The famous Brumm-Rudge
Friedrich Brumm was a Rudge-Dealer located in Berlin
and an excellent Tuner who made his Rudges quicker then the Works-racers. His
Driver Hans Richnow won the German Championship in 1933 on the 350cc
Brumm-Rudge. Even He was able to get Works- Material he
had his own Ideas how to make them faster. The 1933 Brumm had a lot of german
Parts inside and a Works Bronze Head
Schleiz 1937
Here You can see Aluminium- Rims on both Wheels, Megaphones, the Front Forks are wrapped for better aerodynamics and a big Shield to protect the rear Tyre from Oil ....
... but not the famous Two- Carb- Cylinder- Head! The
Head and Aluminium-Cylinders where casted after Patterns that Brumm made at
the BMW factory !!! in
Munich (BMW had the modernst Foundry for casting Aluminium in that time) for the price of
27 Reichsmark for the Kilogramm. He used the 500 cc Crankshaft for a shorter
Stroke of 88 mm instead 90,5 mm. The Bore increased from 70 to 71 mm, and He
used Dural-Pushrods
The Aluminium- Rims donīt had the Rudge System of the Spokes. Engine- and Gearbox- Plates in Aluminium, the later Gearbox- Case with the longer Oil-Filler, Right-Hand- Gearchange- Pedal , TT-Carbs, bigger Oiltank, Rudge-Forks but no coppled Brakes, front Engine Plates longer then standard...
the Weight of the Bike was
reduced from 140kg to 118kg but the Chassis was made stronger
.
(Sachsenring
1938
Motorrennsportarchiv Jordan)
last Evolution before the War was the Use of the BMW R5-Front- Forks (1939):
(Sachsenring 1939
Motorrennsportarchiv Jordan)
Schotten
Engine Plates and Cradle Plates are connected with an extra Stay to the Rear! Look at the Spark-Plug-Spanner on his Leg and the little Windshield
The Forks increased the total Weight a little bit but made it faster. After the
War Richnow tried to do a Comeback:
This was in 1950, no TT-Carbs and instead of the
prewar raceframe a standard frame which was originally designed for rear
magneto engines was adopted with self made engine- and cradle plates.
( both pictures Sachsenring 1950
Motorrennsportarchiv Jordan)
On this photo you can spot nice details like the finned brakedrum which identifies the worksbrake. The rear swinging arm conversion was done by Albert TH. Muench from Nieder-Florstadt (Father of the wellknown Friedel Muench) !
This postwarversion was bought by austrian Rudge Enthusiast Helmut Krackowizer. But it was decided to rebuild it to the prewar version with girder forks. The restorer took the job a little easy as he used the wrong type of frame and made changes to shifting and rear brake for not known reasons. Some details like the saddle mount and the system of chain adjustment are the typical "handwriting" of the restorer and can be spotted on some other Rudge Racers that were build by him.
this Picture was taken at Zolder HGP 1987 by Patrick De Maeyer who was so kind to give it to me (Thanks Patrick!)
It is a bit sad that an original race bike with a lot of history was destroyed to build a Replica that looks quite different to the Original.
But the not used parts found a new owner and especially the rear swinging arm could proove easy where it came from.
It was a long and hard way and for sure not a cheap one, but the new owner knew how to handle a piece of Motorsport history and made a quite perfect Replica of the Postwar Brumm.
.jpg)
