Sachs Motorcycles

Sachs traces its roots to August 1, 1895, when inventors Ernst Sachs and Karl Fichtel founded Schweinfurter Präzisions-Kugellagerwerke Fichtel & Sachs in Schweinfurt, Germany, originally to manufacture ball bearings and bicycle hubs. The company built its first motorcycle in 1904, making it one of the oldest continuous names in motorcycle history, and its 1897 bicycle freewheel design became an early commercial success that helped fund the company's growth to roughly 7,000 employees by 1911. Beyond complete motorcycles, Sachs became a major supplier of engines, suspension, and drivetrain components used by other German manufacturers, including BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. Corporate ownership shifted repeatedly in recent decades: Mannesmann AG took majority control in 1987 and renamed the business Mannesmann Sachs AG in 1997, before ZF Friedrichshafen acquired it in 2001 and renamed it ZF Sachs AG. The Sachs motorcycle brand today exists as a smaller marque within that much larger automotive-supply group.