For those of you, the automotive lover especially motorcycle and scooter fans, You might know the Horex, one of the famous German motorcycle brands in the era before and after the 2nd World War. As quoted from Wikipedia, the company was founded in 1920 by Friedrich Kleemann, a Finance Manager at Rex Konservenglas Gesellschaft (REX glass manufacturer) in Bad Homburg (Germany). At that time he bought a small motor factory named Columbus Motorenbau AG, in Oberursel (Taunus).
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| 1956 Horex Rebell 250 prototype scooter, the forgotten pioneer of the modern scooters. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2WRXteo) |
And in 1923, Fritz Kleeman (son of Friederich Kleeman) who later founded a motorcycle factory called HOREX-FAHRZEUGBAU AG. He derived the name from his city, HOmburg and the company where his father worked, REX. Initially, Horex built motorcycles with Columbus four-stroke engines from Oberursel until in 1925 Horex and Columbus merged.
Fritz Kleeman is also known as a motorcycle racer and often rides a motorcycle with the Horex-owned engine. He built the first Horex "real" motorcycle, by using a 248 cc OHV GNOM
engine, delivered from the Columbus-Engine factory, which then tested by himself during the race. So, it can be said that Horex was built for motorcycle riders by motorcycle riders.
The German company manufactured a range of remarkable motorcycles from 250 to 800 cubic meters with single-cylinder and two-cylinder engines. Among its best-known models are the Regina 350 single-cylinder, first introduced in 1948, the beautiful, emblematic, two-cylinder Horex Imperator 500 in 1951 and the 400 in 1954.
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| This Horex Rebell 250 scooter model has never been produced by the company due to financial problems. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2NVaqA3) |
Over time, it turns out that the German brand also ever developed a sophisticated scooter prototype called the
Horex Rebell 250 start from 1954 to 1956. Even though this scooter was never been produced by this German manufacturer, but the figure of this scooter could be said to become a source of inspiration from the development of modern scooters today which are dominated by many brands from Japan such as Yamaha and Honda.
Horex Rebell 250 has a cleverly and well-designed frame, with one large transverse backbone that passes between the rider's feet. Its engine lubricating oil is also carried in it, and underneath hangs its engine, which, if you notice, it looks very much like a modern moped construction.
The four-stroke engine is positioned horizontally by following the crankshaft and gearbox, thus lowering the center of gravity, bringing it closer to the front wheels, ideally positioned from a spatial perspective. With the overall Rebell layout like that which modern motorbike and scooter designers later paid attention to apply to the current two-wheeled vehicles.
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| 1956 Horex Rebell 250 scooter can be said as the source of inspiration from the modern scooters. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2WRXteo) |
Yes, you can imagine how the Horex's visionary idea was when it designing the Rebell 250 prototype scooter and making it a source of inspiration for the development of modern scooters more than 6 decades later, so it deserves to be called a 'unique, revolutionary pioneering scooter.'
Then if you pay close attention, the Horex Rebell 250 has a long saddle for two people, large wide and long sidewalks for both passengers, the exhaust passes under the passenger compartment, with the tunnel running low between the rider's feet. And the apron in the front that protects his feet was wide and bent aerodynamically, to reflect the air. The same aerodynamics look like the headlamps, which are locked inside the hood, large front wings, but not too long, leaving a very beautiful rim to appear.
Then the Rebell 250 scooter uses a pair of wheels made of exotic magnesium with a diameter of 16 inches. But the interest was not only in the use of lightweight, expensive metal for the rims but also in the tires, which due to wheel size were motorcyclists (another "plus" of the model) and even tubeless.
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| 1956 Horex Rebell 250 scooter frame looks very much like a modern moped construction. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2WRXteo) |
In the front of the Horex scooter was mounted with brackets and shock absorbers, while the brakes were front and rear uses the drum brakes with hydraulic actuation! For better weight distribution and to charge the front wheel more, thereby assisting grip, right and left of the fork neck and behind the headlamp, there were 2 batteries to power the system.
The scooter prototype uses a Horex four-stroke, single-cylinder, air-cooled, two valves horizontal 250 cubic feet engine with the weighs just 135 kg, and the engine can be burst power up to 18 hp which is remarkable even with today's data.
Unfortunately, there is no information about the existence of the prototype Horex Rebell 250 scooter until now.đ
Interestingly, the Horex Rebell 250, was created by the French designer
Louis L. Lepoix of the FTI design company. Lepoix's work will be presented in the future, as he has designed other very interesting 50s and 60s German scooters such as Walba and Bastert, Contessa (TWN), and MaĂŻcoletta, a Champion buggy built in Sweden, etc.
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| In addition to having made a scooter prototype, Horex turns out also ever made a 50cc moped. (Picture from: https://bit.ly/2wBDzeS) |
Due to financial problems, Horex has never been able to take its Rebel 250 scooter into production lines, while the company already losing its market share in Europe. In 1960, the company was bought by Daimler Benz (for which it manufactured parts since '56) and the production of motorcycles was ceased.
The company filed for bankruptcy in September 2014, and in late 2014 announced that all employees had been let go and the factory was closed. And 3C-Carbon Group AG is going to be the new owner of the motorcycle brand Horex. Under the direction of the insolvency administrator, Rainer U. MĂŒller from the law firm Anchor RechtsanwĂ€lte, the 3C-Carbon Group AG came out on top in the quest to purchase Horex on February 6, 2015.
Today the rights to the legendary German company are owned by a new
company (3C-Carbon Group AG) - promising a lot of it - that has a six-cylinder
Horex VR6 series, which was supposed to be on the market since 2013.
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This French scooter was designed by Pierre Boudier by using a 125 cc horizontal engine from Ydral and combined with the 3-speed manual transmission system. The prototype scooter has debuted at the Salon de l'Auto 1957 held in Paris in October. So far there was no information about the scooter manufacturer.
Until now we don't have any information about where's this scooter now? If you have additional information about this mysterious scooter figure, don't hesitate to submit it to the comments box below. We really appreciate your help. Wanna see the Lutz rounded design scooter
