Well, where do you start? It's 1968. First there was a Kreidler moped; after a while the idea came to build a rotating intake on it. After all, the Van Veen Kreidlers had that too! Block pulled apart, to the neighbor who had a forge and therefore a forge fire. A melting pot was found, aluminum scrap in it, melted, poured into the left crankcase half, turned in the lathe, made a disk from a putty knife, put a lid on it, put the carburetor on and off we went!
A blacksmith's apprentice from the neighbor's had a Ducati 450 Mark 3, which he wanted to get rid of because he needed a Kawasaki 900.
I didn't have a driver's license yet, my cousin did. We decided to buy the Duc together for, if I remember correctly, 1.000 guilders. We rode a lot together. In the meantime I had also obtained my driver's license. The lessons were on a Vespa scooter, with the teacher sitting on the back with a handlebar behind him, complete with clutch and brake lever for possible intervention, but I digress.
The Ducatis of that time were as reliable as the politicians in The Hague of today, so it was decided to go for Japanese.
We had seen an advertisement offering various Suzukis in a price range that fit our budget. The Ducati was kick-started, which is quite an operation in itself. After 20 kilometres, so much oil was leaking that it was in the boots of my cousin, who was riding. After a man from the ANWB had stopped and inspected the problem and said “it’s a total loss”, he left again. We pushed the bike to a farm, and then it turned out that the threaded rods with which the head and cylinder were attached to the block had been pulled out of the block! We hammered a block of wood between the upper frame tube and the head to get everything back in place, but of course that didn’t have the desired effect.
We called the motorcycle dealer: we wanted to buy two motorcycles and trade in one that was broken. We had hardly hung up when the dealer drove up!
My cousin bought a Suzuki T20, and I bought a Suzuki 250 Scrambler. At home, the exhausts of the Scrambler were immediately sawn through, so that they could run underneath; low handlebars on it, done.
Then a Suzuki T500 for, I think, 3.999 guilders. Tophalf on it and a Four Leading Shoe front brake, which Van Bockel sold in Rotterdam, together with Ceriani brakes and front forks. He also sold Grimeca front wheels with Four Leading Shoe. Those were cheaper. I went to Van Bockel on the T500, paid a few hundred guilders, strapped the wheel to my back and rode another 300 km home. When I got home I sawed open the hubs and made large cooling slots including wind catchers. Nice, isn't it?
Of course we had many more bikes, but we'll leave it at that!
* We got to know Harm Jan through the reader reactions. Harm Jan has a crystal clear mind and brilliant hands. He makes 'vehicles' because he can. If you now have such an amazing cheap subscription to AMK takes, you will soon read the astonishing story of one of his creations. We won't spoil anything, but you can think of the legendary Moggies!
His approach? For a current project, he invested 60 hours in making a mudguard. However, he was not 100% satisfied with the result.
So he put that fender in a corner. And made a new fender. Then he did the same thing on the other side.
Yes, good times. I also went to Van Bockel for my R60. Inspired by his advertisement and the price (1975). On the BMW to Rotterdam, wheel and fork strapped on the back and yep, 200 km. back across the border. The great thing about that day was that Rob Bron was in the shop at that moment and was talking about race situations. He smoked Belinda Mint cigarettes. Which he offered me. And which I -as a non-smoker- festively put in my mouth and vaped along. Those were the days ..
Let us cherish our memories
I think he stole those Belinda's too 🙂