Right, that looks like XL250 Motosport number 2 then...
Heh. One XL250 Motosport in 'reasonable' nick - original paint on undented tank, allegedly good engine (old parts from rebuild in box), scrappy exhaust, refurbished powder coated frame, original switchgear and cocks etc... £550 haggled down from £650 (which was a bit strong). There was a *fantastic* 1973 T150 up for grabs - re-imported from the US, so Export tank in black and dark red, and restored to what looked like museum quality to me. And when the geezer started it up, it sounded as good as it looked. £2750 asking price, which I think was on the cheap side of 'bargain'. OTOH, a super-clean (restored, I think) Adler two-stroke twin from Germany, looked late 1950s/early 1960s, very nice bike indeed, asking price £3950 which Timo reckons was taking the piss to a huge extent.
*Cocks*? What exactly have I bought here? Some farmyard p0rn? Actually if it's really made in 1972 then all I'm interested is the frame and then engine. Swap the rest over from mine as it's got really good bodywork, a reasonable seat and decentish forks (not to mention new wheels), possibly also swap over the new wiring loom that's on mine. Then either put the grottier bits on my frame and sell it on as a non-runner resto project or have an XL250 break fest and sell lots of parts. Some haggle. I think it went something like this: "Would you take 550?" "Got to make a phone call" Couple of minutes later "OK" So did yu buy it then? It's probably an MB250, did it look like one of these? http://www.adler-oldtimer.de/world.htm There's a resto one on fleabay Germany for EUR 1750 buy-it-now which I already think is excessive. But for some reason they seem to attract massive prices here in the UK. Hmm. I can smell an arbitrage opportunity if they'd actually go for that kind of dosh here.
Hmm. I consulted my "Tragatsch"[1] and while he only shows MB250s with the plunger rear end (with the exception of an MB250 RS race bike) he mentions that from 56/57 onwards the frame would have a rear swing arm. Actually it doesn't have to be a 250 either, they did several capacities from I think 150cc upwards and the 200cc one was a fairly bigger seller in Germany (I think back then you still could ride up to 200cc without taking a test). They were supposed to be amongst the best 250cc bikes built in Germany at that time and were certainly one of the most expensive ones. Surprise...
Well, apart from the fact that they're in German only, I'm happy to bring my copy with me when I come to pick up the XL. I've got the reissue that they did a couple of years ago and that may well still be in print so if you're interested I can have a look into sourcing another copy.
My brother has a copy he got about 30 years ago, in English, published by Hamlyn IIRC. I was looking at the the Kevin Ash edition in a cheap bookshop a couple of months ago. Should have bought it, really.
Ah, I didn't know that there was an English edition. I think it's a set of books worth having (there are four in total, but the German reissue sticks them into one volume) if you want to identify obscure stuff up to about the mid sixties. They were written in the 1970s and 80s so the majority of classics around here were either new or still just basic used bikes... Indeed, it's a book worth having.
Er... I'm confused... are you both talking about the same book? I have a couple of editions of Tragatsch's Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Motorcycles. One is published by Hamlyn - 1st edition was 1977, mine's a 1979 reprint. T'other was published by Greenwich Editions in 2000 and has been updated by Kevin Ash. (ISBN 0-86266-273-7 may come in handy for aspiring purchasers.) Hugo Wilson's Encyclopaedia is also useful for mopping up some of the really obscure makes that Tragatsch missed.
Yes, we are, only that I'm talking about the German editions as I wasn't aware that they ever were translated into English, comprende? To make matters more confusing the original German edition was published over four volumes within several years. This particular edition has been unobtainable in Germany for dog-knows-how-long. A few years ago a German motoring publishing house put an all-four-volumes-in-a-single-book reissue out, which is what I've got. Right, and that's what confused me because I didn't know that there was an English one in the first place. Ngngngng. Yes it is handy. Wot, even more obscure? That's a tad worrying.
Can't remember about the pipes. Therte was an enthusiastic prospect on it, revving it up, and at that price, it would have been a miracle if it hadn't sold. It was *gorgeous*.
It was the four volumes thing that confused me. Looking at my older copy, I thought that if it was divided into four volumes they'd be rather slim. That made me wonder if there could be a bigger, more comprehensive version. There are some - 'NAIT' spotting was all the rage in the classic magazines a few years back. I can't remember what the A stood for - it's Not <something-beginning-with-A> In Tragatsch.
Well, the reissue I've got here is about 720 pages in total and contains the four volumes that I'm aware of - the last two are dated around 83 and 84 (Tragatsch died in 1984). Heh. He actually doesn't mention *that* many bikes - a rough guess suggests that the four volumes list about 70 makes in total...
I keep reading that as "Tragtasch"... -- Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration, Brunel University. [email protected][brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX-MIA "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005 WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon) KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".
Ah, the thot plickens... my 1977 edition has a mere 320 pages. We can't be talking about the same book - just counting all the makes beginning with A comes to over 100.
