In the third part of “The memories of” Rolf Wassens takes us back to the moped culture at high school, where the distinction between different moped sympathies was deep. This part tells about tough guys on Kreidlers and Zündapps, the moped cult, and the first dreams about serious motorcycles.
At secondary school in Kampen there was a distinction between mopeds. You had Kreidlers and Zündapps on the one hand. Boys with tight haircuts and my big sideburns fitted in well. And you had softies on Puchs and Tomos. They were drug addicts and walked around with pimples. They were a bit more popular with the girls, which we didn't understand. And then there was that daredevil who repeated every grade and was therefore a lot older, with his Kawasaki Mach III, what a thing. Bloody fast, but otherwise it wasn't much better.
The Catholic Church in Dronten
In an annex of the Catholic church there was a small exhibition of motorcycles around 1969 – for Luut and his brother Gert and for me it was the spark. We walked around the Triumph Bonneville, Norton Commando, Laverda 750, Moto Guzzi V7 and California, BMW R 90S and the revolutionary Honda CB 750. We dreamed of these things at night; our rooms were plastered with posters. The California in particular stole my heart. However, I have never bought a Guzzi – perhaps I will one day.
English or Eastern Bloc – or BMW?
Luut soon bought an MZ 250, and Gert a Norton Commando. Later Luut bought a Suzuki 350, but he didn't have it for long; he didn't like it. Then the long-desired Triumph Bonneville. I rode the Zündapp for a while, I still had to save up a bit. And eventually it became a Jawa 250 at the same bike shop – something different than a Bonneville. I did ride the Bonneville, and it steered fantastically. However, a lot of things broke down – the Norton did too. Because I was a student, I already had trouble keeping the Jawa on the road financially, but it didn't break down and I could maintain it myself. I rode 80.000 km with it, actually without any costs. All things considered, it was cheaper than public transport.
Riding a 'fast moped' and then a Jawa that didn't go much faster than 85, was a relatively safe and gradual growth to riding a motorcycle on big boys. Of course I fell down now and then, usually through stupidity, but the speed was lower. The biggest embarrassment was that I was allowed to borrow the brand new Kreidler from classmate Gert. At that time I was still riding the Berini myself - something different. Gert had a lot of confidence in me, but I fell in the first corner through overconfidence. That Kreidler rode so well. I came back with a big dent in the tank - Gert's confidence in me had a bigger dent. Fortunately my parents were well insured. Another time I lost a girl on the back, but that was intentional. She slid off because I gave the Jawa a lot of gas - after that she held on nicely.
Read on in Part 4 to see how Rolf's adventures progress to serious motorcycles and he makes his first long rides. Part 1 en Part 2 you read here.
With us you had "the farmers" who rode Kreidler and Zündapp. And you had "the city ones" with Honda (Mt/mb), Yamaha (RD and XT). I myself had an MT with a German block underneath 125 cc with 6 gears. Always funny how they were completely flat on those Kreidlers and thought they were fast with an 80 cc underneath. I passed them and while overtaking I shifted up again and put the gas on. Unfortunately I had to give in once during a roller test.
Thank you very much for these nice stories
Everything is very recognizable hahaha
A book full of memories of my time on the Kreidler
Afterwards I bought my first motorcycle
A Suzuki 250 GT two-stroke and then there was no turning back
Still on the bike after 47 years
My beloved Yamaha xjr 1300
At our school, in good-natured Zeist, there was also discrimination and you were classified based on what you rode.
The “dikeers” rode MT/MB50, the altos Puch Maxi, and the “kakkers” Honda 4-stroke.
Now I've always had a preference for valves, so a 'poo sticker' was my lot..
When I moved to Twente, I took the Honda with me, and there they had no class struggle... let alone a Honda 4-stroke moped.
“That sounds heavy, is that a diesel?” I was asked more than once.
'Postman' moped too..