75 Years after the war - column

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Purchasing classics there

In Germany nowadays you have to have whole rows of stamps on your exhaust system. In addition, that exhaust system must be 'eedetragen' in your 'Brief'. If your exhaust system is not legal, you will immediately receive a fine and the Polizei will confiscate your motorcycle until an 'Original Auspuffanlage' hangs under it again.

This is not tampered with, while the Polizei, unlike a number of police officers here in the Netherlands, does know how to correctly perform an exhaust noise measurement. The German Gründliche total approach often has the side effect that the agents can give you the tip that there happens to be a motorcycle shop in the area that ... The trade in used original exhaust systems is flourishing in the border region. A ticket and a different exhaust system further, the Polizei wishes you a pleasant weekend. Your old system will stay in Germany and will be destroyed.

Thirty kilometers further it is your turn because the man with the radar gun fired at you from his hip. Such a graze also costs money, but fortunately the rates for clear speeding offenses in Germany are people-friendly. We are more endeared than angry with our classics: “Look! We can still be too fast! ” We moor on a terrace, do a few servings of cholesterol and we wonder, mildly surprised, what Curry Würste could be made of. Some improbable and disgusting suggestions come.

Fortunately, the German Horeca is much cheaper than the Dutch. That provides a point of rest and perspective. After half a liter of beer against the oiliness, it is then your turn for a breathalyzer a few turns further. There is quite a lot of police in Germany. It will be due to the nuisance of modern motorcycles on the weekends. We have also been seriously overtaken a few times.

After a short climb and a nice bend we are kindly but resolutely waved to by Polizwei. The one quietly in the background. The other is hungry for prey. The older Polizist approaches, smiling calmly. His much younger colleague is a fanatically looking young lady who apparently recently exchanged her headscarf for such a cool German police hat. The steam is practically coming out of her ears. She is steaming with a sense of duty. She suspects our bikes of extreme illegality. Demands our papers in a high tone. Snaps at her colleague for the dB meter. The sound turns out to be okay. That's because we can accelerate ourselves and play with the ignition a bit. In addition, old side valves sound good.

The police lady is now getting a bit insecure because she cannot find our bikes in her documentation. The years between 1940-1955 have apparently not been properly updated. In the meantime, the two of us have been busy with the three of us for so long that a managerial cap arrives. He listens briefly and points to the two Harleys and the pale green sidecar combination. “Das sind zwei Amerikaner und eine Russe. Und mein Grossvater hat gesagt dagegen nie wieder zu kämpfen. ” A fingertip against the brim of his cap. Ich wünsch 'ihnen ein schönen Tag. Und sei vorsichtig! “Nice people, those Germans. Sensible grandfather and grandson too, by the way.

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6 comments

  1. It depends on what you personally like more of course.
    But anyway, original just deserves respect.
    Even if they are sometimes louder machines. Speak Ducati.
    Is it then a crime to screw non-original exhausts somewhere?
    From a legal point of view it is and it usually falls from the angle of propriety
    quite along. But if there are Harley riders who like straight legs
    consider damper, but with which even double glazing is just about shattered,
    then the concept of it is pretty much gone for me. And then to know them
    with those straight legs in 99,99% of the cases just a pack of horses
    reorganize out of the stable. With the evolution of my R45 to something faster,
    the original dampers were kept as well as the bends.
    Other adjustments to the exhaust circus made it faster and…. Quieter!
    For others it may be a horror but for the performance just a blessing.
    Of course it has a disadvantage. Because of the more calmness of the pipes
    now every innocent tap from the block is heard better.
    And that is not good for the mind 😔.
    As Cruijf said. 'Every nadeil got a fair deal', even if it was the other way around here.

  2. Everything is fine with the eastern neighbors. Someone from another culture, headscarf or not, should not present himself too authoritarian. Experienced it once in NL.
    Just bark back, they are silent immediately!

  3. I still regularly visit Germany with the old side valve who is completely in war uniform.
    During passport / noise / thing controls I notice that the Polizei reacts very reserved to 'der grune Amerikaner' ...
    Remarks like “..das war mal ..” and “..es gibt hier kein Kempf mehr ..” are often used ..

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