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By
By Ron Schneiders
Photos by Ron & Ellen Schneiders
photos
"You better not write a b ad report
"Y ou
bad
on the Zundapp or I'll write a nasty
I'll
letter
a n d tell
letter to Cycle News and t ell them j ust
just
what I think about your report!" Now
ab o u t
rep ort!" .'ow
isn't that just the sort of remark that
th at
o f rem a rk
any red-blooded journalist would take
Well, usually
as a personal challenge? Well, usually..
But when your wife says it. that's a
it,
d ifferent
differen t story!
Wh en r
th e Z undapp ,
When f took delivery of the Zundapp,
I w as expecting to have just another
was ex pec ting t o
ano ther
mo torcycle aro und to tes t for tw o or
motorcycle around to test
two
three weeks. Bu t my wife took one look
But
wi fe t o o k
lo ok
at that neat read and chrome p ain tjob
at th at nea t
an d
pain t job
and from then on not o nly did I have a
an d
th en
only di d [
t ough time ge tting near it, bu t it began
tough tim e getting
it , but it
t o look li ke E.C. Birt had lost a
h ad lo st
to lo o k like
motorcycle.
m o torcy cle.
So, besides being the kind of
th e kin d
besides
motorcycle your wife falls in love with,
m oto rcy cle
fa lls
lov e
what else is it ? In so me respects the
it?
some resp ect s
Zundapp is a very serious enduro bike
ISDT h eritage
with an ISOT heritage of whi ch t o
which to
boast. It is potentially an extremely
p otentiall y
co mpetitive moto cro ss machine. An d
competitive motocross machi ne . And
las t but not least it's good pl a y bik e
last
n o t least
play bike
righ t o u t o f
right out of the box.
b ox.
To get righ t t o t he heart of th e
T o get right to the
o f the
ma il er. th e Zundapp engine is a
malter, the
e ng ine
well-d esign ed 12 5 cc powe r plant
well-designed 125cc power pl ant with
an exactly
an exactly square configuration: 54 b y
configura tion:
by
54. It 's th e sa me
that Jeff Wright
54 . It's the same engine th a tJ effWright
and several others have been usin g very
o the rs
using
sucessfu lly
sucessfully in the Rickman frame to
th e Ric kman fr ame
compete
com pet e in th e 125 cla ss. The one
the 125 class.
on e
d iff er e nce
difference is thaC t hose engines h a ve
th at" those e ngi nes have
been ra ther heavily breathed upon b y
been rather heavil y brea thed
by
E.C Birt an d h is c re w at Pre cision
E.C.. Birr and his crew at Precision
Cycle. Birt is a lso doing the R&D work
also d oi n g
w ork
for th e distributors of the Zundapp
for the
th e
motorcycles so some of wh a t h e's
moto rc ycl es
so me o f what he's
learned on Jeff Wright's bi ke is in the
learned
bike
new
Zundapps
and
a nd
more
m ore
will
unaoubtedly
undoubtedly be showing up in the next
sh owin g u p
th e nex t
or so
.
year o r so..
Some changes that have appeared in
tha t
ap p ea red
m odel a re h eavier c ra n k assembly,
this model are a heavier crank assemb ly,
a ..larger set or, gears, (b eefie r: that is;
larg
of..
\b~efier,
is;
previo us 'o nes b ro ke) d lJuBlc:..lip seals on
pr:evious ones' broft.:e)..d.oulll liP sea ls
b oeh sides of th-I cran kshaft,
an .
bcitlo. . . . 0('· ·th e cran\-
(J
U
. easily and with great precision.. The
easily
prec ision T h e
weight distribution is such that the
weigh t dis tr ibution
su ch
front end com es up nicely when desired,
fro nt e nd comes
n icel y
but not otherwise. It did seem to me
n ot
It
see m
th at the center of gravity could be an
that th e ce n te r
gra vity co uld b e a n
in ch o r
inch or two lower without hurtin g
w ith out hurting
anything. R ear shocks are Boge wh ich
whicb
an y thing. Rear sh oc ks
ar e ver y good b ut unfortunately not
are very
but u n fort u na te ly n ot
adjustable. Apparently th e Boge p eople
ad justab le. A pparen tly the
people
haven't
to the realiza tio n that
haven 't come to th e realization tha t
people come in Regular, Large and
Regu lar , Lar ge a nd
Economy sizes.. Afte r an in it ial period of
sizes After
initial p er iod o f
stiffness . th e fro nt
stiUness, the front forks b ega n working
began w orkin g
quite nicely,, bu t they never d id become
nic ely but
did b ecome
really soft.
reall y
The re are only a few bikes that you
There a re o nly
t hat
ca n
th at
for competition
can buy that are ready fOT com petitio n
righ t o ut
right out of t he b ox and they a re very
the box a nd
are
ex p ens ive. T h e
th at m o st
expensive. The best that most people
ca n op e
can h ope for is to buy a bike tha t has
to
bik e th at
m o st
most of the right p ieces and no fatal
pieces
fat al
fla ws
they're
lu ck y
flaws.. Then, if they 're very lucky,,
the y'll find someone who will "shape"
some one
" sh ap e"
they'll
it for th em a t some sort of reas onabl e
them at
so rt o f reasonable
price. Zundapp b uy ers are in lu ck. All
p rice.
buyers
luck.
the righ t pieces are there and Ole E.C.
piece s
an d
sittin g d own th er e fn Lawndale
Birt is sitting down there in Lawndale
_ with a p ackage "shapin g" deal to tum"
package "shaping" d eal
tum·
pretty
the p retty little bike that your wife
your
loves in toJ.a fir e-breathin g dragon. ,He
to a ~e·breathiug dr!'gon. l;Ie
builds a pipe for it, ports it, reworks th e
a'
it ,
re wo r ks the
the h ead a nd
ca rb u re t o r and "the head and strips off
carburetor
alll the junk. What more could vou
al th e
m o re c o uld you
.
want?
Is that okay, Dear?
th at
Dear ?
The kickstarter is well tucked in.
should b e designed right in the first
sh ould be
righ t
pl ace.
place.
On the more pleasant side we find
that the swing arm is boxed and looks to
th at
to
be quite strong. The rear brake
st ro ng.
geometry is corr ect (the same pivot poin t
geo m e try correct
pain
for both the swing arm and the brake
fo r b oth
rod ) but I'm sure some of t he motocross
rod)
the
lads will want full floating brakes. There
floati ng
is a very nice. very ligh t ki ck stand
nice,
Iigh kic k
which is appreciated. .
wh ic h appreciated..
Perhaps
the
most
m o st
appealing
Perh ap s
engineering feature. at least for enduro
fea ture. at least
en d uro
rid ers
sh roud,
riders will be the air cleaner, shroud,
seat,
toolbox
com b ination.
combination.
A
well-designed shroud encloses the entire
shro ud
th e
triangle formed b y the b ottom edge of
tri a n gle
by th e bottom
of
the seat, the front of the fender, and a
fro n t
fe nder,
th e sea t,
through th e m o uth o f th e
vertical
ver tical line th rough the mouth of the
carburetor. Underneath th e shroud is a
ca rb u re to r. Un dernea th the shro ud
d ead
dead air box and verv neat air filter. The
b ox an d very n eat
filter. T he
. air fil t er h as a paper element that might
filter has
ele me nt th at m ight
well be replaced by a foam ty pe for use
by
type
in the desert. The u nit looks to be
unit lo o ks t o
wa terproof
com es. whic h
waterproof just as it comes, ' which is
always nice if y ou ride in wet country.
n ice
you rid e
co u ntry.
Behind the air cleaner is a tray which
th e
cle a ner
wh ich
holds the tool roU and inside the roll are
t ool roll
in sid e
ro ll
a reasonable assortment of tools and
re asonable asso rt m e n t o f t o o ls a nd
two
unbelievable,
h onest-t o-gosh
honest-~o-gosh
van adium steel beau tiful tire: irons. The
vanadium s teel
tire
seat covers the air cleaner, shroud and
se at c o vers
cleaner.
tool trav and can be removed in about
tray a nd
two seconds flat without tools. Touches
sec o nd s
with out
like these make you believe they
y ou
actually intend for some of these bikes
ac t ually
so me
to wind up in the Six-days..,
Six-days.
Here's a couple other nice touches :
Here' s
touches:
The con trols arc all Magura which are as
controls are a ll Magu ra whic h a re
trouble-free
ge t.
tr o uble-free as you can get. The engine
sh ould ad d
is m ounted in rubber which should add
mounted
years to th e life of the motorcycle. The
t o the
th e m o torcy cle.
bike comes street legal with all
c om es
necessary lights, e ven a horn and b attery
ne cessar y
even
a nd battery
b ut they're not designed for serious use:
but th ey're
it's enduro type lighting. The ignition is
Bosch, aga in one of the best.
again
of
Riding the bike produces mixed
feelings. To start wit h, it's geared for
feelings.
with,
gea red
about 148 mph (an emotional estimate)
ab out
(a n
estima te)
wh ich is a bit too high for a 125
which
t oo h igh
designed to be used in the dirt. For
to
reference, normal dirt gearing on a DKW
refe re nce.
DKW
13 :54 ;
is 13:54; the Zundapp was geared at
15 :4 6 !
15:46! The result of this is that the bike
res ult
th is
th e
feels sluggish; there isn't the instant
isn' t
response that one normally expects.
th at o ne norma lly ex pects.
Handling, on the other hand,, leaves
o ther ha nd
little to b e desired.. The bike steers
be d esir ed
How's th is for an air cleaner?
How's this
The Zundapp has a fairly slender shape except
Th e
has
exce p t
for that pipe.
fo r th at pip e.
