motorcycles - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2006 - 55 Euro Cent

The KTM Tarzan, named after the primeval forest hero who overcame all obstacles and always achieved his goal, was the first production sports bike from the factory in Mattighofen, Upper Austria. Developed from the proven Grand Tourist, built from the year 1957 and delivered in the colors red, black and silver, reached the "hot iron" with its 8 hp a top speed of 107 km / h. In order to achieve this high performance at that time, the compression of the single-cylinder two-stroke engine from Rotax had to be increased with its 125cc, the speed increased and the cross-sections of the ducts formed more favorably. Nevertheless, the consumption remained low, only 2.6 liters as standard consumption for 100 kilometers. The machine was equipped with four gears and thus received a better acceleration. The chassis was a full swing frame, the front was a longarm swingarm (Earle's fork), behind a swingarm. The suspension was done in front and behind by hydraulically damped struts. It was then the most modern suspension. Striking on the Tarzan was the big tank, which took 18 liters. With that you could drive from Salzburg to Milan without refueling. In addition, the tank had side indentations for putting on the arms and a chin rest made of rubber. Also, the price was affordable. From the year 1958 KTM equipped all its vehicles with a new environmentally friendly exhaust. The Dr. Leistritz invented "Frankfurter Topf", a die-cast aluminum silencer, "whispered" the motorcycles at a reduced phoneme and even boosted the performance of certain models. The history of KTM begins in 1934, when Hans Trunkenpolz opened a locksmith's workshop in Mattighofen. In the following years Trunkenpolz specialized in the trade and repair of motorcycles. Starting from 1952 one began with the development of a Leichmotorrades with 98 ccm (R100). Already next year, the series production was started. At the time, 20 employees produced three motorcycles per day. The company name was now officially KTM - Kronreif-Trunkenpolz-Mattighofen. The entry into racing brought not only sporting success but promoted the development of new motorcycle models. Crisis years, such as the years 1959/60 and 1991/92, forced restructuring of the company and the product range, but there was always a new boom, which was also reflected in the sporting field. For example, Heinz Kinigadner won the first world champion title in the 250cc class on KTM in 1984.