The Neander motorcycle was designed by Ernst Neumann, who made his name first as a painter and graphic artist, and later turned to motorcycle and car design, going into production in 1928 under the Neander name, and changing his own name to Ernst Neumann-Neander, a doubling of the German and Greek words for 'new man'.
Neumann-Neander designed and built a series of unusual prototype and racing motorcycles with lightweight pressed-aluminum beam frames from which the motors hung, and unique pivoting forks that used a spring box near the steering head. In 1926 he founded Neander Motorfahrzeug GmbH in Düren and went into production, using a pressed-steel frame that was cadmium plated instead of his aluminum prototypes. These novel frames housed a variety of motors, from small 122cc Villiers two-strokes to 350cc and 500cc single-cylinder engines by Küchen, to large v-twins by J.A.P. and Motosacoche. The Neander motorcycle had futuristic styling, with a curved, padded leather seat behind an egg-shaped fuel tank, and very clean lines. With excellent handling from the pressed-steel frame, Neanders won quite a few races, and have a very comfortable, stable, and predictable ride.[1] Neander also designed a sleek, torpedo-shaped sidecar to accompany his motorcycles.[2]
In 1929 the Opel automobile factory licensed the Neander design, and built the Opel Motoclub in 1929 and 1930 only. Fritz von Opel famously attached a series of rockets to an Opel Motoclub in 1930 as a publicity stunt. There was also a briefly licensed Neander sold under the E-O (Elite-Opel) name in 1931.
It’s estimated around 2000 Neander motorcycles were built, before Neumann-Neander turned his attention to a series of experimental 'Fahrmaschinen' small cars with motorcycle engines (1934–39), motorcycles with differential wheel sizes (1937–40), and a few final experiments in 1947-49 with two, three, and four-wheelers.[3]
More recently, the Neander name has been applied to a diesel-powered motorcycle, produced in Germany by Neander AG.