Like many European countries that once had thriving motorcycle industries, with dozens of well-known manufacturers, Germany’s motorcycle industry today is known solely for the colossus that is BMW. But it wasn’t always that simple, and if German manufacturers enjoy less worldwide fame than, say, their British or Italian counterparts, that’s not to say that there weren’t significant entries into the history of motorcycling. Some companies, such as BMW, Horex and Zundapp, only started manufacturing motorcycles after a World War, when companies tried anything to stay afloat after spending the war making military vehicles, planes and weapons, while others can be traced back to the dawn of motorcycling in the early 1900s.

Related: 10 Best BMW Motorcycles Ever Made

10 DKW

Yamaha YA-1 Studio shot
Yamaha
Shot of the YA-1, the first Yamaha based on the German DKW

Danish engineer, Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen, founded a factory in Zschopau, Saxony, Germany, producing steam fittings. After his attempts to build a steam-powered car came to nothing, he then designed a two-stroke toy engine and put it in a motorcycle and called it Das Kleine Wonder (The Little Wonder), hence DKW.

Between the two World Wars, DKW was the world's biggest motorcycle manufacturer, and in 1932, following the Wall Street Crash, the company merged with Audi, Horsch and Wanderer to form Auto Union, which would much later become the Audi concern we know today, with its four-ring badge representing the four companies. It was the DKW RT125 that would gain fame as the BSA Bantam and Harley-Davidson Hummer post-Second World War after the design was handed over as war reparations. Also, in that period, DKW’s motorcycle division would be renamed MZ (see below).

9 Horex

2023 Horex Regina Evo Third Quarter
Horex
A 600cc, single-cylinder engine powers the new Regina Evo

One of the few defunct German brand names to have been resurrected in recent years. Horex was founded in 1923 by Fritz Kleeman and the name derived the name from his hometown Homburg and his father's preservative jar company, Rex. The company bought in engines from another German firm, Columbus.

If you thought that Triumph was the first company to market a parallel twin engine, well, Horex revealed its 600cc and 800cc parallel twins five years earlier than Triumph. After the Second World War motorcycle production was resumed, but after being bought out by Daimler Benz, production was halted. Various owners since then have owned the name and released new models, the most recent being powered by a narrow-angle, supercharged V6. That company went bankrupt in 2014, and since then, the name has not reappeared.

8 Kriedler

Kriedler 50cc grand Prix Studio Shot
Kriedler
Kriedler 50cc GP bike

Look through any history of Grand Prix motorcycle racing in the 70s and the name of Kriedler will stand out in the super lightweight, 50cc class. The company was formed in 1903 as a metal and wire factory and motorcycles only came along in 1951. By 1959, one third of all German motorcycles were Kriedlers. But it was in the 70s that Kriedler became a household name outside of Germany thanks to its success in 50cc Grand Prix racing.

Based on a standard Kriedler Florett road bike, the single-cylinder two-stroke engine produced 9 horsepower and gave a top speed of 85 mph, winning the company eight 50cc World Championship titles between 1971 and 1983, which was the last year of the class. Kriedler went bankrupt in 1982 and lives today as a manufacturer of e-bikes.

Related: 15 Best Electric Motorcycles

7 Maico

Maico MX static shot
Mecum
Maico MX bike

Once mentioned in the same breath as Bultaco, Montessa and Fantic in the off-road racing world, Maico was founded in 1926, manufacturing its own small-displacement two-stoke engines. After the Second World War, the company started manufacturing complete motorcycles, and by the 70s, were a force to be reckoned with in Enduro and Motocross, as well as winning in 125cc grand Prix races.

The company went bankrupt in 1983, although limited scale production continued until 1986. The name has lived on under several different owners, still producing off-road motorcycles, and today, the company builds a 616cc two-stroke off-road bike, which, with 76 horsepower, is the world’s most powerful MX bike.

6 MZ

MZ 250 ISDT static shot
Mecum
MZ 250 ISDT enduro bike

Not, as many people think, an Eastern Bloc motorcycle company, MZ (Motorenwerke Zschopau) was born out of the German DKW concern (see above), producing cheap two-stroke motorcycles, albeit in Eastern Germany, then under Soviet control. Road bikes were the company’s main business, but it was also extremely successful in racing: MZ won the International Six Day Trial six times in the 60s and was a serious contender in Grand Prix racing.

Engineer Walter Kaaden perfected the art of two-stroke expansion chamber exhaust systems, and it was this technology that rider Ernst Degner took with him when he defected to the West in 1961. He took the designs to Suzuki, who then became dominant in smaller-class GP racing, which was itself dominated by two-strokes. Despite this, MZ continued to race, winning 13 Grand Prix races and scoring 105 podium finishes between 1955 and 1976. The MZ company folded soon after the fall of communism in 1993.

5 Münch

Munch Mammut studio shot
Munch
Munch Mammut in red

Friedl Münch worked for Horex (see above) before leaving to create the famous - and bizarre - Münch Mammut (Mammoth) motorcycle, powered by an NSU car engine, displacing 996cc and producing 55 horsepower, mounted transversely in a motorcycle frame. Later, he built the Münch4 1200TTS, using NSU’s 88 horsepower, 1,177cc four-cylinder engine. Fuel injection on later models pushed power output to 100 horsepower, at a time when Honda’s CB750 was producing around 70 horsepower. The Münch4 1200TTS weighed 661 pounds and less than 500 were built before production ended in 1975.

4 NSU

NSU Super Fox studio shot
Mecum
NSU Super Fox 

Along with DKW, NSU was a part of the Auto Union group from 1932, having been formed in 1873 and manufacturing motorcycles since 1901 and cars since 1905. For a period in the 50s, NSU was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world, with 350,000 units produced in 1955 alone. Also, in the 50s, NSU was active in both Grand Prix racing, winning five 125 and 250cc World Championships between 1953 and 1955, and motorcycle land speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats, going up against the likes of Johnny Allen and his Triumph streamliner motorcycle. But it was producing mopeds for which NSU was better known to the wider public, its Quickly model selling over 1,000,000 units between 1953 and 1965, when the company stopped manufacturing motorcycles. In 1969, the company, being also known as a manufacturer of automobiles, was bought by VW and was merged with Audi, only for the name to disappear as a brand in the mid-70s.

Related: 10 Of The Most Incredible MotoGP Bikes Ever Made

3 Zundapp

Zundapp K500 studio shot
Zundapp
Zundapp K500 

Founded in 1917 as a subsidiary of the giant Krupp steel concern, Zundapp started by manufacturing detonators. Two years after the end of the First World War, the company turned to manufacturing motorcycles, like so many of its contemporaries, including BMW, producing its first model in 1921. Also like BMW, the company built flat-twin, and unlike BMW, flat-four engines.

From 1931, Zundapp worked with Ferdinand Porsche, developing what would become the very first Volkswagen. Post-war, the company concentrated on small two-stroke-engined motorcycles, garnering much success in off-road motorcycle sports from the late 50s. Adversely affected by the rise of the Japanese motorcycle industry in the 60s, Zundapp never properly recovered and was declared bankrupt in 1982.

2 Sachs

Sachs
Pinterest

Today known as a manufacturer of motorcycle suspension components, Sachs was founded in 1886, manufacturing bicycles, with the first motorcycle produced in 1904. Always one of the smaller German motorcycle manufacturers, the company’s history was not especially distinguished, although it became a large manufacturer and supplier of motorcycle and automotive components, including moped engines and larger-displacement single-cylinder engines.

A management buyout in the 90s kept the name alive, although the assembly of cheap, Chinese-sourced scooters wasn’t successful. The company survives today, not only manufacturing suspension components but also as a market leader in electric bicycles, as well as the development of new motorcycle and scooter models.

1 Kalex

Kalex studio shot
Kalex
Kalex Moto2 bike in white

Not a motorcycle manufacturer in the strict sense of the word, but with their chassis having won the Moto2 World Championship for the last ten years, up to the end of the 2022 season, Kalex deserves its place on this list. Founded in 2008 and concentrating on chassis development, Kalex started supplying chassis to Moto2 teams in 2010, Stefan Bradl taking the first rider’s title using a Kalex chassis in 2011.

From 2013, Kalex started a stranglehold on the Moto2 constructors’ championship title, teams using their chassis filling the first four places in the championship. In 2015, Kalex chassis filled nine out of the top ten places in the championship, and in 2016, they repeated that feat, winning all 18 races along the way. More recently, Kalex has been working with Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), developing new swing arms for the RC213V.