Historic Motorcycle Brands
Hercules (Germany)
The Hercules Company was founded in 1886, by Carl Marschütz in Nuremberg, Germany, to make bicycles and began producing some motorised versions in 1904. The brand is best known for its 1970s Wankel-powered models.
The company was established in Neumarkt by Carl Marschütz on April 5, 1886, as Nuremberg Hercules-Werke. Initially, it manufactured bicycles and had eight people employed, but that increased to 170 eight years later. By 1894 the company had produced almost 5000 bicycles.
The first Hercules motorcycle was a modified bicycle, with frame-mounted engine driving the rear wheel via a belt. By then the company also produced light trucks with a capacity of 1.2 tonnes and that commercial range dominated factory output, until series motorcycle production began in 1928.
1935 Hercules Lilliput 98cc – Helderberg Motorcycle Museum
These early Hercules motorcycles were powered by 73cc-498cc engines from Bark, Columbus, Fafnir, JAP, Ilo, Kuchen, Moser, Sturmey-Archer, Villers and Sachs. However, when the Nazis came to power, Hercules was allowed to buy only German-made engines.The Sachs brand would also figure in the company’s future in the 1950s.
Hercules achieved some competition success with tuned 248cc JAP-powered bikes, most notably ridden by Hans Kahrmann. Carlchen Geffers and Rudi Grenz achieved trials successes.
Hercules S125 in Czech Republic – Michel
Factory damage caused by WWII bombing forced a complete rebuild, so in the late-1940s Hercules produced milk churns and bicycles, to help it get back on its feet. Resumption of Hercules motorcycle production was delayed until 1950, when two new models were launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The new 212 model was a Sachs-powered, 98cc commuter bike, with two-speed box and no suspension, but the 312 had a 123cc Ilo engine, three-speed foot-change transmission and telescopic front forks. It had a two-exhaust-port head and was capable of nearly 80km/h.
Although these were crude machines, post-war Germany loved them and their sales success helped Hercules develop better bikes, including Sachs-powered 98cc and 147cc machines and a 174cc Ilo-powered bike. Both larger-capacity bikes had four-speed boxes and plunger rear suspensions.
Hercules began exporting bikes to other European countries and also introduced a higher-spec’ 247cc Ilo twin.
1958 K100 with Sachs 150 engine – Oxford Classic Motorcycles
The low-spec’ range remained much the same throughout the 1950s, because of an economic downturn in Germany. By the early 1960s, Hercules concentrated mainly on sub-100cc bikes scooters and mopeds, but kept the D175 for International Six Day Trial competition.
In 1966, Hercules joined the Zweirad Union that was originally a combination of DKW, Express and Victoria brands, but that Union was acquired three years later by Fichtel & Sachs.
The ensuing finance injection allowed Hercules to become the first company to produce a series-production Wankel-engined motorcycle, in 1974. A prototype had been shown in 1970, at the West Cologne Autumn Motorcycle Show.
The W-2000 had a single-rotor air-cooled engine of 294cc displacement that produced 23bhp, later increased to 32bhp. Cooling was by a large fan placed in front of the engine and engine lubrication was by oil added to the fuel in the tank.
Hercules Wankel engine
In 1976, Hercules launched the W-2000 Injection, with engine pressure lubrication from a separate oil tank. It had 18-inch wheels, a front disc brake and a rear drum brake.
According to a March 1976 review in Cycle World, the handling was good but the bike’s low ground clearance limited its cornering ability. That review also declared the W-2000 to be a daily commuting bike, not a sports bike.
Wankel powered enduro bike – South Bay Riders
Hercules introduced a rotary-powered dirt bike (the KC-30 GS Enduro) in May 1975, but the model failed to sell in volume, due to its high price.
The Hercules single-rotor engine of 300cc swept volume was used as a basis by BSA’s project engineer David Garside, in the early 1970s, when designing a twin-rotor motorcycle engine of 588cc that went into production powering the Norton Classic.
Military Hercules – Alf van Beem
Fichtel & Sachs was taken over by GKN in 1976 and more successful Hercules bikes were the Sachs-powered Enduro series. Hercules also supplied the German Army with specialised military bikes.
In the 1990s the Hercules name was sold and successor bikes were branded Sachs.
ADVERTISEMENTS
