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Sachs Madass 125


Soi Sauce

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Hallo,

saw one of these in the flesh on Rama 4 last week and want one. Anybody got any ideas as to where they can be beought and how much?

Cheers

Not sure about bkk, but in pattaya chatree on road 3 has a load, or did do, hes seling them like crazy, 55000 baht registered, .there is a 250 version close, no price yet,.

post-41326-1208580546_thumb.jpg

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I have actually been talking to the Chinese factory that makes these about a project..

They havent said anything about a 250 coming soon..

Be warned that that old design honda 4 speed isnt going to pull much pace.. But in city for a fun machine.. They look like a laugh !!

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I have actually been talking to the Chinese factory that makes these about a project..

They havent said anything about a 250 coming soon..

Be warned that that old design honda 4 speed isnt going to pull much pace.. But in city for a fun machine.. They look like a laugh !!

Old design Honda 4 speed??? Sachs was making transmissions at a time that the founder of Honda was not even born. Sachs Motorcycles is a German based motorcycle manufacturer, founded in 1886 in Schweinfurt. It is the world's oldest motorcycle manufacturer.

Now-a-days Sachs has no German factories, but still all designing is don at Nürnberg, Germany. I is true, that even for enginering Sachs is lookingmore and more East, but the unique, distinctive MadAss is the last ‘real’ Sachs-engineered motorcycle made.

http://www.sachs-bikes.de

http://www.zf.com/s/content/de/import/zf_s...g/Homepage.html

By 1911, the year Fichtel died, the company had approximately 7,000 employees. In 1923, the oHG partnership was changed to a stock corporation, and the ball bearing division was sold to the SKF, a Swedish ball bearing corporation, with the condition that the production remain in Schweinfurt permanently.

From 1929 to 1996, F&S also produced motors, first for bicycles, and later for motorbikes, two-stroke snowmobiles, and small cars. In 1929 F&S started production of automobile components, mainly clutches and shock absorbers. Ernst Sachs died in 1932, and, in 1936, his son Willy Sachs donated the Willy-Sachs-Stadion sporting arena to the city of Schweinfurt. In 1987, the German Mannesmann AG acquired the majority of F&S stock, and, in 1997, F&S was renamed to Mannesmann Sachs AG.

In the early 1970s Sachs produced the revolutionary Wankel rotary engine powered Hercules motorcycle.

In 2001, Sachs was sold to ZF Friedrichshafen AG and renamed to ZF Sachs AG . The bicycle division was sold to a US-company, the Chicago-based SRAM corporation, leaving the Sachs division of ZF to focus on the production of automobile components for drivetrains and chassis. As of 2003, ZF Sachs AG had 16,511 employees in 19 countries and a sales volume of 2.1 billion euros.

Edited by Richard-BKK
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Hi :o

While Sachs hasn't build many motorbikes, they surely produced engines for MANY brands - "Hercules" being one, the name on the "legendary" rotary bike was "Hercules W2000". Sachs 50cc engines are of very high quality and longevity (close to Zuendapp).

HOWEVER the Madass has, you can't discuss this away, a Honda "Cub" engine in it. 50cc on the German market (identical engine to Honda "Dax" and "Monkey" which in turn have the engine originally planted into the Honda "Super Cub", just modernized version) and the 125cc model you get here has, guess what - the same engine as a Honda "Wave", which ALSO is the "Cub" engine with bigger displacement.

Now that certainly is NOT a bad thing - after all you'll get the spare parts on every street corner and every mechanic will know how to fix it with blindfolded eyes.

The "Sachs" engines are probably not original Honda ones but 1:1 copies like used in "Tiger" and many Chinese motorbikes (it's from China after all), those engines are made on genuine Honda tooling and are no worse than those that say "Honda" on the side.

With a "Madass" you'll get a funny styled bike that surely will soon have tons of customization parts available once it kicks off in Thailand (like that tiny Kawasaki dirt bike) and that has an engine which has proven it's reliability since a whopping 50 years (first Cub build in 1958, over 30 million since, it is STILL produced.... and the Cub engine is the world's most produced combustion engine in 50, 70, 90, 100, 110 and 125 cc).

With best regards.......

Thanh

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The german owner guy sold the controlling interest I was told.. Apparently there was not enough money to be made producing in Europe..

So it IS chinese made (I know the factory now, as I am sure you do) and it IS an 'old honda design' !! As you point out the Cub engine has been around for 50 years !! I didnt say that to knock it.. It looks like a fun urban set of wheels, But I also hear its a bit under powered especially for those a bit large of frame !!

Very curious about this 250 rumor tho.. A 250 madass, with the new Thai tax levels, a bit more power, and that design.. Would be an interesting entry to the market.

Sachs have some pics out of a concept 500 (looks very streetfighter.. EuroBuell !!) with (wait for it) a clone enfield engine !!

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Guess I have to take a closer look at the MadAss. By the way the German owners sold the two-wheeler division to a American company. As the MadAss was designed and introduced in the German market before the two-wheeler division was sold, I presumed that it was still equipped with a Sachs engine.

The MadAss was introduced in Germany in 2000, the two-wheeler division was sold in 2001.

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I have actually been talking to the Chinese factory that makes these about a project..

They havent said anything about a 250 coming soon..

Be warned that that old design honda 4 speed isnt going to pull much pace.. But in city for a fun machine.. They look like a laugh !!

Old design Honda 4 speed??? Sachs was making transmissions at a time that the founder of Honda was not even born. Sachs Motorcycles is a German based motorcycle manufacturer, founded in 1886 in Schweinfurt. It is the world's oldest motorcycle manufacturer.

Now-a-days Sachs has no German factories, but still all designing is don at Nürnberg, Germany. I is true, that even for enginering Sachs is lookingmore and more East, but the unique, distinctive MadAss is the last ‘real’ Sachs-engineered motorcycle made.

http://www.sachs-bikes.de

http://www.zf.com/s/content/de/import/zf_s...g/Homepage.html

By 1911, the year Fichtel died, the company had approximately 7,000 employees. In 1923, the oHG partnership was changed to a stock corporation, and the ball bearing division was sold to the SKF, a Swedish ball bearing corporation, with the condition that the production remain in Schweinfurt permanently.

From 1929 to 1996, F&S also produced motors, first for bicycles, and later for motorbikes, two-stroke snowmobiles, and small cars. In 1929 F&S started production of automobile components, mainly clutches and shock absorbers. Ernst Sachs died in 1932, and, in 1936, his son Willy Sachs donated the Willy-Sachs-Stadion sporting arena to the city of Schweinfurt. In 1987, the German Mannesmann AG acquired the majority of F&S stock, and, in 1997, F&S was renamed to Mannesmann Sachs AG.

In the early 1970s Sachs produced the revolutionary Wankel rotary engine powered Hercules motorcycle.

In 2001, Sachs was sold to ZF Friedrichshafen AG and renamed to ZF Sachs AG . The bicycle division was sold to a US-company, the Chicago-based SRAM corporation, leaving the Sachs division of ZF to focus on the production of automobile components for drivetrains and chassis. As of 2003, ZF Sachs AG had 16,511 employees in 19 countries and a sales volume of 2.1 billion euros.

Whilst the history of sachs you have quoted is correct it has nothing in common with this model, this model does have the old 60s designed honda engine has been sold to the chinese,a very smart move which has made mr sachs more money than on all that other vintage stuff altogether,..the madass is about as german as the thai made triumph is english,,.after saying that its ( the madasss )not a bad bike ( in the 125 market ) .ill bet the 250 version will be pushing 100.000 baht,.not sure of the engine in that but i supect another old aircooled lump dusted off from the 70s,.
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I have actually been talking to the Chinese factory that makes these about a project..

They havent said anything about a 250 coming soon..

Be warned that that old design honda 4 speed isnt going to pull much pace.. But in city for a fun machine.. They look like a laugh !!

Strange you werent informred about the 250, it was on display at the recent BITEC motor show,.
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The german owner guy sold the controlling interest I was told.. Apparently there was not enough money to be made producing in Europe..

So it IS chinese made (I know the factory now, as I am sure you do) and it IS an 'old honda design' !! As you point out the Cub engine has been around for 50 years !! I didnt say that to knock it.. It looks like a fun urban set of wheels, But I also hear its a bit under powered especially for those a bit large of frame !!

Very curious about this 250 rumor tho.. A 250 madass, with the new Thai tax levels, a bit more power, and that design.. Would be an interesting entry to the market.

Sachs have some pics out of a concept 500 (looks very streetfighter.. EuroBuell !!) with (wait for it) a clone enfield engine !!

Here is the 250 madass taken at the bkk motor show 2 weeks ago,. engine looks honda, but cant be sure,.

post-41326-1208753461_thumb.jpg

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Today I finally meet the MadAss 125 in real, I wanted it to be a positive story. But one of the cheapest 125cc range bikes the Kawasaki Kaze ZX130 which I have for a 5 days lone is almost twice as fast..... My personal feeling is that the MadAss is only a 125cc because the label say so. For anybody who want to buy a reasonable 125cc look at the Kawasaki ZX130 it out performance's all 125cc in the market (included Sonic 125) and is the only one who has a tacho/rev counter..... And forget, it is one of the cheapest in the 125cc to 135cc range.....

You MadAss meet SmartAss, buy a Kawasaki ZX130.... hahaha (honest I would be pretty MAD if I bought a bike like this for the price it cost in Thailand.... so I need to say name is marketing technical good selected)

Edited by Richard-BKK
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Please, please, please! I started the thread to try to find where to buy one of these, not for a potted history of Sachs etc. etc.

Is there any chance of anyone having any relevant information,

Cheers

The Madass caught my interest when it first arrived here a few months back. A thorough internet search of owner

reviews / experiences was enough to put me off the idea of ownership. As funky as they look, you would probably be

better off investing elsewhere ... the zx130 ... cbr150 ... a baby ninja?

What about a Tiger "Rocket Boy"

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In short, the MadAss is a well balanced bike. Clearly this is still close to the original German design. Riding it, as it feels it sticks on the road you would expect a engine which is more capable. It would surprise me if the Sachs MadAss 125 could outperform a Honda Wave 100cc.

That said and looking more closely at the bike, I can understand why it is attracting youngsters, it is radical other way of building a bike. I bet that I can put something like this together in my own shack.

For the Tiger Rocketboy, some time ago I had a Rocketboy 110cc, which I modified with Turbocharger and sold not long after that. It seems that Tiger is soon introducing a 135cc Rocketboy, what I can remember of the 110cc it was a great fun to ride....and I expect the 135cc to be even more fun.

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Thast exactly my assessment tho I have only had 5 mins to look at one..

It looks fun and funky, its a youth market image thing, for pootling about town and city streets it has a certain X factor and I didnt see much that lead me to believe it was junk built like for example a JRD or some other chinese bikes.

But I do think its weak on power, certainly well down on a wave 125i (specs claim its 8.5 v about 9hp for a wave from memory.. My bet is its more like 6 to 9) for something 'different' with some visual appeal I think its interesting.. But practical it probably isnt.. Now if they had some big bore kits and tuning bits, got that HP up there a bit, then it makes back some of that lost ground.

Keen to have a look at a rocketboy, its another entry into the funbike category..

For build quality and I am sure there will be loads of aftermarket bits, the ksr II looks like a bundle of laughs.. I saw some vids by a Thai stunt team ( ksrthailand.com ??) and reckon they would be another fun bike.. Build quality on the one I looked at was definitely a step up.

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  • 2 years later...

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