Victoria KR3 1925 500cc 2 cyl ohv

Manufacturer: Victoria

Model: KR3 – Series 2

Victoria was a bicycle manufacturer in Nürnberg, Germany that made motorcycles from about 1901 until 1966. It should not be confused with a lesser-known, unrelated Victoria Motorcycle Company in Glasgow, Scotland that made motorcycles between 1902 and 1928. In its early decades Victoria in Nürnberg fitted proprietary engines purchased from various manufacturers including Fafnir, FN, Minerva and Zédel. In 1920 Victoria presented the KR 1 model with a BMW motor boxer longitudinal side-valve 500cc engine (6.5hp), two-speed gearbox and belt transmission. From 1923 on BMW began producing its own motorcycles, so Victoria commissioned the "Sedlbauer Motoren" company in Munich to build an engine with overhead valves designed by Martin Stolle, the creator of the BMW "flat twin" who had recently parted ways with the Bavarian company. At the end of 1922 they presented the KR 2 model with a 500 cc OHV boxer (9hp) engine now equipped with an improved front fork and two-speed gearbox, and in 1924 the new KR 3 with three-speed gearbox and chain transmission became available. That same year Stolle left the company to build his own sports car in Munich. His successor, Eng. Gustav Steinlein, began with the development of the first four-stroke engine with compressor based on the KR 3. This is probably the first time that a motorcycle factory used supercharging beyond the experimental phase. In a first attempt at a speed record for the kilometer in 1925, the Victoria 500 equipped with a Rootes compressor achieved 146 km/h.

This interesting and almost complete KR 3 is a project with big potential. We believe that the front fender and the front and rear wheels are from another motorcycle that has been installed on this motorcycle for a long time. The engine is free. It has its original brass plate on the steering head and type plate on the engine.