10 Awesome Military Bikes Which Appeared In World War 2

[@Ratzfourtyfour]

Hats off to the guys that keep those beautifully weird machines running.

[@HomebrewSubaru]

It's content like this that no one else is researching and promoting. VisioRacer has got the best channel for world automotive history.

[@MrTheHillfolk]

Homebrew Subaru No doubt I agree 💯 % but I must make my own post :)

[@vtecpreludevtec]

Homebrew Subaru he did Soviet v8s ,I always wondered ...🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿

[@vtecpreludevtec]

Im a 53yr life long petrol head,I know all the mainstream stuff,oddball stuff I need

[@vtecpreludevtec]

Ps Dad had an army indian🇳🇿

[@kavinskysmith4094]

just dont ask him about the shelby cobra................ as that really pissed me off, put it some dangerous to drive video, and all of the ones he used footage of were replicas to boot, guess he never figured that it could vary based on who made them, and then he made that blanket statement that they were all dangerous, like he's never heard of the 260 or the 289 versions that werent. or even the original inline 6 powered model.

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

_"Ever take 'em off any Sweet Jumps?"_ _"VOTE FOR VISIO!!"_

[@flick22601]

@Visioracer - please ignore the comments criticizing your accent. You are very understandable. Some people that can't even speak their own native language have no idea what it takes for some of us to speak a foreign one. Thanks for posting.

[@branon6565]

I'd love to own one of those Indian 841's, that bike is just a badass....

[@JamesSmith-kq7cv]

When I was a kid in the early 1960's my Dad bought us one of the Cushman Model 53. I remember that kick starter in the front and the slip clutch set up. Those big tires made riding on the dirt roads around here so much easier. I've been riding over 50 years, and this was my first "Hog"

[@jamesharan8225]

James Smith

[@anthony596]

James Haran

[@gerardfrederick5504]

The idea of german military bikes originates with Fieldmarschall Guderian who saw Belgian bikes (FN) in action in WW1- The original one was the Zündapp with a Steib side car including side car drive and reverse gear and a trailer hitch. These machines were even used to pull small artillery pieces. Later BMW got involved due to the heavy demand. The courier bikes used were mostly DKW 350 single cylinder 2 strokes with the Triumph-Nürnberg 250 cc machine running a close second. The heavy bike-side car combinations were however MORE expensive to built than a VW Kübelwagen and consequently lost favor with the Wehrmacht toward the end of the war. The motorcycle troops were specially trained elite units which spearheaded attacks and suffered incredible losses as a consequence.

[@LCOOTS]

i once owned a 260 maico street bike. it looks like it was from the 50's. it was a 2 stroke single with a 5 gal .gas tank!

[@alexhickey5633]

This is the best channel for learning quickly about often strange and fucking awesome vehicles

[@ValkyrieRiderIPT]

"This is the best channel for learning quickly about often strange and fucking awesome vehicles" ============================ ROTFLOL!!

[@auggie803]

-Awesome Vehicles.

[@jsmcguireIII]

Harley WLA/XA was what vets tricked out after the war and thus we got our biker gangs. Awesome machine, awesome video THANKS!

[@southernshop8424]

Xa was a opposed twin like bmw, shaft driven, not a wla

[@insertmemehere4940]

If anyone likes 3 wheeled and older looking bikes check out Ural, they are still making motorcycles that look like they just came out of WW2

[@itsbradmin3423]

I think you should have included the German Half track motorcycle... I don’t know that much about it and I would have loved to see it in this video

[@Rob_1776]

It's all about old school for me! No matter how many wheels! But especially bikes! I really liked this Video! Thank you for posting this!

[@binaway]

At my first job I worked with an Austrian who at 16/17yo in 1945 was part of the last manpower called up to serve in the German army. As he was experienced at riding a motorcycle they made him a courier and he was issued an army motorcycle. Within 6 weeks the German Government and army collapsed. He had a motor cycle with enough petrol to get home which was fairly close. His village was in the soviet zone so he dismantled the bike,wrapped it in oily rags, loaded it into wooden crates and buried them inside a barn to keep it dry. After the allied occupation ended he dug it up, painted it red to disguise it's military origin, reassembled it and had a nice motorcycle. He sold it when he emigrated to Australia.

[@jims6226]

I was born in 55 and did dirt and street bikes growing up. This is some very cool stuff. I still liked the 70s for the fast 2 cycles. Didn't care for suspension and brakes though. Now I'm 63 and still paying the high price of personal Injuries. Worth every memory i think.

[@NuclearGrizzly]

My high school shop teacher had a rather large collection of military vehicles from around the world. His WWII era BMW and Harley Davidson were so reliable that he regularly rode them to school.

[@jw-hy5nq]

My grandfather had a Viliers paratroop bike. He kept it in his airplane and would run into town with 2 jerry cans to carry gas back to the plane .

[@MyFabian94]

The Black BMW shown was defintely a Civlian Post War Sports Model.

[@mikkosha]

MyFabian94 yep it’s a R75/5 :) Restored one many years ago :)

[@MyFabian94]

I have a 1986 R65 20kw Monolever in Blue as my Daily Driver. It's 8 years older than me. But I do plan to replace it with a Piaggio Ape Diesel or a Diesel Enfield (Taurus or Sommer) if possible.

[@mikkosha]

MyFabian94 i have a BMW R50/2 that i used daily after I finished restoring it 9 years ago :) I’ve not been using it as a daily for the last 6 years though :) I really like this motorbike and the R75 :)

[@jjeckerm06]

There are a few civilian bikes featured. The military bikes aren't as prevalent as they once were. The Harley WL bobber shown might have just as easily been a civilian model as it could've been a stripped down WLA.

[@MyFabian94]

Well, Militar Bike back then had a lot of issues with mobility. The Pinnacle of Military Bikes should have been the later 80s and early 90s with their Enduros, which would have been perfect Transport in less developed Areas, where Cars and Tanks are too slow and Big.

[@allenjenkins7947]

Used to see lots of surplus WLAs in Australia in the 1960s. They sold for as little as $40 AU, with better examples around $100. They weren't seen as very desirable in those days, but you'd probably get several thousand for a good example now. If you wanted class back then, you rode a British bike - Vincent, Norton, Triumph or BSA in that order. Even Japanese bikes were considered to have more class than a Harley! How times have changed. Personally, I always wanted a BMW R69S. Rumour has it that the US Army used WLAs to pull bogged Sherman tanks out of the mud (LOL).

[@The_JDM_Dynasty]

Very interesting, will definitely show my old man. He collects old things with 2 wheels

[@crackedemerald4930]

NelKel JDM ye'old bikes eh?

[@dLLund]

thank you for posting. in the mid-to-late 60s, i rode a late 40s civilian version of the cushman scooter shown in this video. in place of the single seat n exposed motor, etc, it had a bulky, wrap-around sheet metal body/seat. huge, ugly, slow, n noisy. i loved it. wish i still had it.

[@jjeckerm06]

The Norton 16H was also built as a sidecar outfit with a driven wheel. Triumph also made bikes for the war effort. The story I heard about the WLA was that the original Army order requested an engine size of 30" (500cc). Indian provided a beautiful bike (based on the civilian Chief) with a 30" engine that was woefully underpowered, while Harley handed them the more powerful 45" that they were already manufacturing, thereby putting another nail in their primary competitor's coffin.

[@no_4259]

Could you now talk about the weirdest vehicles of WWII?

[@57dogsbody]

Another GREAT video. The BMW R75 and Welbike get my vote. I actually found a Welbike (complete) dumped in a scrapyard in Cambridge in about 1968!

[@nicolek4076]

The Welbike was one of a number of items produced for Special Operations Executive (later to become MI6), at the their factory in Welwyn Garden City just outside north London, during WWII. Almost all their products had the "Wel-" prefix, as in the Welrod, which was a very simple, primitive hand gun.

[@graemewilliams1308]

My first bike was a Welbike bought from Army surplus.

[@auggie803]

Pretty neat. I like those & only 70 pounds.

[@redradiodog]

I just love these old war time motorcycles!

[@nbgaf1040]

i wish they would remake some of these bikes just with modern engines. They're so small and light they would be a hit

[@Schmoizification]

Hey VisioRacer, I really like your videos. One can learn a lot about cars, motocycles and so on. This video's just another nice one. I hope this was not the last one in the section World War II, because even though it has been very informative, I still miss some other examples, like the "NSU Kettenkrad". Maybe you could put this in a video about some other special military vehicles (where you could also mention the "Pinzgauer", the "Universal Carrier" and something else)? Keep making good videos, they are always nice to watch! :)

[@hodakalover]

I totally dug that..... thanks for taking the time to make and post this video.

[@Dengafur]

Harley Davidson designed the Boxer version like a BMW because the V2 had cooling problems, as the front cylinder would block out the back one. These Harley are also called "Kraut Harleys"

[@faithismine128]

I wondered if anyone had commented on that.

[@southernshop8424]

The harley davidson xa was not shown, to see one go to Barbers motorcycle musuem in Birmingham ,Alabama, and be prepared to stay all day if you love old motorcycles. They only made 1,000 of them for the north African campaign, but it was over before they were ready. I had a neighbor who was a retired New Jearsy state trooper, but in ww2 was a motorcycle courier in europe. He told me about testing the xa when training in Texas. Probably one of the few people alive in 1999 who ever rode one for the Army. He heard my harley and wanted to sit on it and rev the engine, at the time he was 85 and only had another 2 years to live. He said it brought back a lot of memories. His name was Nick.

[@martind349]

Royal Enfield disassembly should be assigned to persons relieved from chute packin duty. Captain's orders.

[@EVZebra]

Cool bikes, I put a 25cc 4 stroke onto my down hill racing bike, the whole thing weighs 25kg can cruse at 35 km/h and gives me 120 km per liter.

[@johnfahl3594]

EVZebra MO

[@MrTheHillfolk]

I wasn't going to watch at first, I was looking for the usual fire and tire smoke and squids pulling wheelies, but it's VisioRacer and he always has excellent facts and clips. I do like wartime machinery, any machinery really, it just took a second to get into it. Expand your mind here and still have fun. Great vid, keep em comin I'll never be tempted to scroll by again!

[@gvlachos806]

MrHillfolk dude we're gonna score

[@mtcustomproducts]

You did your research, well almost ! The harley WLA and the XA look nothing alike and you showed them as being the same bike. The XA was an experimental bike that had imposing cylinders witch made it look like the Ural that you showed right before. The only thing that the WLA, had in common with the XA, is they were both Harleys. The XA was not introduced until the end of the war. There were 400 of them being sent to Africa, because they were shaft driven not chain driven. The sand in Africa would wear them out too quick, Harley needed something that would compete with the BMW. The ship that was carrying the 400 experimental bikes was sunk by a U-boat. There are only a handful of XAs that exist to this day.

[@taitjones6310]

I was looking for somebody else in the comments that noticed that.

[@brianmerz6070]

This was a very interesting and informative video. Thanks VisioRacer. You keep upping your game and English!

[@saved_yet_so_as_by_fire]

Digging those 2 strokes .

[@bleeksbentbits3150]

No BSA M20/21?!? HOW?????? I kept thinking, "He's saved the best for last, He's saved the best for..........Ohh, that ended suddenly! :'( " Then again, you might be saving it for the one on Hargon Saw's.... LoL! ; ) Thanks again!

[@chehystpewpur4754]

you left out the most important war bike ever. the anti tank scooter. yes i know it was after ww2 but still worth an honorable mention. the balls required to drive on of those would most likely be dragging on the ground

[@TheHuskyGT]

I love this channel! I've said it before, you're super knowledgeable. Or know how to do your research. My favorite vids are the engine and sounds comparisons, which showcase those nice little things even car nuts seems to ignore. You sir, are a true automotive enthusiast.

[@gotmilk606]

Wow that backfire at around 6:47

[@billwild7512]

Thanks for sharing , great video , I have an unrestored WLA and haven't seen the other brands of bikes in use as you show

[@starmanskye]

No Gnome Rhome? French equivalent to the ww2-era battlefield sidecar utility MC .... Included many features like hydraulic front suspension and shaft-drive, if I recall it was a horizontal or v-twin ... of about 700~900 cc ... could pull a small cannon. Saw one at a MC swap meet many many years ago. Great video review tho!

[@ilham7345]

Love how zundapp utilize simple and rugged triangle chassis design

[@gerardfrederick5504]

That goes back to the 1920´s when tube chassis were known to frequently break. Zündapp, BMW, Wanderer and Mars used prerss steel frames

[@pixelboxmedia7758]

Wat a sound Indian 841.. its great one❣

[@johnsamu]

The German army demanded the Zundapp 750cc and BMW 750cc to share as many parts as possible (standardization) because the 2 companies obviously liked to use their own parts.

[@dublardemesrie]

during the war zundapp also made a k500 and a k600 version and my dad owned a k500 and when he got from an old man it still had a machine gun mount on the side cart unfortunatly he had to sell and get a car because i was born and he never rode with the side cart one other interesting ww2 bike was the vespa witch had a cannon on it i think it was a 75 mm recoilless gun and i wasnt any good so not many were made however the idea was interesting

[@chapiit08]

The Italian Volugrafo Aermoto 125 deployed by the Folgore airborne division during WWII is another interesting military vehicle development which unfortunately wasn't included in the presentation.

[@joe125ful]

Love that BMW R75!

[@STiX_87]

Hey man!!! I was looking forward for a long time for such a vid!!!! Nicely donw!!! You should include also Royal Enfield Bullet 350 and the BSA M20, which were also legendary motorcycles. We had also here in Greece such motorcycles, even at the post-ww2 period. During the 7-yeared Dictatorship here, my father was in his 36-month army service (here in Greece every man from the age of 19 and over, is obliged to do his military service, nowadays is a 9-month period and less) and parachuters had also some of these motorcycles. Because of being officer, my dad had aHarley-Davidson WLA, which required hardened skills to be driven. It has the clutch on the left foot, the gears are manually operated via lever on the trunk and the gas was operated through both throttles on the steering bar. The right for the gas, the left for setting the ignition advance. I had the opportunity to buy one, but unfortunately I lost it for a matter of an hour...

[@vector6977]

Would be hard for even Steve McQueen to look cool on a Welbike.

[@RickaramaTrama-lc1ys]

Great video and I never knew there were so many different companies supplying motorcycles during the wars. Very interesting indeed. Thanks for the show.

[@antoniocatalano9661]

Ahhhh what a memory of this old bike especially the bmw and nice video one of the Best that i ever see but as always good video ;-)

[@Mennow208]

0:33 i went to A event last month in the netherlands (were i live) i saw one of those and it was amazing

[@AZREDFERN]

I like the shape of the frame on the KS750

[@Flies2FLL]

As always you have the BEST videos!

[@strzeldrob6422]

URAL FTW. love the video and can't wait for more :) i love the ural but i think mentioning the used price point would be really appreciated. by me in poland these go for like 4000 złoty = 900 dollars. they are REALLY CHEAP

[@jjeckerm06]

Captainshovel the Ural sidecar rigs are sold in the US for close to $20,000 new...you never seem to run into too many used rigs, but the last one I saw was a 1978 model that was going for an asking price of $3,500.

[@wiyastrasaurus]

but in WW2 era there is no such thing as URAL-M72. the correct name is MMZ-M72 and IMZ-M72. and later KMZ-M72 and GMZ-M72 catch up after WW2. Ural is the product of IMZ in 60's (IMZ Ural-M62 (650cc)). and later the company become IMZ-URAL

[@strzeldrob6422]

but even in ww2 these bikes had the nickname ural.

[@peterwilliams2152]

No! That's BS. And they weren't made from 1939, but 1941. wiyastrasaurus is correct, the Ural name was first used on the M-62, you're obviosly an ignorant Yank (Septic tank)!

[@KootBear]

dude, this was one awesome video! good work

[@Apoc_Bone_Daddy]

I love Ural motorbike. Is very good to drive off of road, yes

[@matthewmillar3804]

This was a fun video. :) Thanks man. Have you gotten a motorbike yourself yet? I remember you talking about getting your license.

[@fidelcatsro6948]

If he did its going to be a Subaru boxer engined bike or nothing!

[@strzeldrob6422]

the suprising thing is that something like this actually exists

[@VisioRacer]

Yep, since I am allowed for under 35 kW yet, I bought a Yamaha YBR250 in the middle of the summer.

[@VisioRacer]

Yep, since I am allowed for under 35 kW yet, I bought a Yamaha YBR250 in the middle of the summer.

[@matthewmillar3804]

VisioRacer What is the licencing system your country uses? When do you get up to the larger bikes? There's nothing saying you need a Hayabusa, but something in the 100kw range would be nice.

[@stelleratorsuprise8185]

I really liked the Indian motorcycle, I think it would have been a good construction for a civilian motorcycle after the war ...

[@andrewdobbs7747]

i'm extremely impressed with the quality of this content, he's so knowledgable about each vehicle researched and even though the english spoken isn't the greatest, i would much rather watch this over any other "list" channel.

[@trevortrevortsr2]

The most produced WW2 bike was the BSA M20 but does not get a mention which is a shame

[@gassyirishman2859]

It took me until 20 years old (last week) to figure out that sidecars have a powered wheel and it's not usually just dragging...

[@b6schilke996]

As a kid my father sold red wrigglers to raise money to buy his cushman “airborne” model scooter.

[@randomcoyote8807]

Nice! I've got a 2005 Ural Gear-Up, which is essentially a civvie M-72. It's fun as hell.

[@user-uf9wp8rq4h]

I really loved this video. Thank you.

[@robertross4936]

My first motorized bike was this cushman, 35 bikes since, now another collectable 1998 1200 xls. my love i've had larger and smaller but this is my last at 66yrs old it's the BALLS.

[@goncaleiro]

Do a video about aeroplanes, you have a lot of info and variety

[@pattylilenga5027]

Just good to watch!

[@morphmanmc2487]

The idles sound amazing

[@boataxe4605]

On a boxer engine wouldn’t overhead valves be called off to the side valves?

[@Parents_of_Twins]

My Dad had a Harley from that time period that was built with a side car. Not sure if it had the side car when he got it or not. He said it started with a 74 cubic inch engine but something went wrong with that one. He said he used Dodge car pistons to fix the engine apparently he either couldn't find or afford Harley pistons. Apparently the Dodge pistons were a lot lighter though which helped it rev a bit more and respond better. Unfortunately he got hit while driving it. Some old lady ran into him and broke his leg. He apparently thought that driving it was too dangerous because he took it apart and as far as I know it is still sitting out behind the house he lived at the time. Probably returned to the earth by now.

[@docthebiker]

Ok so you did the Norton but what about the hundreds of BSA M20 or the 350?

[@JamieR1988]

I love this channel. Although I just can't see it lasting. There's only so much cars out there. Eventually you'll cover them and the what?

[@exinfernnus]

Wow an inverted fork. I really thought that was a newer design.

[@Replevideo]

I wascpuzzled by the Wellman because I knew it as the Corgi. On checking I found the Corgi was a post war civilian version of the Wellman. The Corgi was used by the US airforce in the Korean war.

[@cybered2]

I'm wondering why this old "war machines" are so incredible loud? Wouldn't it be better when they were constructed as quite as possible?

[@Johnfly8]

Good video and the music at the end is great.

[@spyspeed2640]

In my humble opinion i think you missed one motorcycle. The Nimbus type c. It was used by the danish army in the 30's and the germans confiscated most of them when they invaded denmark. Jugoslavia was also supposed to have got 100 or so Nimbus type c but the delivery diddn't make it before they were invaded. the production of type c motorcycles continued during the war on a very low level production. most of the bikes military bikes ended their lives on the eastern front. Here a picture of one if anyone is interested: www.steampunk.dk/wp-content/uploads/220304.jpeg

[@TheGrumpyChuckChannel]

That Indian bike was so nice looking, as were the rest but I I love old bikes anyway

[@joe125ful]

And very rare too.

[@TheGrumpyChuckChannel]

Yep that too

[@the-guy-beyond-the-socket]

2:13 ural wasn't a copy of BMW's bike, ural already was a model beforehand. In war, Soviet engineers just modified it to be able to carry two people and on-bord machine-gun.

[@davewolf8869]

You have the best videos bro I love them

[@stephen9869]

Nice e34 5 series too..

[@fidelcatsro6948]

Great cradle frame 7.40 !

[@peanut71968]

Great channel!

[@tactical_snails2198]

That first bike is a right pocket rocket

[@aaronhussain3873]

What did soldiers even use the Welmans and the Cushmans for?? They seem so small and slow that you couldn't possibly drive one on a beach without getting stuck!

[@linushforsberg8385]

Roads existed in the 40s, after the storming of the beaches there was still the entire of europe to travel.

[@Ed-pn9id]

Great job thanks. Very interesting video

[@trevortrevortsr2]

You left out the most produced motorcycle of WW2 the BSA M20

[@joea.8127]

Awesome video, I love it.

[@davidprestigiacomo1574]

Is this guy really the BEST English speaking person they could find???? Really????

[@hh8638]

that DKW NZ 350 sounded like a Trabant engine lol

[@adrianzanoli]

The Welbike was a clone of the Volugrafo Aermoto 125

[@Duececoupe]

Awesome video! 👍 👌 👏

[@enfielddnepr]

I think it would be noteworthy to mention where/from which army bike the Germans took the design for their boxer-motorcycles from..

[@thekekronomicon590]

Not gonna lie having a bunch of paratroopers ride up on noisey mini bikes doesn't seem like the best idea

[@adik20091]

DKW NZ 350 and Izh 350 are the most beautiful motorcycles are ever seen but that sound of two-stroke engine ruining everything

[@mcrubar]

my grandfather was a Despatch rider. One of his motorcycles got destroyed by Katjuscha ("Stalin Orgel"/ english: "Stalins organ")

[@Liemannes]

can u make a cool video about tanks? :)