Series: Legendary Motorcycles. Episode 6: Münch "Mammut"

Photo: Klaus Nahr / Wikimedia

Hardly ever could a motorcycle be more extreme than in the late 1950s. Everything seemed possible, Germany rallied after the war and the economy jumped. Time for some luxury, time for something hedonistic? Yes, time for the mammoth.

During this time, the plan of a superbike matured. Friedel Münch was a designer at the motorcycle brand Horex before he set up his own workshop as a dealer. In the short free time he drove around as a racing driver on the courses. Superbike meant two things for him: firstly, a powerful engine, but secondly, a really fast bike would have to have very powerful brakes. He found the engine where no other motorcycle manufacturer was looking for it: in a car, more precisely the NSU Prince TT. The clutch and transmission were created from components from Horex, everything else was a self-construction.

Friedel Münch made the rear wheel and the stressful front brake from electron-conductive metal casting. Cheap could not be such a thing, more precisely, a münch was quite expensive. A TTE with electronic gasoline injection and 100 hp cost 19,425 DM in 1973, according to today's value about 31,000 euros. Despite a large fan base, sales remained modest, and worse, the price was not cost-covering. Friedel Münch wanted to build the perfect motorcycle, he didn't care about the economic side.

The result: The actual core production period is the years 1966 to 1976, in which about 500 bikes were produced, at the same time there were several changes of ownership of the company shares. From 1974 it became finally confusing, because after the bankruptcy Münch-Enthusiast Heinz Henke bought the trademark rights, Friedel Münch came under him as technical director. But even this connection did not last long. Until the 1990s, Friedel Münch was repeatedly persuaded to assemble entire motorcycles from individual parts and newly manufactured components.

Today, a sworn-in fan base takes care of the survivors of the approximately 1,000 bikes ever produced. Should one be sold, which is very rare, it is usually passed on to clubmates. Depending on the condition and model, a Münch today costs between 30,000 and 50,000 euros. Mammoth should have been called it, but the naming rights lay elsewhere. The fans still call it that and make sure that this mammoth doesn't die out.