In praise of the Flying Merkel

Recent letters in the February and March issues of OBM referred to which bikes may have been the earliest machines with swinging arm rear suspension. Some

1920s and 30s bikes have been suggested but we have to look to the Americans for the real early rear suspension that really worked.

The 1910 Flying Merkel had its front forks mounted on sliders with enclosed springs. These were known as Merkel-style forks and were copied by other American makes. This Merkel also had swinging arm rear suspension, again using sliders with enclosed springs as for the front forks.

Indian motorcycles also had sprung front forks and rear swinging arms on the 1913 big twin models. This suspension consisted of front and rear leaf springs, each made of eight inline leaves of chrome steel. The 1922 Raleigh (Letters, March OBM) looks like a copy of the Indian swinging arm. Both front and rear leaf springs on the Indian afforded only a small amount of movement but was better than no springing at all.

It goes to show nothing is really new, all sorts of innovations have been tried in the veteran/vintage years, including such things as disc brakes, etc.

The Flying Merkel was ahead of its time with its rear monoshock suspension and telescopic forks. This was one of the last machines to be made by the company in 1915.