The Sachs Quattrocento is a motorcycle-scooter with a 400 cm³ engine that Sachs Bikes presented in 2007. It was the largest machine of the scooter range with which the Nuremberg company returned after its insolvency.
Sachs Quattrocento at a glance
| Maker | Sachs Bikes / SFM GmbH, Nuremberg |
|---|---|
| Type | motorcycle-scooter |
| Engine | 400 cm³ |
| Presented | 2007 |
| Insolvency | June 2006 |
| Management buyout | 1 January 2007 |
| Renamed | SFM GmbH, 2008 |
| Smaller scooters | Speedjet 50, Speedforce 50, Bee 50, 49er |
| Name | Italian for four hundred |
The Quattrocento is described only by name and capacity in the model list of the company article; no road test or detailed specification is given there.
History of the Sachs Quattrocento
A maxi-scooter from Nuremberg
The Quattrocento was presented in 2007 as a motorcycle-scooter of 400 cm³. Its name is the Italian for four hundred, a reference to the engine size; the German article on Sachs Bikes lists it as the largest of the scooters in the range, above the Speedjet 50, Speedforce 50, Bee and 49er.
The company that built it
Sachs Bikes had been formed in 1995, when the Mannesmann-owned Fichtel & Sachs sold the Hercules brand and its bicycles and kept the motorcycle production in Nuremberg under the Sachs name. A series of financial problems ended in insolvency in June 2006. A management buyout led by the managing director took the company over on 1 January 2007 with the aim of concentrating on scooters, and the Quattrocento belongs to that new programme.
Scooters as the way back
In the same period Sachs was also general importer of the French maker Voxan, of Malaguti, of the Chinese Huanan Motors and of the Italcar microcars, and its own smaller scooters were cheap machines largely sourced in China and assembled locally. In 2008 the insolvency proceedings were closed and the company was renamed SFM GmbH.
Design and features
- 400 cm³ engine: the largest capacity in the Sachs scooter range.
- Motorcycle-scooter: a machine between the two classes.
- 2007 launch: part of the programme that followed the management buyout.
- Italian name: Quattrocento means four hundred.
Sachs Quattrocento versions
- Sachs Quattrocento (2007): the 400 cm³ motorcycle-scooter.
- Speedjet 50, R 50 and RS: the small scooter line.
- Speedforce 50 and R 50: the second small scooter family.
- Bee 50 and 49er: the other city scooters.
The small scooters are in Sachs Speedjet and Sachs Speedforce, and the 400 cc class also appears in Sachs 400. More machines are in the Sachs collection.
Sources
- Sachs Bikes, German Wikipedia: Quattrocento, model list, company history
- Sachs Motorcycles, English Wikipedia: company history and import business
