About Motorrad Classic

Motorrad Classic

Motorrad Classic is the classic-motorcycle magazine of the Motor Presse Stuttgart publishing house, appearing every two months from Stuttgart. As the historic-motorcycle title alongside the fortnightly MOTORRAD — Europe's largest motorcycle magazine — it serves the German-speaking classic-bike community: the owners, restorers, and enthusiasts of historic motorcycles. The Motor Presse Stuttgart's publication listing gives the title a circulation of around 17,733 copies with a bimonthly rhythm, placing it among the established special-interest magazines of the house's motorcycle portfolio, which also includes PS – Das Sport-Motorrad Magazin and FUEL. Where MOTORRAD tests the new machines, Motorrad Classic celebrates the old ones: the vintage BMWs, NSUs, Zündapps, and Harleys, the restoration craft, and the historic racing scene.

Overview

The magazine presents itself as the classic-motorcycle journal of the Motor Presse Stuttgart — the two-monthly title for the friends of historic motorcycles. Its editorial program covers the vintage motorcycle in its full breadth: portraits of classic machines — from the pre-war BMWs and NSUs to the Japanese classics of the 1970s; the restoration craft — the workshops, techniques, and parts supply that keep the old machines running; the historic racing and rally scene — the classic events where the vintage bikes are ridden; buying advice for the prospective classic-bike buyer; and the scene's personalities — collectors, restorers, and the people who preserve motorcycling's heritage.

The readership is the German-speaking classic-motorcycle community: owners and collectors of historic bikes, the restoration trade and its customers, participants in classic rallies and historic racing, and the MOTORRAD readers whose interest extends to the history of their hobby. The bimonthly rhythm — six issues a year — suits the seasonal nature of the classic-bike hobby: the winter restoration months and the summer riding and event season.

The magazine's authority rests on the Motor Presse Stuttgart's motorcycle expertise: the house that has published MOTORRAD since 1949 — the title Paul Pietsch bought for 3,000 Deutsche Marks and built into Europe's largest motorcycle magazine — brings its testing and editorial tradition to the historic machines. Motorrad Classic applies the MOTORRAD virtues — thoroughness, technical competence, driving impressions — to the motorcycles of the past. The German classic-bike scene that the magazine serves is one of Europe's most active: the great fairs such as Retro Classics in Stuttgart — with more than 900 exhibitors and over 80,000 visitors, showing thousands of historic two- and four-wheelers — and the legendary winter meetings like the Elefantentreffen form the calendar around which the scene's year revolves.

History

Motorrad Classic developed within the Motor Presse Stuttgart as the classic-bike complement to MOTORRAD. The house's motorcycle publishing reaches back to 1949, when Paul Pietsch — cofounder of the Motor Presse Stuttgart — bought the rights to the title Das Motorrad; the magazine, which had first appeared in 1903 and been suspended during the wars, was rebuilt in Stuttgart into the fortnightly MOTORRAD that became Europe's largest motorcycle magazine (68,682 sold copies, IVW 1/2026, editor-in-chief Uwe Seitz).

As the classic-vehicle wave grew in the 1980s and 1990s — the Motor Klassik precedent on the automotive side showed the market — the house extended its motorcycle portfolio into the historic segment. Motorrad Classic joined PS (the sport-motorcycle magazine) and later FUEL (the quarterly passion title) as the portfolio's classic-bike title: the magazine for the readers whose interest in motorcycles includes the machines of the past. The bimonthly rhythm established the title as the regular companion of the classic-bike scene, alongside the MO Medien Verlag's Klassik Motorrad and the other vintage titles.

The magazine's digital home at motorrad-classic.de extended the brand into the online classic-bike community, where the scene's forums, event calendars, and the parts and restoration trade meet. The title's continued presence in the Motor Presse Stuttgart's publication listings documents its established position in the house's motorcycle portfolio.

Coverage and Content

The magazine's coverage follows the classic motorcycle's world. Machine portraits form the core: the historic models presented with the technical detail and riding impressions that the Motor Presse's readers expect — from the single-cylinder classics to the multi-cylinder superbikes of the 1970s. Restoration coverage serves the craft: workshop reports, technique articles, the parts supply — original, reproduction, and the specialists who remanufacture the unobtainable — and the economics of restoring a historic motorcycle.

The historic racing and event scene provides the calendar: classic races, rallies, and meetings where the vintage machines are ridden in period, reported with the scene's personalities and results. Buying advice addresses the market: what to look for in a classic bike, price developments, and the pitfalls of the vintage purchase. The personalities of the scene — collectors, restorers, former racers — give the magazine its human dimension.

The bimonthly rhythm structures the year: the winter issues serve the restoration season, the spring and summer issues the riding and event season — the magazine as the companion of the classic-bike year. The German market's classic-bike press includes the MO Medien Verlag's Klassik Motorrad alongside Motorrad Classic — the two titles serving the same passionate readership from different publishing houses, a competition that keeps both editorially sharp. The parts and restoration trade — the specialists who remanufacture unobtainable components, the dealers in historic machines, the insurers who understand vintage values — forms the commercial ecosystem in which the magazine operates and which its advertising reflects.

Organization and Ownership

Motorrad Classic is published by the Motor Presse Stuttgart — the publishing house founded by Paul Pietsch — as the classic-motorcycle title of its motorcycle portfolio. The portfolio's structure, per the house's publication listings, comprises MOTORRAD (fortnightly, ~74,407 circulation in the listing), Motorrad Classic (bimonthly, ~17,733), PS – Das Sport-Motorrad Magazin (monthly, ~19,024), and FUEL – Motorrad & Leidenschaft (quarterly) — the segmentation of the motorcycle readership into the generalist, the classic enthusiast, the sports rider, and the passion reader.

The magazine's editorial operations run within the Motor Presse Stuttgart's Stuttgart motorcycle editorial offices, drawing on the house's motorcycle expertise — the MOTORRAD editorial tradition under editor-in-chief Uwe Seitz forms the institutional context. The digital presence at motorrad-classic.de extends the brand into the online classic-bike community.

Circulation figures beyond the publication listing's ~17,733 copies are not publicly confirmed in freely available sources. The commercial model is that of a special-interest magazine: subscriptions and newsstand sales to the classic-bike community, advertising from the restoration trade, parts suppliers, insurers, and the classic-bike dealers, within the Motor Presse Stuttgart's motorcycle advertising environment. The house's motorcycle portfolio segmentation — MOTORRAD for the generalist, Motorrad Classic for the classic enthusiast, PS for the sports rider, FUEL for the passion reader — allows advertisers to address each segment of the motorcycling readership with precision.

Digital Presence

The magazine's digital home is motorrad-classic.de, the Motor Presse Stuttgart's portal for the classic-motorcycle title. The digital offering extends the bimonthly magazine: classic-bike news, event dates, and the scene's topics in the online formats of the house's motorcycle digital operations, which center on motorradonline.de — the digital flagship of MOTORRAD.

The Motor Presse Stuttgart's motorcycle digital ecosystem — motorradonline.de, the PS and FUEL digital presences, and the social-media channels — forms the network in which Motorrad Classic's content circulates. The classic-bike community's forums and the event calendars extend the magazine's reach into the scene's daily conversation. The German vintage-motorcycle market's dealers, auction houses, and restoration specialists — the trade that serves the readers' passion — find in the magazine their natural advertising environment. In print and online, Motorrad Classic remains the Motor Presse Stuttgart's classic-bike voice: the magazine for the friends of historic motorcycles, every two months from Stuttgart.