German Motorrad

Today in Motorcycle History

AMI Cyclemotors of Berlin

A Brief History of the Marque

Manufacturer: Auto-Motoren-Industrie (AMI), Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße 16, Berlin
1921-1925

Built auxiliary bicycle motors of 98cc rated at 1hp which were installed in front of the pedals. The engine, according to Tragatsch, was designed by Heinrich Hildebrand, one of the creators of the world's first production motorcycle, the Hildebrand & Wolfmuller.

Their sole distributor was G.W. Marwitz & Co, Berlin SW 48, Wilhelmstr. 39.

The firm had a long drawn legal battle with Gnom of Leipzig with whom they were in direct competition. The outcome was not in their favour. The Gnom engine was built under licence in France by a company which went on to become Gnome et Rhone. Gnom went on to become Horex.

Sources: GTU Oldtimerservice; motor-lit-berlin.de; Tragatsch p74; deutsche-biographie.de.


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