A small motorcycle equipped with a 98cc single-cylinder two-stroke engine, designed by Hermann Weber – head of the brand’s sporting department – with the aim of providing the general public with accessible and reliable transport.
Somewhat unusually for the time, the RT 100 would become popular through competition, after showing excellent performance in the famous and gruelling International Six Days Trial of 1935, subsequently conquering both the German and international markets and becoming the best-selling motorcycle of the Zschopau brand.
Leaving the factory painted only in semi-gloss black, the RT 100 featured slight differences between the various series, all sharing mechanical simplicity, lightness, and frugal fuel consumption. It would remain in production for the civilian market until 1940, having also been purchased in considerable numbers by the Hitlerjügend (Hitler Youth) for training purposes.
The example presented here belongs to a less common version known as gelände-ausführung (meaning “off-road version”), featuring an exhaust similar to the competition model, positioned higher than on standard RT 100s for greater off-road capability. As with all motorcycles requisitioned at the start of the war, our DKW would have been repainted in the current dunkelgrau (dark grey) after its adoption by the Wehrmacht in 1940.
It should be noted that, at the beginning of the war, the authorities requisitioned a large number of DKW RT 100 motorcycles for light military duties in the rear areas, whether for messengers, administrative services, or even for the Military Police. After the outbreak of hostilities, DKW began producing the RT 125 model, a slightly more powerful evolution, intended to fulfil these roles in the war effort.
Although serving an entirely different purpose from the better-known military models – such as the Zündapp KS 750 or the BMW R75 – the small RT 100 and its RT 125 evolution would play a discreet yet highly useful role in the Reich’s communications and transport network, freeing up heavier equipment for the front line.
As proof of its success, the RT 100 (and particularly the RT 125) would be copied by various countries during and after the war. Following the pioneering WD/RE clone built by Royal Enfield in 1942 came the BSA Bantam, the Harley-Davidson Hummer, the Soviet MMZ M1A Moskva, the Polish Sokół 125, and even the Yamaha YA-1 – the Japanese manufacturer’s very first model.
These copies gained legal legitimacy when Auto Union AG was removed from the Chemnitz commercial register in August 1948, losing all rights to the group’s registered patents, thereby automatically legalising RT reproductions. DKW, in turn, resumed production of the more advanced RT version, keeping the 125cc model in its catalogue until 1957.