FN M12

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The FN M12 was a motorcycle from the Belgian Fabrique Nationale de Herstal , which was mainly built for sidecar use from 1937 to 1940 . 1180 copies were built in total, 1090 of which were delivered to the Belgian military as heavy sidecar machines.

Technology and dissemination

The side-controlled two - cylinder boxer engine of the M12 had a displacement of 992 cm³ (bore 90 mm, stroke 78 mm). With a compression ratio of 5: 1 and with a 28 mm Amal carburetor and Bosch battery ignition, the output is given as 22  hp at 3000 min −1 . The power was transmitted to the rear wheel by means of a cardan shaft . The maximum speed of the 240 kg machine was 100 km / h. The military version with a sidecar ( M12a SM ) had a switchable sidecar drive, a four-speed gearbox with reverse gear and an additional reduction gear, as well as separately operated drum brakes with a diameter of 220 mm. The FN M12a was extensively demonstrated to the public in a competition among international military machines in Spa, Belgium, in July 1938 .

"The FN team was vastly superior to all military motorcycles with sidecars."

- Frank-Albert Illg

The military version was exported to the following countries: Iran (51 copies), Greece (33), Argentina (4), Switzerland (4), Romania (4), Lithuania (3), Peru (1). In 1940, after the Western campaign , the German Wehrmacht also drove the captured Belgian FN M12a SM as a military team, distinguishable from the Wehrmacht team by the different type of trapeze fork . A booty motorcycle came to Zündapp for testing and study purposes ; As a result, details from the Belgian manufacturers, which were leading in sidecar drives at the time, flowed into the Zündapp KS 750 sidecar . The FN M12 engine was also used for the three-wheeled Tricar 12T-3 .

literature

  • Guy de Becker: Quand la FN avait deux roues. Self-published, 1993.
  • Egon Duchateau, Geert Huylebroeck, Nick Jonckheere, Rik Van Eycken: Belgian motorcycles. 1st edition. Johann Kleine Vennekate, Lemgo 2009, ISBN 978-3-935517-49-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guy de Becker, p. 151.
  2. ↑ Egon Duchateau and others: Belgian motorcycles. 2009, p. 81.
  3. ↑ Egon Duchateau and others: Belgian motorcycles. 2009, p. 81.
  4. ↑ Egon Duchateau and others: Belgian motorcycles. 2009, p. 68.
  5. ^ Frank-Albert Illg: FN Typ 12a SM In: Motorcycle Classic. No. 2/2012, pp. 14-23.
  6. ↑ Guy de Becker, p. 272.
  7. ↑ Thomas Reinwald: The extremely heavy Wehrmacht teams of Zündapp KS 750 and BMW R 75. UNITEC-Medienvertrieb, 2011, DNB 100907380X , p. 15.
  8. ↑ Egon Duchateau and others: Belgian motorcycles. 2009, p. 81.