[3][4][1]: 83 [notes 1] It was designed in the late 1960s,[4] first shown at a German trade show (Internationale Fahrrad und Motorrad-Ausstellung IFMA - the International Bicycle and Motorcycle show [6]) in 1970; the prototype had a Sachs KM-914 engine and a BMW 250 gearbox and shaft transmission; production started in 1974.

[8] Sachs had prior experience with Wankel applications in personal watercraft and power tools.

[7][11] A contemporary Cycle World review summarized the machine this way: "Less performance for more money takes this rotary out of the realm of practicality.

[4] A Rider retrospective written in 2015 called it an "exercise in simplicity, with clean, spare design that projects industrial efficiency", especially in contrast to the overbuilt Suzuki RE5, while noting both rotary powered machines are "'orphan bikes'...innovative but not commercially successful.

"[11] Another 2008 retrospective noted the high insurance costs (due to erroneous swept volume calculation ranking it with high-risk literbikes) and said "Every buyer with an ounce of common-sense, or logic, avoided the Hercules like the plague and the bike sold only to real biking geeks who delighted in the absurdly quirky.