Deutsch Café Racer – 1955 HOREX 500

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Horex is a German motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1920 by the Rex glassware company, which conflated Homburg and Rex to create the brand name. The headquarter was in Bad Homburg.
Horex built motorcycles with Columbus four-stroke engines from Oberursel. In 1925 Horex and Columbus merged. Horex developed a range of models with single-cylinder Columbus engines from 250cc to 600cc. In 1933 it added two Straight-two engine models: the 600cc S6 and 800cc S8. Both twins have chain-driven OHC valvegear.

1955 Horex Imperator in the Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum Neckarsulm

The World War II interrupted motorcycle production, but Horex resumed in 1948 with a 350cc single-cylinder model, the SB 35 Regina. This model was highly successful: in 1953 for example Horex sold 18,600 of them. In 1951 Horex added a 30 bhp 500cc OHC Straight-two engine called the Imperator. In 1954 it added a 400cc, 26 bhp (19 kW) version of this twin to its range. In 1955 the company replaced the Regina with the Resident.
Daimler-Benz took over the company in 1960 and motorcycle production was terminated.
On June 15, 2010, it was announced that the brand would be revived and that a Horex motorcycle with a narrow-angle, six-cylinder supercharged engine would be available for sale in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the end of the year 2011, with international sales to follow. Besides the new VR6 supercharged engine, an aluminum bridge frame with a steel steering head forms the chassis. A single swing arm controls the rear wheel, while the engine power is transferred by a belt drive system
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Triumph Speed Twin

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The Speed Twin 5T is a motorcycle that was made by Triumph at their Coventry factory. Edward Turner, Triumph’s Chief Designer and Managing Director, launched the Triumph Speed Twin at the 1937 National Motorcycle Show. It was a 500 cc OHV vertical twin in a lightweight frame and the first truly successful British twin, setting the standard for many twins to follow. After World War II the Speed Twin was responsible for the survival of Triumph – and every major British marque offered a 500 cc twin designed on similar lines to the Speed Twin



History
Edward Turner’s Triumph twin was a major turning point for the British motorcycle industry, as although a 500 cc parallel twin of medium capacity was not revolutionary, the 5T Speed Twin model was lighter than many contemporary singles with significantly more power and torque. Early models were only available in ‘Amaranth red’ with hand painted gold pinstripes to set off the chrome. Initially the one piece iron cylinder was secured with six studs which led to weakness, so these were replaced by eight studs The two cylinders were fed by a single Amal Type 6 carburettor and many features such as the transmission and clutch were straight from the Triumph single.  Originally with girder forks, the sprung saddle was the only rear suspension as the Speed Twin had a rigid frame – also from the single cylinder production line.On the night of 14 November 1940 the majority of the city-centre of Coventry was destroyed by German bombs and the Triumph factory (which was working on an order of thousands of military specification 5T’s) was completely wiped out, and all of Triumph’s technical records, drawings and designs were destroyed

Development
After the war the recovery of Triumph at Meriden was largely due to the Speed Twin, which was developed in 1946 with telescopic forks and optional (sprung hub) rear suspension. The headlamp and instrument area was tidied up in 1949 with the Turner-designed nacelle, a feature retained until the end of the model line. In 1953, the Speed Twin caused controversy among traditional British riders as the generator and magneto were replaced with a Lucas alternator and battery/coil ignition system.

Further development led to the 1959 model 5TA with a unit engine and gearbox construction and styling changes including the unpopular ‘Bathtub’ fairing which became more and more abbreviated as the model developed before disappearing altogether for the last year of production in 1966.

The unit 500 engine continued development in the parallel Tiger 100 range ending with the Tiger Daytonamodels which ceased production in 1973.




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