the ugliest bike

It should be considered Herr Münch devised his contraption at a time when the Honda 750/4 wasn't even a pipe dream, his first prototype rolled out the door of his barn in 1965 or 66, "mass" production began in 1967!

The Münch was actually very innovative, successfully converting an ungainly automobile lump into a fairly well-integrated bike engine. The NSU engine was already quite popular with the auto club racing crowd at the time, lots of go-fast bits were available. A hotted NSU TT has to be seen and heard to be believed, at least on par with any contemporary Imp or Mini!

I narrowly missed out on a Münch TTS-E many years ago, still kicking myself for that! Doesn't make it any prettier though. ;)

piet
 
Gunter Sachs enjoying his Munch .

Brigitte Bardot`s third husband , not married long when she started an affair with Serge Gainsbourg , who recorded the original version of
Je t`aime...moi non plus with her in Paris .. Divorced soon after .

2022-05-30 (9).png
 
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andre g said:
Thread should be stopped because of this comment😡
For us in Germany Friedel Münch was a genius and developed the most powerful and inovative bike of that time. Casted rear wheel, fully closed casted chain box, big front brake and al casted ack of the bike. E used the powerful NSU 1000 and 1200 car engines.
No other opinion is alowed!! 😜
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Andre, don't be so touchy, no ill was meant by saying "they named a bag of crisps after it" I was merely attaching a bit of humour to it and no more than that. The truth be known I don't see any Motorcycle as ugly-for instance my remarks on the MZ Trophy which was made to be a workhorse but never fashionable. I saw a Munch Mammoth at Creg Na Ba on the Isle of Man and I was blown away by it, for all that it isn't a pretty bike and will only appeal to someone strong enough to ride it.. The remit was make a Machine of superb quality without compromise and that he certainly did, This thread is a bit of fun and that's all it is, as they say 'beauty is in the eye', would I like a Munch Mammoth in the garage?-damn right I would!. If you made a comment about a machine I was passionate about I wouldn't react; what would be the point of that? Someone has said the Commando Hi Rider is ugly when in fact I am very passionate about the Commando but I'm not bothered because that's someone else's opinion to which they're entitled. You now want this thread stopped just because I said something entirely inoffensive about the Munch! Come on now, look at the thread in a more light hearted manner. Isn't this what makes motorcycling such a great thing, so many different personalities riding all sorts of bikes, sorry if you're offended I never set out to do that-hopefully now we're friends again?
graham
 
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I recall reading about a bike that someone in Hallein, Austria constructed around a NSU Prinz engine ( same as in the Münch) in the very early '60s.
Later converted to a sidecar rig and to my knowledge now lost while on display in the motorcycle museum Timmelsjoch that burned down.
Perhaps someone has a pic of the bike, IMHO a bit more handsome than the Münch.

Gerald
 
Ernesto said:
"Thread should be stopped because of this comment
No other opinion is alowed!! 😜"

" I was merely attaching a bit of humour to it "
That's what André did.....

Ernesto
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I suppose at this point I should say nothing to avoid being sucked down into the forum quicksand, I obviously need my glasses to see the smilies in better detail.
 
Gerald said:
I recall reading about a bike that someone in Hallein, Austria constructed around a NSU Prinz engine ( same as in the Münch) in the very early '60s.
Later converted to a sidecar rig and to my knowledge now lost while on display in the motorcycle museum Timmelsjoch that burned down.
Perhaps someone has a pic of the bike, IMHO a bit more handsome than the Münch.

Gerald
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In my hometown there was a guy who built a bike around a V4 Ford Taunus engine. Uglissimo.
 
„sorry if you're offended I never set out to do that-hopefully now we're friends again?
graham“

Sorry Graham,
did not get this in May, for sure we are friends again 😄
Saw this one some weeks later…83C1D712-4E7B-4DE4-B869-06E9C8793756.jpeg
 
Either I've missed this getting a mention in an earlier post or I'm the only one who thinks this is terrible.
Call it a 'hog' if you like but please don't call it a pig.
Pigs are intelligent and tasty.
Harley Davidson Pan American 'Special'🤮
 

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sfcpiet said:
It should be considered Herr Münch devised his contraption at a time when the Honda 750/4 wasn't even a pipe dream, his first prototype rolled out the door of his barn in 1965 or 66, "mass" production began in 1967!

The Münch was actually very innovative, successfully converting an ungainly automobile lump into a fairly well-integrated bike engine. The NSU engine was already quite popular with the auto club racing crowd at the time, lots of go-fast bits were available. A hotted NSU TT has to be seen and heard to be believed, at least on par with any contemporary Imp or Mini!

I narrowly missed out on a Münch TTS-E many years ago, still kicking myself for that! Doesn't make it any prettier though. ;)

piet
Click to expand...

A guy near by me has some 4 Münch sitting in its home, he is something like a expert on them. He was telling me, that the Münch Factory employed some 200+ Workmen at his heyday! They allready uset to turning this Car engine, even with turbo! But the casting of the Block was too weak, so the Factory (!) put some hard Glue outside of the engine case! Storys like that shows how they worked back then...
I have seen Bikes like that always verry ugly, but since a Bike Dealer for italian Iron was telling me that a Ducati 860 is the most beautifull Bike I see different, not hanging on the Jap Taste....
 
presumably Araldite?
in the 60's there was nothing at the time to beat the Honda 250/297 six's, especially when ridden by SMBH or JR, but at Brands hatch one day, it was seen that Araldite was being smeared onto the crankcase casting of one of them due to oil porosity, show bikes they were not! and right up my street or as they (wrongly) say in Norway right down my lane.
CLEM
 
CLEMTOG said:
presumably Araldite?
in the 60's there was nothing at the time to beat the Honda 250/297 six's, especially when ridden by SMBH or JR, but at Brands hatch one day, it was seen that Araldite was being smeared onto the crankcase casting of one of them due to oil porosity, show bikes they were not! and right up my street or as they (wrongly) say in Norway right down my lane.
CLEM
Click to expand...

He says it was UHU...
 
Gerald said:
Friedel Münch employed 200??? when was that?
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They certainly had high-flying plans when entrepreneur Heinz W. Henke got involved and sunk a generous dollop of cash int the business in the mid-70's. Bikes became considerably prettier, but a staff of 200 does seem a bit ambitious.

Many classic-era manufacturers used sealants on the inside of crankcase castings in an attempt to stem the flow of fluids through porosity. Most volume casting was still done in sand moulds, more-or-less manually. Same for most of those exotic racers and prototypes, die-casting is only viable if certain numbers are attained. Lots of care and experience required to produce flawless individual castings, and even then, much is in the hands of the God of Metals.

piet
 
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