So brush…

Op alfaIn this order, Adrie te Veldhuis, Bas Genesse and Ben van Eerdt are genetic cleaners. Their motorcycles always look showroom fresh and ready for competition. Of course they each use their 'own' brands and types of polishes, but their main tools are time and attention.

My feeling towards those cleaners, who also drive seriously, is somewhere between envy and admiration. Their work is extremely rewarding and you suddenly understand why car dealers just spend up to €500 on car cleaning companies. Because if a polished trade-in yields € 1.000 more, then that € 500 investment is of course a great investment.

Now it seemed to me that cleaning an engine with all its cracks, bolt heads and spokes is a hell of a job. For years I have not been able to get any further than rinsing my mopeds once, at most twice, with the high-pressure washer. Of course, I make sure that I do not damage bearings, seals and any chains. What strikes me with all that cleaning is that there is always a kind of fine dust haze left on the paint and chrome. That needs to be investigated again.

But because a good example follows: I recently bought a MZ TS250 project that had been collecting dust for about eight years. I've wanted an ex-GDR two-stroke like this for a long time. Unfortunately, I saw the prices of those things rise steeply. The ex-Ossies want their historical heritage back en masse. And for top restored TSs € 6.000-8.000 is asked for. Those are asking prices... But still. First of all, that's crazy. Secondly, I don't have the money to just buy a moped. Third, I find perfection boring. But the TS I found wasn't perfect. Not even walking. And it was awarded to me.

Now I know something about many classics and a little more about some classics. It seemed to me that I had scored an extremely original, early (1973) TS. The overall appearance and patina seemed to confirm all that. In the meantime I know that there is one thing that is not really original. With that in mind, we still have to do something fun like the MZ TS story Auto Motor Klassiek appears. If you are a single issue buyer, you can finally get that dirt cheap price AMK subscription scores, you certainly won't miss that story. But we were talking about cleaning…

The dark blue TS had an approximately 8 year old, even layer of dust. A certain bond had developed between that dust and the MZ. You couldn't wipe it away with a soft duster. That's why the former East German was given a mild shower with WD40. He was allowed to sop for a while. Then a selection was made from the stock of cleaning cloths with a household background. A flannel fitted sheet cut into pieces turned out to be fantastic. The result was a much happier looking MZ. Then all the aluminum was stroked with a piece of soft (fine) steel wool injected with WD40. This showed that they used excellent basic material in the GDR. The result was impressive.

The next time I went shopping, not only Aldi, but also Action was visited again. It turned out that they also had polishing paste in the car parts shelf. This treated the paint and aluminum once again and the MZ became more and more beautiful. I hadn't cleaned spokes often in the past fifty years. But here too, patient perseverance turned out to yield excellent results.

At Action they also had car wax in fine bottles. So that meant rubbing it in and out again. In the meantime, things were going badly with the supply of cleaning cloths.

A fresh rear tire and a 6V battery were purchased from my main supplier and MZ specialist here in Dieren. I thought Gerrit only had ETZ stuff. But it turned out it also had TS parts. So fresh NOS grip rubbers and footrest rubbers were added.

In the eyes of Adrie te Veldhuis, Bas Genesse and Ben van Eerdt, my cleaning work will only receive a mildly pitying smile. But I realize that I am only at the beginning of a new life. Because cleaning is fun! (Then you can also clean my motorcycle, ed.)

PS
A while ago Adrie sold one of his MZ's. It was technically and optically perfect in his opinion. There were giggles on the sidelines about his asking price. But bottom line, he got his asking price from the first viewer.

PPS
A British acquaintance with a bunch of really valuable classics used his engines quite intensively. But his motto was: “Motorbikes are like dogs: If you wash them too often, the bastards get confused.”

And that also has something.

PPPS
Still useful to read up before you buy something. My MZ, which I thought was still completely original after 50 years, turned out to be different in one respect than the factory had planned. That doesn't matter to me. But there are people who fall for things like that.

Brushing: Before and after