Sunday 7 March 2010

Introduction

My name is James and I am a photographer from the UK. When I'm not working, and sometimes when I should be, I enjoy playing with mechanical things.

This blog is for my IWL SR59 Berlin scooter, bought recently as a box of parts on eBay. I have wanted an IWL for a couple of years, having been seen a picture of Berlin's forerunner, the SR56 Wiesel, whilst reading about Soviet motorcycles on the web. I never found a Wiesel for sale, but the Berlin is almost identical except for an extra gear and a bit more power.

The Berlin is a two-seater scooter built in the south Berlin suburbs in East Germany by Industry Werke Ludwigsfelde between 1959 and 1962. The bike is in need of restoration, although the steel bodywork is in half-decent shape and most of the mechanical components are a aluminium and appear fine.

It is powered by a 7.5hp two stroke MZ 150cc engine which I know nothing about, having only ever worked on small four stroke Honda singles and car engines. I plan to rebuild this engine.

These bikes are rare in the UK, having never been imported here, but spares are readily available from Germany. When I was at school, we had an option to learn Spanish or German, and of course I chose Spanish, most of which I have forgotten anyway...
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4 comments:

  1. Unknown25 May 2010 at 06:39

    Hi James,

    I´ve posted a link to your blog at my facebook profile, because I like your photograph!

    Sebastian from Germany (http://www.didgeroller.cabanova.de)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paul Markham13 February 2011 at 20:53

    Hi James. Good luck with your resto. I have the Berlin's descendent - the Troll. The Berlin is a very elegant scooter and once it's running it will run forever. The MZ engine is the direct descendent of the DKW two stroke "das kleine wunder." The first modern two stroke. It powered the BSA Bantam after the war. The engine is dead simple and almost indestructable. I'll post a link to your website on my blog too - www.heinkelscooter.blogspot.com
    Paul

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  3. Neil22 April 2012 at 08:59

    Hi

    I own a scooter shop in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Scooter Crazy Lts. We are just in the process od restoring the same scooter as a feature for our scooter showroom and would love to be able to use this image or purchase one on canvas? Contact info neil@scootercrazy.com if this is possible

    Many thanks

    Neil

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown17 September 2012 at 06:14

    Hi James, I have the same IWL SR59 Scooter! It is recently restored and I can tell you it's FULLY worth the effort, it looks like nothing else out there. Anyhow, I have the original documents (owners handbook etc.) if you want any documents scanned in and sent to you. Also a box of various spare bits. It is in Munich at the moment where I use to ride it around, but I am moving back to England this week and decided to bringing it with me.

    BTW, I changed the original ignition system for an electronic one, which (believe it or not) you can still but on eBay in Germany. It really does make a difference to what was a troublesome motor to get started in the mornings and it runs a lot sweeter now…

    Visit: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Elektronische-Zundung-IWL-Berlin-12-V-/250561800212?pt=Motorrad_Kraftradteile&hash=item3a56a5a814


    All the best,

    Alan

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