Manufactured by Ernst-Werke Motorenbau, Breslau, 1926-1930
Herbert Ernst began his motorcycle racing career in 1913 riding NSU machines and after WWI he also raced on Indian, Star and D-Rad. From 1923 on he rode AJS in the 350 class, and also rode machines with the "Ernst" brand.
The Ernst-Werke motorcycle business was founded in September 1923 with Ernst as the company director.
The first machine was displayed at the Stuttgart Motorcycle Show in 1924, fitted with large capacity V-twin engine. The fuel tank was emblazoned with the Ernst name, and it had chain drive. For 1925, 500cc V-twin MAG engines were employed for the Type T, R and S models. The first two had IOE valves, the Sports model OHV. All had 3-speed Sturmey-Archer gearboxes.
1926 saw the addition of 600cc versions of the twins, and a single-cylinder K 500 model joined the lineup powered by 500cc sidevalve Küchen engine.
At the Berlin Show of late of 1926 they presented eight motorcycles of 500cc to 1000cc including a 600cc sports machine of 22 h.p. With the exception of the K500, all had Ernst-MAG as the brand on the tank.
Added to the range for the 1928 season was the 350 TF model, fitted with an OHV 350cc MAG engine and good for 130 km/h. This machine was named in honour of Orlando Geissler who been awarded the Palme d'Or for his win in the Targa Florio in 1927. By this time the factory was producing 500 to 600 motorcycles per month, but sales were slow due to the difficult economic conditions and they narrowly averted bankruptcy in March of 1928.
The 1929 season catalog listed the following models:
The company was restructured and renamed, and it would seem few machines were built after 1929. The brand no longer appeared in pricelists for 1931.
Sources: GTU Oldtimerservice; Motopedia.
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