The famous Megola was designed by MEixner, GOckerell and LAndgraf. It
had a sv-five cylinder radial engine with 640 cc and 14 HP in the front
wheel. It was built in Munich from 1921 to 1925.
The bike had no clutch and transmission or neutral gear, and the high
torque of the engine allowed to accelerate from (almost) zero mph to full
speed with one gear. At stops, the engine had to be turned off, then you
had to push the bike to get it started again. Imagine
this in a modern city with thousands of red traffic lights...
The frame was made of welded and riveted sheet metal. The tube of the
front wheel had a special design: the tube was an open circle, so it could
be changed without taking the front wheel (and the engine!) out.
The Megola was successful in races with drivers like Toni Bauhofer,
Josef Stelzer and Albin Tommasi. The SPORT Megolas had a top speed of 140
km per hour.
Only 2000 units were built. Today the Megola is one of the rarest and
most interesting vintage motorcycles.
If you are interested to take a closer look at the design: German
Parts Unlimited [http://www.gpu.de/ is defunct] has fine reprints of the
owners manual (incl. parts catalog), 25 pages, 40,00 German Marks. If you
have another classic German car or motorcycle, try their literature and
parts areas.
Submitted by
Hartmut Schouwer
Another great picture of a Megola is at Whole Pop Magazine
Online's review of the Guggenheim Museum's "The Art of the Motorcycle"
at: http://www.wholepop.com/features/motorcycles/guggenheim.htm
Tue Feb 13 2007
singh_karan
hotmail
Information request for Megola
Megola
Please send me any information/links that detail how the Megola works.
Its absolutely facinating!
India
Thu Dec 21 2006
lith_talonyahoo
specs
megola racer
I've seen pictures of this bike, and I am looking to find more info.
As a drafting student, this bike really interests me. I know how it was
made and the wheel diameter, what I am looking for is the wheel base and
heights.
February 4, 2002
I am an old "Rotary/Radial" fan and have had many years experience
with reciprocating, internal combustion engines and being educated in the
theory and practical application of BMEP (volumetric efficiency) and having
operated and flown aircraft equipped with the Rhone Monosaupe (165 HP)
engines, when I first saw a photo of a Megola, a question arose in my mind
that I was unable to answer for a number of years. It bothered me,
knowing that an internal combustion, reciprocating engine, in order to
run smoothly and produce sufficient Horse Power, had to attain a certain
minimum RPM.
The Megola machine had performed in competition very well, meaning that
it had to have been capable of producing substantial horse power.
And Knowing that a 640 cc engine, (just 10½ cubic inches) in
order to produce the necessary horse power to perform as it certainly did,
the engine would have to attain a RPM of a minimum of 3,000 rpm. to produce
enough horse power to attain a speed in excess of 80 mph (130 kph).
What I am driving at is the diameter of the front wheel of this machine
is approximately 27 inches and has a circumference of pi x 27" or 84" or
7 feet. This translates to 754 wheel revolutions per minute
at 60 MPH. At this low RPM a 640cc engine could not possibly produce
sufficient BMEP, or HP for this to be so.
For years I was puzzled by this apparent incongruity, and each time
it would pop up in my head, I would dismiss it from my thoughts. It really
bothered me. It violated almost all the engineering laws I believed in.
There was a solution to this dilemma. And I found it on the internet.
Inside the crankcase, there is a planetary gear train with a ratio of
5:1 that reverses the internal engine rotational direction and allows
for a RPM that is commensurate with BMEP and HP output that would make
this kind of performance possible.
It calculates this way. 754 wheel rpm X 5 = 3,770 minus the crankcase
rotation 754 = 3,016 engine RPM
No engineering laws are being violated and I sleep better also.
I am not certain, but it is very concievable that a clutch and or multi
speed gear was possible. This is speculation. The rest I have described
is real and factual.
Ralph Lindsay -- Ralph-1 at webtv.net
March 20, 2001
Please send me any information about the megola motorcycles.
Can you tell me more about this.
Thank you very much
Josef Beil -- My e-mail adress: hotel_rex at hotmail
July 10, 2000
Congratulations for your site. I am collecting motorcycles in Greece,
and I sell the most regular models to Germany, like BMW, NSU, Horex, etc;
till today I sold about 200 bikes and many tones of original spares. But
the Megola is my secret dream, as I know that I will probably never find
one that is for sale. I've contacted people all over the world to
find any bike or even spares ; till now I've found only one front stay
of the engine-wheel (!). The Megola is the most unorthodox motorcycle ever
built, showing a personal vision of the design future that has never ever
being followed again from anyone. The development of the Megola, was an
attempt that remained as a prototype in about 1938 from 2 students in Germany,
Killinger
& Freund. The bike had a magnificent 2-stroke 3-cylinder Radial
engine and a 3 speed transmission, as a marvelous streamline shape. Also
just before the end of Megola production , Cokerell had ready a clutch-equipped
version. If you know anything about Megola that is for sale, please send
E-mail to : maratosp at otenet.gr
If you have a query about Megola motorcycles, or wish to share your
knowledge of these classic German machines, please contact
us!
Megola Motorcycles
at Ebay
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