The History of Things. A German motorcycle form the Museum of the Defence of Moscow

The Museum of the Defence of Moscow displays many Soviet and German military items. One of the exhibits is a German WWII motorcycle. It appeared in the museum in 1993; before that the motorcycle was in the private collection of Yaroslav Konkin, a conservator of vintage equipment. Currently, that exhibit is part of the Wehrmacht Equipment and Weapons section on the first floor.

It all started with the bicycle

In the early 20^th century the bicycle’s popularity was in high gear; more and more people were interested in the two-wheeled vehicle, and clubs for bicycle enthusiasts were springing up in the city. Bicycle builders started thinking of ways to upgrade the design which inevitably led to self-propelled bicycles. Louis-Guillaume Perreaux, a French technician, built a steam-driven bicycle. He applied for a patient for his invention in 1869. However, his steam bicycle was too bulky and its speed —15 km/h at most — left much to be desired.

Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach experimented with building a petrol internal combustion engine several years later in Germany. Interestingly, their motorcycle was not the end objective for these German inventors: they sought to make a four-wheeled vehicle using their petrol engine. They managed to realise their idea in 1886. A year before that they presented a machine, which is believed to have been the first motorcycle ever. The invention was called the Daimler Petroleum Reitwagen, which is German for “Daimler’s kerosene riding vehicle.” Daimler’s son Paul was the first to test it.

The ideas of Daimler and Maybach were taken and further developed by another pair of German inventors — Heinrich Hildebrand and Alois Wolfmuller, who presented the first mass-produced motorcycle in 1894. Hildebrand and Wolfmuller improved the invention of their predecessors: their motorcycle without fuel only weighed 50 kilograms and could reach a speed of 45 km/h. Initially, their company proved fairly successful. By the end of 1894 their plant was producing 10 motorcycles a day, which they sold, at first. But their success soon declined as new buyers were frightened away by the bike’s high price. In addition, some technical drawbacks became apparent in the course of operation: the motorcycle was unstable at speed and complicated to operate. Some of their clients had accidents, which lead to lawsuits. Their motorcycle production came to end by 1897. Hildebrand and Wolfmuller turned out an estimated 2,000 motorcycles over two years.

Russians outside of Russia also contributed to the development of the motorcycle. Brothers Mikhail and Yevgeny Verner, who had relocated to France in 1891, embarked on their version of the motorcycle in 1896. A year later they rolled out their first model. They managed to manufacture over 3,000 motorcycles within a few years. In 1901, they presented a new model that could well be called revolutionary.

The motorcycle’s design underwent a dramatic change: instead of placing the engine over the front wheel, it was mounted between the two wheels. Verner brothers’ bikes were successful both in Europe and America. This success led them to start producing cars in 1906.

R-12 at war and in peace

BMW, Germany, made their first motorcycle in 1923. The company presented their R-32 model at the Berlin automobile exhibition on 28 September. For several years thereafter BMW stepped up its production and developed more and better models. The R-12 was the most well-known model in their range.

The R-12’s merits were described in their advertising pamphlets in 1935: “In general, the frame is extremely stiff allowing the fork to provide exceptional compliance and a higher level of safety… It can be driven at full speed on a potholed road without skidding. The motorcycle is also capable of incredible U-turns.”

R-12 production began in 1935. From the start it was only intended for civilian purposes (including a police version), but it was adapted for exclusive Army use in 1938. Over the seven years that the Bavarian plant turned out the R-12, they produced over 36,000 motorcycles, 16,000 of which went to the Army. Troops at the front received two versions: with and without the side-car. 

German troops used the R-12 for different purposes, including reconnaissance, tracing guerilla detachments, and for communication runs. The main reason for its popularity was its reliability — the engine rarely overheated and if broken, could be easily repaired. In addition, the R-12 was known for its cross-country performance: German engineers designed the motorcycle to easily traverse rural roads.

The R-12 could reach speeds of up to 100 km/h, and the sport version was the top speed record-holder for quite a long time. German motorcycle racer Ernst Jakob Henne reached 279 km/h on his R-12 in 1937. That record stood for 14 years.

Apart from its history, the R-12 is interesting for its design. It was the first model ever with a telescopic fork with hydraulic shock absorption. This fork design is still in use to this day.