IMME THE MOTOR IN PIECES!!

In the Autumm of 2015 my Imme still wasn’t running to my satisfaction namely although the motor was running ok it was suffering from clutch slip! I had previously taken the motor apart to renew the crankseals and inspect other parts. So i wasn’t in the dark as regards to what was needed.The motor is a simple two/stroke but with a downside in the fact that none of the bearings are caged there are about 64 roller bearings all different sizes and about 62 ball bearings so when splitting the motor !!yes you have guessed it they all fall out so you have make sure you have a towel underneath to capture the wayward balls and needle bearings.The clutch is a self contained unit held together by 6 rivets which were ground off to split the clutch.The friction plates were sent to a firm called FRICTION SERVICES http://www.frictionservicesltd.co.uk who made a good job of refurbishing the plates.Whilst the motor was in pieces ‘CLASSIC BIKE’ came along to do a article on the motor the resulting pictures are below

One last thought! when i reassembled the motor it took me about 2 hours greasing all bearing surfaces and placing bearings in place with twizzers which lead me to think how was it done on a production line????(you can’t spend 2 hours making up a engine!!)

so how was it done!! was the motor somehow magnetized!!! if some engineering specialist knows let me know

Count the Balls and 15 clutch springs!!

head and barrel are a one piece item.

15 small springs for the clutch!!

 

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IMME Article from MOTO-REVUE 1951

This is  a French article from the magazine Moto-Revue

• from Janvier (January) 1951 if no french!! the drawings are good                                                                         

IMME……..MY NEW BEE (2015)

About 4 years ago (2011) I had a rush of blood and foolishly sold my kleine Bee!  I always wanted another one. The Imme that I sold went to a good home; it is now hanging from the ceiling in a marine engineer’s workshop! I suppose it is in a very secure place and will not get stolen.A update it’s April 2016 the above mentioned Imme is now in different ownership, The owner keen to get it in running condition for the road!!!  In the spring of 2015  I came across another Imme on the web.  It was 99% complete and original having been in a German private museum for 40 years.  It also came with a very expensive price tag!!  Owning a machine like the Imme is very exciting, so a few weeks later the little bee was in my workshop. In the next week or so the Imme was on my hydraulic ramp being given a  close examination. The first thing I noticed was there was no gear selection cable.   The cable is different from a normal cable in the fact that it has to push as well as pull!  I made enquiries  to the  Imme Freundeskries Club in Germany about the problem. A positive result was that they had the cable.  Therefore I became a member of the Club and bought the cable slightly cheaper.

The next step was getting the Bee to run,the tank had the usual collection of oil,rust and gunge that accumulate after 50 years of none use ,so the process of vigorous shaking with the tank filled with a couple of handfuls of nuts ,bolts and paraffin plus a later filling with a slight acid cleaner made the tank ready for a sealer.Now the Bee was ready for buzzing, well, it did start,but always died after i few minutes with dark oil leaking from the exhaust pipe and engine/pipe joint . My synopses, was the crankshaft oilseal was kapput! That was to be a engine strip down which will be featured on another page soon.

The resting place for many Imme’s this one was in a private collection in Atlanta  USA.

Imme Riedel English impressions Nov 1949

Below is article from the Motor Cycling November 1949 on the Imme r100 In the first paragraph, it mentions that  Norbert Riedel had plans to make the Imme in London under licence!! and the Americans had ordered 5,000 of them!!!

IMME R100 English article.

IMME R100 Sales Brochure

A lone Imme in Trafagar Square! Nelson’s columm has moved in the middle!!

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IMME R100(RIEDEL) THE BEGINNINGS

IMME R100(RIEDEL) THE BEGINNINGSDuring World War 11 Norbert Riedel had designed a two stroke starter engine for the first **LUFTWAFFE jet fighters.After the war he moved into motorcycle design,he’s first design was the Riedel R100.The American army desperately wanted his jet starter engines ,so gave him the production tools and equipement which could be used for motorcycle production.His R100 was design with some restraints in place. ie it had to be cheap,easy to build,and he only had about 75% of the raw materials he needed(all of Germanys steel works were bombed by the RAF)The frame and fork tubing is all the same diameter. The egg- shape(ellipsoid) engine 99cc and 4.5BHP.The cylinder and the head were one piece.The transmission had no neutral,the clutch lever could be held withdrawn by a clip!.Only one front fork leg and the rear leg is also the exhaust pipe,3 speed handlebar gearchange(engine goes up and down with the rear wheel)Around Christmas 1947 Riedel started the first test drives

News of the IMME 2018 Treffen also for owners of other Riedel contruction Victoria Swing/Peggy,Ardie,Anlassermotor ,etc.

directions to the treffen

Original workforce from the first factory in Muggendorf

In1948 Riedel found a production factory in IMMESTADT(Bavaria).IMME is a German word for BEE,and the logo and name for the motorcycles were found.Production started in 1949,but only 80 were made in the first year.In 1950 numbers had reached 1,000 a month ,although the motorcycles were selling well! there even plans to make the Imme in London under licence!!  the works had some financial and warranty problems and the IMME AG went out of business.The numbers of R100 built was around 12,000 today they are very rare bike in Germany(update December 2014,just seen about 23 running*** look at video, you will notice same riders about 3 times held at a   Treffen  in October 2014) and only 1 in the UK.Riedel had designed a new egg- shaped twin 150cc engine,plus a scooter named the ‘Till’ and had planned a comeback with an improved version of the IMME.But in 1951 the factory was shut down again.

period photo of a garage/dealers for the Imme.

THE ABOVE 2 PHOTO’S BY KIND PERMISSON OF  IMME FREUNDESKREIS

Later Norbet Riedel worked for Triumph and Victoria in Nurnberg one design was the Victoria ”SWING’ which had a electric operated gear box having 4 push buttons on a panel attached to the lefthand handlebar.He died tragically in a avalanche whilst skiing in 1964, aged 50 years.           The Imme Treffen held at Immestadt in October 2014  youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXV4TvHko7E Another video from imme-freundeskreis this one includes bavarian countryside and a attractive frau!!http://youtu.be/HraRjbR1JUQ     also another  site with some great works photo’s motor pauls site.

THINK THIS MIGHT BE THE WORKERS TESTING THE IMME’S

 

 

Many thanks to Hartmut.Schouwer for most of the above information. Also another very informative web site is odd-bike.com

 luca fusari web site.. you can see pages on the Riedel anlasser … for starting the Messershmitt 262 jet fighter.)

 http://lucafusari.altervista.org/index.html         

another video showing the actual size of this unique engine amazing!! riedels jet starter engine

seen at a German autojumble actual size anlasser! with model of  the 262.

The above was the early crank design which wasn’t up to the job,late cranks had another web and a bearing.

 

 

 

 

 

Another IMME girl!!

 

 

TITLE READS PLAY IN THE SUMMERWIND! THE RIDER IN FRONT IS RIDING THE LAST VERSION OF THE IMME WITH SEPARATE EXHAUST SYSTEM

 

In Germany there 2 clubs devoted to the Imme, http://www.imme-freundeskreis.de(circle of friends) and a club in the town Immestadt called DER IMME SCHWARM e V so the picture above is a swarm of IMME’s. (bees).Note the leader of the pack is riding one of the last versions of the R100 with its separate exhaust system from the frame.

Immestadt,is a small town in the southwest of Bavaria set amonst the Bavarian alps.One of the bergs that overlook the hamlet is the ‘Grunten’ the plaque is to commemorate that someone actually rode a IMME to the top of the 1738meter high berg.

A PLAQUE ISSED BY THE IMME SCHWARM CLUB

 

 

VIKTORIA KR21 ‘SWING’ MOTORCYCLE with electric gear-change Plus ‘PEGGY ROLLER’

.In the early sixties i read a road test in the ‘Motorcyling ‘magazine on a German Vicktoria ‘Swing ‘ i remember that bike being unique in the fact that the gearchange was operated by a 5 button unit on the left side handlebar! Now in the 80’s F1 motor racing came up with the gearchange operated by paddles under the steering wheel 2 paddles in fact ,left  side for up and right side for downward changes.It was considered ‘state of the art technics‘But 40 years previous  NORBERT REIDEL(Of IMME fame) had designed a similar idea into the ‘Swing’ motorcycle.

Also the gearchange was needed because the motor and the transmission casing (chain drive ) are one unit and pivot in the frame just a below and to the rear of the motor,So with road bumps the motor and transmission are moving up and down as one unit ,which would result in a conventional gear lever doing likewise.

Another feature was the front leading link suspension,from the links two rods in the front tubes joined a cross bar to which it joined the lower suspension unit,the top end secured to a lug just in front of the headstock.

Imme Treffen 2018 but also open to owners of Reidel construction ie Victoria Swing/Peggy ,Ardie ,Anlassermotor,etc

What must be a extremely rare English sales brochure for the ‘Swing’ from Reading dealers STOCKER & SHEPHERD LTD

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Early ‘Swing’ with black silencer and painted tank seen in the Motorrad Museum, Neckersulm.

‘Classic Motorcycle featured a article on a ‘Swing’ i restored in 1995. U K  ‘Swings’ could by brought with the option of a engine panels,legshields and fairing in so called  GRP (fibre glass) for £27.10s6d extra.

My ‘Swing’ before restoration, this bike now resides in a private museum in Ostend Belgium

same ‘Swing’ after restoration

They do not get more rare than this!! a ‘peggy roller’only one i have ever seen in 40 years

SALES BROCHURE FOR THE ‘PEGGY’ ROLLER  i HAVE NEVER SEEN ANY REFERANCE TO A ENGLISH ‘PEGGY’ IN 50 years!! I wonder how many sold?

Top diagram showing the 4 separate solenoids which push the bobbing into the 4 gears it pushes 2 balls to engage a gear. The single suspension damper in front of the headstock. A dummy suspension leg!! only the transmission side has a damper unit in it!.

‘U T’ KTN125 Motorcycle

 

sales brochure 1951 ‘It must be fun’ owning a ‘U T’

 

 

 

I have over the past few years been more and more interested in Germany’s lesser known makes! I think my knowledge of the likes of Adler,N S U,Triumph(TWN) and Zundapp is 99% complete.My interest now seems to be in the small manufactures of the 50’s,in the past year i have added a Imme, Express and very recently a ‘U T’ 125 KTN!to my collection. I was drawn to this bike for two reasons,1st because i was given the nick name ‘U T’ by some members of the ‘Adler to Zundapp’ club and 2nd is i am always after the so called ‘HENS TEETH’ of bikes! a ‘U T ‘ is a very rare bike in Germany perhaps there are 5/6 of the model KTN 125 maybe my one is the only one outside Germany? I bought the little ‘UT’ at a Auction in Kings Lynn,Norfolk .It’s English history   is that  a B O A C(now British Airways) pilot brought it to England from Germany in 1959,got it Registered and used it four years,after that time it seems to have spent the last 50 years in a barn in the southern counties!! That story somehow didn’t ring quite true!! first B O A C were the long haul airline and B E A (British European Airways) did flights to Europe.The old buff log book also says on a page that the bike was imported to England from BERMUDA!! and came on the SS ‘ESSEQUIBO’ date 17/6/59. The SS ‘ESSEQUIBO turns out to be a hospital ship! so the history of this little bike thickens!!

‘U T’ and the English make ‘N U T’ have something in common, at first glance many will say they share two of the same initials, but there is another connection ,The answer is they are named after the town where they were made in the case of N U T (Newcastle Upon Tyne) and ‘U T’ Unter Turkheim a suburb of Stuttgart which now where the vast Mercedes factory is situated .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            It’s February 2016,amazingly i have been given the picture below! The picture owner brought a Honda 500GBR from my friend John in Newbury about 10 years ago?? He gave  the picture  to John(John is into German bikes) to identify!! I can say the bike is a U T 175 KTN if the owner ever reads this please get in touch with me  !!!                                                             Video of ‘U T’ running after rebuild

2016 I was given this picture from about 8 to 10 years ago of someone maybe from the west country The bike is a ‘UT’175 KTN If someone knows of this machine!please get in touch adtrizun@tiscali.co.uk

After a close inspection of the above bike i am certain that it is the ‘UT’ from the cellor from below?

Update July 2018, In the OBM paper there has been an enquiry into a bike in a cellar in Somerset, The gent thought the bike to be a TWN, But i have informed OBM(Old Bike Mart) that the bike is in fact a U T 175 KTV only made from 1953 to 1954 after that the bike became a 200 KTV with rear swing arm. So now amazingly there could be 3 U T’s in the UK is there any more i wonder?

The mystery bike in the cellor is now out and seeing the light of day for the first time in 55years to confirm it is a UT 175 KTV 99% correct only a wico rearlight and a Amal float chamber not correct. more pictures on page’U T’ 175 KTV.

‘U T’ 125KTN from 1950

A ‘U T’ 175 KTN 1950