In the early 70s, Suzuki made headlines for bringing a rotary-powered bike to market, but DKW did it first. Outside of the UK, it was sold as the Hercules Wankel 2000 (W2000), and while the engine was unconventional, everything else was as you’d expect. Bike magazine called it “an outstanding machine in its own right”, even ignoring the novel powerplant. Now we know that rotary power barely went anywhere, but this was a real breakthrough in the industry at the time.
The engine was actually a single-rotor air-cooled snowmobile engine built by Fichtel & Sachs. Displacing 294cc, the engine produced 23 horsepower (although that was later increased to 32.) Cooling was taken care of by a large fan that you can see in front of the engine. Build quality was supposedly excellent, and the rotary engine barely yielded any vibration. It was supposedly very comfortable to ride, even up to the top speed of about 95 miles per hour. Want to learn more? Check out this writeup from Frank Melling over at Motorcycle-USA.
This specific Hercules Wankel 2000 (VIN: 480000925) has just 294 miles and is claimed to be an all original survivor that ‘runs and rides as new’. When the seller acquired it, the bike was not running, but he has brought it back to life. The seller does a great job documenting this bike with photos and he includes a whole bunch of period magazine scans, so click through if you’d like a better look at what a Wankel 2000 looks like. Find it for sale in Chicago, Illinois with bidding up to $5,000.01 and the reserve not yet met
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