I’m not suicidal and I still haven’t planned my final ride to kingdom-come. And even if I had, a sidecar wasn’t it. What I was thinking when I got into the sidecar of the Zundapp Boxer? (Er, you weren’t – Pablo). Anthony – the gentleman who restored the motorcycle – assured me (or at least tried to) that everything would be just fine as he gassed the throttle. Mind you, I’m not scared yet, but not happy either and my ears have a distinct ring in them. Since it’s a ‘left-hand ride’ motorcycle, opposing traffic is way too close to the sidecar for comfort and the exhaust is just near my ears. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve been riding the Zundapp for a few years now,’ says Anthony as a big red bus whizzes past in the opposite direction inches away from the sidecar. Okay, I’m now pretty terrified and we’re still about ten minutes from our planned destination. ‘Calm down,’ I told myself and I did, just after I closed my eyes for the remainder of the ride.
Zundapp, originally Zünder-und Apparatebau – a German arms manufacturer – was started in 1917 by Fritz Neumeyer and Friedrich Krupp. Initially the company made detonators but after the First World War, Neumeyer took control just as a bulb lit up in his head with a motorcycle in it. The first Zundapp rolled out in 1921, the Z22, a simple people’s motorcycle from their Nuremberg works. From 1933 onwards, Zundapp hit a goldmine with their K-series (K standing for Kardanantrieb, meaning shaft driven). These rugged, heavy machines were offered with horizontally-opposed engines ranging from 200 to 800cc and were immensely successful till the eve of WWII.
This 1938 KS600, one of Zundapp’s K-series shaft-driven motorcycles, was discovered in a garage in Mumbai more than a decade ago. A rather rare and imposing machine, this particular Zundapp has a 597cc boxer twin, while the sidecar’s a W Krad B1 that came as an aftermarket option back then. Zundapp’s hundred per cent German, so don’t be fooled by the logo that looks as if it has Japanese characters, it’s just a Z with styling that’s inspired by a flash – er, one that’s caused by a detonator.
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