Zundapp has operated on the "cheap and cheerful" principle. The enterprise achieved the greatest success by 1933, having created two solid engines with the K-600 and K-800 indexes.
Both engines were quite powerful 4-cylinder boxer units. Worked together with a factory 4-speed gearbox. The peak power of the K-800 installation reached 22 horsepower. That was a major achievement for motorcycle engines of the first half of the last century. At the same time, the units of the "K" series were easy to maintain, reliable and cheap. It was only a matter of time to find out when the Zundapp bikes and engines would appeal to the Wehrmacht. And this happened on the eve of World War II in 1937.
For their needs, the Wehrmacht began to buy motorcycles Zundapp K-800, which received the letter "W" to their index. Considering the appearance of this vehicle, it becomes clear that the engineers tried to make it as simple as possible, but at the same time quite reliable. The civilian version did not shine too much with "interesting surpluses", and the army model was completely deprived of a few benefits. The motorcycle turned out to be harsh in all respects, but it coped with the assigned tasks once or twice, which was actually required by the command.
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As a result, the Zundapp K-800 became the most massive motorcycle in the Wehrmacht. During the war, they were eagerly taken as trophies. And after the end of World War II, many of these motorcycles were exported to the USSR as reparations for the damage caused. For all the time, more than 7.5 thousand Zundapp K-800 W were produced in Germany. The only weak point of the German masterpiece was that its power plant easily enough flooded candles.
Continuing the topic, read about how one of the worst motorcycles of the USSR won nationwide recognition.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/290121/57637/
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