In terms of present-day standards, a 1,000cc motorcycle hardly merits so much as
a raised eyebrow. Neither, for that matter, does a bike that can sprint to 60
mph in less than five seconds and max out at nearly 110 mph. The streets are
full of motorcycles that equal—or better—any or all of those numbers. Even the
final evolution of this particular machine might not garner much attention among
modern riders, at least on the basis of performance: By the time the last
example was completed, 36 years after the first prototype, its powerplant had
been stretched to twice the original displacement, and an electronic limiter was
required to keep top speed down to 156 mph.
But a motorcycle carrying an
automobile’s engine between its frame tubes is almost certain to draw stares.
Such devices are uncommon enough to be considered novelties, and for good
reason: Unlike motorcycle engines, which can and have been adapted to
ultra-small cars (some European microcars from the early and mid-1950s) those
designed for four-wheel use tend to be too bulky and heavy for two-wheel
applications. Big engine equals big motorcycle; people notice that. The Münch
Mammut was certainly an attention-getter. It did indeed get its motive power
from the automobile world, and thus was certainly big. Mammuts are seldom seen,
with fewer than 500 built between 1966 and 2002, of which some 250 are known to
exist today. Of those, perhaps 50 have made the journey from their German
birthplace to North America. (Click image to enlarge)
Mammut is the German word for “mammoth.” The
image of the hairy, sharp-tusked elephant painted on the tank of the original
500-pound prototype was entirely appropriate; despite prodigious use of light
metals in their construction, production Mammuts gained weight over the years,
topping out at nearly 700 lbs. Even though only the first of Münch’s monster
bikes officially carried the Mammut moniker (a German bicycle maker had
trademarked it, and wouldn’t cede the rights to Münch), the name stuck and,
whether officially badged as Münch-4s, Horex Titans or, at the very end, Münch Mammut 2000s, all were indeed mammoth, in fact if not in name. It was a wild
and woolly beast on the road, too. One rider, a former motorcycle racer who put
some miles on the first Mammut to reach California in 1967, reported that it was
unwieldy, somewhat top-heavy and reluctant to either maintain or deviate from a
straight line. By way of compensation, it was sensationally fast for the time.
The rider was impressed. And, to some extent, intimidated. Such iconoclastic
machines are almost never the work of major manufacturers, and the Mammut is no
exception. It sprang from the fertile mind of Friedel Münch, a young mechanic
and former racer then living in the small German town of Nieder-Florstadt.
Branding him a “mechanic” is perhaps to do Münch a disservice. His skills,
learned in technical school and at work in his father’s automobile/motorcycle
repair shop, went far beyond wrench-twisting. He was equally adept with machine
tools and at the drawing board. 
Münch’s weekdays were filled with repair
work, but in his spare time he was intensely involved with racing motorcycles.
Though no longer a racer himself, he built and maintained bikes for others with
enough success that he was invited to go to work for Horex, then a major German
motorcycle manufacturer. He joined their research and development department in
1954. Though he stayed there for only a year before returning to work at his
father’s garage, Münch maintained close contact with Horex, purchasing the
tooling for their 500cc powerplant, along with a large quantity of spare parts,
when the company went out of business in 1958. His intention was to build a new
high-performance motorcycle around the proven powerplant.
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