The Devil’s Wheels

In Weimar Germany, mass motorization was a promise rather than reality. Sasha Disko rightly reminds us that for a great majority of Germans it was the motorcycle, rather than the more expensive car, that fuelled the dreams of motorization, independence and adventure. For many, motorcycling was more than just a way of getting to and from places. Advertising concepts and consumption strategies contributed to a motorcycling culture that touched on gender stereotypes, technology, leisure time activities and sports. For Weimar historians, it is probably the exploration of masculinity and consumerism that is of key interest here as this is still a surprisingly neglected field within the rich scholarship on gender and culture in the Weimar Republic. Divided into seven chapters, Sasha Disko starts with an overview on the motorcycling industry from the 1880s to the 1930s. Here she explores the link between technological invention and economic circumstances as well as the rise of the German motorcycling industry. By the early 1930s, Germany was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles and ownership of motorcycles was very high. Car ownership, in contrast, was lower than in many other Western European countries. Having set the scene, Chapter Two focuses on the combination of engineering and advertising. We see how engineers tried to promote technology as the best way to shape the future of motorizing while motorcycling advertising attempted to sell these dreams of motorization. Newsreels, films and sporting spectacles belonged to these advertising strategies and so did brand building. Disko shows how sales representatives of major motorcycle manufacturers (BMW, Zündapp and NSU) tried to create a lasting bond between the customer and the brand by offering test rides and customer service after the purchase. Chapter Three expanded the view into the ‘motorcycling milieu’ and is, with its focus on masculinity, one of the core chapters of the book. Motorcycling clubs and motorcycling journals were important parts of this milieu and so was the affinity to a motorcycling brand. However, most motorcyclists, so Disko, did not belong to a motorcycling club but constructed their identities around consumption, mobility and the ability to repair one’s motorbike. Consumerism could be integrated and gendered as a male activity as it required technological knowledge, was part of motorcycling as sports or was a way to impress other men and women. Sasha Disko demonstrates convincingly the variety of motorcycling ‘types’, ranging from the sportsman and the Halbstarke to the ‘Grease Monkey’ and the Leather Jacket, that enabled men to link themselves to these diverse concepts of masculinity.

Adventure · Advertising · Art · Art history · Business · Consumerism · Consumption (sociology) · German · Independence (probability theory) · Masculinity · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Weimar Republic · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · European history and politics · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · History · Law