Norbert Reidel was the man who designed the two-stroke starter engines for the Luftwaffe's, German Air Force during WWII, Messerschmitt ME262 Schwalbe. The ME262 was the first fully functional jet aircraft to be used in combat in any war and laid the foundation for all jet engine powered aircraft to this date.
Reidel's ME 262 two-stroke starter engine
ME 262
As an influential man in the design of such a huge piece of history, Norbert Reidel was sought after for his designs, and thus hired. He was given everything he needed to run a motorcycle company producing and utilizing his two-stroke engines, in return for giving the engine statistics, plans, and schematics to the U.S.A. Because he had limited supplies, due to the RAF bombings that destroyed much of the German infrastructure during the war, he had to think of an innovative way to produce a motorcycle with only 75% of the needed raw materials. The first test rides of his design were undertaken in December of 1947.
A beautifully restored IMME R100
In designing the motorcycle, he made the following decisions to cut down on how much material was used and to make the bike easy to manufacture:
◊ The bike's framing and fork tubing is all the same diameter
◊ The bike has only one front fork leg and the rear leg is also the exhaust pipe
◊ The bike has a 3-speed handlebar mounted gear-change
◊ The engine moves up and down with the rear wheel
◊ The rear wheel and engine are mounted with a swivel point and spring so they take all the shock of any bump, eliminating the need for a heavy, sturdy frame to house the engine
IMME AG logo
In 1948, Nerbert Reidel opened his factory in the town of Immestadt in Bavaria. The town influenced the name of the motorcycles, with "Imme" being a German word for "Bee", thus the logo and name of the bikes were permanently IMME. Manufacturing of the motorcycle began at the plant in 1949, with only 80 being produced during the first year of production due to many issues encountered along the way. However, in the following year, 1950 saw the production of roughly 1,000 bikes per month and they were selling quite well, but the company yet again ran into problems. There were countless issues with warranty and financial problems associated with the motorcycles, and thus IMME AG went out of business shortly after the start of the next year. The company produced roughly 12,000 motorcycles, with only 20 known to be left in Germany and only 1 lonesome bike in the United Kingdom. The number of bikes left worldwide is unknown, making them extremely rare and sought after by collectors and they have been reproduced by numerous builders.
After closing down IMME AG for the first time, Nerbert Reidel had designed a new egg-shaped engine, two cylinder 150cc engine to make a comeback, but the factory was once again shut down before he could begin. This was the last time he would attempt anything under the IMME name. Reidel then went on to work for Triumph and Victoria, but was killed in an avalanche while skiing in 1964.
There are currently several European motorcycle clubs centered around riding the IMME R100, where almost all of the known R100s are ridden.
Here are some engine blow-out diagrams of the R100's two-stroke, 100cc engine:
Video of the R100 running:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QAxxs5A7pE
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