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Playmobil®Motorcycle brief history

The motorcycle series can be roughly divided into several time periods and different type of motorcycles over the years. First off all there are a couple of main categories: quads, racing-, road- and offroad motorcycles. Next to this, one can make a subdivide in these series by time periods, and see some reissues of many sets during the years. These reissues were sometimes done as regular sets, but also as specials or limited editions.
Below you will find a basic differentiation in styles and periods, not in themes. Themes, special editions, different versions and more information will be soon added to a new blog page.

 

1970-1982 Klicky Motorcycles

First produced were the so called "klicky" motorcycles. "Klicky" is the populair name amongst collectors for the famous Playmobil figure.
These old styled motorcycles with upright and fixed handlebars, are the first motorcycles to be produced by PM in the 70's. Production ran during the timeperiod from 1976 untill 1982. They also had a chrome engineblock with connected chrome exhaust pipes on both sides to the rear.
The next series of motorcycles following these early rigid bikes, were the famous red street-racer 3565 and green policemotorcycle 3564x.
Based on the old boxer engine motorcycles with moving black handlebars, folding kickstand, saddlebags, removable (non-chrome) exhausts and also a see through windscreen, these were a major development and step forward for Playmobil® and allowed for more play options. Some motorcycles like the 3565 came with a mount on the rear to put on race-numbers or logo's, instead of the regular saddlebags. The windscreens were attached to the headlight unit by sliding it on the headlight.

 

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1980-1997 Early motorcycles

An x in the setnumber? Yes, some setnumbers were re-used by Playmobil® in the early years, causing some strange issues. In this case, the setnumber 3564 was used for this early green police motorcycle and issued again in 1982 for the white Harley Davidson styled policemotorcycle. To mark the difference in these sets, collectors use the added "x" to identify the orignal first set.
The next models were introduced around 1982. Black frame, white body Harley Davidson® styled motorcycles like the 3564 Police motorcycle. This first set was produced from 1982 untill 1997. It was re-issued in a carrycase 5891 and later in 2015 in a new set.
This frame was also used for the television crew motorcycle 3847 and for the larger highway cruisers, like the 3343, 3917 and 3062 motorcycles.

 

1986-2017 Mopeds & motorscooters

During the years Playmobil started making mopeds, these are smaller and much more simple sets then the motorcycles. One thing they do have, which their larger counterparts don't, is a trailer hitch on the back.
Released in much smaller amount of sets, but always with more play-value. For instance the green moped from set 3134 had a trailer behind it, lumberjack, tools and a tree.
With set 3946 the first motorscooter was released in 1997. This really is a type of motorcycle, of which just a couple of other versions/sets have been released since then.

 

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1988-2017 Racing motorcycles

Racing motorcycles came into play for the first time with set 3565, although this was an older style type. In 1988 a new style motorcycle came with streetracer set 3303. This motorcycle had a removable front shield/body and single exhaust, was pretty bulky and somewhat aggressively styled. Due to this removable shield and the extensive stickersheet, it was usable as a racing-, but also as a regular motorcycle. The type was reused in several larger play sets, but never again as a single motorcycle.
In 2011 Playmobil released a more modern and sleek looking version of this racing motorcycle with set 5115. This set was part of a collectible series, which contained 6 different sets you could collect. In 2014 this was repeated with a new collectible series and a red version was released in set 5522.
In 2016 this same frame was used for a police motorcycle racer in advent set 9007.

 

1998-2017 Cruisers & Highway tourers

From 1998 untill 2003 Playmobil started producing the well known "cruiser" type motorcycles in different variations. Most widely known for the iconic white-blue police motorcycle 3986, and the white green German Polizei version 3983. In later years there were also some other versions like the black & white US-Police 3332, 3924 & 4224 paramedic motorcycles, and the black & grey 4077 ADAC motorcycle.
Again in 2016 the same chassis was used for another unique item: A firebrigade motorcycle, which was inside a North American exclusive set 5663 Take Along Fire Station.

Set 3062 Highway Motorcycle was the first release of the large and popular highway tourers. These motorcycles were bigger, have large touring-cases on the rear, double antenna's and boy do they look cool. The same moulds were used for the USA exclusive set 3343 grey Highway tourer, 5114 Blue Touring motorcycle and the 5523 Road Cruiser. These last two were also part of the two collectible series.
3062 was later again released as an exclusive for the Target stores in the USA as set 3917. First in a dark blue box with plastic see through window and later in a light blue box. It was also released as an add-on in the Direct Service assortment without it's rider as set 7688.

 

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1995-2017 Choppers, Customs & Trikes

Around 1995 Playmobil released it's first rugged style looking chopper and biker in set 3831. The 3831 was re-used in several other combination sets like 3085 & 3605. This same motorcycle was also used with different printing in set 3014 released in 1998. From then on the purple trike 3832, it's Red DS release 7528 cousin and the choppers 5113, 5526 & 9108 (2017 release). The motorycle from set 3014 was also released as a DS version without it's rider as set 7294.
The first motorcycles collectibles series also introduced the new customs and naked bikes to the world. Starting of with set 5117 & 5118 Customs. Later on these were followed by the 5524 & 5527 from the second series. Later on there were some more customs added, like the 5280 Blue Easteregg biker in 2013 and motorcycle garages or take a long boxes 5982 & 6157.

 

2004-2017 Flashing lights modern motorcycles

Starting in 2004 until now, some radical new police motorcycles were produced like the 4261 and the 5180, which were based on the newer BMW motorcycles and have a working led-blue flasher on the rear side of the motorcycle.
Paramedic motorcycle set 5544 was basically the same as both these police motorcycles and released in 2014.

In 2016 a newer and more bulky version of this motorcycle was introduced, which also had working blue lights in the front body of the motorcycle. This is lighted from the rear unit by glassfiber through the body to both flashers.

 

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1987-2017 Crossmotors & Offroads

From 1987 onwards the cross motorcycles and offroads entered the Playmobil universe. It started witt motocross set 3301, the green one with the rugged cross tires. Later on this set was copied multiple times in different itterations like set 3044, 3331, 3698. This type was also used in some bigger sets for example set 3143 jeep with dirtbikes and the motocycle shop 3992. Strangely enough, two motocross bikes were released as DS versions 7194 and 7195, but these were released with rider.
Set 3222 All terain motocycle was based on the 3301 crossmotorcycle, but received some major upgrades like detachable transport cases on both sides. The all terain bikes were reused in several other sets during the years, like the 4162 advent calendar and 5414 Panda's in the Bamboo forest sets.

2006 saw the release of a new type of motocross motorcycle with some unique characteristics, but also some flaws. This new motorcycle had some nice changes, but they are also it's weak points. The shield was removed and replaced with a front fender and sometimes a headlight unit. The bikes got suspension on the rear bridge and thus this bike stands higher on the ground then the old motocross bikes. The riders no longer had open helmets or visors, but received goggles on new helmets.
This series started with the blue motocross set 4416 and this exact motorcycle was reused in 2007 in set 5798 Racingpark. The same moulds were used for USA exclusive duopack 5930, 5115 & 5525 collectibles series crossmotors, 9357 Special plus and 9431 dinohunter with raptor. In 2009 set 4923 was a red & yellow motocrosser released in a red Easteregg.

Offroads were introduced in 2003 with set 4426 offroad bike. This is a larger version of the 3222 all terain bikes, but did not come with detachable cases. Instead it came with a rider with a backpack and desert groundplate with plants and scorpion. Set 4426 was also reused in several other sets.
In 2012 a new version of the offroad was released as set 5237 Explorer with Motorcycle. This one did have two detachable cases and a lot of extra accesories with it. This was followed in 2015 with the 5438 Biker at Camp Site, which had a tent and much more accesories to go with it.

 

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