The fastest series-produced cabin motorcycle in the world
07/06/2013
"Super sports car, top motorcycle or airplane?" was the title of a 1983 article in Automobil Revue 25/1983, which featured one of the prototypes of the Oemil from Peraves, which looked like a sports plane with clipped wings.
Arnold Wagner was behind the project and is still convinced of the qualities and advantages of the single-track vehicle today. The now 72-year-old inventor still rides the cabin motorcycle today. The public is familiar with a successor to the original Oemil as the winner of the X-Prize in the USA, among other things.
The development began in 1981 and, like so many other developments, was triggered by frustration with the unsatisfactory transportation solutions at the time. At the time, Arnold Wagner commuted a lot between Germany and Switzerland in his car and decided that this was a veritable waste of resources.
The resulting single-track vehicle, which was then given the name Oemil (short for Oekomobil, the "Oeko" stood for economical), was much more aerodynamic than motorcycles and cars and offered significantly less resistance to the wind thanks to its small frontal area. Two people could sit behind each other and there was even room for luggage. The first Oemil was equipped with the BMW two-cylinder boxer engine.
"The chances of a small series with BMW support are good. The aim is to initially produce two units per week at a price of CHF 25,000. The cd value will soon be measured in the BMW wind tunnel; according to calculations, it should be less than 0.20. The construction of further developed prototypes is planned." That's what it said in Automobil Revue 23/1985.
It didn't happen that quickly and it was only with the four-cylinder K-engine from BMW that the Oemil became suitable for series production, although it was also considerably more expensive, as the targeted sales price of 25,000 francs was far exceeded, making the vehicle more of a leisure activity for wealthy people. Pilots, such as Arnold Wagner himself, or entrepreneurs were frequent buyers of the efficient and at the same time very fast vehicle.
Wagner describes the versions sold as the "Bugattis of the cabin motorcycle concept"; attempts, for example with Yamaha, to shift the ideas to more popular dimensions failed for a variety of reasons.
A good 200 examples of the Oemil and its successors were sold, the first of which will soon be classic cars and the last of which are still almost new.
Anyone who would like to know more about Arnold Wagner, his love of flying or the development of the spherical engine, on which Wagner had high hopes, can read the whole story in the book Acrostar, Krafteier und Kugelmotoren 
The pictures from 1983 can of course also be found in the Zwischengas archive .
