Has Porsche ever considered building motorcycles?

[Porsche911NYC]

BMW makes some some nice ones, as does Ducati. One would think it would be second nature for Porsche to consider its own line of high-performance bikes.

[Bill Douglas]

I guess after failing miserably at building bycles they decided to...

[Fishcop]

Apparently yes.

There have been quite few rumors and I recall seeing a "spy shot" in a euro mag 5 or 6 years ago. It never eventuated, could have been a crock though.

Porsche are renowned for their design house that does do contract work. I also heard a rumor that someone from Porsche had a little to do with the design of the new Bennelli. Could also be a crock!

[DonNewton]

I dunno, if you go to a HD dealership and ask nicely to see the new V-Rod, maybe, just maybe, you'll see the "motor" that was designed by Porsche. Hey, it worked for CART, nee Indy Car, and it's close enough for me!

[sy308]

The answer is obviously YES, as noted Porsche was involved in designing and building the new motor for the water-cooled Harley Davidson just out this year. The development took about two years and was hung up for some time as the motor had difficulty passing the famed Porsche "Dusseldorf Test". It should be quite a bullet-proof engine and a credit to Porsche.

[Paul Franssen]

Er...what's the "Düsseldorf test"??? I ask, because I lived in Düsseldorf for a few years and (other than drinking a few gallos of their alt-bier) I've never heard of this "test"...

[curtisaa]

911 and Porsche World has pictures of the NEW Harley -Porsche experiment. Seems to look very cool, but a bit more traditional. I would think if it were a Porsche designed bike it would a Sport bike, more in line with Aprilla, and Ducati.

[Wayne 962]

Porsche does a lot of design work for other companies. I'm sure that HD designed the bike, and then subscontracted to Porsche to design the engine. I'm sure that Porsche had no real say in the design of the overall look of the bike...

-Wayne

[curtisaa]

OK, Wayne... IMHO, I would bet you a sushi dinner that on both, " I'm sures ", that would not be the case. Porsche would not lift a finger OR let anyone use it's engines for squat unless they saw what exactly it was going in. Porsche had everything to do with the frame and ergonomics for that bike just as BMW auto had to do with with it's funky "007 "bike.

Be assured, if those boyz in Stuttgart wanted to get into the Sport bike business, they would be talking to people in Italy for frame design.

[tshih]

I think that Porsche has learned to evaluate the market before jumping in. They were burned badly by the sue for quick gains mentality in the USA when they were sued in 1979 for the 930 turbo with "evil handling internal memo" by the widow of some executive who perished in an auto accident while being driven home by a colleague (who had borrowed her hubbie's 930 for the day!!) Even though the fault for the accident was clearly that of a neophyte driver travelling at 60 mph in a 25 mph zone when the lady driver lost control of the 930 and hit another car because the brakes were "defective", the jury awarded an award of $1M to the widow out of sympathy!. A superbike is just too dangerous an undertaking for the crazy American market.

[Roland Kunz]

Hello

In fact Porsche supportet some companys and there is even a design spin off company from Porsche, beside F.A. Porsche http://www.target-design.de
There most famous work was the Suzuki Katana series motorcycles. The Katana was the first frame type street motorcycle.
They also made many BMW stuff.

Grüsse

[Doug Zielke]

Originally posted by Roland Kunz
Hello

In fact Porsche supportet some companys and there is even a design spi off company from Porsche, beside F.aPorsche also http://www.target-design.de
There most famous work was the Suzuki Katana series motorcycles. The Katana was the first frame type street motorcycle.
They also made many BMW stuff.

Grüsse

What fool can doubt Herr Kunz knows his stuff?
The designer in the firm Roland mentions was Hans Muth.
I had one of those futuristic-looking Katanas. Unfortunately, they sold like lead balloons. Now, a worthwhile collectible.