This Vintage DKW Moped Is As Much A Futuristic Art Piece As It Is Transportation

Can motorcycles and mopeds be art? I think so. There are some two-wheelers that are so beautiful that you cannot help but stare. Some motorcycles and mopeds are arguably better to look at than to ride. One of those mopeds is this 1961 DKW Hummel 115. It has just two ponies on tap from a dinky 48cc two-stroke, so it’s not going to light the roads on fire. What it can do is make your heart skip a beat, just as it does to me. Going 25 mph never looked so cool.

Honestly, I’m having a bit of trouble classifying this little guy, which is rolling across the Bring a Trailer auction block for the next four days. The DKW’s tiny engine and slow top speed make it closer to a scooter or a moped than a proper motorcycle, but it’s neither a step-through design and it doesn’t have pedals, either. I’ve seen these types of bikes called “mokicks” before, which means a moped with a kick starter and pegs rather than pedals. According to the listing, this DKW’s classified as a moped, so we’ll go with that.

This 1961 DKW Hummel 115 wouldn’t be incredibly practical today. It has a top speed of 25 to 30 mph, so you wouldn’t want to venture anywhere outside of a dense city. But, no matter where you go, be it Venice Beach or city hall, this little moped will turn heads.

Once The World’s Largest Motorcycle Manufacturer

DKW isn’t exactly a household name today, but you might drive a vehicle produced by a successor company: Audi AG. Before Audi and even prior to the founding of Auto Union, DKW was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world.

As Audi writes, in 1902 or 1904, Danish engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen established the Rasmussen & Ernst company in Chemnitz, Germany. In 1907, the company relocated to Zschopau in Germany’s Erzgebirge mountains. This early company manufactured products for steam raising plants like exhaust-steam oil separators. Later, the company’s portfolio would include centrifuges, painting equipment, car mudwings (mudguards), and car lighting.

In 1916, Rasmussen began experimentation with steam-driven vehicles. During this experimentation, Rasmussen trademarked DKW, an abbreviation of Dampfkraftwagen, which translates to English as “steam-driven vehicle.” Ultimately, Audi says, Rasmussen’s steam experiments never advanced past the prototype stage and the projects ceased in 1918, but that didn’t stop him from continuing his vehicular quest. A year later, Rasmussen’s company became Zschopauer Motorenwerke and he created a 25cc miniature two-stroke engine. This was marketed as a toy engine and given the name Des Knaben Wunsch, or “The Boy’s Wish.” Audi says this engine was scaled up and planted into a bicycle in 1921 before evolving into a motorcycle engine 1922. This engine was called the Das Kleine Wunder, or “The Small Miracle.” Here’s an illustration from a cardboard model kit:

Rasmussen, with help from Manager Carl Hahn and Chief Designer Hermann Weber, began putting motorcycles onto the road, and by 1928, DKW was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. That same year, Rasmussen took over Audi’s Zwickau factories to begin car production. In 1930, Rasmussen commissioned a sort of people’s car from Audi’s designers. The DKW Front (F1) was designed to be an inexpensive car powered by a motorcycle engine and oh yeah, it was a front-wheel-drive car. Audi says it was one of the most popular and best-selling cars of its day.

In 1932, the company, along with much of the world, was caught up in the Great Depression. Zschopauer Motorenwerke J.S. Rasmussen AG (DKW) combined forces with Audiwerke AG, Horchwerke AG, and Wanderer Werke AG to form Auto Union AG. Audi continues:

The DKW products were no less important for the economic development of the new company than Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen and his Zschopauer Motorenwerke enterprise had been in founding Auto Union AG. The DKW motorcycles and cars with their typical two-stroke engines served the low market segment (the price category between 345 and 3,400 Reichsmarks) and constituted the Auto Union high-volume model range. For example, up to 4,800 units of the DKW cars with front-wheel drive were built per month in the late 1930s. The DKW motorcycles were produced in such large quantities that in 1937 Auto Union once again became the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer with its DKW plant in Zschopau, producing a total of 55,470 motorcycles. A further important area of production comprised the DKW stationary engines, which were available in an incredibly wide range of vehicles and could be used in a great variety of fields (e.g. agriculture, road construction, the fire brigade, the army and public authorities).

It’s also worth noting that DKW was an innovator in the 1920s. Typical two-stroke engines of the day used a cross-flow system to get fuel into the combustion chamber. A descending piston opened ports on each side of the cylinder and the incoming flow of fresh oil and fuel would help push out burned fuel. The process worked, but it was inefficient as some of the new fuel was pushed out with the burned fuel. This was helped by the invention of the asymmetric deflector piston, which diverted fresh fuel away from the exhaust port.

In the late 1920s, German engineer Adolf Schnürle invented the loop-scavenging system. In his system, there are two angled intake ports that flank a singular exhaust port all on the same side of the cylinder. This design allows the incoming fuel to effectively push the burned fuel out without the waste and without the need for a deflector piston. In Schnürle porting, the gas flows in a loop.

This design was used in the DKW RT125 and after World War II, a number of countries were given its design drawings as war reparations. The RT125 design even led to the Harley-Davidson Model 125 (above) of the late 1940s and later, the Hummer of the mid-1950s.

The DKW Hummel 115

This moped comes from another collaboration involving DKW called the Zweirad Union.

As parts reseller Zweirad-Union-Mopeds writes, the Zweirad Union consisted of motorcycle manufacturers DKW, Victoria, and Express. Victoria was created in 1886 and built bicycles before moving to motorcycles. By 1957, the company had run low on money. Meanwhile, Express, a motorcycle manufacturer that had opened its doors in 1884 as a bicycle manufacturer, found itself on the ropes in 1958. As German publication Spiegel wrote in 1958, the rise in small car ownership, as well as a tightening of licensing requirements, meant that West German motorcycle firms began struggling to move units.

In that year, Daimler-Benz acquired 87 percent of Auto Union and splintered the DKW motorcycle division off to businessman Odlio Burkart. Burkart combined DKW with Express and Victoria, thus creating the Zweirad Union.

DKW produced a moped called the Hummel from 1956 to 1958. As our top shot hints at, Hummel means “Bumblebee.” Audi says the little bike was the first moped to feature a three-speed gearbox. It also had a pedal shaft that connected directly to the gearbox, so a second chain wasn’t needed. Check out this machine:

Its sequel came in 1961 and the new Hummel looked nothing else before or really since. The Hummel here features a pressed-steel body with some unique details. For example, the fuel tank is integral with the headlight nacelle. Those side covers look like panniers, but aren’t. The Hummel has lots of chrome and shares some traits with scooters of the era. Note the covered chain and heck, the engine has its own beautiful chrome shroud.

Power comes from a 48cc two-stroke single making 2 HP. It still has a three-speed gearbox like its predecessor, which nets you a top speed of around 25 to 30 mph, the latter presumably downhill with a tailwind. The engine drinks from a tiny 12mm Bing carburetor and the engine keeps itself cool with a fan.

Produced from 1961 to 1966, these mopeds were sold as the DKW Hummel 115, Express Kavalier 115, and Victoria Type 115. There was also a Type 155 variant with a high beam headlight and a power bump to 4.2 HP, which allowed speeds of around 45 mph. The variants of the moped were mechanically the same but differed in colors and you’ll find Zweirad Union on the bikes from badging to writing on the engine shroud. I couldn’t find production numbers, but these were never officially imported into the United States and they’re believed to be rare.

This Moped

This 1961 DKW Hummel 115 up for grabs on Bring a Trailer in Lincoln, Nebraska, is said to have been refurbished during its past life in Germany. It was acquired by the seller in 2022 and used for a static display. The listing states that the bike hasn’t been started, but it was drained of all fluids. In theory, you should be able to fill the 17,000-mile machine up and kick the moped back into life.

As of right now, this DKW is one of the cheaper things on Bring a Trailer. It’s sitting at just $3,000 with four days to go. If I didn’t just buy a Triumph Rocket and spent a bunch of additional cash on mods for it, I’d probably be a bidder here. I hope whoever gets this marvelous machine takes it for a spin every now and then, but I’d understand if they buy it just to look at it. I know I could spend hours staring at this moped.

(Images: Bring a Trailer seller unless otherwise noted.)

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