I just love this Bike. I wish I knew more of its History. Whilst working through it with my boy, we never cease to smile at the previous keepers ingenuity as how he managed to keep it on the road / Field.

Whilst emptying the oil from the engine / gearbox / final drive we we genuinely take aback by the mudslide descending from each orifice…. how this thing ever ran is beyond me!

Anyway, on clearing out the gearbox we had to wonder what the selecter lever was for…. it transpires that you can change gear by hand on the right side of he bike too!!

So I thought I’d put a side stand on it given that the bike was designed to be glued to a side car and the centre stand secretes itself so far up into the frame its nigh impossible to get down when needed. Simple (I thought) buy an off the shelf jobby to fit this model ….. Oh no…. no idea who designed it but I’m guessing that when he / she did there were no exhausts on the bike! – Enter the marvellous Heisenburg and later Alex with Oxy Torch and a new bracket was forged to accomodate the stand

Mistake – NEVER pick at the “chrome” on anything Russian

So. New oil in all receptacles, relocated the battery into the faux petrol can, new side stand, some more WW2 German- esque modifications around the bike and it’ll soon be ready for the re-enactment festival coming up ….. Looks like the bike Tom Hanks dies up against in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ now.