Historic Motorcycle Brands
Puch
Puch was founded in Graz, Austria, in 1899, by the industrialist Johann Puch and produced automobiles, bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles. It later became a subsidiary of the Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate.
In the late-1800s Puch was best known for its Styria brand of bicycles that morphed into mopeds and motorcycles, using in-house four-stroke, side-valve engines after 1901. Puch car began parallel production in 1904 and, in 1909, a Puch car broke the world speed record, clocking 130.4 km/h.
During World War I, Puch became an important vehicle supplier to the Austro-Hungarian Army, but when that empire collapsed and the automobile market suffered almost terminally after WWI, Puch ran into serious financial difficulties.
In 1923, Puch’s banks moved to wind up the company, appointing Italian engineer Giovanni Marcellino to assess the factory, after which exercise they planned to sell the Graz assets.
However, Marcellino saw promise in the Puch company and helped convince the banks to let him revive it. As its key powerplant he re-designed Adalberto Garelli’s split-single two-stroke (two cylinders and pistons, with a shared cylinder head and combustion chamber) to incorporate asymmetric port timing.
Marcellino had seen this port timing in two-cylinder, opposed-piston engines that formed a central combustion chamber, between the pistons.
The new Puch engine had the pistons arranged one behind the other, in-line, instead of the transverse arrangement used by Garelli.
Puch split-single engine – Bernie’s Bike Shed
Both pistons were connected to a common, forked connecting rod, but the transfer ports for the fuel/oil/air mixture were located in the rear cylinder and the exhaust port was located in the front cylinder, where it received more cooling air flow than the rear cylinder.
1932 Puch 500 – Run Moto Run
However, this design, using a forked conrod, created angularity issues for the conrod during piston travel, so to avoid flexing the conrod (as Trojan split-singles did quite successfully), the small-end of the cooler intake section of the conrod was arranged to slide slightly fore-and-aft in the piston.
This engine design proved reliable and was the mainstay of Puch for many years. However, its longitudinal position meant right-angle drive had to be included, to convert rotation for chain drive.
The 122cc split-single was released in the 1924 LM model that was followed by a 175cc upgrade in 1925 and the 220cc big-seller – more than 12,000 bikes sold – in 1926.
In 1928 the company merged with Austro-Daimler into the new Austro-Daimler-Puchwerke. (This company merged in 1934 with Steyr-Werke AG to form the Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate.)
In 1929 came the 13,000+ volume, 250cc Model T that was upgraded in early 1931 and followed by the 500cc Model Z, later that year, but this model was not successful.
1935 Puch 250 R – Dnalor01
In 1931 Puch won the German Grand Prix with a supercharged split-single, but Marcellino knew that the forked conrod design was a limiting factor on future developments: particularly for racing.
The next racing design retained twin pistons and cylinders, and a common combustion chamber, but with individual conrods and crankshafts, arranged transversely. That eliminated the need for the sliding little end in the induction piston and also the right-angle drive to the chain sprocket. On its first outing the new bike scored a third placing.
However, by then the Great Depression had hit Europe and the competition department had to be mothballed.
1934 Puch S4 – Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles
In 1934 came the S4 250cc model with modernised styling and oil injection that did away with the need for premix.
Puch P800 – Motorworld
In 1936, Puch developed a shallow-vee (148-degree) 800cc, opposed-cylinder four that was a competitor for the Zundapp 600 and 800 bikes, but its production was short-lived and only 550 bikes were produced before that effort ended in 1938.
Puch 350 GS – Motorworld
Also, Puch was being set up for military motorcycle production, involving thousands of the marque’s 350GS model that retained the proved in-line crankshaft and right-angle drive layout.
From 1945 until 1947, the factory was requisitioned and run by the British Army, to repair and service British and American military vehicles.
In the 1950s, Puch resumed production of motorcycles, bicycles and mopeds, and in 1953 Puch launched three new motorcycles: the 125, 175 SV and 250. The successful MS 50 moped was launched the following year.
These new designs incorporated some of the early-1930s race engine’s features, including its twin-conrod layout, but with a single crankshaft. The split-single pistons were still mounted in-line, but the crankshaft and gearbox ran transversely, doing away with right-angle drive gearing.
The exhaust piston was still forward mounted, to aid cooling and its connecting rod was pinned to the crankshaft. The intake piston was behind it and its connecting rod was pinned to the big end of the front rod, not directly to the crankpin.
1962 Puch 175 SV – Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles
The SGS 250 was imported to the USA – the only split-single in that market – and was marketed by Sears in their catalogue as the Twingle. It was styled much like a BMW of the 1950s and 60s. A total of 38,584 Puch 250 SGS motorcycles were produced between 1953 and 1970.
1968 Puch 250 SGS – Gerard Delafond
The late 1950s saw strong sales of Puch 125cc motorscooters, which had three gears shifted from the left twist-grip.
Despite the racing heritage and performance potential of the split-single engine, it was at a cost, complexity and weight disadvantage compared with the loop-scavenged two-strokes that arrived in the mid-1960s.
In 1965, Puch released a conventional single-cylinder 50cc model that was soon followed by the M125. Then came new 100 and 175 singles and a side-by-side 250cc twin.
1959 Puch VS50L – Jeff Mardon
In 1970, Puch bought a half-share of Spanish motorcycle and scooter manufacturer Avello, which then produced models with Puch motors and original frames, and later built Puch models. In 1983, Suzuki bought 36-percent share from the Spanish owners and in 1988 Suzuki became sole owner of the Spanish manufacturer.
In 1975, Harry Everts won the 250 cc motocross world championship for Puch. In 1978 Puch produced more than 270,000 mopeds and motorcycles, as well as 350,000 bicycles.
1980 Puch Frigerio 347 RG – Classic Trader
Puch produced the Puch Maxi, Puch Newport and MK mopeds, which were popular from the late 1970s to early 1980s.
In 1987, a massive restructuring of the company led to the end of the production of two-wheelers in Graz. The Puch motorcycle company was sold to Piaggio, maker of the Vespa, in 1987.
Puch sold the entire production line of Puch Maxi Plus to Hero Motors when production ended in Austria. It spawned the Hero Puch that sold extremely well in India from 1988 until late 2003, when production ended.
Steyr-Puch, assembler of four wheel drive vehicles and parts, still exists, next to the Piaggio division.
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