DKW GB250 Mini

Maximum speed 71 m.p.h.

DKW has alwoys been ahead in the design of 250 c. c. motorcycles. In 1927 the factory introduced thefirsIE 250. Since then many hundredsof thousands of ma-chines of (his size have been built and a number of international races ond world championships have been won.

Looking backto-day on the development sińce 1927 onecan clear-ly see two vitally important factors: Firstly, the traditional princi-ple tobuildslow-revving,economical and sturdy DKW two-stroke engines, and secondly, the endeavour steadily to increase the performance and the speed of the machines.

Surely it would have been easier simply to trim up the engines, a method which would undoubtedly have produced morę power and a higher top speed. But whot is the good of such deve-lopment if it is combined with a reduction in economy, reliability and resistonce to wear? DKW was conyinced that on the basis of its traditional development and research work it would obtain equal and even better results than by simple "trimming," because one knew very well that there was still much to be expected in the way of performance from the two-stroke engine. Since 1927, for example, the performance of the 250 c. c. class has been increased from 6.5 BHP on the E250 to 14.1 BHP on the new RT250 with practically no increase in engine speeds. The maximum road speed of the motorcycle has been increased by approximately 50°/o.

silencers, both units being in perfect tune with each other. Furthermore, an additional advantage was gained by these new silencers as they madę it possible to reduce the exhaust noises to such an extent that one can describe this new DKW as a remark-ably quiet motorcycle.

The 4-speed georbox is exactly tuned in its gear rotios to the engine performance. It meets oll practical demands and enables -together with the "over-revving" capacity of the DKW two-stroke engine - astonishingly high cruisingly speeds. For example one can accelerate with perfect ease up to 18,6 m.p.h. in Ist gear gear, in the second up to nearly 37,3 m.p.h. and in the third even up to 49,7 m.p.h., and can then shift in to fourth without ony no-ticeable reduction in speed. From a standing start the machinę ac-celerates up to 56 m.p.h. in only 18 seconds, the maximum being 71 m.p.h. Naturallythe new RT250isespecially suitableforsidecar use. This is madę possible by 14.1 BHP, the sidecar-tuned suspens-ion, the closed, rigid Steel tubę frame and the excellently gratuat-ed gearbox. Butseemingly smali details havealso been considered on the new DKW: The exhaust pipę is placed on the left-hand side soas to remove it as far as possible from thesidecar,anadvantage which the sidecar passenger will gratefully appreciate. The des-cription of this new DKW would, however, be incomplete if we failed to refer to the legendary economy of all DKW motorcycles,a feature which has been proved by hundreds of thousands of machines all over the world. It was also a fundamental principle, when designing the new RT250, to build a machinę that could be maintained by motorcycle enthusiasts of the most moderate means. So much forthetechnical qualitiesof the RT 250. Two other features however, should not be forgotten: The smart appearance due to the elegant flowing lines and the remarkable silence of the machinę which is scarcely louder than that of a motorcar. Such ad-vantageswill alwaysfind theconvincedapproval of all motorcycle enthusiasts, and last but not least, also that of his passenger.