Hassman
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2011
- Bikes
- Suzuki DRZ 400SM Matchless G3WO -41
Ladies and gents, the below is the start of a look into the history of various motorbike brands, perhaps interesting for some people and not for others, read it if you so wish.
It is a work in progress and if anyone else has information to add to it I would appreciate it.
As I am Swedish I start with old Swedish motorbike brands:
I have found a total of 132 different Swedish bike names but information about many of these brands is not easy to come by.
Sadly today no “real” Swedish motorbike brands exist, Husqvarna is owned by BMW and Husaberg is owned by KTM, the past however was (as the past normally was) glorious, I shall here endeavor to lay emphasis on the rich heritage of Swedish bike brands.
Mentioned above is already Husqvarna and Husaberg; let’s deal with Husaberg first as it is a very short chapter in the history.
HUSABERG
Husaberg was born the bastard child of Husqvarna in 1987 as Electrolux Group (owner of the Husqvarna brand and manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and washing machines) sold off the motorcycle division to Cagiva, Some of the management and engineers decided that Sweden indeed needed a motorbike brand and officially started Husaberg in 1988, but already in 1995 it was sold to KTM. KTM’s slogan “ready to race” was in fact stolen from Husaberg and Husaberg got a new slogan: “4 stroke force”. This new slogan is quite pathetic in my opinion, and for an opinion of KTM’s use of the “ready to race” slogan go ahead and ask BignTall.
Husaberg produced only super motards, enduros and motocross bikes, there are people better suited than myself to delve into the various models of these, this is not my forte.
HUSQVARNA
Husqvarna was started in 1689 in a town named Husqvarna –Husqvarna means “House with mill” as in grain mill or similar. It was started as a gun manufacturer owned by a branch of the Swedish military, in 1757 the company was privatized and in 1867 it became a limited company under the name Husqvarna Vapenfabrik Aktiebolag (In English; Husqvarna Weapons Manufacture Limited)
After 1871 when military orders started to taper off the company developed and made other products such as sewing machines, bicycles and stoves, in 1903 they produced their first motorbike.
Already in 1920 they opened up their own engine manufacture (what engines they used before this time I do not know), their first engine was a 550 cc four stroke V twin.
Up until the second world war they competed on the Isle of Man, what engines and types of bikes they used I do not know, I also do not know why they did not continue to race after the second world war had ended.
For some reason they steered away from large four strokes and instead built smaller 2 strokes, here an image of a 1951 118 cc two stroke –my father has one of these even though his is awaiting restoration. (which knowing my dad will never happen)
Note the back to front kick start
Note the rubber band front end suspension with no damping, of course no rear end suspension on a bike made in that era.
I remember as a kid push starting my dads bike (I was not big enough to be able to kick start it) and going down the dirt roads to pick up the mail –we lived on a farm 1 kilometer away from our mail box.
I never got used to the gears and clutch –it had the gears on the right foot and hence the rear brake on the left, it also had a gear shifter handle bolted on the right side of the tank. With no idle and not being able to operate the foot gear shifter it made for interesting crashes into bushes and fields.
Two models well known in Sweden are Silverpilen (the silver arrow) and Guldpilen (the golden arrow)
Above Silverpilen
Guldpilen was known as a dangerous bike as it was so powerful (with the standards of the day) and according to my dad the sales of it were stopped as a result and the mellower Silverpilen was sold instead.
In the 60’s Husqvarna more or less stopped making road bikes and instead concentrated on making dirt bikes and they were very successful in doing this; during the 60’s and 70’s their 125’s, 250’s and 500cc bikes won 14 motocross world championships, 24 endoru championships and 11 Baja 1000 victories, this is the heritage they lean back on today.
As mentioned above the motorbike division was sold to Italy in 1987, it stayed with Cagiva for 20 years until 2007 when BMW bought it, at about the same time BMW started to market their own dirtbikes.
GRIPEN
I do not have much information about Gripen but my uncle owns one, it is very similar to the Husqvarna above but it has a girder front end, I assume that it uses a Husqvarna engine and that it more or less was a “badge engineered” vehicle, some information hints to it using a 98 cc NSU engine. Allegedly they were around from 1938 until 1953, my uncles bike is from around 1950 to -53.
A very early Gripen
A Gripen identical to my uncles’ bike
MONARK (ALBIN-MONARK)
Monarch manufactured mopeds and scooters, my brother had one model named “Monarscoot” –designed by Swedish designer Sixten Sason who also developed the first SAAB cars as well as a 3 wheel car for Husqvarna in the mid 40’s –the 3 wheel car never reached production and the sample was scrapped.
When I was old enough to get a moped I got myself a Puch Dakota as my brothers moped looked like a girlie bike… (I hope he does not read this..)
They started off in 1908 making bicycles and mopeds, in the 50’s they were very successful in trials and motocross competitions with a world championship in 1959.
Below a 1974 Monark Motocross bike
In 1961 they merged with a Swedish bicycle manufacturer and the company is still active today making bicycles (Crescent brand), electrically assisted bicycles and –I think- stationary exercise bikes.
REX –Not to be confused with British Rex-Acme or German Rex MW
This was a manufacturer that was around from 1908 until 1957, some information suggests that they had one model made in house and other models were either copies of NSU or re-branded NSU bikes, below an image of the model that allegedly was their own, more a sturdy bicycle with a “strap on” motor than a true motorbike.
HIGHLAND
This company was started in Sweden about 10 years ago but was sold to an American company in 2010, on their website http://www.highland.se they have a line up of their bike models –both dirt/motard and street bikes are built by them.
As mentioned above I have found 132 different brands and I have only covered 6, I assume that the other brands have been rather short lived and that not much information can be found about them.
As time permits I shall continue this thread with as much information I can find about old “dead” motorbike brands from various places in the world, please feel free to add whatever information you may have.
Hassman
It is a work in progress and if anyone else has information to add to it I would appreciate it.
As I am Swedish I start with old Swedish motorbike brands:
I have found a total of 132 different Swedish bike names but information about many of these brands is not easy to come by.
Sadly today no “real” Swedish motorbike brands exist, Husqvarna is owned by BMW and Husaberg is owned by KTM, the past however was (as the past normally was) glorious, I shall here endeavor to lay emphasis on the rich heritage of Swedish bike brands.
Mentioned above is already Husqvarna and Husaberg; let’s deal with Husaberg first as it is a very short chapter in the history.
HUSABERG
Husaberg was born the bastard child of Husqvarna in 1987 as Electrolux Group (owner of the Husqvarna brand and manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and washing machines) sold off the motorcycle division to Cagiva, Some of the management and engineers decided that Sweden indeed needed a motorbike brand and officially started Husaberg in 1988, but already in 1995 it was sold to KTM. KTM’s slogan “ready to race” was in fact stolen from Husaberg and Husaberg got a new slogan: “4 stroke force”. This new slogan is quite pathetic in my opinion, and for an opinion of KTM’s use of the “ready to race” slogan go ahead and ask BignTall.
Husaberg produced only super motards, enduros and motocross bikes, there are people better suited than myself to delve into the various models of these, this is not my forte.
HUSQVARNA
Husqvarna was started in 1689 in a town named Husqvarna –Husqvarna means “House with mill” as in grain mill or similar. It was started as a gun manufacturer owned by a branch of the Swedish military, in 1757 the company was privatized and in 1867 it became a limited company under the name Husqvarna Vapenfabrik Aktiebolag (In English; Husqvarna Weapons Manufacture Limited)
After 1871 when military orders started to taper off the company developed and made other products such as sewing machines, bicycles and stoves, in 1903 they produced their first motorbike.
Already in 1920 they opened up their own engine manufacture (what engines they used before this time I do not know), their first engine was a 550 cc four stroke V twin.
Up until the second world war they competed on the Isle of Man, what engines and types of bikes they used I do not know, I also do not know why they did not continue to race after the second world war had ended.
For some reason they steered away from large four strokes and instead built smaller 2 strokes, here an image of a 1951 118 cc two stroke –my father has one of these even though his is awaiting restoration. (which knowing my dad will never happen)
Note the back to front kick start
Note the rubber band front end suspension with no damping, of course no rear end suspension on a bike made in that era.
I remember as a kid push starting my dads bike (I was not big enough to be able to kick start it) and going down the dirt roads to pick up the mail –we lived on a farm 1 kilometer away from our mail box.
I never got used to the gears and clutch –it had the gears on the right foot and hence the rear brake on the left, it also had a gear shifter handle bolted on the right side of the tank. With no idle and not being able to operate the foot gear shifter it made for interesting crashes into bushes and fields.
Two models well known in Sweden are Silverpilen (the silver arrow) and Guldpilen (the golden arrow)
Above Silverpilen
Guldpilen was known as a dangerous bike as it was so powerful (with the standards of the day) and according to my dad the sales of it were stopped as a result and the mellower Silverpilen was sold instead.
In the 60’s Husqvarna more or less stopped making road bikes and instead concentrated on making dirt bikes and they were very successful in doing this; during the 60’s and 70’s their 125’s, 250’s and 500cc bikes won 14 motocross world championships, 24 endoru championships and 11 Baja 1000 victories, this is the heritage they lean back on today.
As mentioned above the motorbike division was sold to Italy in 1987, it stayed with Cagiva for 20 years until 2007 when BMW bought it, at about the same time BMW started to market their own dirtbikes.
GRIPEN
I do not have much information about Gripen but my uncle owns one, it is very similar to the Husqvarna above but it has a girder front end, I assume that it uses a Husqvarna engine and that it more or less was a “badge engineered” vehicle, some information hints to it using a 98 cc NSU engine. Allegedly they were around from 1938 until 1953, my uncles bike is from around 1950 to -53.
A very early Gripen
A Gripen identical to my uncles’ bike
MONARK (ALBIN-MONARK)
Monarch manufactured mopeds and scooters, my brother had one model named “Monarscoot” –designed by Swedish designer Sixten Sason who also developed the first SAAB cars as well as a 3 wheel car for Husqvarna in the mid 40’s –the 3 wheel car never reached production and the sample was scrapped.
When I was old enough to get a moped I got myself a Puch Dakota as my brothers moped looked like a girlie bike… (I hope he does not read this..)
They started off in 1908 making bicycles and mopeds, in the 50’s they were very successful in trials and motocross competitions with a world championship in 1959.
Below a 1974 Monark Motocross bike
In 1961 they merged with a Swedish bicycle manufacturer and the company is still active today making bicycles (Crescent brand), electrically assisted bicycles and –I think- stationary exercise bikes.
REX –Not to be confused with British Rex-Acme or German Rex MW
This was a manufacturer that was around from 1908 until 1957, some information suggests that they had one model made in house and other models were either copies of NSU or re-branded NSU bikes, below an image of the model that allegedly was their own, more a sturdy bicycle with a “strap on” motor than a true motorbike.
HIGHLAND
This company was started in Sweden about 10 years ago but was sold to an American company in 2010, on their website http://www.highland.se they have a line up of their bike models –both dirt/motard and street bikes are built by them.
As mentioned above I have found 132 different brands and I have only covered 6, I assume that the other brands have been rather short lived and that not much information can be found about them.
As time permits I shall continue this thread with as much information I can find about old “dead” motorbike brands from various places in the world, please feel free to add whatever information you may have.
Hassman
