Just another rare bike from a once large manufacturer? No particular significance? Not exactly.
DKW (Germany) was once the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, and the most dominant racing marquee of it’s day. Early development of a supercharger that worked on a motorcycle and incredible development of the Puch twingle concept made DKW very nearly unbeatable in the years between WWI and WWII.
War reparations between the Allies and the German Empire gave the DKW twingle design to Harley Davidson and BSA who put out the ‘Hummer’ and the ‘Bantam’ respectively. Even more amazing is their lineage. DKW and Audi merged with Horch and Wanderer into a company known as Auto Union. The four ring logo for Auto Union is familiar today as the logo for Audi. Each ring stood for one of the original founders.
Photo from http://www.classic-motorrad.de/galerie/displayimage.php?pid=11148
This particular DKW is an example of the only 100cc model the company is credited with making. From a company that is known for engine development and design, the RT100 is a pretty basic 100cc single.
This bike lives in Walnut, California and is for sale with bidding up to $2,650.00 and the reserve not met It has a ‘buy it now’ clause listed at $6,156.00 in the listing.