German Motorrad

Gnom Motorcycles

Manufactured 1921-1924, initially by Motorenfabrik Oberursel AG and then by Horex-Columbus.

Designed by Fritz Kleeman, son of the owner Freidrich, their first product was an auxiliary bicycle engine of 63cc which was in direct competition with the AMI, who took them to court and lost.

In 1923 Fritz created a 250cc OHV engine and renamed the company to Horex-Fahrzeugbau AG, marketing the new machines as Horex.

The Gnom marque was derived from the engine built by Oberursel of that name. It was built under licence by a French company, Société Des Moteurs Gnome, which later became Gnome et Rhône.

N.B. There were several marques named Gnom. See Disambiguation

Sources: GTU Oldtimerservice, oldbike.eu, Tragatsch p148, de.wikipedia.org.

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