Ot old motorcycles

oliverlover982 · Jun 26, 2013

My father has been wanting a classic motorcycle for a while, so today I stumbled across one and got it for him. All I know about it so far is its a German built NSU. Just curious if anyone knew anything more about them them the other then the bit of research I've done so far. Sorry no pictures yet phone won't upload them. Thanks, joe from mn

old · Jun 26, 2013

Been around motorcycles for 43 years and have never heard of a NSU. I have had many many bikes as in well over 30 in those 43 years and still have a few.

Geo-TH,In · Jun 26, 2013

Will you be able to find parts?

GordoSD · Jun 26, 2013

Try sending your phone photos to your email address, and then on your PC save them to your "Pictures" From there to here.

oliverlover982 · Jun 26, 2013

sorry for the delay fellas had to get home and boot up the ol lap top. Anyhow here she is in all her beauty. Shes got good compression and spark but the gas tank etc needs some attention. Other than missing the headlight and tail light and part of the rear fender shes complete. Guy dropped it off at the scrap yard where i work and I couldn"t resist being dads been looking for a motorcycle project for a while to take a break from the Olivers. The gas tank says NSU on the logo, also stamped made in germany on the side. Haven"t had a chance to look closely at the serial tags etc. Quick google search found a little info and some parts but anything major I have a feeling will be hard to find.

37chief · Jun 26, 2013

Looks like it may run with a little cleaning. I know the NSU had the world speed record for a few years. Like most of the older vehicles from Germany it is probbly well built. My girl friend's dad had one like the one you have. I was riding it one day and ran right into a car on a curve head on. I went completely over the car, as well as my passenger. I left the bike so fast my shoes were pulled off. Hope your dad likes his project. Stan

Anonymous-0 · Jun 26, 2013

NSU holds the rights to the Wankel/Rotary engine, also made some cars. A friend once had a NSU Prince, a small car with a 2 cylinder engine.. starter and generator were one and the same.

Russ from MN · Jun 26, 2013

Google can be your friend! NSU built many motorcycles including over 8,000 halftrack models for the military, many of which where used in N Africa.

oliverlover982 · Jun 26, 2013

Been googling haven't really found alot of info not in German only solid info I've found is there's not a large parts base in America. Especially in the Minnesota area haha.

GordoSD · Jun 26, 2013

Are these your smartphone photos? How did you post them?

ShadetreeRet · Jun 26, 2013

Davis SC, a friend of mine bought an NSU prince, (I believe it was spelled prinz,) In about 1959 or 1960. NOT a suitable first car for a 19 year old just out of high school! You could squeeze four people the thing, but two of them had to get out and push every time you hit a long hill. Kinda like a go kart with a body on it. I don't think it lasted much more than 25000 miles

ShadetreeRet · Jun 26, 2013

Well,now you have heard of them and seen a photo! Learn something every day don't you? LOL

oliverlover982 · Jun 27, 2013

Those are smart phone pictures and it wouldn't let me upload them onto the site directly from my phone its a windows phone so idk if it was the phone or the website. Anyhow I did like you said and emailed them to myself then uploaded with my pc

bison · Jun 27, 2013

I had a NSU for a while back in the sixties, it was the biggest POS 2 stroke I ever owned. :roll:
We had our own dutch translation for the initials N S U..Nooit Slechter Uitgevonden.
Translated to English,....Worst invention ever. :shock:

If you want a good old bike,.. buy an English or American 4 stroke :wink:

ben there · Jun 27, 2013

theres a huge antique motorcycle swap meet in Davenport Ia on Labor Day weekend...if you cant find parts there,give up.

Bill Radford · Jun 27, 2013

Interesting.. may be very hard to find replacement parts. I would prefer an old Triumph or maybe an early Honda CB 750. The old Hondas are getting popular as collector bikes these days.

ericlb · Jun 27, 2013

i have a old bike story from my youth, we had a neighbor back in the late 60's who was in his 80's then, he had a bike he had bought brand new when he was young , he told me once that when i was of age, he would give me the bike as he could no longer hold it up at his age, well dad got tired of working for grandpa on the farm, and moved us to town,i was about 12 or 13,although i still got took out there to help grandpa as needed [ never figured out just how that was worked out, lol] well, before i got old enough the old man died and i never got the bike, which was believe it or not was a 1936 indian chief! to me the sheer size of that bike was impressive i never knew how valuable it was until much later ,i did go visit there several times as we knew the family quite well but the bike was gone i always figures one of his kids had it

Anonymous-0 · Jun 27, 2013

I pass through Mena Arkansas frequently and there is a motorcycle bone yard right on Hwy 71, I do not know its name.

old · Jun 27, 2013

Google is not my friend. Having dial up it takes a long time to do any thing with Google. As for the picture looks a lot like some of the old bikes sold by Sears and Monkey wards back in the day

gmccool · Jun 27, 2013

ben there
Do you have any more info on the swap meet in Davenport Iowa. I have a 1977 Honda 750 Automatic yes automatic. They only made them two years 1977 & 1978. I really would like to sell it as it is just in my way & I want to room. Email is open. Gerald

oliverlover982 · Jun 27, 2013

The plan was to find an old Honda but this one dropped into my lap and the price was right.

ShadetreeRet · Jun 27, 2013

When I saw the photo I thought the same thing. Looks similar, but the Sears (Allstate) two strokes were built in Austria.

RN · Jun 27, 2013

check with the Vintage BMW club people if you can- many of them have sources for other old German cycles like NSU and DKW/MZ. Munch Mammuth was a cycle using the 4 cylinder NSU car engine- some made it over here before the honda 750-4s were on market. 1960s to 1980s German, Italian cycles common in Europe were sometimes brought back by military as 'personel goods' instead of 'vehicles'- something about if package was under 500 pounds it could be freight as 'goods'?
Your project looks like about a 250cc maybe a 'Max' model? Was market competition to the BMW R24/26 models, MZ Eisenschwein. RN

Rusty Jones · Jun 27, 2013

I was in France during WW II, 90th Division, Infantry. A buddy and i walked to see the damage from our air attacks on an area called the Falaise Pocket! It was a long valley where our Army trapped some units of the German army and decimated them.
While hiking thru the area, we spotted a Frenchman trying to start one of those German Half-tracked motorcycles. We lay in wait, and when he finally got it started, we relieved him of his toy. Then we rode it back the 25 miles or so, to our unit. But, our Officers didn"t allow us to keep it.
After getting home from war, i bought an old Indian Chief motorcycle.And, since i had lost my left foot in battle, i had to change the way the clutch worked. I had an artificial leg, but that never kept me from doing anything i wanted to do. And now, at age 88, i"m still getting along quite well. At one point in time, i rode a Honda-matic MC. I sold it to some jerk who got scared of it, parked it outside for 5 years and finally junked it.

Paul from MI · Jun 27, 2013

Buddy of mine had an NSU 250cc motorcycle back in the 50's. It was a single cylinder overhead cam engine. The cam was driven by a pair of connecting links from the crankshaft--a very unusual design. Good runner, it survived a VERY rough mechanic!!

GarryinNC · Jun 27, 2013

I think you have a NSU 250 Max. I have a set of factory tools for the engine, and some New Old Stock owners manuals, I think. Bought out an old dealer in the late 80s. He started in the early 50s. Sold BMW, NSU, Zundapp, Triumph, BSA and Yamaha.

Email gfoster at yadtel dot net

Garry

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