The largest motorcycle in the world with reverse gear

AME Amazonas Motosetas Especiais Ltda

Amazonas Motorrad was founded on August 15, 1978 and won this name in honor of the largest Brazilian state and the largest river basin in the world, as it was the largest motorcycle in the world at the time. Because of this fame, some copies of the Amazon AME1600 were exported, with a focus on those that went to Hussain Assad, president of Kuwait's official oil company, and Japan, where he became the cover of a magazine, in the early 1980s. Some units were also exported to the USA, France, Germany and Switzerland. The Amazon AME1600 is mounted on a tubular frame with a double cradle, which holds the VW AR1600 engine with 1,584 cm³ and an output of 56 hp at 4500 rpm and a maximum torque of 10.8 mkgf at 3000 rpm. The VW 013 gearbox was originally that of the VW Brasília with a final pair of 3.875: 1 (VW SP2) and was later replaced by the VW Gol 1.6 AR. The clutch, a dry single disc, is operated mechanically by means of a cable. The gearbox has satellite gears from the original differential that are only locked to the torque output on one side, where the pinion of the final gear is attached to a chain. Consumption in the city is around 10 km / l and on the road it can reach up to 15 km / l depending on the conditions of use. The top speed in the "Quadro-Elástico Esporte" model is 145 km / h and acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h takes 9 seconds.

We had few but select customers, one of the busiest, the Federal Highway Police, who preferred "our" Amazon to the "tired" Harley-Davidson that Rodovia Presidente Dutra's train in Guarulhos, SP had in its fleet.

Today I consider it a privilege to have had my little work experience in small businesses where you learn how to really do things and find solutions ... and Amazonas was one of those companies. When I left my first job in early 1982, where I interned and worked for two years, my friend José Cohen, who had previously worked at Amazonas Motorcycles Specials (he was with Honda at the time), knew the people there well and reported me to the place that once was. I was welcomed by Durval Rente, commercial director, who took me to see Daniel Ferreira Rodrigues, one of the company's owners and managers. Daniel, a strict Portuguese and with few games, was an idealistic entrepreneur who was in love with Harleys and saw the original idea of the duo Luiz Antonio Gomide and José Carlos Biston (see article “MotoVolks”) in “Amazonas” as an opportunity to build in Harley-Davidson-size (or larger) motorcycle in series, but with Brazilian solutions. See the article "Motovolks" I was very well received and we started work. I remember Durval introducing me to the backup bike on day one, which was one of the first (maybe the 0001 chassis, which I don't remember well ...). It was a "Turismo / Militar" model, a "Semi-Hard Tail" type motorcycle with simple rear shock absorbers, army green, with windshields, bags, sirens, lights, etc. With this suspension, the "semi-hard tail" of the rear axle was turned into two aluminum "flags" attached, one on each side, to which the shock absorbers were attached. These "flags" were in turn attached to the frame with two pins, one for each "flag", allowing the rear axle to move vertically.

Then Durval said to me: "- You can have lunch with her" ... Damn, I looked at "everything" and, used to my CB400, I confess that I was almost yellowed ... Fortunately, this version of the “Semi-hard tail” not very high, so that the 1.70 m long “short” ones could hold the “all-weight” well, with the leg comfortably bent. And that was the first contact with Amazon AME1600. We still had a "support motorcycle", a red "chopper", also a "semi-hard tail" which, like "Turismo / Militar", had a height that was accessible to "short" ones. Photos show Durval's motorcycle, model "Esporte" and our "Chopper", both "tail half-hard". At this point in time the version "Quadro-Elástico" (with rear scale and two shock absorbers) was still in the prototype phase and my development work would focus on it focus. After 3 or 4 months of work at “Amazonas” I had to leave, but returned a few months later. At that point, the “Quadro-Elástico” version I had been working in was almost ready to go and, like the previous version, was available in the brand's three models: Chopper, Turismo e Esporte. All the improvements that we have developed alongside the frame have been implemented, such as the front suspension with I.

Moto da Policia Rodoviária Federal - "frame-elastic" model Note the still conventional front suspension Another memory I have of myself is the brand logo "AME", which was widely used by the company and is still associated with the brand today. I scribbled a very simple "logo" for the "AME" on my "scratch-and-scribble", which was an "A" with no crossing, an "E" with three horizontal stripes and an "M" with three vertical stripes . One day Daniel commissioned me to create a logo with the three letters ... Now I took my “scribble” and asked the designer at the time, my friend Zambone, to come up with a more decent design. After the drawing was done, after getting it to the right dimensions, I saw that it was very good and I passed it on to Daniel who immediately had it applied to the molds of castings and fiber parts ... it's a small detail but i am very proud of it. Logo is used by the brand today.We also started a study and prototype of a mono-assisted suspension consisting of two small dampers in parallel in the center of the chassis, but the project did not continue ... I stayed there for about six more months and then made my way back to the automotive industry, but I have fond memories of that time when we made it almost impossible. Good times ... In 1986 AME was sold and in October 1988 the company stopped manufacturing the AME1600 model. A total of almost 450 motorcycles were produced, of which more than 100 were intended for police and military purposes. Piloting the Amazon AME1600 1982 ("Quadro-Elástico") - Sport That was my favorite ... After the "pre-series" of motorcycles with an "elastic frame" for the Federal Motorway Police, we made another unit without the "Cerianni" suspension. which would then go into series production and be shown to the Navy in white and with the armored wing, thinner than in the version of the Policia Rodoviária, in blue. This style of painting would be applied to all "elastic frame" motorcycles manufactured that year. Example that would be shown to the Navy - still with conventional front suspension

After the "Navy Motorcycle", we have installed two more copies of the "Sport" version, one in black and the other in red, both with gold stripes, now with the "Cerianni" front suspension. I once asked Daniel to spend the “Finados” holiday with one of the two new motorcycles, as he wanted to go to Itanhaém to demonstrate with the “Motona”. He had chosen black, which, with the gold ribbon and wheels, resembled Émerson's Lotus Johnn player. He readily agreed. On Christmas Eve, I was preparing to go home as soon as it was dark, but it was raining heavily and forced me to stop at a nearby gas station to put on the nylon overalls. I marked a "fool" and let the bike tip over. What was my surprise when it "overturned", picked up the two wheels and broke one of the cast aluminum intake manifolds ... "It was" the ride, I thought ... Then I remembered the red motorcycle that was in the Factory had been left behind. I returned quickly, with the engine "failing" to try to reach the factory before the last one left the gate locked. "Bingo", there were still people there, so I changed the sign (blue) and went home with the red one. The next day I packed my luggage in the side pockets and got ready for the trip. The "Quadro-Elástico" version was not as accessible to the "short" ones as the "semi-hard tail", which caused a certain panic when it came to lifting the right leg over the bench on the way up. But anything can be achieved with faith and determination, right? I called the common key ... Common key ??? I declare ....

Amazon had a place under the seat to "hand-screw" a general key, just like the ones that used to be in cars (in the Beetle it was under the back seat, in front of the battery). outward). Okay, the general key is screwed on, the contact is connected and the brave starter turns into a VW AR1600 boxer that reacts and almost tosses the driver aside with its original steering wheel, the roll size of the engine. The gears are activated by the left foot via a system that converts the axial movement of the rods of the VW 013 gearbox through the circular movement of the pedal with channels, guides and a trigger that sets the next gear as a pedal back to the rest position, as well as in the reduced. In this way it was possible to simulate the same conventional clutch position as the other bicycles, i.e. 1st forward and the other 3 forward (the shift pedal is double) with intermediate neutral between 1st and 2nd right in neutral light. And vice versa? Yes ... She had reverse gear, powered by her right hand, on a little lever just behind the gearbox below the seat. And I needed it ... I remember just to get a chinfra I stopped the bike in front of me at 45 ° on the sidewalk while all the other bikes had the front wheel out ... at the time of departure the “spectators” present a “small smile” like: “What now, José?” Then I put the car in reverse and began to sing a hoop ... It was just laughter ... Return to the trip:

The coupling with the mechanical drive is something for a man ... Super heavy. The first time the power is turned on, the output occurs with excessive torque from the motor, in fact there is excessive torque. The first begins with great competence and the second does not lag behind to “sing” the tire in quick changes. Because the AR1600 engine has a very generous torque curve, the gears don't have to be “stretched” too much in order to run at low revs and high gear in town. In the city it is difficult to negotiate the corridors due to the width, but cycling is a joy on the street. It is so stable on the straights that it looks like a car (...) In the bends, its stability, taking into account its weight, is quite acceptable, with the exception of the free span in relation to the ground, which if it is too steep becomes, "scratches everything on the floor". With the introduction of the "elastic frame" with the rear scale with two newly calibrated double-acting dampers and the suspension with internal springs of the "Cerianni" type at the front, the improvement in handling and comfort was quite large compared to the previous model safer game pace. The control panel is very large and offers a smooth view of the instruments (speedometer and tachometer) and the warning lights (neutral, arrows, high beam and oil pressure). A red light indicates that reverse gear is being used. The two-wheel disc brakes, double at the front and single at the rear, also from the automatically driven hydraulic industry, brake enough with the help of the lush engine brake to stop the “asphalt dinosaur”. Headlights, flashlights and turn signals are very efficient. Thanks.