Wednesday 23 July 2014

Rare bike

Sometimes while you're surfing the Web you come across something you'd never heard of.
This is a Ridgeback, built in Harare, Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia), between 1966 and 68.

I've got very little information on it other than it used a Sachs 125cc engine and less that 100 were built. Apparently, only 3 examples still exist: one each in Cape Town and Centurion (both South Africa), plus a frame in the National Museum of Zimbabwe.

This raises the question - were any other bikes built in Africa? I believe MZ two strokes were assembled from German parts in Egypt, Mozambique and (possibly) Angola, but does anyone know of any others?

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UPDATE:

I should have done a bit more homework before posing that question! I found a couple of references on the Web, but only one picture (significant?) if the Naseni M1, which claims to be a '100% made in Nigeria' motorcycle. However, since its launch late last year there doesn't seen to be any more information.
It's got an 80cc engine and as you can see from the photo, it has more than a passing resemblance to numerous Japanese step throughs. Whether this is a new design, an old Japanese design, or even an old Chinese copy of and old Japanese design I've no idea, and will let you know if I find any more information.



1 comment:

  1. I know that it's not Africa, but how about a company making bikes in Afghanistan? http://www.zarangltd.com/

    ReplyDelete