German Motorrad

Ermag Motorcycles

Manufactured by Erlanger Motoren Aktiengesellschaft, Erlangen-Buckenhof (near Nuremburg), 1923-1930

Established by Albert Roder and Karl Zirkel the firm was initially named E.M.A.G.. They built powerful two-stroke models with rotary valve and stepped pistons, the first of which was a 250cc unit-construction engine designed by Roder, previously of Ziro and who later gained fame working with NSU.

Ziro produced a four-stroke OHV 250 in 1924, and a 500cc sidevalve model appeared in 1928, the U 500. The 500 has been described as "indestructable".

The marque did well in competition, ridden by Perl, Bittorf and Hieronymus. On a 250cc OHV Ermag, Hans Hieronymus rode the fastest time in a race at Feldberg race in October 1926 which had 128 competitors, some of them on 1000cc machines.

Sources: GTU Oldtimerservice, motor-lit-berlin.de, meisterdinger.de.

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