Zundapp Sport Combinette conversion

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Zundapp GS 50 ground hopper

Zundapp Sport Combinette conversion

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Although the almost three horsepower of the Zundapp GS 50 conversion doesn’t knock us out of our boots these days, a trip with the little girl from Munich feels just as good as it did 50 years ago.

Every time I sit on the freshly made bench of the renovated one Zundapp swing, the life film rewinds me a good 50 years. It was the moments in adolescence that should set the course. Even with the 24er Rixe bicycle, a cardboard box fastened with clothespins rattled loudly through the spokes like a moped without an exhaust pipe. That brazzed best when the red children’s bike raced downhill with me without braking. Full throttle, so to speak.

Zundapp GS 50 ground hopper

Zundapp Sport Combinette conversion

Route section named "misery"

I squint over his shoulder at the speedometer, the needle of which is swinging towards the 60 km / h mark. The brother tilts his head so that his eyes don’t water so badly. You go past the start and finish tower, then through the dim, dark forest until the mountain comes into view. For a twelve-year-old boy on a three-speed bicycle, that means pedaling until there is no air. It is not for nothing that this section of the old Solitude race track is called “Elend”. It’s different on the moped: As soon as “misery” gets in the way, the brother waves his arms, turns the manual gearbox excitedly, the engine screeches, it rattles and jerks. Then a loud clone and first course is in. Ah yes. We’re standing, almost anyway. The Combinette crawls at a snail’s pace up the steep ramp of the old racetrack with a 19 percent gradient. After all, it doesn’t have to be trampled. You just have to turn a handle with your right hand – the THROTTLE GRIP!

It was precisely these memories of the adventurous rides on the Munich fire horse that moved me in autumn 2016 to make a robust all-terrain hopper out of a rotten Zundapp Sport Combinette. Also because my buddies and I got a lot of bloody noses, but also a lot of experience in wild races over hill and dale. Soldering, sawing, filing, drilling – this is the only way to turn a baroque moped into a feather-light, lively, but also maximally improvised off-road moped – the Wurzelsau!

Street legal as mokick

A good 50 years later, such a Wurzelsau is back in my fleet. With street approval as a Mokick, but optically almost a real motorcycle. After the chic BMW R 80 G / S and the Honda Xpresso V4, it was high time for a nimble 50s. And a two-stroke. Threatened with extinction and unsurpassed in its ingenious simplicity, such a Schnurle reverse flush machine belongs in every well-stocked household.

Whereby one should not be too early to look forward to monetary budget planning. Even a moped costs a lot in pocket money. In addition to the 650 euros for the purchase of the basic scrap without papers, around 2,000 euros were added for the smart appearance and the completely overhauled engine – not counting the around 150 working hours as personal contribution. But what has to be done, has to be done. The renovation of the chassis and engine was already the big topic in MOTORRAD Classic in issues 3 and 4/2017, the finale is now about fine-tuning the chassis and tuning the engine in real life.

Excursion through vegetables

With a hand’s breadth of spring travel, measured around 95 millimeters, the Zundapp "GS 50" is all about ensuring that the 73 kilogram light Wurzelsau does not hit mercilessly with every bump when fully fueled. At the front, the original springs are in the telescopic fork, which is equipped without any damping, but with a flawless, smooth-running guide in two slide bearings each. Therefore, I have now also converted a rear shock absorber and screwed it between the dip tube and fork bridge. The light, revised damper now reliably brakes the spring movements of the fork and prevents the front section from rocking. A set of Hagon shock absorbers with an installation length of 310 millimeters and 14 kg / cm hard springs ultimately help the off-road flea to achieve synchronous and sensitive spring behavior.

I put the Heidenau K 46 tires in the classic enduro block profile over the aluminum rims so that the excursion can also go straight through the vegetables. A good compromise, with enough grip on the road and sufficient intermeshing when things get greasy. In order not to overburden the TÜV inspector, the front and rear wheel sizes remained unchanged. Sure, at least a 19-inch or, even better, a 21-inch device would have to go in front so that it rolls smoothly in rough terrain. The three-hp Mokick engine can only master rough terrain with the short 11/38 sprocket set, and with the long 14/38 road gear ratio, it’s a clutch-murderous torture.

With the adjustable main jet and a smaller 216 needle jet on the 1/16/60 Bing carburetor, I found a great set-up after just a few kilometers, with a dry, fawn-colored candle image. The mixture of premium gasoline and synthetic two-stroke oil has been reduced to 1:50. If that works out? Yes, on the first 100 full-throttle kilometers. And there should be a few more.

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