This may surprise you but in the mid-1950s German manufacturer NSU was the biggest motorcycle producer in the world. This NSU Sportmax on display at the National Motorcycle Museum was made during NSU’s heyday. The company won the Constructors’ World Championship twice in the 250cc GP category and once in the 125cc GP class. The motorcycles were said to be the precision engineered motorcycles of the era. NSU produced its final motorcycle in 1968. The company then focused on autos and late in the 1960s was taken over by Volkswagen.

An NSU Sportmax on display at the National Motorcycle Museum was made during NSU’s heyday of the company’s motorcycle manufacturing era of the mid-1950s. (Larry Lawrence photo)