Max enjoyment
I enjoyed reading the article in The Classic MotorCycle about the NSU Max (February 2021) and found the letter from Mike Jackson regarding his experiences of the Max (March 2021) in the next issue of interest. This was because I owned a Max in 1959 and 1960, as shown in the enclosed photograph, with my then girlfriend sitting on the dual seat.
My previous bike was a 1955 Ariel Colt and the subsequent one was a 1950 Vincent Comet. The Max, registered in 1955 as RLX 122, is still on the
DVLA website.
Going from the Colt to the Max was a revelation. The Max was superior in every way; it was comfortable, quiet, handled superbly, far better engineered, didn’t throw oil everywhere and was much faster. The last one being probably the most important criteria for a 16-yearold college boy! I managed to get the speedo up to 89mph riding down Blunsdon Hill near Swindon by lying down on the tank and my pillion lying down as well, just couldn’t get the needle on the 90 mark!
The NSU’s Bosch headlight was excellent and I can still vividly remember the rectangular beam of light it gave. A big plus was the interchangeable, quickly detachable front and rear wheels, with their large diameter full width aluminium hubs. The Denfeld dual seat had proper springing, not like the pad of foam and it also had keys for the steering lock, battery box and tool box. The Comet and Colt had no security other than a flat ignition key on the Colt, that could be bypassed with a screwdriver. The Max had a proper key which operated the ignition and also doubled as the light switch. This would not look out of place on a modern bike even now.
Unfortunately, the big end bearing wore out and I replaced it with a British Alpha big end assembly, as it was easier to obtain than one from NSU at the time. The damping in the forks also needed attention. Apart from that the Max was troublefree.
With regard to the riding side, I used to do 100 mile plus rides in comfort including sometimes with a pillion. The steering was positive and the handling excellent. The oil tank used to get burning hot on a long ride and the BP Visco Static oil was more like water than oil after those long runs. For a 250cc bike it was heavy, in fact about as heavy as a Triumph Speed Twin of the same year but only half its capacity. RLX 122 was missing its frame identification plate when the bike was sold. I still have the plate, so if the current owner is interested and sees this perhaps they might like to get in touch through the magazine.
For the record, what I paid for the bikes: Colt £55, Max £125 and Comet £110.
With regard to Mike Jackson’s comments, back then I didn’t find the Max tall or notice its weight and I never had any difficulty getting it on to the centrestand. I didn’t have any problems with the gear ratios apart from the gear change and rear brake being on opposite sides from what we were used to at the time.
I am still riding and my current bike is a BMW R1200RT.