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Photos: Jorg Kunstle
Driving report Dotsch-Kawasaki W 650 Scrambler
Refreshment for the soul
This scrambler seems to have sprung from another era and yet comes from the present. With just 50 hp, it takes you straight into another world. There where serenity meets fine details and esprit touches the soul.
You don’t have to be an esthete to succumb to this aesthetic, you don’t have to be a motorcyclist to feel a desire for this motorcycle. This scrambler fascinates with exhibition-ready technology? and the question of its origin. At the motorcycle meeting, classic connoisseurs are fidgeting about this creation. What on earth is that? Well, therapy against hectic rush. Stylish shapes meet classic proportions. These W. 650 hits a nerve.
Although or precisely because it has no exact historical model, it appears completely authentic. In this Kawa, cooling fins and vertical shaft meet Kickstarter plus K&N air filter. Their special characteristic, however, is the enthusiasm and craftsmanship of their builder. With a lot of love and even more passion, the Kawasaki dealer Bruno Dotsch from Hildburghausen, in the middle of the motorcycle area of the Thuringian Forest, converted a W 650.
He already did that once in 1999, created a beautiful cafe racer from the parallel twin. True to style with a hump seat, stub handlebars, polished aluminum tank and double duplex brake. But the younger Scrambler looks almost even more beautiful with the style-defining studded tires and high exhaust system like mudguards. This is what motorcycles should look like! At Ace Day in London and Brighton in September 2005, the British enthusiastically celebrated the Japanese motorcycle with the English look.
No wonder. The conversion magnetizes the eyes with its orange-colored light paint alone. An original color from the blessed Honda CL 350. It radiates sensuality and maturity, glow and lust. And the many details of the compact scrambler look like a piece. So Bruno Dotsch left the double loop frame as it was and transplanted the 14th-
Liter steel tank of the Estrella 250. The 49-year-old perfectionist garnished it with style
Original emblems of the W 1 from 1965, which he obtained from Japan.
Indispensable: the luggage rack on the tank ?? Bruno Dotsch calls him “Bratwurstroster” as a good Thuringian? and the start number plates left and right. them
Dotsch sacrificed the airbox and instead equipped the twin with open intake funnels from K&N. You made a difficult one
Adaptation of nozzles and nozzle needles
required. What should be has to be. The carburetor conversion is even entered.
On the other hand, the electric starter flew out. Otherwise the parallel twin stayed in its original condition, comes on the first kick. Everything for this moment! The constant pressure carburetors dance happily in their rubber flanges. Wow, what a primal sound. The sound waves from the tightly looped manifold curves and the silencers nestled close to the spring struts flatter the ear. Pure and sonorous four-bar beat, throaty and dull. Accompanied by amazing suction snorkeling. The self-made exhaust system with interference pipe ?? »Otherwise no two-cylinder works« ?? should soon ennoble his TÜV blessing. Let’s go.
The two-cylinder soaks up the cooling airflow with grace. As a real long-stroke engine, it starts to bubble virtuously in the lower rev range, runs smoothly from 800 tours. Tempo 50 in the final fifth gear? The Twin does this completely smoothly, more gently than a Thai massage. But he also turns when it has to. After all, is a dutiful one
Japanese. Don’t have a difficult game
the around 50 hp with the fully fueled 202 kilograms machine weight. Lots of metal, honest material. It’s a great feeling that a vertical shaft gets the camshaft going. Beautiful, individual and fully suitable for everyday use.
Sublime you sit behind the wide handlebars on the lush bench. The only thing missing on the spring struts is the sleeves around the springs, the stanchion tubes of the fork are now polished to a high gloss and protected by bellows. Which makes for a completely different appearance. Otherwise, the suspension elements of the W 650 remained unchanged except for harder fork springs. The spring travel is therefore modest. Never mind, because when scramblers were at their peak, enduros weren’t invented yet. Both propulsion and chassis are definitely sufficient for casual motorcycle hiking. Straight-line stability and handling are perfect. The fight with the elements, here it still counts. Centrifugal force, inertia, wind pressure, everything can be felt unadulterated.
The Pirelli MT 21 studded tires are good ambassadors between worlds. You could, if you wanted. At least on dirt roads. To do this, they tilt suddenly on asphalt even at a moderate angle. The scrambler works better with Bridgestone BT 45, the top road tire for youngtimers. But deprived of its studs, the motorcycle loses much of its charisma. It’s that of a different era, the wild 60s and funky 70s.
Bruno Dotsch spent precisely those decades in the GDR. Only a few kilometers away and yet inaccessible, the world turned in a different rhythm, with the latest two-wheelers from England, Italy and Japan. Despite state-ordered two-stroke haze, Dotsch always saw them in front of him, the Triumphs, Ducatis and Hondas. He refreshed his dreams with smuggled motorcycle magazines or with western contacts in the Czech Republic and Poland: »We only had one goal, a motorcycle like this. That’s what we lived for completely. “
The trained car mechanic already owned a CX 500 in 1985. He immediately drove to the West on November 10, 1989 with it. The turning point opened a valve for him: “I’ve always dreamed of steam hammers.” Now he is
Kawasaki dealer for exactly 15 years. With a sense of proportion and a feeling for history. He coherently chose the formats for tires and wheels of the scrambler: at the back, an 18-inch model 120/90 rotates on a 2.15-inch steel rim with the original wire spokes. At the front, a 90/90 cutting disc rotates on a 21-inch rim with the hub of a KLR 650.
The brake disc also comes from the Enduro. Brake? Which brake? The double-piston floating caliper combines high manual force with moderate effect. But you forgive a lot of beauty. The metal glows and glows in the low setting sun
again particularly seductive, they burst
pure curves of the scrambler
emerged. Such refreshment for the soul is what life revolves around.
Retro is coming: Triumph Scrambler
Triumph will soon be offering its brand new Scrambler as the latest model in the two-cylinder, air-cooled classic line, completely off the shelf. An absolute must is its high exhaust system. So that the two elongated silencers come together on the right-hand side, the elbows cross each other in a heartbreaking way. Triumph also crossed the inner values: the brave, somewhat soft and now bellows-reinforced double-loop chassis of the Bonneville with the engine of the Speedmaster. In it, the pistons run against each other with a crank pin offset of 270 degrees.
The 865 cm3 short-stroke twin delivers a moderate 54 hp and 69 Nm. It promises a uniform torque curve and therefore little agitation in the five-speed transmission. For relaxed squatting, the high should like
wide handlebars ensure good handling, the moderate wheel sizes ?? 19 inches in front and 17 in back. Who on 8990 euros purchase price and 205
If you want to add kilograms of dry weight, a lot of accessories are allowed-
install hearing: tachometer, single seat, engine protection, lamp grille, luggage rack and start number field.
Dotsch-W 650 scrambler
Contact
Two-wheeler shop Bruno Dotsch, Wallrabser Strasse 6, 98646 Hildburghausen,
Telephone 03685/703212,
www.zweirad-doetsch.de
Prices
Complete exhaust system (hand-made one-off including manifolds and silencers): 2200 euros; Tank with tool bag holder: 300 to 400 euros; Handlebar: 60 euros; Headlights with indicator lights: 100 to 130 euros; Lamp holder: 30 euros; Seat including new cover and rear fender: 400 to 450 euros; Rear light with holder: 100 euros; Front fender with holder: 180 euros; Aluminum turn signal with bracket: 90 euros (set); chrome-plated chain guard: 130 euros; reinforced fork springs: 87 euros; K&N air filter with carburetor change (jetting, needles
and feathers; all registered): 170 euros; Front wheel 21 inches (aluminum rim with stainless steel spokes, laced with KLR hub):
230 euros; Chrome-plated steel rim: 190 euros; High-shoulder aluminum rim: 270 euros; Rear wheel (chrome-plated stainless steel rim): 190 euros; Assembly for the complete vehicle: around 800 euros ?? depending on the customer order
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