Is that an NSU engine on 2-wheels?!?

[JJ]

Why...yes, it is!!   (Get out the BIG check book!!)

[John A]

Looks like a Munch Mammoth. They are not common, I’ve only seen one in the flesh and that was at a MC show. They used NSU auto engines. 

[Moparnut72]

I remember reading about those. I have never seen one though.
kk

[Stretch]

I remember reading about those. I have never seen one though.

Me, too.

I'd love to try one.

Review from the book "The Motorcycle" - Christian LaCombe, 1970:

"The largest motorcycle made, one which cannot be compared with any other machine.
One has to regard it as an incredible device, built solely for a very restricted clientele."

With a review like that, who wouldn't want to have a go?   

( I wonder what he'd have written about the Yamaha Venture, or a modern Gold Wing?)



                                         -Stretch

[John A]

I think the forks looked like they are on the spindly side. I would like to see the frame, hopefully it’s beefy enough.

[JJ]

Looks like a Munch Mammoth. They are not common, I’ve only seen one in the flesh and that was at a MC show. They used NSU auto engines. 

Yes, that's exactly what it is...a HUGE Mammoth Munch TSS...and yes, NSU car engine!!

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

The first one I ever saw in real life was at the "Italia Rally" in Jennerstown, PA, back in 1990 or '91. Ridden up from Texas by Perry Bushong IIRC.

Saw this one at Classic Motorcycle Days 2019 in Mt, Airy, MD.





There was a poem in Cycle or Cycle World magazine once that went something like this:

What a wonderful bike was the Munch.
Of displacement it had, oh, a bunch,
And the view from it's seat was Germanically neat,
But a Z1 would eat it for lunch. 

[Aaron D.]

That limerick is from Cycle, at the peak of their powers and part of an entire article consisting of similar verse about other bikes of the day.

I remember a fragment regarding one of the Yamaha TX twins having "chains by the yard".

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

That limerick is from Cycle, at the peak of their powers and part of an entire article consisting of similar verse about other bikes of the day.

I remember a fragment regarding one of the Yamaha TX twins having "chains by the yard".

Yep! About the TX750 in particular: "(chains) snaking hither, thither and yonaha..."  I remember that being in the 25th Anniversary issue. https://backissues.com/issue/Cycle-April-1975

[Muzz]

I think the forks looked like they are on the spindly side. I would like to see the frame, hopefully it’s beefy enough.

I believe if my faulty memory serves me correctly, that the rear subframe is made of cast magnesium.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I believe if my faulty memory serves me correctly, that the rear subframe is made of cast magnesium.

The whole subframe/rear fender unit and rear wheel are cast magnesium.

[Tkelly]

A local guy DaveManthe,I believe collected these and rode them to the Slimey Crud runs.Dave traveled to Germany as a young man and introduced himself to Friedl Munch,who was hand building them in a  small shop.Munch befriended Dave and he became a collector.He wrote a book describing hauling one to Leno on its side in an Olds Station Wagon,and accounts of riding on the Auobahn at very high speeds.The book was self published and Dave peddled them at the Crud runs.Areal nice guy who passed away while still in his 50s.The mystery is what happened to his collections,one story was that theIRS grabbed them as Dave never filed tax returns.I bet these go for 6 figures today.

[Kiwi_Roy]

Not an NSU but a friend of mine built this Hillman Imp engine into his Royal Enfield,
He did all the Aluminium work you see including the fenders.

[Loop Tonti EV]

The first one I ever saw in real life was at the "Italia Rally" in Jennerstown, PA, back in 1990 or '91. Ridden up from Texas by Perry Bushong IIRC.

Saw this one at Classic Motorcycle Days 2019 in Mt, Airy, MD.





There was a poem in Cycle or Cycle World magazine once that went something like this:

Oh what a bike was the Munch.
Displacement had it a bunch,
The view from the seat was Germanically neat,
But a Z1 would eat it for lunch. 

I remember that one at the Italia 90 rally. There was one that showed up at the New Cumberland Fire Co during the West  Virginia rally some years ago.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

The full Yamaha TX750 limerick in it's correct form:

The TX-750 Twin Yamaha
Was smooth and slick as a bananaha
Counterweights revolved hard,
On chain by the yard,
And oil leaked hither and Yonaha.

More:

The 360 Mojave, by Ward,
Was a bike anyone could afford.
But a very large faction
Saw far more attraction
In an armadillo's umbilical cord.

The Velocette/Clymer, with leaks,
Never developed enthusiast cliques.
Hard-starting, and rank,
It went down with a clank.
So what? Antiques is antiques.

Though some said it would be a big hit,
A performer that never would quit,
BSA's 350 "Fury"
Was revealed in a hurry
To be little more than a snit.

Yamaha's SC 500 MX,
Was cursed, sad to say, with a hex.
Made unruly by muscle
Riders found it would hustle
Straight into terrible wrex.

[henwilv]

Looks like a Munch Mammoth. They are not common, I’ve only seen one in the flesh and that was at a MC show. They used NSU auto engines. 

Which, if memory serves, were essentially a marriage of two NSU motorcycle engines.

[Aaron D.]

The full Yamaha TX750 limerick in it's correct form:

The TX-750 Twin Yamaha
Was smooth and slick as a bananaha
Counterweights revolved hard,
On chain by the yard,
And oil leaked hither and Yonaha.

More:

The 360 Mojave, by Ward,
Was a bike anyone could afford.
But a very large faction
Saw far more attraction
In an armadillo's umbilical cord.

The Velocette/Clymer, with leaks,
Never developed enthusiast cliques.
Hard-starting, and rank,
It went down with a clank.
So what? Antiques is antiques.

Though some said it would be a big hit,
A performer that never would quit,
BSA's 350 "Fury"
Was revealed in a hurry
To be little more than a snit.

Yamaha's SC 500 MX,
Was cursed, sad to say, with a hex.
Made unruly by muscle
Riders found it would hustle
Straight into terrible wrex.

Thanks, Charlie! That was such a great issue.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Thanks, Charlie! That was such a great issue.

My friend Dale Houck ("Moto Info") sent me the magazine. MotoInformation@gmail.com if there's something you'd like.

[Muzz]

Though some said it would be a big hit,
A performer that never would quit,
BSA's 350 "Fury"
Was revealed in a hurry
To be little more than a snit.[/i]

These things are probably rarer than rockinghorse dung Charlie.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

These things are probably rarer than rockinghorse dung Charlie.

All of the above were from the April '75 issue of Cycle magazine.