Van Veen or Van Veen Kreid is a former

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

manufacturer. It was founded in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

by Henk van Veen, the Dutch importer of

Kreidler Kreidler was a German manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles. Kreidler was originally based in Kornwestheim, between Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart. It was founded in 1903 as "Kreidlers Metall- und Drahtwerke" (Kreidlers metal and wire ...

motorcycles. Van Veen completed its first

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

in 1974 using a 1000 cc

Comotor Comotor SA was a joint venture between NSU and Citroën, created in Luxembourg in April 1967. Its goal was to produce Wankel engines. It followed an earlier, 1964 joint venture of both companies, the Geneva-based Comobil subsidiary, focusing on ...

624 twin-rotor

Wankel engine The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an Eccentric (mechanism), eccentric rotary combustion engine, rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and desi ...

, and in November 1974 it was exhibited at the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

motorcycle show with front and rear cast wheels and triple

Brembo Brembo S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive brake systems, especially for high-performance cars and motorcycles. Its head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy. History Brembo was established in Paladina, Italy on January 11, 1961 ...

disc brakes. ''Motorcycle Mechanics'', December 1974, pp.34-36. ''Koln Show. "Only the ingenuity of Honda and their flat-four Gold Wing 1,000 cc special stopped the Wankel-powered machines taking the Koln (Cologne) Motor Cycle Exhibition by storm!''". Accessed 16 September 2015 Limited production of the OCR 1000 model began in 1978 and ceased in 1981, after poor press reviews and complications with Comotor engine production. As well as problems with the Comotor engine, weight (700 lbs/320 kg) and price ($US15,000) also contributed to lack of sales. 38 examples were built. By 2011, the leftover OCR 1000 parts had been purchased by Andries Wielinga, who built 10 complete motorcycles for sale.

References

* "Van Veen Group", brochure about the history of the Van Veen Group. About 1980. Motorcycles powered by Wankel engines Motorcycle manufacturers of the Netherlands Defunct companies of the Netherlands Dutch companies established in 1978 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1978 {{Motorcycle-stub