Munch Mammoth Classic Superbike

The Munch Mammut (Mammoth) was quite simply the most monstrous motorcycle of the post war years. This Leviathan was the creation of a German Friedl Munch, dubbed 'the Sorcerer ofOssenheim'. In the early 60s, Munch had a dream of building the most fantastic motorcycle in the world. No proprietory motorcycle engine was suitable, so Munch turned to the car world. He selected the air cooled 1000cc unit which normally powered the NSU Prinz, enjoying considerable rally success at the time.

Later versions employed a tuned 1177cc derivative of the same powerplant, and there was even a brief diversion with a three cylinder two stroke engine. Although an all alloy engine, the NSU was both big and heavy. Munch's original choice of frame, a Norton Featherbed, proved too small, so he constructed a larger beefier copy. By then the real work had only just started. Munch made a primary drive and four speed gearbox, both in purpose built casings. The NSU's standard wet-sump lubrication was retained. No ordinary cycle parts could cope with the Munch's sheer weight, so new ones had to be created. To forks of his own design Munch laced a massive 250mm twin leading shoe front brake which big as it was, had trouble coping with the momentum of the 550lb machine.

Much of the rest of the machine was also designed from scratch. Like many more modern monsters, Honda Gold Wings spring to mind the Mammoth is surprisingly well balanced once on the move. The four cylinder engine is sublimely smooth, with a huge spread of irrepressible power which makes the four speed gearbox almost redundant. 120mph comes easily (for the bike; with no fairing to hide behind, the rider gets a fearful battering). Claims of close to 150mph have been made for the 1177cc Mammoth Sport, but it would take a brave man to prove it.

If the Mammoth roadster was absurd, the racing version was even more bizarre. As well as a short lived competition programme with sidecar aces Helmut Fath and Horst Owesle, in 1978 Munch attempted to beat the world one hour record, set in 1964 by Mike Hailwood on a 500 MY. The attempt took place around the banked Daytona Speedway, using a 1370cc NSU engine with four 3smm Dell'Orto carbs and an estimated 12sbhp at S600rpm. Rider Ferdinand Kaczor had no trouble hurtling this missile through the speed trap at 17Smph. However, contemporary tyre technology was simply not equal to the power and weight of the machine, nicknamed the 'Daytona Bomb', which shredded its rear cover after just three laps. A further attempt was thwarted when an American court awarded the machine to one of Munch's American backers in lieu of outstanding debts. Nor was Munch's the only motorcycle to use a Cornering was never the Munch's strength, although one 125 horsepower example was raced at Daytona. The tyres, inevitably, couldn't cope. car engine during the period. Several road-going specials appeared, most using either the NSU unit, or the one-litre Hillman Imp engine. Both were also used in racing sidecar outfits. Some years later one bold individual even created a two wheeler powered by a 3.5 litre Rover Vee-S housed, oddly enough, in a standard-sized Norton Featherbed frame.

More recently still, the gargantuan 'Boss Hoss' special crammed a full-blown Chevrolet Vee-S into a motorcycle frame. In 1972 the Munch commanded a mammoth price tag of £2500, over three times the cost of Honda's CB7s0. (Today, you'd need to pay perhaps eight times that for a good example). Nonetheless, about 450 were made over a period of about IS years. The small company initially enjoyed the backing of the American motorcycle publisher, Floyd Clymer, and later from Heinz Henke. In 1977 Munch left to manufacture parts for yet another monster, the 1300cc TTSIE. But his legacy continues; the Mammoth remains the most colossal production motor cycle ever offered for sale.