1954 DKW RT125/2. Owner: Frank Owen, San Luis Obispo, California.
This little critter was responsible for putting a lot of the world on wheels back in the early 1950s–including the United States. It was a very basic 125 two-stroke single of German design, and a darned good one, all part of the reparations package that the Allies imposed on Germany.
You start a war, then you lose the war, and all those countries that spent lots of money defeating you want some sort of payback. In this case the right to copy your motorcycle. Which eight countries did, including the U.S. (Harley Hummer) and Britain (BSA Bantam).
Back up a bit–to 1916 when a Danish engineer in Germany, obviously smitten by the Stanley Steamer, decided to build an automobile called a Dampf (steam) Kraft (power) Wagen (car)–which became the initials of his company. Not surprisingly, it failed, but more conventionally powered cars were successful. He also turned his attention to smaller vehicles, like motorscooters and motorcycles. These appeared in the early 1920s and in-line with the DKW company?s initials were called Das (the) Kleine (little) Wunder (wonder). They were not very wondrous, but were inexpensive, with two-stroke motors using the standard technology of the day.
By the late ’20s DKW was a major player in the motorcycle industry, producing more than 40,000 bikes in 1928 alone.
Conventional two-stroke technology meant getting the fuel into the combustion chamber using the cross-...