Where are the Hobbys in Germany?

My Manurhin project is on pause for the moment while I am on summer holiday with my family.
This week we are in Berlin; an amazing city that I so wish I had visited as a student in the 80's.

I was rather excited to be coming to Germany - perhaps I might stumble over a DKW Hobby or two in a local junk shop or car boot sale.  As it happens Berlin has a number of 'Flohmarkts' (flea-markets) and the  one in Mauerpark is easily one of the biggest markets I've ever been too.  We must have spent 4 or 5 exhausting hours walking up and down the alleys of people selling anything from vintage t-shirts to handmade lampshades, from East German Kitsch to cool retro furniture.  And it seems like they are into their bicycles here too.  We must have seen hundreds of bicycles, and thousands of bicycle parts for sale ..... but not a motorbike bit in sight.


I left the family to search through even more piles of clothes and went to visit the Bauhaus Museum and on my way passed the first interesting looking scooter I'd seen on this trip.  It looked unusual, certainly something I'd never seen before, so I stopped to take a photo.  While nosing around to find a manufacturer badge the owner came out to see what I was doing.  He couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak German, but through some friendly sign language I was able to establish it was an 1980's East German (DDR) built SIMSON SCHWALBE.  I'd never heard of it, and it was such an odd looking thing that I took rather a fancy to it.  That was yesterday.


Today, there was still more markets and shopping to do (for the girls), so I took the opportunity to go and find out a little more about these East German built motorbikes.  I went to the DDR Motorrad Museum (which conveniently is only a few hundred yards from the railway station AND the shopping center).  I had a wonderful time on my own exploring an area of motorcycle manufacture that I'd never even heard of.  Of course I had heard of MZ when my poverty stricken student mates were buying their first motorbikes in the mid '80's - but as far as i remembered they were pig ugly and unreliable to boot, but today the penny dropped for me - MZ has ancestry in Auto Union and as a consequence in DKW and by association, my Manurhin Concorde too - everything is connected!

I still don't have much enthusiasm for the MZ ES125 - whoever agreed for a design like that to come off the drawing board?? (even if it is "the most-built German motorcycle"), but I have discovered the most wonderful great grandfather of MZ, the very cool 1955 shaft-driven AWO 425 Touren.  OK so its not a scooter, nor is it a 2-stroke...... but maybe it could become another project one day? :-)

So I didn't find any DKW hobby parts in Berlin.  I hope I have better luck with Manurhin parts when Im in France next week.

BTW - I was delighted to find tonight someone writing an excellent blog about the rebuild of his Simson Schwalbe.

If only I had the time

Things have slowed up a little in the garage.  Unfortunately, to enjoy having projects like this I have to get out and earn some money now and then to fund them, and when I do go earning money it often means being away from home for a while.
Ive just got back from New Zealand where I was working with some very interesting scientists who were looking at how to tackle the increasing global problem of Obesity and Diabetes.  It was a fascinating trip, in which a real highlight was to have breakfast one morning at the fantastic "Shed 5" (I thourougly recommend going to NZ just to visit Shed 5 ;-)
Of course being away from home means that I cant get to the bench and make tangible progress with my project, but it doesnt stop me from thinking about it - and I think this incubation time can actually be quite useful.

I am beginning to get more clarity on my objectives now.  My Manurhin is lacking a good number of parts (some essential to its movement, and some essential to its identity)  Up until now I have been a little confused as to what i was trying to do with this bike; restore it to its original glory, or simply get it up and running and on the road again?  Either way I want to get it running, registered and legal, but the latter route might be the easiest, quickest and cheapest.  To restore the bike to original condition is going to take a lot of searching (and expense) if I am going to insist on original trim and fittings.  For example.....

Another UK based Manurhin has come up on eBay (Im delighted to see so many coming out).  The vendor has done a nice job of breaking the bike down to sell off individual components.  But he didnt seem to be selling the specific parts that Im after, so I emailed him;

"Hi. Very pleased to see you are selling some manurhin parts. I don't suppose you have;
- Rear light
- Handlebar switches
- Front manurhin badge"

He quickly came back to me;

"These seem to be THE parts to have. Other people have asked too but no I'm sorry I don't have these parts"

This reinforces my original thought that perhaps my own bike was once robbed of these parts to feed someone elses project.
And so perhaps I might be fooling myself into thinking that I can ever find these parts (at a price I can afford, or am willing to afford).  I could however over come these deficiencies by fabricating my own 'custom' parts - it would mean the bike wouldn't be concourse, but it could still be cool.

So I am back from working abroad, but i still don't have much time to get in the garage.  Holidays are coming and I'm off to France.
Perhaps there will be an opportunity for me to get out into some French villages and find some old Manurhins gathering dust,
Perhaps I might find some parts that I need,
Perhaps the 'supply and demand' in France isnt so much against me as it is here in the UK,
Perhaps....