Kreidler was a German manufacturer of

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

moped A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. Historically, the term exclusively meant a similar vehicle with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle eng ...

s and

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

s. Kreidler was originally based in Kornwestheim, between

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...

and

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. It was founded in 1903 as "Kreidlers Metall- und Drahtwerke" (Kreidlers metal and wire factory) by Anton Kreidler and started to build motorcycles in 1951. In 1959 one third of all German motorcycles were Kreidler. In the 1970s Kreidler had very great success in motorsport. Especially in the Netherlands the riders Jan de Vries and Henk van Kessel were successful. Kreidler went out of business in 1982 and the rights to the trade mark were sold to the businessman Rudolf Scheidt who had Italian manufacturer Garelli Motorcycles make mopeds under the Kreidler name until 1988. The rights to the Kreidler brand were subsequently acquired by bicycle manufacturer Prophete. Today the brand is used by Prophete's subsidiary Cycle Union GmbH based in Oldenburg, Germany, where bikes are built and distributed to dealers mainly throughout Europe. Kreidler was active in Grand Prix motorcycle with great success in the 1970s and 1980s, scoring eight world champion titles in 50 cc class: *1971 Jan de Vries *1973 Jan de Vries *1974 Henk van Kessel *1975 Ángel Nieto *1979 Eugenio Lazzarini *1980 Eugenio Lazzarini *1982 Stefan Dörflinger

Gallery

File:Kreidler 50ccm Jan de Vries.jpg, Van Veen Racing Kreidler of Jan de Vries (1971) File:ZweiRadMuseumNSU Kreidler Rennmaschine.JPG, "Kreidler Racing Florett" (1963) File:ZweiRadMuseumNSU Kreidler VanVeen.JPG, "Kreidler Van Veen GP" (1977) File:ZweiRadMuseumNSU Kreidler Zigarre.JPG, "Kreidler Zigarre" (50 cm³, record: 210.634 km/h 23 October 1965, Utah, USA)

References

Motorcycle manufacturers of Germany Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1903 {{Germany-company-stub

Gallery

See also

References