The Sachs Typhoon is a small machine sold under the Sachs name in the years when the Nuremberg company broadened its range beyond motorcycles and scooters. The sources list the company’s models but give no separate entry for the Typhoon.
Sachs Typhoon at a glance
| Maker | Sachs Bikes / SFM GmbH, Nuremberg |
|---|---|
| Documented ATVs | 4rock 450 and 4rock 650, 2007 |
| Documented scooters | Speedjet, Speedforce, Bee, 49er, Quattrocento |
| Company from 1995 | Sachs Fahrzeug- und Motorentechnik GmbH |
| Insolvency | June 2006 |
| Management buyout | 1 January 2007 |
| Renamed | SFM GmbH, 2008 |
| Range after the buyout | scooters, the MadAss and the quads |
The Typhoon is not named in the Wikipedia articles on Sachs; this page describes the range and the years it comes from rather than inventing a specification.
History of the Sachs Typhoon
A company that sold more than motorcycles
Sachs Bikes was formed in 1995, when the Mannesmann-owned Fichtel & Sachs sold the Hercules brand and its bicycles to the Dutch ATAG Cycle Group and kept its motorcycle production in Nuremberg under the Sachs name. Besides motorcycles and scooters, the company sold other small vehicles: the German model list includes the all-terrain vehicles 4rock 450 and 4rock 650 of 2007, and Sachs was also general importer of the Italcar microcars and of machines from Malaguti, Voxan and the Chinese maker Huanan Motors.
The years around the insolvency
Sachs Bikes became insolvent in June 2006. A management buyout took the company over on 1 January 2007 with the declared aim of concentrating on scooters, and in 2008, when the proceedings were closed, the firm was renamed SFM GmbH. The small scooters of that period, the Speedjet, Speedforce, Bee, 49er and Quattrocento, were cheap machines largely sourced in China and assembled locally, while the MadAss remained the only Sachs-engineered motorcycle of those years.
Where the name belongs
The company articles do not list a Typhoon among the motorcycles and scooters, so this page does not claim a specification for it. What they do document is the range of the same years, in which Sachs sold quads, scooters and imported small vehicles next to its last engineered motorcycle.
Design and features
- Broad range: the company sold quads and imported small vehicles beside its own motorcycles.
- 4rock quads: the 4rock 450 and 4rock 650 of 2007.
- Post-insolvency range: scooters and the MadAss carried the brand after 2007.
- Nuremberg company: the former Hercules works, renamed SFM GmbH in 2008.
Sachs Typhoon versions
- Sachs 4rock 450: all-terrain vehicle of 2007.
- Sachs 4rock 650: the larger quad of the same year.
- Sachs Speedjet, Speedforce, Bee, 49er: the scooters of the period.
- Sachs MadAss: the only Sachs-engineered motorcycle of the difficult years.
The scooters of the same years are in Sachs Speedjet and Sachs Speedforce, and the engineered model in Sachs MadAss. More machines are in the Sachs collection.
Sources
- Sachs Bikes, German Wikipedia: model list, ATVs, company history
- Sachs Motorcycles, English Wikipedia: company history, import business
