- A hammer of a motor with lots of sound (*pompompompom*) and power, accelerates without a cough from
low speeds. Sometimes when releasing the throttle, it bangs out of the exhaust pipe, big farts after
switching off the machine are also quite normal...
- Original Chopper machine, no useless gimmicks, not flamboyant with chromed plastic. Speedometer
integrated into the tank, a motor you can actually look through, lots of chrome where it looks good,
polished armatures & motor laterals, spoke wheels
- The 31 hp are real (open), not restricted: Doesn't have to be restricted expensively for the european (?)
motorcycle beginner's (2 years of restriction to max. 34 hp), which often also leads the bike to accelerate
like a snail...
- Driver's seat position is *very* low (70 cm): Well suited for for small drivers but therefore not
so well for giants above 1.90 m (over 1.80 m elongated footpegs are recommended)
- Nearly no maintanance of the toothed belt drive, has to be changed less often than a chain
- Low gas consumption - depending on driver's style between 4 and 6 l/100km
- Low weight (179 kg), therefore easy to shunt around: Well suited for the city
- Low price (approx. 9000 DM new from the list in Germany)
- Uncritical driving behaviour, good for beginners
- Flat fork, thus tracks stable and goes well straight ahead
- Good front brake
- In the seat one *can* slide a little to the front if necessary (the footpegs
are not *too* far ahead) and drive the bike somewhat faster through tight bends
than usual for chopper type bikes - the handling is much better then >-)
- The four-gear version (before '91 AFAIK) is is completely sufficient
- Very pretty sidecars available (diverse manufacturers, around 14.000 DM as a complete set with bike)
 Cons
- Small tank (11 l), therefore restricted max. range around 200 km (depending
on driver's style, of course)
- The pillion seat is narrow and quite hard padded
- Hard springs in the back, too soft ones in the fork (somewhat typical for choppers)
- can and should be replaced by parts from Wilbers and Koni, for example
- The U/C doesn't like fast driven bumpy curbs (also chopper-like, I
suppose), the rear suspension tends to hit bottom (its max., I want to say) - see
'springs' before
- Long pathways for the engine oil (94 mm stroke!): The engine should be driven
carefully for the first 3 miles (no full throttle, change gears early), otherwise
you may get damages to the camshaft early!
- Some parts are quite susceptible to girdion: Mostly screws and the sloppily
painted frame. The finish of clear laquered aluminium parts may also peel off
over the years, letting oxidate the aluminium quickly after that. What to do?
Polish off *all* of the finish and polish the metal to maximum glossiness.
Chrome parts seem not to be affected too badly, at least not for my machine. 8)
- The rear drum brake likes to lock the tyre: Better use it only when standing or starting
on a hill
- Sometimes, when cold or wet for example, the belt drive squeaks away to
glory... Harley-belt grease, glycerol, silicon spray or stag suet (!) may help.
- To get access to the motor (changing spark plugs, adjusting valves...),
one has to remove both seat and tank (2 screws each). When removing the tank,
one has two choices: Let the gas faucet where it is and scratches on the frame
are inevitable or mount it off - but then you have to remove the gas completely
first...
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Pros