Vintage Bike Show at Welschensteinach (what? where?)

When Germans gather for an "Oldtimer" meeting, chances are that you will encounter a lot of old farts and a few blue haired ladies, however what we really mean by this is a vintage motorcycle & car show.

 Oldtimers looking at a BMW vintage hack.

 I'll let pictures do the talk. Enjoy!

 I'm in a happy place.

So many different brands, some of them I've never seen before. I was impressed to find that variety on this fairly small regional event: UT (Motorradfabrik Möhringen 1922 - 1962), Victoria, Ariel, NSU

BMW Isetta

Hubby caught me straying... I found a Sportster with equipped with Roland Sands accessory, one of my favorite designers.

Moving on we came across a very popular 'race track', hence the bill board: Speeders lose!

 Ride safe!

***

Oldtimer-Treffen.

Bei unserem Sonntagsausflug kamen wir zufällig bei dem Hinweisschild auf ein Oldtimer-Treffen in Welschensteinach vorbei. Natürlich mussten wir bei dem Ausdruck schmunzeln, denn bei Oldtimern handelt es sich im englischen Sprachgebrauch um alte Leute, gemeint waren hier aber antike Fahrzeuge. Besonders die Zweiräder hatten es mir angetan und ich konnte mich kaum lösen, während Roland die Augen in der vierrädrigen Kategorie über gingen. Der B-Kadett oder die Isetta. Klar, es gab BMW Moppeds und Gespanne, die begeistern konnten, aber die Marken NSU, Ariel, Victoria und UT waren doch weitaus interessanter, zumal diese Hersteller leider den Generationenwechsel nicht überlebt haben. Auf unserer Weiterfahrt ging es dann über eine bekannte Motorrad-"Rennstrecke", was die an Motorradfahrer gerichtete Warnschilder bezeugen konnten. Nicht, dass es irgend wen interessierte.

Everything goes!

Goodness, gracious!

He's so excited!

He's so delighted!

There's a reason for his hayity:

Lookie, lookie, lookie, here comes Bella,

Ridin' down the street.

(Words taken from: Cleo Brown)

A few weeks ago we had consulted our Piaggio dealership with regards to the approval and licensing of Roland's Vespa GTS250, namely Bella. Without further ado the business owner handed us a preliminary (red number) license plate, and said: Bring it over. I am going to make it happen. Everything goes at my shop! Can you imagine somebody sporting a big smile after that statement?

Today was the day that we delivered Bella to the shop. The red scooter was a little shy at the beginning, and stalled a few times but after Roland showed her the open road, she rolled along smoothly and willingly.

The red numbers are only to be used for direct transfer from A to B, hence no detours were allowed.

Of course we didn't detour, we merely stopped a couple of times, and arrived at the dealership, pronto. The trip was way too short for Roland's taste, because meanwhile he fell in love with Bella all over again, and could have gone much further. And you wouldn't get that big grin off his face.

We handed Mr. 'Everything Goes' our set of keys and a pile of paperwork (sales contract from Metro Vancouver, homologation ID from Piaggio, ICBC documents, and customs clearance declaration), then waved our goodbyes, and left two up on Alonzo, my GTS300 SuperSport.

Roland had no problem handling my scooter two up, so it was an equally pleasant ride home.

We are confident that at least Roland's Vespa will be on the road pretty soon. Bella is supposed to be street-legal within the next two weeks.

Let's keep our fingers crossed, that everything goes fine!

***

Geht nicht gibt's nicht!

Wir sprachen mit dem Chef von MS Scooter in Offenburg über die Zulassung von Roland's roter Vespa GTS250. Dieser war voller Zuversicht, dass er das Ding schon über den TÜV bringen würde und hat uns mit seinem Enthusiasmus angesteckt. Er drückte uns also ein rotes Nummernschild in die Hand und sagte: Bringt es her, ich mach' das dann schon. Man kann sich vorstellen, Roland war im siebten Vespa-Himmel. Am Anfang zierte sich Bella, der rote Roller etwas, der Motor ging ein paar mal aus. Nach Tanken und Luftdruckprüfung wurder die Vespa dann aber immer laufruhiger. Natürlich sind wir auf direktem Wege zum Händler, allerdings haben wir noch einen Stopp für's Fotoalbum gemacht. Eine halbe Stunde später lieferten wir Bella ab und mit ihr einen Stapel Papiere, wie die Homologationsdokumente von Piaggio, unsere Zollunterlagen, kanadische Besitzurkunde und den Kaufvertrag. Nun heisst es Daumendrücken und Abwarten. In zwei Wochen wissen wir mehr...

Städtlemarkt (Village Market)

Visiting the village market is is a fairly typical German Saturday morning ritual. Also very typical are its business hours: open from 7.30AM to 12.30PM. Experts usually arrive early for the best quality produce.

Each booth presents a different local or regional fresh produce. All offerings are basically from your next door neighbour: your dairy farmer, your butcher or your bakery, so they can't afford to lack quality. Otherwise word would go around quickly.

There are fruits and veggies, flowers and plants, jams and preserves, breads, cheeses, meats and cold cuts, and variety of liquors and schnapps.

It's a bit more expensive to shop on the market, however, it's located literally two minutes from home, so we don't need to drive there, which makes it a cheap plus eco-friendly option.