The Extraordinary Megola: The Most Innovative Motorcycle of All Time That Challenged the Future

A lost masterpiece: the very brief and fascinating story of Megola with its legendary radial engine in the wheel.

Have you ever heard of Megola? We have to go far back in time, over 100 years, to find the brand that created the most innovative motorcycle in history. Do you know why? We’ll tell you now; meanwhile, in the cover photo we show you a specimen displayed at the Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum, an important German museum dedicated to the history of two-wheeled vehicles and to the famous automobile and motorcycle manufacturer NSU, located in the German city of Neckarsulm. A piece to be treasured, given that most of the 2,000 motorcycles produced by the company during its very brief existence have been lost.

The “fathers” of the brand are Meixner, Cockerell, and Landgraff; the name more or less comes from the initial parts of their respective surnames, with a slight modification. The German company was founded in 1921 in Munich, at a time when Futurism was flourishing—an artistic movement that inevitably influenced many sectors, including engineering, with its myth of speed during a period of great industrial ferment. The three German builders developed an unconventional idea never seen before: a rotary engine integrated into the front wheel! A radial five-cylinder star engine, a 640cc air-cooled powerplant inspired by aircraft and therefore operating in a very similar way: the wheel axle was fixed while the engine, rotating just like in World War I airplanes, drove the wheel by drag. A machine that had to be push-started or by spinning the wheel with someone alongside, and which would completely shut off when it stopped.

With a decidedly low center of gravity, yet remarkably agile to ride, capable of reaching a top speed of 85 km/h, later rising to 140 km/h in some subsequent models, and easy when it came to maintenance or changing tires (no need to disassemble everything). On record is the victory in the German championship in 1924, while it wasn’t very comfortable on the road and commercially proved a failure. The Munich company closed for good in 1925—a very short life, but leaving behind a piece of motorcycle history that still makes eyes widen today. Most of the 2,000 Megolas produced have been lost; of the survivors, only 10 are still operational and can be admired in museums around the world, from the one we mentioned in Germany to the Guggenheim in New York.

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