Münch (motorcycle manufacturer)
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Münch was a small German manufacturer of powerful, individually and lavishly built motorcycles . They were produced individually using a mostly air-cooled car engine and many components specially developed by the company founder Friedel Münch . Between 1966 and 1976 Münch built almost 500 motorcycles. Due to the model policy, almost every machine is unique in terms of equipment and material.
history
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Friedel Münch was a designer at Horex before he traded motorcycles in Friedberg-Ossenheim , repaired engines and also worked in racing.
At the end of the 1950s, racing driver Jean Murit contacted Münch, who was planning to build a motorcycle with a reliable engine and well-functioning brakes. Münch chose the air-cooled four-cylinder car engine from the NSU Prinz 1000 with 1000 cm³ displacement, created the clutch and gearbox from components from Horex and manufactured the remaining parts of the motorcycle himself based on his own drawings. In addition to the engine, the rear wheel and the front brake made of electronically cast light metal deserve special attention.
This extraordinary concept found a large fan base. The model was to be named Mammut . But this name was trademarked for the machine factory Berner & Co and so the model was officially called simply TT (among enthusiasts, however, the name Mammut has remained to this day). Over the years models with 1000, 1200 and 1300 cm³ cubic capacity have been produced.
Münch also successfully engaged in racing. As a result of management errors and economic difficulties (insufficient numbers in relation to the high production costs) the company faced ruin several times.
A collaboration with the American publisher and Münch enthusiast Floyd Clymer began in 1966. However, it did not last long (until 1969) because economic success failed to materialize, Clymer ran into health and financial difficulties and could not cope with Friedel Münch's technical mentality.
Clymer was followed in 1970 by the American George Bell , a millionaire's son, who together with Münch built a new production facility in Altenstadt-Waldsiedlung . However, at the end of 1971 Bell parted with Münch KG at short notice due to a lack of economic success , which then had to file for bankruptcy.
The company was taken over by the packaging manufacturer HASSIA Verpackungsmaschinen GmbH , which was interested in Münch motorcycles. A new design with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine was then presented to the public at the Cologne Salon , the Münch 3 . However, this presentation brought only moderate success, only two copies were built. Even so, business with the previous four-cylinder concept went well, and in a few months up to 30 Münch-4s were produced. Customers sometimes had to wait months for the machine they ordered.
In 1973 the TTS-E came on the market, the first series motorcycle with a mechanical Kugelfischer fuel injection , which was also used in the BMW 2002 tii . With just under 74 kW (100 PS), the motorcycle reached a top speed of over 200 km / h (test value: 206.9 km / h) and accelerated to 100 km / h in 4.2 seconds. In 1973 the price of the TTS-E without accessories was 19,425 DM , which, taking into account inflation, currently corresponds to 29,500 euros. The new Japanese big bikes created strong and also cheaper competition in the 1970s, so that sales figures fell significantly.
To save the company, Luigi Colani offered his help in 1972 and designed a Super-Münch with an aerodynamic fairing and a handlebar that could be placed in a boulevard and racing position. In view of the difficult economic situation, the machine did not go into series production. At the end of 1973 Hassia withdrew and Münch again only had the option of filing for bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy estate including the naming rights was bought in 1974 by the wholesale entrepreneur and Münch driver Heinz W. Henke , for whom Friedel Münch then worked as a technical manager. Production was geared towards the construction of individual one-off pieces. New models were not developed, but the existing ones were revised and improved. In 1977, Münch separated from Henke and began to develop kits under the “ Horex ” brand with which the displacement of the Münch models could be increased to 1400 to 1800 cm³. Henke continued to build other Münch motorcycles until the beginning of 1980, but these no longer had anything to do with the "Mammut".
Until the 1990s, Friedel Münch allowed himself to be persuaded to assemble new Münch-4s from individual parts.
- Versions
| Years of construction | number | |
|---|---|---|
| Münch-4 TT 1000 | 1966-1967 | 13 |
| Münch-4 TTS 1100 | 1967-1968 | 30th |
| Münch-4 TTS 1200 | 1968-1976 | 478 * (including TTS-E) |
| Münch-3 | 1972 | 1 |
| Münch-4 TTS-E 1200 | 1973-1979 | 478 * (including TTS) |
| Horex 1400 TI | 1978-1983 | 3 |
| Mammoth 2000 | 2001-2002 | 15th |
status
A sworn club scene takes care of the maintenance and care of the existing machines. Purchase prices within the clubs reach around € 30,000 to € 50,000. It is considered unfair among Münch drivers to offer a Münch for sale “just like that” without first offering a Club member the chance to purchase it. You can now have an original Münch-4 built. A company based in Lüneburg has been offering this opportunity for several years. The parts for this are manufactured according to the original construction documents using the original materials.
Most of the Münch motorcycles that are now in collections and museums, such as B. in the Technik-Museum Speyer , come from the time after 1971. From then on the production of the Münch 4 began in "larger" numbers. The early models from the end of 1966 to the end of 1970 have become very rare, and not all are available anymore.
In order to give collectors and museums the opportunity to show these early Münchs in their collections for chronological display, u. a. These early Münch motorcycles have been manufactured as historically correct replicas in Krautheim (Jagst) in Baden-Württemberg since 2003 . Research into these exact replicas took over two years to complete. A few contemporary witnesses could still be found who were able to underpin the details of the research with historical images. Friedel Münch also contributed a lot of knowledge and information. The construction of these replicas made it possible to present these important early motorcycles in Münch history to posterity. Münch examined the work of the manufacturer of the replicas and accepted them.
Mammoth 2000
In 1997, on the initiative of the Würzburg businessman and new Münch brand owner Thomas Petsch, a completely new model was to be developed and built as the most powerful series motorcycle in the world in small series of 250 for wealthy enthusiasts: the Mammut 2000 . That is why Münch Motorrad Technik GmbH was founded.
As a result of considerable problems in the design and manufacture of the components, the delivery originally planned for 2000 was delayed until 2002. After eight machines had been delivered, the project was stopped in mid-2002. Only 15 Münch Mammut 2000s were built at Sachs Fahrzeug- und Motorentechnik GmbH in Nuremberg. Since the imputed production costs far exceeded the purchase price of € 86,000 and production was not possible to cover costs, production was discontinued.
Münch TTE
Between 2008 and 2012, Petsch and his team of designers developed the electrically powered Münch TTE-1 road racing motorcycles, as well as the successor model TTE-2. On the TTE-2 machine, his Münch Racing GmbH with the drivers Matthias Himmelmann and Katja Poensgen won several world championship titles in the driver and designer ratings of the two international road racing championships for electrically powered motorcycles, the TTXGP The eGrandPrix and in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 the FIM e-Power International Championship of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme .
Trivia
In 2010, the movie Mammuth with Gérard Depardieu was released about a trip to the past with a Münch Mammut.
literature
- Winni Scheibe: The legend Friedel Münch and his motorcycles . Ed .: Helmut Krings. 1st edition. ArtMotorVerlag, Rösrath 1995, ISBN 3-929534-15-0 .
- Waldemar Schwarz: Final: Münch-4 TTS-E 1200 . In: motorcycle . No. 16 , 2010, ISSN 0027-237X , p. 126-130 .
- Erik Meesters: With heart and soul - the story of Friedel Münch and Helmut Fath . Ed .: Münch by Meesters Foundation. 1500th edition. own edition, NL-WArnsveld 2013, ISBN 978-90-821002-0-4 .
Web links
- Archived website of the current name owner ( memento from January 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (as currently only redirected to Facebook profile)
- Extensive collection of articles on Münch motorcycles by Winni Scheibe
- Documentation of the restoration of a Münch-4 TT 1000
Individual evidence
- ^ Winni Scheibe: The Friedel Münch Story . From classic-motorrad.de, accessed on January 24, 2018
- ↑ Friedel Münch. (No longer available online.) In: Bilderbogen. hr3 , February 1, 2009, archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; Retrieved September 26, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Winni Scheibe: The Unfinished , 1994. From winni-scheibe.com, accessed January 24, 2018
- ^ René Zey: Colani, Luigi . At designlexikon.net, accessed January 24, 2018
- ↑ a b Friedel Münch. (No longer available online.) Muenchmotorbikes.com, archived from the original on September 5, 2012 ; accessed on January 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Mike Kron: The Mammut Replica Project. (No longer available online.) Mammut-1000.de, archived from the original on May 9, 2016 ; accessed on January 24, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Friedel Münch exhibition . From speyer.technik-museum.de, accessed January 24, 2018
- ↑ DBH motorcycle technology . At dbh-motorradtechnik.de, accessed January 24, 2018
- ↑ "Electrosport is the future". In: www.kues-magazin.de. KÜS Magazin, April 2, 2013, accessed on May 23, 2018 .
