A Brief History of the Marque
Manufactured by Curt Szymanski, Sommerfeld, Frankfurt on the Oder, 1923 to 1928.
Curwy motorcycles, later named Cursy, were built for some eight years. They were fitted with 347cc and 497cc single-cylinder OHV engines of their own manufacture and design, along with a small number of OHC motors. They possibly also built three-wheelers.
The works were located in Sommerfeld (now Lubsco) "at today's Reja Street, in the place of the dyke between the Lubsza River and the drainage canal running along E. Platter and Zieleniecka Streets (remains of the former moat), where a commercial pavilion of the type described as "barn", there were bicycle and motorcycle production plants, as well as the car transport and transport company of Mr. Curt Szymański." The magazyn-lubski.pl article goes on to say that the Szymański Motorradund Fahrrad produced vehicles from 1911 to 1931, including motorcycles from 1923 to 1928 (probably) under the names "Curwy" and "Cursy".
Tragatsch writes that Szymanski changed the name to Cursy in 1928, "probably because the word 'curwe' means 'prostitute' in German". Perhaps it was 3am and Erwin was having a bit of a chuckle, and this made its way into the finished work - or maybe it was one of those rare instances where he just got it wrong.
According to a post on fb.com/LubskoSommerfeld the German words "Curwy" and "Cursy" mean "Curvy" and "Courses". The first is derived from the names of the brothers, Curt and Willy. When Willy left the business to create his own motorcycle firm in Sommerfeld, the marque's name was changed to Cursy (Curt Szyanski)
Further information at polska-org.pl.
Sources: GTU Oldtimerservice; Tragatsch p.110; magazyn-lubski.pl; et al.
Nov 26th 2022
Grzegorz Romanowski writes (on FB):
I do not speak German, but as far as I recall in German kurve means curve. In Polish however when written with K at the begining instead of c it is a plural form of curse word with many meanings and one of them is vulgar moniker for prostitute.
If you have a query or information about Curwy motorcycles please contact us
