Fast Forward

I admit beforehand that this will be probably the patchiest part of the whole blog. As expected, it all got totally hectic with our decision to move abroad. On top of that, witnessing that the beemer is slowly getting into the shape, way prettier than it used to be, I simply got full throttle with the progress, let alone thinking of taking photos.

Let's get on foot again. Logically, starting with the center stand. I should start in a smart way while it's still light enough to push and pull it around, the only reasonable way to go is bottom-up.

Next step, front forks and wheel. Thus, once attached, I will have a tripod together with the center stand, that will carry the weight.

Compared to all the mess during the removal, putting it back together feels like child's play. Let's begin with fixing the upper half of the forks to the lower clamp. The stanchions are fresh from chrome plating, aren't they shiny?

This can get tricky. At the beginning, I wanted to replace the steering head bearings with a modern tapered roller bearing, but I didn't dare remove the old style bearing seats. Instead I just bought new 0,5 mm diameter balls. With a generous lump of grease, I carefully place the balls into the lower bearing seat. I like grease...

Same goes to the upper bearing. Now it's time to fix the  steering head into place.

I skipped the front forks, but they were merely three "pipes" inside eachother, held together by a pair of nuts. After that, come the headlight mounting plates, upper fork bridge and fork springs. Then I loosely fit the front brake drum and the wheel into place. The Beemer is proudly standing again!

A historical moment! I think I'm getting old, I exhausted to death while holding and aligning the engine, weighing roughly 30 kilograms, into its seat. After that, it needs just the two bolts to fix it into the frame.

I can't express enough, how lean and simple the Beemer is, both aesthetically and technically. After fixing the powerplant with just two bolts, now I'm attaching the transmission to the engine. Just four more nuts to go... Right after that comes the carburetor.

Proceeding to the rear end. Left shock absorber and the final drive, integrated to the right shock absorber were waiting for their turn for a long while. Aligning them in their place with one hand, I push the center bar that fixes the whole assembly down from the upper clamp. It sits in its place after a couple of mallet hits.







Now a good deal of fast forward. I attached the rear fender and wheel, then removed the front wheel and attached the front fender. The bike is so finely designed, that when you remove the front wheel, the center of gravity sits onto the rear wheel, and vice versa. The tank needs just another two bolts. That's all, really...

The seat is cool, isn't it? At first, I was considering renovating the old double seat. I'd have needed to tear it apart, clean up and protect the rusty frame, have the missing springs manufactured, have a brand new upholstery and foam filling. Well, what's left? So I decided to throw the old one away and bought a so called "Pagusa" single seat. Pagusa, by the way, stands for "Patent Rubber Seat" in German - they patented the seat in 1935 and also licensed a few other manufacturers up until sixties.

Here comes the answer to the million dollar question - will the Beemer resurrect after all that it's gone through? I'm afraid I don't know the answer yet. I put the wiring loom, but ran out of time to put the headlight and the ignition plate together. The Beemer is waiting for my next visit exactly the way it is in the photo above, needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing the happy end. I guess we'll need to keep patient for a month or two...