A Brief History of the Marque
Norbert Riedel Motoren AG
Immenstadt
1948 - 1953
Imme is a German word for bee, and this became the name of the machine and is reflected in the logo.
During World War II Norbert Riedel had designed a two-stroke starter engine for Luftwaffe jet fighters, the Heinkel He 162 and the Messerschmitt Me 262. After the war he designed a light motorcycle. The American military were keen to obtain jet engine starter motors and supplied him with production machinery - which could also be used for motorcycle production.
The motorcycle should be easy to build (with the material that was available after the war) and cheap. The egg-shaped engine had a displacement of 98cc and 4.5HP. The cylinder and the head were one piece. The transmission had no neutral gear. Around Christmas 1947 Riedel's creation was ready for road testing.
In 1948 Riedel founded a production facility in Immenstadt. Production began in 1949, with 80 motorcycles built in this first year. These were powered by a 99cc (52 x 47 mm) two-stroke Schnürle port engine producing 4.5 HP at 5800 RPM with a 7:1 compression ratio. These were considerably more powerful than those of the competition.
Production numbers grew to 400 a month and then 1000 a month during 1950. The machines were selling, but financial difficulties arose in part due to warranty issues, and as a result production ceased.
Riedel had designed a new twin cylinder 150cc engine of similar appearance to the earlier single and planned a comeback with an improved version of the Imme, along with a 150cc scooter, the Till, but in 1951 the factory was shut down again.
A total of some 10,000 machines were produced.
Later Norbert Riedel worked for Triumph in Nürnberg, and Victoriawerke. He died in 1963 in an avalanche accident.
Models
R100D 99cc (B/S 52x47mm)
R150 148cc twin (B/S 41x48mm). Despite appearing in brochures, only a few prototypes were built.
Golbi
This was a re-badged Imme R100 which appeared at the 1949 Brussels Motor Show. It vanished without trace.
Till
Riedel developed a scooter in 1949. Five were built that year and the next using R100 engines, along with one powered by the R150 twin.
Zircon
The Brussels Motor Show of 1950 saw the presentation of two mopeds propelled by R100 engines, in Gents and Lady's versions. See Zircon.
Sources: Hartmut Schouwer, odd-bike.com, Sergio Scalarandi, et al.
Wed May 13 2015
fredslifer at gmail.com
Imme Riedel
Imme Riedel Bee 100
I have a very nearly complete Imme and am looking for some gearbox / kickstart parts
Pennsylvania USA
Thu Apr 24 2014
gruessgott at imme-freundeskreis.de
Bike
Riedel Motoren AG Imme R100
Hello,
the Imme-Freundeskreis has a Homepage: imme-freundeskreis.de
Can you set a Link to our Homepage?
Best regards
Oberstaufen
Sun Mar 03 2013
albert.bernardino<at>neuf.fr
Aide aux amateurs de IMME
Totodkw IMME R 100
Je suis français et vis à Toulouse .J'appartiens au club IMME de IMMENSTADT en Allemagne voici l'adresse où vous pourris trouver des pièces pour votre moto IMME Je possède 2 motos IMME R100
IMME FREUNDESKREISS
Herr Heinrich EGGER
Salzstrasse 16
D-87534 OBERSTAUFEN
Deutschland
Heinrich est un homme très serviable toujours prait à vous aider, contactez le , moi même je me feris un plaisir à vous aider ! Je parle français allemand portugais et espagnol
Amitiés motocyclistes
Albert
TOULOUSE
Wed Oct 10 2012
pa.lambert<at>skynet.be
moto Imme
belgium Imme R100
Je cherche personne interressée pour ce type de moto.
Hodeige belgique
Sun Sep 16 2012
riedel<at>eza.eu
motorbike
Riedel Imme
Hello,
I am one son of Norbert Riedel the builder of the "Imme" motorcycle. I wrote a book about the story of the "Imme". the name of the book is: "Norbert Riedel Geschichte der Imme und anderer Konstruktionen". This book is available e.g. at
amazon.
The book contains the biography of Norbert Riedel, the designer of the famous "Imme" motorbike. It documents with illustrations appr. 200 his other constructions, manufacturing and tests of the "Imme" and other motorbikes, tells about his hardships and adventures during World War II, about the start of the rise of the economy in Germany, about wrong calculations, received payments for licences, disappointments and processes about patents.
Regards
Steffen Riedel
Lindau
Wed Sep 12 2012
bart<at>ducati.be
IMME R100 1948
ANYONE looking for IMME parts/bikes
traced some new /unused IMME in swiss.
also got some extra parts . so if anyoni
belgium
Wed May 18 2011
gordsvintagebikes<at>gmaildot com
Imme
Imme r100e
Love to find a salvageable Imme motorcycle, or any other neat old bikes in my area. just don't tell the wife! She's sick of me showing up with this stuff!
Tofino, Bc, Canada
Sat Oct 09 2010
motopeugeot<at>aoldot com
IMME R100
Bonjour,
J'ai beaucoup d'informations sur cette machine, mais je ne parles et ne comprends que la langue Française.
Thu Jun 24 2010
bob<at>mckayscyclecreationsdot com
imme
How would I figure out what year my Imme is
Canada
Fri Sep 05 2008
simme01 at hamline.edu
imme
i am from wisconsin and my last name is imme. i have been trying to find more out about the history of our name and i came across this site. i was wondering if there is any where else to find information about the bikes? or any merchandise?
thank you! sarah imme
Sat May 31 2008
schuh at comcast.net
Riedel R100
For anyone looking for additional information about the Riedel R100 (commonly known as the "Imme"), the German magazine Motorrad Classic published a great article about the small motorcycle in its 4/94 (July/August 1994) issue. The article
is in German, but even if you do not read German, the photos of three different examples of the motorcycle and the extensive drawings and close up photographs of the engine are excellent.
San Ramon, CA
Sun Feb 26 2006
liquidmarrs at hotmaildot com
Imme r100 history
I'm doing a research paper on the Imme R1oo for my motorcycle class at the Savannah College of art and design, and I'm having diificulties finding much information about it, and about its designer, Norbert Riedel. The due date for this
project is approaching fast, do you have any ideas of where I can find more research?
Savannah, GA USA
I came across an article in a copy of The Motor Cycle in the 1948-1950 period. Sorry, don't recall the date. Will post more info if I track it down. Ed.
Sun Jan 15 2006
davelycans at hotmaildot com
Riedel Imme
I have one of these motorcycles that is in fair/good condition with all original components. How much do these classic bikes sell for?
Try the page on motorcycle valuations. Ed.
June 18, 2001
Hi Sheldon,
Here are two club addresses for the Imme page.
Imme-Freundeskreis
Heinrich Egger
Salestr. 16
D-87534 Oberstaufen (Germany)
Der Imme Schwarm e.V.
Ziegelstr. 13
87509 Immenstadt (Germany)
Best regards
Hartmut -- Hartmut.Schouwer at rpa-aur.niedersachsen.de
June 16, 2001
Just found your site after looking for Imme info for some time. Let me tell you about my Imme.
I live in Australia. I first seen this bike in 1973 at a friends house I was 13 years old, his father purchased it for twenty five dollars it was not running. the bike was last registered in 1964, who knows how it got to Australia. from that time I first seen this bike it took me a further 22 years to own it , he just would not sell , he past away and his son sold it to me.
The bike is complete, it is a 1949 r-100 98 cc red in color, it needs a full restoration, the motor is badly damaged bore and piston damage, crank cases damaged near kick starter. I need some contacts for spare parts and info etc. as far as I know this is the only Imme in Australia nobody knows any thing about them. are these bike rare in Germany as well .
any info or contacts would be appreciated
Regards Rick Hay -- directhit at bigponddot com
Sydney Australia
February 13, 2000
I went searching for a picture of the Imme Motor cycle and came across your site. (Nice pic too)
The reason for doing this is the Imme was the first bike I leant to ride way back in the early 1960's. My father bought this bike to ride around the farm, which it did very well. The bike was very good over rough ground, rounding up
sheep, etc. Unfortunately the poor thing died one day because us kids put raw fuel in the tank, not knowing about 2 stroke motors. The old man took the wheels off the bike and made a cart, and dumped the rest of the bike at the side of the
shed. He sold the property in 1978, but the bike may probably still be there.
Cheers,
Ron McGrice -- mcgrice at eisa.net.au
Brisbane Australia.
February 3, 1999
In case you hadn't seen it already, there's an extensive article about the Imme, with some pictures, by Otto Hoffman (I think) in the most recent issue of City Bike, the northern California free motorcycle newspaper/magazine. --
Bishop, John
From Sheldon: Does anyone have a copy of this article they could share?
December 31, 1998
I saw this bike in The Encylopedia of the Motorcycle and instantly fell for it's styling. I have owned many motorcycles in my time (current ride is a Honda CBR900RR), but the integration of components and overall lines blew me away. Are
there any of these available and if so at what price. I assume that one would have to look in Europe to locate one (I live in California).
David Bell -- erbell at ix.netcom dot com
If you have a query or information about Imme motorcycles please contact us
