V-Twins Made in Austria before 1910

[gsottl]

Hi MC friends,

just wanted to show some motorcycles most of you will not know.

In Austria there were great MC made before the first world-war.

Puch made 770cc and 900cc V-Twins, Bock & Hollaender manufactured V-Twins and Fours around 1905.

Puch 1908 (Technical Museum, Vienna)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Puch_5_HP.jpg

a great Bock & Hollaender owned by a friend of mine:

http://www.mvca.at/Museumsseiten/boc...der%201906.htm


Beside Puch, Laurin&Klement was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy - they also made V-Twins, Fours etc.

a picture of a L&C Four can be seen here:

http://www.libormarcik.cz/moto.html

Libor Mrcik published a great book on Austro-Hungarian motorcycles before 1918 with brilliant high resolution pictures. I think this book is sold out now, but if you are interesed maybe he has a few copies left?

Best wishes from Vienna,
Florian

[redfred84]

Hey Florian!
Great stuff! Thanks for sharing it.
RF.

[HarleyCreation]

Styria?

Wasn't there also one called the Styria? At least there was one sold in the USA by that name around 1910. Maybe it was one of the above rebadged for sale here. Somewhere it's my primary sources files.

[gsottl]

Dear Herbert & AMCA friends,

I just read what Mr. Marcik writes about the "STYRIA" brand in his book:

Styria was the original (bicycle and MC) company founded by Johann Puch in Graz. Shortly after the German company "Dürkopp" got a major shareholder in this company, Johann Puch produced bikes exclusively under his name and gave up the "Styria" brandname for his bikes.

Both "Puch" and "Styria" motorcycles were produced in Graz, Austria (the 3rd MC company in Graz was "Noricum")

Styria made MC from 1904-1908 most likely using Zedel engines. In late 1905 they offered a V-Twin as well.
The 1906 V-Twins had the magneto driven by two sets of bevel gears. The magneto was sitting in the gastank!!! (I would say quite an explosive design!)

Maybe Dürkopp marketed some of their bikes in the US as "Styria" after 1908 as well?

Best wishes from the Alps!
Florian

[HarleyCreation]

Dear Herbert & AMCA friends,

I just read what Mr. Marcik writes about the "STYRIA" brand in his book:

Styria was the original (bicycle and MC) company founded by Johann Puch in Graz. Shortly after the German company "Dürkopp" got a major shareholder in this company, Johann Puch produced bikes exclusively under his name and gave up the "Styria" brandname for his bikes.

Good. Then I wasn't totally halucinating!

This is somewhat off topic, but a guy contacted me a few years ago by the name of Durkopp and said that his relative was an early worker at Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee, but I could not verify that one way or the other. I wonder if those Milwaukee Durkopps came from Austria? Henry Melk's family did. There's so much we don't know.

Styria made MC from 1904-1908 most likely using Zedel engines. In late 1905 they offered a V-Twin as well.
The 1906 V-Twins had the magneto driven by two sets of bevel gears. The magneto was sitting in the gastank!!! (I would say quite an explosive design!)

Maybe Dürkopp marketed some of their bikes in the US as "Styria" after 1908 as well?

Best wishes from the Alps!
Florian

I may have recalled the "1910" year wrong and the imported Styria in the USA was earlier. I know that I've got that info somewhere.

Does the author Mr. Marcik state anywhere that Styria/Puch was exported to the USA before WWI?

OT again, but around that same time they used the term "Push bike" here to describe some motorcycles. I could never figure that one out but thought it might have had something to do with the brand name "Puch" as I believe that name also shows up in North America before WWI. This is all by memory of course...

Danke and grussen aus Nord Amerika!

[Jerry Wieland]

Herb I have tried to PM you but it says you have exceeded your allowable message storage. Jerry

[HarleyCreation]

Herb I have tried to PM you but it says you have exceeded your allowable message storage. Jerry

Hi Jerry,

I managed to delete a few so the PM feature should work now. Before I couldn't get the delete it work with the new forum software.

Thanks.