Horex
Horex was originally a German motorcycle brand from Horex-Fahrzeugbau AG , which was founded in 1923 by Fritz Kleemann in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe in Hesse . From 1935 to the mid-1950s, the company operated as Horex-Columbus-Werk KG , then as Horex-Werke KG .
The brand name Horex originated from Ho mburg, supplemented by the REX trademark of the parents' REX canning company Bad Homburg . In 1960 Daimler-Benz AG took over the Horex works and dissolved them. Since 2010, the newly founded Horex GmbH in Augsburg owned the trademark rights and built motorcycles under the old name. In August 2014, owner Clemens Neese filed for insolvency proceedings. 3C-Carbon Composite Company GmbH took over the Horex brand in January 2015.
history
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In 1920 Friedrich Kleemann (1878–1948, father of Fritz Kleemann) bought the small engine factory Columbus-Motorenbau AG in Oberursel (Taunus) . This is where the gnome , a 1 hp auxiliary bicycle engine, was built. It was attached to the bike frame directly in front of the bottom bracket.
Creation and development of the Horex brand
As early as 1923, the year Horex-Fahrzeugbau AG was founded , Fritz Kleemann, then 22 years old, built the first "real" Horex, a 248 cm³ machine that also proved itself in racing. The cylinder made of light metal with a shrunk sleeve helped Kleemann to win his first races. The motto was: "Built by motorcyclists for motorcyclists".
In 1925, Columbus and Horex merged to solve the two companies' financial problems. Over the years a program was created that included motorcycles with a displacement of 250 to 800 cm³.
A pioneering design by Hermann Reeb (1901–1975), who came to Horex in 1927, was the parallel two-cylinder with overhead camshaft designed in 1932. This long-stroke engine had a triple-bearing crankshaft and a triple-bearing camshaft, which was driven by a Chain on the right side of the case was driven. The motors had a standard stroke of 90 mm. With a 65 mm bore, this resulted in a displacement of around 600 cm³ and approx. 24 hp at 5000 rpm; in the "S 8" with a 75 mm bore it was around 800 cm³ and 30 hp at 5000 rpm. While this engine was quite successful in motorsport, series production was given up for cost reasons in favor of single cylinders, but continued to be supplied for the Tornax "Tornado". One of the sporting successes is the German championship of Karl Braun in the sidecar class, who enlarged the engine to 1 liter displacement (80 mm × 99 mm) and installed a blower for charging.
In 1936/38 the two designers Richard Küchen and Hermann Reeb created the 350 cm³ long-stroke four-stroke engine "SB 35", which was way ahead of its time. Before the war began, it was also supplied to the Nuremberg Victoria Works for the models KR 35-SN, KR 35-SS and KR 35-WH with a few changes and an increase in output of 2 hp . During the Second World War , motorcycle production ceased. In 1945, spare parts for the railroad and agricultural stationary engines were produced in the undamaged factory. In 1948 Kleemann was the first German manufacturer to receive Allied approval to build motorcycles over 250 cc, so that the SB 35 model could be manufactured again. The last copies delivered to Switzerland already had a telescopic fork instead of the trapezoidal fork , but still no rear wheel suspension.
The heyday of the early 1950s
In 1950, the " Regina " with telescopic fork and straight-travel rear wheel suspension came onto the market as a further development of the SB 35 . The motorcycle with the 350 cm³ single cylinder engine was the most successful Horex motorcycle. In 1952 the "Regina" was the best-selling 350 in the world with 20,400 units built. After that, however, the sales figures fell continuously to only 2500 in 1956. To stop the decline in sales, a 250 "Regina", which was previously only intended for Austria and Switzerland, and a 400 were released in 1953 in addition to the 350. In contrast to the larger models, the 250 with an output of 17 hp at 6500 rpm had only one exhaust ("Einport"). As an inexpensive people's model or “V 250”, it was primarily intended to lead back to the brand's success. The 400 version with 22 HP at 5750 rpm was considered particularly suitable for sidecar use. In the course of the production time many details were revised, e.g. B. the camshaft drive was changed several times, and the cylinder head of the last Reginas is made of light metal. The performance of the 350 "Regina" was increased from 18 hp at 5800 rpm in 1950 to 19 hp at 6200 rpm in 1953. Previously, the “Regina Sport” model had already been available as a variant with a single-port light metal cylinder head that developed 20 hp. All “Reginas” have 19-inch wheels.
In 1951, Horex presented the two-cylinder " Imperator " model with a 500 cm³ engine and an overhead camshaft in a light alloy cylinder head. With a rated output of 30 hp at 6800 rpm, a top speed of 150 km / h was announced. However, the six produced copies did not go on sale, but were used for testing in motorsport. Series production did not begin until 1954 after the displacement was reduced to 392 cm³, which was enough for 26 hp at 5800 rpm. A version throttled to 18 hp was also sold as a stationary engine (Stamo). The Imperator was delivered either with a telescopic fork or a front swing arm. In the last few years of Horex production, the engine was enlarged again with a square stroke ratio (66 mm stroke and bore) to 450 cm³. This engine achieved 30 HP at 5700 rpm, the motorcycle was exported to the USA as the "Zündapp Citation", but only about 250 were able to be sold there due to legal disputes concerning the use of the brand names "Horex" and "Zündapp" in the USA sold. The rest was sold off and scrapped, several copies and some tools went to Friedel Münch .
In the Imperator engine, the drive for the overhead camshaft is located between the two cylinders. Hermann Reeb had this arrangement patented generally for two- and multi-cylinder engines regardless of the type of drive (vertical shaft, chain). The patent application was made on August 22, 1950, the granting of the patent was announced on September 10, 1953 (patent DE 893875, cf. Yamaha XS 650 ). The stock Imperator engine's camshaft drive uses a chain with an adjustable spring tensioner.
1955 appeared as the successor to the “Regina”, the “Horex Resident” with rear swing arm and front long arm swing arm as well as performance-enhanced single-cylinder engines of 250 and 350 cm³ displacement. The housing of the resident OHV engines was similar to the Imperator OHC engine. The technically significant improvement over the Regina was the changed stroke ratio in order to reduce the piston speed achieved at maximum power ; Both engines had a 77 mm bore, but the 250 only had 53.4 mm stroke instead of the 75 mm of the 350. This enabled the 250 engine to be increased to a maximum output of 18.5 hp at 7100 rpm and the 350 to 24 hp at 6500 rpm. The camshaft below operated the push rods via tappets, while rocker arms were provided for this on most Regina and all SB-35 engines. All Resident and Imperator models had 18-inch wheels (the Imperator prototype was 19-inch).
The decline and end of the Horex works
Due to sales difficulties, Horex ended motorcycle production in 1956; a remainder of the "Imperator" model was sold in the USA by the importer under the name Zündapp as the "Citation 500" model with the corresponding symbols on the tank until the early 1960s; 40 HP at 8000 rpm and “guaranteed speed over 100 MPH” were stated in the advertising. Plans to develop an aircraft engine from the Imperator engine could no longer be realized. In 1960, the Daimler-Benz group, for which Horex had previously manufactured parts, took over the plant.
After the end of the company in Bad Homburg, the naming rights of the Kleemann family went to Friedel Münch , the founder of Münch Motorradfabrik GmbH . Under the name Horex 1400 TI, he manufactured a custom-made enthusiast motorcycle. Münch sold the rights to the two-wheeler importer Fritz Röth from Hammelbach in the Odenwald, who in the 1980s had mopeds and mopeds as well as enduros and road machines manufactured under the name Horex with Italian chassis and built-in engines from various manufacturers. Röth passed the name on to the Berlin-based "Bajaj-Motorfahrzeug-Vertriebsgesellschaft", which was the owner of the Horex brand from 1990 to 1998. Vehicles with the names “Regent” and “Imperator” were produced in a small series under the name “MZ-B Horex”. However, these vehicles had no technical relationship with the classic Horex motorcycles, but were mainly composed of MZ and Jawa vehicle parts. Until 2009, HÖRMANN-RAWEMA GmbH in Chemnitz owned the trademark rights and manufactured and reconstructed historic Horex motorcycles.
Products - types up to 1960
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Horex since 2010
Representatives of the later brand owner HOREX GmbH from Garching near Munich presented a new model with the name Horex VR6 at a press conference on June 15, 2010 . However, due to insolvency, the company's owner, Clemens Neese, filed for insolvency proceedings with the Augsburg District Court on August 28, 2014, after the expectations regarding sales had apparently not been met.
On January 29, 2015, the 3C – Carbon Composite Company from Landsberg am Lech took over the company. 3C is a manufacturer of carbon parts for medical, automotive and military applications. There is no legal connection to the predecessor company Horex GmbH. In motorcycle racing, 3C is involved in the superbike class with drivers Xavi Forés and Max Neukirchner in a Ducati Panigale 1199 R.
Horex Museum
In June 2011, the construction of a Horex museum began in Bad Homburg . The 1.6 million euro new building near the now demolished Horex factory and the city's train station opened in September 2012.
Trivia
When it was mentioned in the Werner comics by the draftsman Rötger "Brösel" Feldmann , the Horex brand became known to younger people in the 1980s. Comic character Werner and her buddy Ölfuss built, among other things, four Horex motors connected in series into a drag bike called the “Red Porsche Killer”. Werner also drove a Horex Regina in several volumes . The "Red Porsche Killer", which came from the comic, was later recreated in reality and was used on September 4, 1988 in the Werner race and 30 years later in the revenge race on September 2, 2018, where the "Red Porsche Killer ”won what was not yet possible in the first race.
literature
- Karl Reese: HOREX Motorräder , Kleine Vennekate, Lemgo 2006, ISBN 3-9804987-8-6
- Jürgen Nöll: The great Horex book , Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 3-613-02959-6
- Johann Kleine Vennekate: HOREX Prospectuses , Kleine Vennekate, Lemgo 2005, ISBN 3-935517-19-X
- Hugo Wilson: The Lexikon vom Motorrad , Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-613-01719-9
- An interesting redesign of the German motorcycle industry. In: Motor vehicle technology 11/1955, p. 396 f. (Horex Imperator)
Web links
- Website of the HOREX GmbH
- Horex 2010 back with VR6 engine
- http://www.horex-columbus.de/
- http://www.cybermotorcycle.com/euro/brands/horex.htm
Individual evidence
- ^ Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß: Kleemann, Fritz. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 729 f. ( Digitized version ).
- ↑ Sales prospectus for the Horex Rebell
- ↑ a b Cult motorcycle brand: Horex files for bankruptcy. In: Spiegel Online from September 1, 2014 (accessed September 1, 2014).
- ↑ Horex comeback: They made it easy for themselves In: Spiegel Online from September 14, 2015 (accessed on September 15, 2015).
- ↑ Jürgen Nöll: The great Horex book . 1st edition, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02959-0 .
- ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: technical information on "MZ-B Horex" vehicles on the website of the new Hungarian owner of the former assembly company MZ-B )
- ↑ Brochure page from HÖRMANN-RAWEMA with a description of the trademark rights valid until 2009 ( Memento from September 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Pictures of the new Horex in SPIEGEL
- ↑ Empty registers at Horex. ( Memento of September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Press release on motorradonline.de of August 31, 2014 (accessed on September 1, 2014).
- ↑ Motorbike online. Accessed February 6, 2015.
- ↑ horex.com: The new HOREX - Online Newsletter ( Memento from April 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) , July 25, 2011, accessed on May 5, 2012
- ↑ Marc Kolbe: Horex contract stands Horex contract stands ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) , Taunus Zeitung, January 28, 2012, accessed on May 4, 2012
- ↑ Miriam Keilbach: News from the Kulturbahnhof , Frankfurter Rundschau, June 4, 2012, accessed on June 4, 2012
- ↑ A chic home for Horex , Frankfurter Rundschau, July 20, 2012, accessed on September 24, 2012