Kreidler

Today, the Kreidler brand belongs to the two-wheeler manufacturer Cycle Union GmbH, a company of the Prophete Group, which sells bicycles, scooters, small and light motorcycles in two-wheeled specialist shops under the manufacturer name Kreidler. Production of all series with internal combustion engines was discontinued in 2017.

History

Motorcycle production emerged from the metal works founded by Anton Kreidler in Stuttgart in 1904. In the early 1920s, Alfred Kreidler, the son of the company founder, gained constructive experience in Berlin after completing his studies at the Technical University of Stuttgart, including in the automotive industry. Following a personal inclination, he also designed, built and sold fast motorcycles at that time. They were 350 cm³ machines with a bumper-controlled engine and an output of at least 12 hp. They were branded "Pan" on the tank.

Kreidler manufactured mopeds, mopeds, mopeds, small and light motorcycles from 50 to 80 cm³ displacement until the 1980s. Alfred Kreidler began developing motorcycles under the Kreidler brand in 1949 after taking over the management of the company in 1942. The first Kreidler was in 1951 an unthrottled motorcycle with a 50 cm³ engine and an output of 2.2 hp, type designation K 50.

The Kreidler brand continues to exist in the form of the Kreidler-Zweiradgesellschaft. At first, Garelli mopeds - with tanks from the Kreidler Flory moped - were sold under the Kreidler name. In 1986 the production of Kreidler bicycles began and in 1996 the production of motorized two-wheelers was resumed. The proportion of in-house development in these vehicles is low; it is limited to the compilation of proven components from Asian manufacturers. Kreidler was taken over by the bicycle manufacturer Prophete in the 1990s.

Models

With the K 50, which was produced from 1951, Kreidler, together with Rex, was the first manufacturer to turn the bicycle with an auxiliary engine into a class 50 vehicle, which was later assigned the designation moped. The K 50 had a telescopic spring fork at the front and the rear wheel was unsprung. A special feature was the combination of clutch and transmission into one unit, so that the clutch did not have to be pulled when changing gears. At first the power transmission could not be separated at all, from 1953 an additional clutch including clutch lever was added. The Kreidler had two levers on the left end of the handlebars, which is a curiosity. It was followed by the K 51 model (1954–1956); the K 50 was built until 1955. These mopeds had a displacement of 50 cm³, a power of 2–2, 2 HP, 2 gears and a top speed of 50–55 km / h. The Kreidler R 50 scooter (1954–57) and various models such as the Amazone were two-speed motorcycles available on the market that were offered by various manufacturers at the time.

Florett 50 cm³

In 1957, the first moped model, the Florett (K 54), appeared, powered by a horizontally installed single-cylinder two-stroke engine with a hard chrome-plated light metal cylinder and fan cooling; there was also a moped version. In 1960 the power of the moped was increased to 3.6 hp. Based on this, model variants were brought out from 1962, so that three different Florett models were on offer: The Florett with now 4.2 HP and 4-speed footshift, the Florett Super with a little more chrome and accessories, and the Mokick variant with on 2.0 HP throttled engine and 3-speed manual transmission. The moped version was discontinued in 1962. Technically and externally, the models at that time hardly differed, the front wheel guidance by means of a long-arm swing arm was carried out on the Mokick with friction-damped, in small motorcycles with hydraulically damped struts. In addition, the mopeds had a more powerful ignition light system. Until 1967, all models were always supplied with fan cooling.

The Florett had a special feature among the several market alternatives: a claw-type gearbox. In the case of competitors such as Hercules, Rixe, Maico and Zündapp, there were draw-key gears with more delicate internal gearshifts. Only the small motorcycles and mopeds from the competition Puch (Austria) and the late mopeds and light motorcycles from Zündapp also had claw-type transmissions, like the Kreidler Florett.

Foil mokicks were very popular among tuners, because a number of so-called hairdressing kits were available for these machines to increase performance - especially in the Netherlands - the use of which was illegal. The power of the throttled engines was increased considerably: Some Kreidlerists drove a blower mock-up with the small insurance number and the engine of the last version of the blower-cooled small motorcycle with 5.8 HP (Florett TM - touring model). It was not visually recognizable when it was forbidden under the sheet metal of the fan cooling, but allowed to drive over 90 km / h instead of 40–45 km / h. The front-wheel brakes were also different: the fast mopeds had a brake drum diameter of 150 mm (1969 to 1973) or 160 mm (from 1973), while the Mokick versions only had 116 and 120 mm. These tuning measures were popular because of the high liability insurance premiums of approx. 450 DM / year (in 1974, which, taking inflation into account, corresponds to today's purchasing power of around 639 euros) up to approx. 780 DM / year (1982, today corresponds to 767 euros) that would otherwise have to be paid for an unthrottled moped. The high premiums were the result of the high number of accidents, often with serious personal injury to young people. The dangerous over-motorization of open mopeds was finally countered in 1980 with a reform of the driving license law.

Technically modified mokicks (bromfiets) were sold in the Netherlands: The Dutch versions of the Kreidler Florett had the cranks, which were unpopular in Germany, for legal reasons, but were still partially equipped with foot controls and foot brakes.

Tabelle Kreidler (1967-1982)

Mustang (50 cm³ and 80 cm³)

Kreidler Flory

Kreidler presented the first moped, the MF 4, in 1969. The best known was the Kreidler Flory, it was available in different versions: From 1975 the Flory MF 12, as well as the MF 13. They differed from the MF 23 built from 1977 mainly through a round speedometer instead of a cockpit with a rev counter and spokes - instead of composite wheels. In addition to the top model MF 23, which had three gears, from 1979 Kreidler also built the Flory MF 22 with a two-speed gearshift, as well as the Flory 2 with the Kreidler-typical two-speed automatic transmission, as already used in the MF 2 and MF 4 came. After Kreidler went bankrupt in 1982, Garelli manufactured the mopeds Flory and Flirt under the name Kreidler until 1985. Garelli wanted to follow in Flory's footsteps in Germany; the moped was basically a Garelli that carried the Flory's tank and side panels.

Kreidler Flott

The sporty 3-speed moped model Kreidler Flott with overhead tank-seat line (model abbreviations MF 24 and MF 25) was Kreidler's answer to, among other things, the direct competing models Zündapp ZD-50-TS and Hercules G3, which had this design (moped in moped optics ) had already anticipated.

In the relatively short time between the start of sales of this model in 1980 and Kreidler's bankruptcy in 1982, only very few copies were sold, so this model is largely unknown today.

Records and successes in racing

In 1965 Kreidler set the speed record for 50 cc motorcycles of over 200 km / h for the first time during a record drive in the Great Salt Lake Desert in the US state of Utah. Rudolf Kunz was measured with a recognized average of 210.634 km / h. In 1977 the Dutchman Henk van Kessel raised it to 221.586 km / h.