Albert Roder

Albert Roder (born January 20, 1896 in Nuremberg , † September 3, 1970 in Heilbronn ) was a designer who became known for the motorcycles he designed .

resume

In 1912 Albert Roder built his first engine at the age of 16. In 1920 he was co-founder of Ziro Motoren GmbH in Fürth, and in 1923 co-founder of Erlanger Motoren AG . In 1928 he went to Zündapp as deputy design manager (under Richard Küchen ) and in 1936 for the first time to NSU under Walter William Moore. At the end of 1938 he went to Victoria in Nuremberg as chief designer . From 1946 until his retirement at the end of 1961, he was chief designer at NSU.

Albert Roder hadn't studied, so he wasn't an engineer in today's sense. Nevertheless, he made it to the position of chief designer and director of one of the most important motorcycle factories in the world at the time - a career that is unthinkable nowadays, at least in the vehicle industry.

Albert Roder's constructions were not constructions that were tried and tested from the start, but rather he often ventured into new constructive territory. Despite occasional failures, he managed to build on these and work out advantages. The best example is the hapless 500 cc four-cylinder racing machine, the engine parts of which were later used for the 125 cc Rennfox that won the world championship.

Albert Roder at NSU

Roder's activity at NSU in Neckarsulm began in 1936. He played a major role in the development of the two-cylinder supercharged racing engine, which was only fully honored after the war. But Roder was only the second man at NSU under Walter William Moore, and his constructive ideas often went in a completely different direction than Moore's. So it was only logical that he went to Victoria in Nuremberg at the end of 1938 when he was offered the position of chief designer.

At Victoria he developed the successful FM 38 (Vicky I) auxiliary bicycle engine. But after the war in 1946 he moved back to NSU, this time as chief designer and first man, because Walter William Moore had left NSU in 1939.

Now the most creative phase in Roder's career began. Several factors played a role here: Firstly, he was now the chief designer and alone determined the technical direction. Second, the forced new beginning from the ruins of World War II offered the unique opportunity to constructively start over from scratch, without having to take old traditions into account. And thirdly, NSU was an important large company that was willing and able to turn Roder's ideas into reality.

Post-war production began with the re-issue of the tried and tested pre-war models Quick , 125 ZDB and 251 OSL , but Roder was already busy designing a completely new motorcycle: the NSU Fox .

NSU Fox

The Fox - official type designation: NSU 101 OSB - was after the Imme von Riedel the second newly designed motorcycle in Germany after the Second World War. But in contrast to the Imme, which was not a great commercial success, the FOX became a bestseller. There were several reasons for this:

The most important was the engine. Here Albert Roder had succeeded in building a four-stroke engine in a class in which only two-stroke engines were usually offered. This gave it several advantages: At just under 4.4 kW (6 hp), it offered an output that was far above the models of the competition that had between 2.5 and 3.5 hp (only the Imme had 4.5 hp ). That was enough to outperform all other 98s and many 125s. In addition, the Fox came with a four-stroke tone, while the competition "rattled" two-stroke. And finally the Fox had an unrivaled low fuel consumption and the annoying oil mixing when refueling was eliminated.

The chassis also featured new design ideas: The frame was a central press frame that was well suited for mass production. The rear wheel was guided in a swing arm with a central spring, while the front fork had a pushed short swing arm - all details that were completely new in the 98 class.

This chassis concept - central press frame, pushed short swing arm at the front, swing arm at the rear - was to become typical for all of the following NSU motorcycles (except for the Konsul ).

NSU Lux

The next new development was the NSU Lux . Its chassis also corresponded to this concept, but it was significantly larger and heavier than the Fox. A newly developed two-stroke block engine with a displacement of 200 cm³ served as the drive.

NSU MAX

And then finally Roder's greatest success followed: The NSU Max . In terms of chassis, it basically corresponded to the Lux, albeit in a reinforced design. But what was completely new in terms of design was the engine.

It offered the high output of 17 hp (13 kW) for a series engine in the 250 cm³ class at that time and featured a large number of new design details:

NSU Max motor with ULTRAMAX push rod control

The biggest innovation was the overhead camshaft ( OHC ) with the ULTRAMAX control. While OHC engines had been used in racing engine construction since the 1930s, they were rare in utility motorcycles.

At that time, the ULTRAMAX push rod control offered tangible advantages: Previously, overhead camshafts were driven either via a vertical shaft , spur gears or a chain. The vertical shaft and spur gears were tried and tested, but too expensive for mass production. The chain drive, as it is used in almost every Japanese motorcycle today, was still in its infancy. There were no reliable high-speed chains available so soon after World War II. In particular, there was little confidence in the durability of the chain in everyday use. At the time, a toothed belt to drive the overhead camshaft was out of the question.

At that time, the ULTRAMAX push rod drive represented a real compromise between manufacturing costs and reliability. From today's perspective, however, it would be far too expensive to manufacture compared to chain or toothed belt drives.

Another Rodersche innovation at the Max was the air filtration with "calm air". Behind it was a large container located in front of the actual air filter, in which a large part of the dust could settle before it even reached the air filter. At NSU, the inside of the central press frame was simply used as the container. Up until then, simple wet air filters had been built in front of the carburettors and hung freely in the air flow. These wet air filters were simple wire mesh that had to be soaked with oil (hence “wet”). The efficiency of such a filter depended heavily on regular cleaning and re-oiling. Since this work was accompanied by a lot of dirt, the drivers were happy to "forget" it. Due to the pre-separation in the frame, the dust load on the actual air filter has been greatly reduced and the engine is protected accordingly. Such pre-separation rooms are common today.

Later developments

The models following the Max, NSU Superfox and NSU Maxi, were actually only scaled-down versions of the Max to round off the motorcycle range downwards. New constructive ideas were no longer incorporated here. The motorcycle business in Germany fell sharply from 1954; For NSU it was vital to turn to the automobile business.

At that time Albert Roder was already working on the development of a car, initially with the three-wheeled Max cabin, which was soon abandoned in favor of a four-wheeled vehicle. Albert Roder was still directly involved in the development of the NSU Prinz I to 4.

These vehicles had a parallel twin engine with an overhead camshaft and ULTRAMAX push rod control. At this point in time, it would have made sense to switch to a chain drive, but that only came about in 1964 with the Prinz 1000 four-cylinder, when Albert Roder was retired.

Roder thought little of the development of the rotary engine , which had been ongoing at NSU since the late 1950s . He is said to have even called the rotary engine a "glowing yeast dumpling". So he left the rotary development to his assistant and successor, Dipl.-Ing. Ewald Praxl and Head of Development Dr. Froede.

When Albert Roder retired at the age of 65 at the end of 1961, he could look back on a fulfilled life as a designer: the racing motorcycles he designed held the absolute world speed record (until August 1958) and won all famous races until the retreat NSU from Grand Prix racing.

The series motorcycles he designed were bestsellers and impressed with their performance and reliability. The fact that there was nothing fundamentally new in terms of design after the NSU Max was also due to the fact that the motorcycle industry had been downhill since 1954. This crisis in the motorcycle industry affected all European motorcycle manufacturers. Roder helped NSU make the transition to an automobile factory. Even if NSU no longer exists as an independent brand, the factory in Neckarsulm still exists and it continues to produce motor vehicles ( AUDI ).

literature

• Siegfried Rauch; Frank Rönicke: Men and motorcycles - a century of German motorcycle development. Stuttgart: Motorbuch-Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02947-7 , pp. 162-173

Web links

• Article about Albert Roder's life

References

• Chief designer Albert Roder, 65 years old , MTZ Motortechnische Zeitschrift, 22nd year (1961), issue 2, page 67
• Erwin Tragatsch , portrait of a designer: Albert Roder , MOTORRAD, 14th year (1962), issue 7/1962
• Gerhard Geiling, Albert Roder - chief designer at NSU in the 1950s , PRINZENPOST issue 48
• A century of motorcycle technology , VDI-Verlag 1987
• Peter Schneider, NSU 1873-1984 - From high-bike to automobile , Motorbuch Verlag, 1988
• Helmut Krackowitzer, Motorcycles, Famous Brands from Adler to Zenith , VF Verlag, 1988
• Herz / Reese, The NSU racing history , Motorbuch Verlag, 1982
• Andreas Mehlhorn, By motorcycle you mean Max (permission from the author is available. ( OTRS ticket ))

Footnotes

1. ↑ Exploded view of the ULTRAMAX push rod control