Saturday, December 13, 2008

The fruits of summer

It's been ages since I've published anything on this blog. Partly it's because I've been busy but also because I start writing something, then things change and I go back and start re-editing. This time however I'm just going to publish and correct the out of date stuff with another post. Here goes:

The Troll
After sourcing most of the parts I needed I set about trying to carry out some of the repairs myself. As I reported last time, this had somewhat mixed results. At the end of the day I couldn't complete the rewiring, fix the accelerator or remove the rear brake cable (which had rusted right into the brake housing. Ivo and Roberto from the Vespa Shop had agreed to look the Troll over for me and assist so I ended up dropping it off to them. After they'd had an opportunity to give it the once over we caught up to discuss the next steps. I'd originally intended to just undertake the basic repairs on the Troll, to get it roadworthy but not restore it. After a lengthy discussion though we agreed that it will pretty much be a basic restoration, including a complete repaint. I'm quite excited. One of the things that prompted me to do this now was finding this German website detailing the restoration of a Troll and Berlin. I'm expecting my Troll to look just like this: http://emw340-2.com/

I've also been in contact with a guy - James - in the UK who is repairing a Troll. His site is:

Due to the Christmas and New Year breaks, when many businesses shut down for weeks, the Troll probably won't be ready before March 2009. I can hardly wait.

The Heinkel
The Heinkel is now resident in my new shed. I really didn't have room to store any of my scooters. The Vespa was always parked on the veranda at the front of the house - not an entirely secure location while the Heinkel and Troll were both wrapped up under tarps on my back porch, much to the delight of my wife. So, in the interests of domestic harmony it was essential that they be found an appropriate home. We had a small 2.5 by 2.5 metre shed in the corner of the garden. That had to go. As did a rather scrappy small tree. We now have a 4.3 metre long shed that can happily accommodate all three scooters and my kayak. Hurrah! That all said, unfortunately, I just haven't had the time yet to do anything with the Heinkel, but I am planning on starting work on it shortly.


The Vespa
I hadn't ridden the Vespa much in the past couple of months, but after getting back from Melbourne in mid November I've taken it on a run every weekend. I took it into Fremantle a couple of Sundays ago and she rode like a dream. It felt great to finally get to use the scooter as I intended. Unfortunately, not having used it much over the preceding months I'd neglected to check exactly how much petrol was in the tank. I mean, hey, it's not like I'd used it much so it's gotta be pretty full, doesn't it? Funnily enough I was almost home when this thought crossed my mind and I thought perhaps I should take this opportunity to swing by the nearest petrol station. And with that thought the engine suddenly went "pop!" and I was dead in the water. Oops! I was only about a kilometre from home so it wasn't a biggie. Just a little embarrassing.

More embarrassing however was that I had to push the Vespa past a group of young ladies who were sitting on their front lawn, overlooking the river, and having a few drinks. They'd waved when I drove past them on my way to Freo so I felt a little humiliated now having to walk the bike past them. Sure enough they laughed and called out but were surprisingly sympathetic. "Looks like you could use a drink!", one of them called, and indeed I could. And I did. I ended up joining their little soiree for a few bottles of champagne so it didn't end too badly after all! But I now know exactly how far I can drive on one tank of petrol.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Long time coming...

It's been several months now since I've updated the blog. This is partly an indication of the progress to date and partly because I've just been busy. So a quick summary is in order.

During June and July I received a steady flow of the parts I had ordered. There were some errors however. I was shipped a cigar form Berlin exhaust instead of the Troll exhaust I'd ordered. I had to do alot of searching to find a Troll exhaust, but found one here: http://www.oldtimer-auspuffanlagen.de/ They were very prompt with the purchase and delivery.

I am still struggling to find brake shoes for the Troll. Many vendors seem to offer them but are unresponsive to my enquiries. I have found this the greatest difficulty ordering from German vendors. Although many do reply to my queries in English, they never seem to follow up on the enquiry. I have an order outstanding with http://www.dietel-fahrzeugteile.de/ for brake shoes, a new carburetor and petrol tap but haven't responded to my queries yet.

My ambition to take care of the rewiring myself didn't really come to fruition. The wiring set certainly appeared to contain everything required to completely rewire the Troll. The problem however was that the wires are not labeled and the schematic is very theoretical, like a subway map. Without electrical experience it simply proved too complicated for me. As one of my motorcycle owning friends commented, "why would you do it yourself when any little mistake will completely stuff it up." So I decided to enlist professional help. That proved easier said than done. I tried several motorcycle electricians but no one was interested.

Then my Vespa broke down. Again.

I'd mentioned earlier that the Vespa's wiring had failed after its last service. Sam the mechanic wasn't really interested in rewiring the electrics so I started work on it myself. All was going well for a while. I was able to trace the fault to a single wire in the headstock and then the engine failed. In desperation I tried to find a new mechanic and came across Ivo from The Vespa Shop. Initially the main attraction of the The Vespa Shop was that it was relatively close to my house. Ivo was very helpful and even arranged to pick up the Vespa from my house. One day later the bike was fixed and I could pick it up. Ivo and Roberto run a small operation and don't really advertise, but I highly recommend their work (phone -08-93315501, email - vespashop@hotmail.com).

After picking up the Vespa, I had some discussions with Ivo and he agreed to assist with the Troll. This was good news to me. He'll be picking it up (along with all the spares) sometime in October when he'd back from Italy.

More Heinkels
I haven't really done much with the Heinkel but now that I can see the end of the Troll project, I've got to restart work on the Heinkel. I'll need to audit all the parts I have to determine what I need to buy / replace.

I just happened to be looking on ebay the other day and Klaus Wolfe was selling another Heinkel Tourist. This time an 103A2 from 1961. It was in a very similar condition to mine. Ironically, the price paid after eight bids was A$670 - exactly the same price I paid after two bids. Here is a photo.

Unfortunately the buyers ID is private so I can't contact them. I'd like to follow the progress of their project too.
Speaking of rare and unusual scooters on the market, Joe D'Ercole of Scootersales in Queensland is selling a number of very interesting scooters, including:
1956 Triumph Tessy
1959 Velocette Viceroy
1956 Maico Maicoletta
1958 NZeta (Cezeta built under license in NZ)
1959 Manurhin Hobby (French built DKW)
1953 NSU Prima (German built Lambretta)
1958 Puch Stier
1956 Triumph Tigress
1959 Terrot
1961 Cezeta
Most are running but some are restoration jobs. I must admit I saw the 61 Cezeta advertised on Ebay a year or so back but it failed to meet reserve. I had even sent a query after the auction but never heard back.