Straight suspension

Pope Model L (1914)

BMW R 51 with straight suspension

The straight-line suspension was a type of rear wheel suspension , especially on motorcycles , in which the rear wheel is guided by a straight or slightly inclined straight guide. In the pre-war period, this type of suspension was also used on some three- and four-wheeled vehicles, such as Morgan .

History and technology

One of the first motorcycles with straight suspension is the model L , released in 1913 by the American Pope Manufacturing Company . The coil spring construction known as the "Pope Helical Tension Spring Frame" was built until 1918. In 1919, the British manufacturer Wooler introduced straight-line suspension on both the rear wheel and the front wheel. It was not until the 1930s that the principle of straight-line suspension was taken up again:

• 1936: Norton , on a racing machine with a hydraulic damper
• 1938: BMW ( R 66 and R 51 ), Brough Superior Dream
• 1939: Ariel with the Square Four ,
• 1940: Indian on all models.

After the Second World War, this type of rear suspension was offered by many motorcycle manufacturers, unsprung versions faded into the background. The manufacturer Jurisch also offered the straight-ahead suspension as a retrofit kit in the 1950s.

The straight-line suspension could be installed in the typical rigid frame of the 1930s with comparatively little design and construction effort . The design-related short spring travel between 50 and 80 mm, however, kept the increase in comfort within limits. At the end of the 1950s, the rear swing arm , which had been known since the 1910s, replaced the straight-way suspension design; as early as 1911, the rear part of the frame of the NSU 2 1/2 model was designed as a swing arm.

literature

• Stefan Knittel: Motorcycle Lexicon . BLV Verlag Munich 1981, ISBN 3-405-12226-0

Web links

• Straight suspension (Oldtimer-Markt.de)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Victor W. Pagé: Early Motorcycles . Dover Publications, New York 1914, Reprint 2004, ISBN 0-486-43671-3 , p. 398.
2. ↑ Jerry Hatfield: Standard Catalog of American Motorcycles 1898-1981 . Krause Publications 2006, ISBN 978-0-89689-949-0 , p. 407.
3. ^ Hugo Wilson: The Lexicon from the motorcycle . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-01719-9 , p. 198.
4. ^ Christian Bartsch (ed.): A century of motorcycle technology. VDI Verlag, Düsseldorf 1987, ISBN 3-18-400757-X , p. 315.
5. ↑ Jurisch rear suspension for Zündapp
6. ^ Christian Bartsch (ed.): A century of motorcycle technology . VDI Verlag, Düsseldorf 1987, ISBN 3-18-400757-X , p. 155.
7. ^ Peter Witt: Motorcycles. 1st edition. Verlag Technik, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-341-00657-5 , p. 32.