Summary

• Germany’s first superbike, the Münch Mammoth, had essentially the most highly effective motorbike engine of its time and will attain speeds as much as 120 MPH in high gear.
• The Mammoth featured chassis improvements like a magnesium entrance brake and a sealed drive chain, however it had a popularity for chewing by rear tires rapidly.
• Over 500 Mammoth bikes had been produced, with a big quantity imported to the US market, and a particular undertaking referred to as the Titan was constructed within the Eighties with a supercharged 1,800 cc engine.

Today, Germany has just one superbike that we’re all conscious of; the BMW S1000RR. But over the a long time there have been fairly a number of German producers with merchandise that had been fast by any requirements. Maico is without doubt one of the few present ones with the world’s largest, baddest enduro machine, and Kalex has been the dominant force in Moto2 for some time now.

DKW, NSU, Kreidler, and Zundapp are all acquainted names to individuals over a sure age. But Germany’s first superbike got here from a producer named Münch, and the motorbike was referred to as the Mammut, German for ‘mammoth’ – a touch at what the engine was like.

Ensuring accuracy for this text was a mammoth enterprise, however we did it, with the assistance of dependable sources like Bonhams Auctions, Motorcycle Daily, and CycleWorld.com.

The History of the Mammoth

The ’60s Were Where It Was At

The Mammoth’s roots might be traced again to Freidl Münch, who beloved modifying bikes within the Forties. He was a racer himself, and when a giant accident lower quick his using profession, he turned to tuning bikes for different racers. He used to change merchandise from manufacturers like Horex, after which went on to work formally for them as nicely.

Münch was contacted by Jean Murit, a motorcycle sidecar racer from France who had a dream of making the world’s strongest manufacturing motorbike. Remember, this was the late Fifties, when Germany wasn’t economically steady and many of the big-name motorbike corporations had been all closing store. Not solely was the intention to have essentially the most highly effective motorbike, however it needed to have the standard of engineering and craftsmanship that was worthy of the perfect motorbike on the planet. And so started the story of Germany’s first superbike.

A Mammoth Engine

In the Fifties, the quickest bikes on the planet had been all operating parallel twins. They had been often British racing bikes (over right here within the US we did love our V Twins, they usually weren’t too targeted on energy output or pace), so the selection of a four-cylinder engine is a really shocking one. Friedl Münch opted to select an already-developed engine reasonably than construct his personal to save lots of prices. An NSU air-cooled inline-four was chosen from certainly one of its small vehicles, the 1000TT, to energy the primary Mammoth.

The Mammoth Highlights

• Most highly effective motorbike engine on the time
• Could do 20-120 MPH in high gear simply
• Kept chewing by rear tires

The automotive firm agreed to provide its engines for the motorbike. It developed 55 horsepower from its 996 cc inline-four, and you could possibly select from one, two, or 4 carburetors. It can be a number of extra years earlier than the Honda CB750 Super Four would debut in 1967 and the time period ‘superbike’ can be coined, however it’s no coincidence that the most important motorbike firm on the planet selected to observe in Freidl Münch’s footsteps with their engine selection – a transverse air-cooled inline-four-cylinder engine.

Chassis improvements

Light Materials Were Used On The Mammoth In The ’60s

The chassis was one thing that wanted to be all new to suit a automotive engine into it, however once more, monetary constraints meant that it couldn’t be designed utterly from scratch. Münch determined to work with the best-handling motorbike of the time, the Norton Featherbed, and customise the body to his necessities. And customization it might require, as a result of the motorbike ended up weighing 480 lbs. That may appear a lot by right this moment’s requirements, however it was unimaginable again then given the motorbike’s historical past, for the reason that Norton Commando weighed 420 lbs.

There had been a variety of improvements that remind us of Erik Buell’s mad genius – the entrance brake was a colossal 250 mm unit manufactured from magnesium. Interestingly, it was utilized by Norton for racing purposes. On the primary present bike displayed in 1966, the left aspect of the swingarm was the casing for the drive chain. It was a sealed unit which allowed the chain to be run in an oil tub, thus not needing lubrication occasionally. The drive chain additionally had a series tensioner that allowed the slack to be adjusted rapidly and simply. In later iterations with bigger, larger output engines, the rear wheel had to surrender spokes for alloy, since no spokes might deal with the torque delivered to them.

Bigger, Better, Faster

The Engine Grew – So Did The Power Output And Top Speed

The authentic engine didn’t stay for your entire run of the Mammoth; actually, the engine was upgraded quickly sufficient to a different NSU engine that displaced 1,177 cc and, for those who wished, might put out as much as 104 horsepower. To put it into context, the Honda CB750 Super Four that we hold referring to right here displaced 750 cc and generated 68 horsepower. Oh, and that 104 horsepower was due to mechanical gas injection – the Mammoth additionally occurred to be the world’s first motorbike with gas injection.

The earlier 996 cc engine was extremely versatile, with the flexibility to speed up with out criticism from 20 MPH to 120 MPH; the bigger engine was extra of the identical torquey goodness. The chassis remained much like the unique, holding weight down due to the intensive use of magnesium alloy for the fork sliders, chain case, gearbox shell, and as talked about above, the brakes and the rear wheel. The solely actual downside with the Mammoth had been rear tire put on; there didn’t exist a tire that would final greater than 1,000 miles with the facility and torque of the engine.

Münch within the USA

Quite A Few Examples Made It Here

Over 500 examples of the Mammoth had been constructed by the top of its manufacturing run in 1975, and numerous these had been imported into the US market due to Floyd Clymer, an American entrepreneur. It was marketed because the Clymer-Münch Mammoth IV and offered for practically $4,000 when the BMW R69S value $1,700.

Of course, that’s the worth one pays for exclusivity, handcrafted perfection, and light-weight supplies like magnesium and aluminum. There additionally had been plans to fabricate fashions with a 750 Indian Scout V twin engine, however solely a single prototype was ever constructed with that powerplant. There had been additionally plans to fabricate a Mammoth with a 3 cylinder two-stroke machine with 90 horsepower, however these plans by no means noticed the sunshine of day.

The Mammoth 2000

Friedl Münch’s Last Design

The authentic Mammoth’s manufacturing run led to 1975, however a particular undertaking was constructed and accomplished within the Eighties referred to as the ‘Titan’. It had a 1,800 cc engine with a supercharger, made 160 horsepower at 7,800 RPM, and used oil cooling as a substitute of water cooling. The last design that Friedl Münch made was called the Mammoth 2000. It was named after the 12 months it was launched, however it might simply as nicely have been named after the displacement of the engine: the Münch Mammoth 2,000 displaces 1,998 cc, and similar to the unique Mammoth, was derived from a automotive engine. It was a GM Ecotec engine designed by Saab, and Münch noticed its software within the Opel Vectra.

Then they acquired Cosworth to design the top, they usually modified all of the water cooling to grease cooling. The consequence with a turbocharger? 260 horsepower at 5,650 RPM and 280 pounds-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm, though the redline was 8500 rpm. Top pace was restricted to 156 MPH, however the firm claimed it might high out at 172 MPH with out the restrictor. We suspect that with a shorter high gear, it might have been able to way more, however the brakes would have had a tough time stopping its 780 lbs.

At the time, the Mammoth 2000 retailed for over $80,000. Only 15 had been ever initially constructed from a deliberate manufacturing run of 250, with a number of extra being constructed with components after the remaining inventory was offered. It’s secure to say we is not going to see the likes of the Mammoth once more – the mammal or the motorbike.

Münch Mammoth 2000