1937 Zundapp KKS500
(Page 3 of 3)
July/August 2009
By Greg Williams
The Zundapp is now with Marco at his Miami residence, and he fires it up and takes it for an occasional spin. He admits the Florida roads are not the best place to ride the bike, but the historic Zundapp KKS500 does log some 500 miles every year.
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The KKS500 was the first Zundapp to incorporate a foot shifter, but the hand shifter was retained in the form of a short, stubby shaft with a black knob at the top. Both the foot gear change (tip of the foot) and rear brake pedal (heel of the foot) are on the right hand side of the machine, making for an interesting ride.
“Having driven this bike, and having driven it fast, I can say that the KKS500 is better designed for speeding than for stopping,” Marco says. “But these old bikes have to be used, and they have to be seen on the road to be appreciated.” MC
Zundapp KKS500 origins
German motorcycle maker Zundapp produced approximately 170 KKS500 motorcycles between 1936 and 1938. The KKS500 shared its 498cc air-cooled, horizontally opposed engine with its heavier sibling, the KS500. The difference between the two bikes is the KKS500 borrowed its frame from the much smaller Zundapp DK200 — a bike powered by a 198cc single-cylinder engine.
Shoehorning the 498cc powerplant into the shorter and lighter frame resulted in the very fast and very responsive KKS500, and the motorcycle was used to defend the Rehnn Sport racing title against the up and coming BMW R5s of the period.
All this was taking place during the re-arming of the German Wehrmacht, when winning a motorcycle race could also win manufacturer contracts to build military machines, a fact not lost on Zundapp, which ultimately supplied thousands of machines to the German military.
Racing KKS500s were maintained by special mechanics, who “signed” their work on the motorcycle by putting a special seal on any part they repaired. According to owner Marco Palmer there are now copies of those seals circulating, and cloned KKS500s are cropping up. He figures there are only eight remaining, true KKS500s in the world.
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