THE FIGHT OF THE CONDOR
It’s the sort of motorcycle we all know bits about. Swiss, isn’t it? Ducati engine? Army? That sort of thing; a bit of an oddity really. In fact, the Swiss concern has been around since 1893, putting them squarely in the group of early motorcycle manufacturers. WW1 accelerated development and by the mid-1920s eleven Condor models were available to choose from, often using engines specially built for them by Motosacoche, Villiers and Zedel. This golden age saw the company’s machines set several speed and competition records.
As the world rolled inexorably into the next conflict, neutral Switzerland had obvious problems buying engines from abroad, before settling on a boxer twin designed in house that closely resembled the Zündapp of the period. This A580 model continued in production until the late 1950s when the demand for a more modern and – crucially – lightweight machine could no longer be ignored. An abortive attempt to deal with the Italians
