Between Wheeler Dealers and Flipping Bangers – column

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Wheeler Dealers has been running since 2003 or so. Flipping Bangers from 2017. WD episodes are repeated in complete cannibalism. Flipping Bangers is a bit boyishly trashy for our taste.

But it's all about preserving generally neglected or underrated classics with half an eye on budgets. You can of course also use this approach with two-wheelers. And then you can just do the job on your own. The approach was not to strive for Edd China's perfection, but to take it a little more seriously than those two smurfs from Flipping Bangers. The only concept that was taken from it was that the rebirth of the IZH should cost as little as possible.

As mentioned earlier, the 350 cc IZH recently came into the picture. We don't blame the two-stroke for its origins, but its color is of course Old Russian shame red. After having protected ourselves politically, we can happily report that the color is exactly identical to the Action red spray cans.

When the machine was adopted it was largely complete, but quite neglected. But there was compression. There were sparks.

So first it was thoroughly cleaned and polished. It is best to allow a few days for such a job. You not only see the motorcycle being refurbished, but you also see the whole thing in all its details.

The IZH turned out to be completely unencrypted. That's always nice. Characteristic of ex-Soviet stuff: bolt heads of 12 and 14 mm and the absence of washers. By the way, many parts are still attached with regular bolts with a saw cut. Even with a production of more than 1.000.000 pieces, it was apparently not necessary to work with hexagons or cross heads. The tank and front were lightly sanded, primed (Action) and sprayed (Action). The spray can with 'chrome' (Action) was a neat solution for 'detailing' the front fender.

The brakes were cleaned. The front brake keys were cleaned and given a lick of grease. The thick brake lining of the 2LS front brake turned in a cool drum. The rear brake was also optically 100% after cleaning and lightly greasing the axles of the key. The brake backing plate at the front was given a white coat again. The white color of the Action radiator paint turned out to be the perfect match. In the meantime, all inner cables were given a few drops of sewing machine oil every day. And after a week they moved as smoothly as an eel in a bucket of snot.

The decompressor on the block turned out to have been made immobile with an electric welding machine. But fortunately, the almost complete engine block with which Richard Busweiler sponsored this project to celebrate that he has been my Ural parts supplier for almost 25 years now contained a perfect head, a new cylinder and a fresh piston. The gaskets were a serious expense. They came from stock at Rolpa and together with the shipping costs, the item cost more than €10.

Of course, the head with the fresh decompressor was installed neatly at the right time. The black cross handlebar was replaced by a supplied chrome one. The carburetor covers were given a coat of zinc/alu spray (Action). The M8 bolts that held things in place were replaced with custom plastic tightening things that had once been on a knitting machine, but looked like OEM parts. The steering damper knob was once turned from a piece of nylon and looked bad. According to the Internet, there should be some kind of Bakelite balance wheel there. And my friend Jan E. now has exactly two hand wheels that can only be distinguished from the real ones by a real IZH connoisseur. During reassembly, the spring that was supposed to press the positioning ball into its hole broke away. But for that, the feather from a Bic pen helped.

The lack of one flashing light was solved by installing an almost identical copy from the junk bin of comrade Ernie W. However, because the IZH had been optically refurbished, an in-depth investment was made. Two used MZ cutters were obtained from Gekra Motors, their main supplier for almost 30 years, and the only part missing from the project turned out to be available there: the fuel taps of the Moto Guzzi V50 Nato and those of the IZH turned out to be identical in terms of threads. Because it simply worked easily, the petrol hose became one of those old-fashioned transparent and later on becoming rock-hard pieces of 'off the roll'. The two meters I bought was a bit on the long side, but I also needed some length for the Ural side valve, which simply does not have much room for modern E-resistant thick fuel hoses.

This keeps you busy for a few weeks until you realize that the thing only needs a battery and gasoline. The battery was still there. And the local Shell pump is within walking distance. So the 5 liter jerry can (Action) was filled in advance with a dash of two-stroke oil that was topped off with almost five liters of V Power. To give it a try, I first put in a liter. After the jerry can had been put away and life had been celebrated with a cigar, it turned out that there was half a liter of mixed lubricant under the engine.

The fuel tap received an extra smirit ring and the float chamber received a brake cleaner shower and was blown dry with compressed air. The next dose of mixed lubrication remained in its cage. Without contact, they first danced on the kick starter with the choke fully open. Then the ignition was turned on. The lights of the rider information center lit up friendly and with the second stage the 350 cc single-cylinder engine started.

The garage immediately filled with a blue smoke that was so thick that if you threw your shoe in the air, the shoe almost got stuck in the smoke. With the garage doors open, it became quite blue in the neighborhood for quite some time. But the old oil residue burned exemplary and the engine ran nicely. Responded smoothly to the gas. Picked up nicely. The two-stroke sounded a lot more agricultural than the MZ that I had last year and exchanged for my current Guzzi. Because I suspended the bike, the test drive was up and down the street. But the only problem turned out to be that the indicators did not work. I forgot to connect them.

For the time being, I am the surprised and proud owner of one of the few registered IZH Planeta 5s in the Netherlands. You can see from our eastern neighbors that this license plate shop is quite special. These motorcycles are listed on Kleinanzeigen for very manageable prices. But usually it says: “Engine has compression and sparks. Motorcycle has no license plate.”

Bottom line, you can score a nice Harley WLC for around € 22.000 or simply find happiness in a cheap purchase plus a few days of pleasant tinkering. If anyone wants to trade their Liberator for my IZH, I won't say no. Because I still have my dreams. I just don't lose sleep over it anymore. But would I enjoy such a Harley as much as I would my ex-Soviet rabbit, which is despised by almost everyone?

I do not think so!

But bottom line, the story about priceless classics is not that serious. Not even if you pay twenty grand for a BMW R69S. Because the latest BMW topper, the 1300 GS, costs thirty grand with a few extras. But under 1.000 euros you will find the sweetest free-range animals from the eighties. And to make such a machine fun, you only need to be reasonably handy, but certainly not a technical genius. Then you have a motor for which you do not need to put extra locks on your shed door. An engine that you know and can talk about.

The basis of this story lies in meeting a man with a fantastically beautifully restored, valuable top classic. He couldn't really say more about it than what that masterpiece had cost him. And that is real poverty.