Hello from DK

[RotaryDane]

I've been lurking for some time, but think it's time to registre. My name is Steffen and I come from Århus, Denmark. I am "only" 22, so may seem a bit radical but have been riding for 4 years already.Since the summer of 2009 I've had the bug so to speak, learned about the Norton rotaries and was hooked from the start. This winter, 2011/12, finally bought my own Interpol 2 after several lost Ebay auctions, oh boy Got her home from Ireland in March and have been tinkering away since, she was and still is a non-runner fresh from the shed since 2003 so am planning to do a complete teardown to inspect the engine, give a lick of paint to the parts that need it and replace what needs replacing inspired by RealClassic's issue on tenten.Here she is as was in March.

P10406152.jpg

Engine number is 3151 and british MOD 91 KD 50, if anyone has any info about the bike please do tell. From what I know she road with the London RMP under Whitehall from 1985 through to 1995 covering a little under 30,000 miles as a Police escort.Currently the bike sits not much more than frame, wheels and engine, but once she's back together and the weather clear it wouldn't be unlikely that we'll take a trip to Wankeltreffen or the southern England to say hello. See you on the road. Steffen

[Dell Boy]

Welcome to the site Steffan.Youve got plenty of work to do with that Irish Interpol!!!!!Derek F.

[johnbirchjar]

Hi Steffan,I too welcome you,good luck with your project,J.B.

[kanonkopdrinker]

Hi Steffan,You're the first Norton rotary owner I know of in DK ... we do have DK ROC club members with RE5s though ...WelcomeDavid

[RotaryDane]

All but forget to say thank you for the reception.. I know of one other guy who owns a Interpol 2 turned Cafe, he tells me that there should be two or three Interpol 2's in DK counting our bikes, along with the same amount of Commander's and only two F1's, one of which is currently for sale.. Please, my name is pronounced "Stef-fen" like the name "Steph" and the scottish word "Fen" put together, I can't stand being called Stefan and that happens alot.

[Interpol2471]

Hi Steffen your engine number is quite close to my IP2 that was based in London also at Park Royal Barracks. I like my Military links being an Army man Cheers

[Dell Boy]

I used to ride around London on my Interpol 2 [1984-YCH 110Y no.3006 is it still about?] during this period & also my first Commander F736 FEA & used to watch the R.M.P. Interpols escorting the Horse Guards at 10 m.p.h. in high summer heat to Buck House & slowly dying a smokey death.A West London dealer had the contract to maintain the bikes for the Ministry of Defence. They were brought in regularly running very badly. I believe the mechanic would then take them for a hard thrash down the M.4 to Fleet services & back & then return the bike to the M.O.D. running o.k. plus a bill for repairs.Derek F.

[RotaryDane]

Any remembrance of who that dealer was? My 3151 could very well have been one of those "smokers" as it was affiliated with the Whitehall horseguard. Silly to think they would bring in the bikes for repairs just bauce of over-oiling. Andover report that they have ever only performed warranty repairs on the bike.

[Malc]

Hi Steffen,Good to see some 'young blood' riding these old bikes.Dell Boy, your reference to YCH 110Y,That was a Derbyshire bike, The first reference I still have of it (some pages missing out my book) was 03/11/1983 when it had 6,909 miles on it. It was based at Matlock and had a 'hard' rider on it. Iremember it came in ring-a-dinging as the engine through studs had broken and they were hitting the back of the flywheel. I could probably look up when!I prepared it for sale on 23/10/1987, it went out of service early as the engine was 'uneconomical to repair' and I think the service exchange engines were approx £2,400 so a Commander was ordered to replace it.It had been converted to twin rotor idle.The other Derbyshire air cooled bikes were;YCH 107Y DERBY CITYYCH 108Y ALFRETON (LAST KNOWN TO BE IN SCOTLAND WITH HIGH MILEAGE AND G/BOX PROBLEM)YCH 110Y MATLOCKAAU 244Y LONG EATON (ONLY ONE THAT DIDN'T GET CONVERTED TO TWIN ROTOR IDLE BEFORE SALE)A631 CRB GLOSSOP Used as a track bike!C821 MRB DRIVING SCHOOL (INSTRUCTORS BIKE)C822 MRB CHESTERFIELDD41 WRR DERBY CITYD56 WRRD234 UNND235 UNND236 UNND237 UNNE926 CCHE927 CCHE928 CCHE929 CCHE930 CCHE931 CCH

[RotaryDane]

Just got word back from the dealers and big surprise, he did still have some of the records for the bike and dug out that it stationed specifically with Rochester Row Military Police at Nine Elms! I am absolutely stoked about this news

[Richard Negus]

I used to ride around London on my Interpol 2 [1984-YCH 110Y no.3006 is it still about?]Derek F.

Derek,Recognise this?

3006-76.jpg

R.

[Richard Negus]

I used to ride around London on my Interpol 2 [1984-YCH 110Y no.3006 is it still about?] .

Derek,Are you sure about either the reg. number or the engine/frame number? The 3006 that I had in my workshop has a totally different reg. number A796 **D which, strangely enough, doesn't tally with its alleged date of manufacture 11/82 and I don't think it was a Derby bike either.Perhaps better not to enquire too deeply. Certainly casts doubt on the accuracy of the Shenstone production records.R.

[Dell Boy]

Glad Steffen had a result from my information.YCH 110Y no.3006 was the second rotary in civilian hands purchased from some sort of a dealer in a motorway services in 1988 who had bought it at auction somewhere up north.I paid £1,500.00 for it with a smeared engine & ran it for about 30 months until I built up a badly burnt out Commander F736 FEA & started using that. Cost me about £4,000 to rebuild the Commander as against £8,800.00 for a new one. It was 6 months old/6,000 miles & came from Petts Wood & had had a very heavy front end smash before catching fire.YCH 110Y was definetly 3006 & I was told it was the first bike of the production line as a bike for sale rather than prototypes or demonstrators. It was bog standard IP2 & I fitted a seat pad to it for a pillion but left the bodywork alone.Derek F.

[Charles Wilson]

THAT is a beautiful motorcycle!CW

[kanonkopdrinker]

Checking the club's register and I find that IP2 No. 3006 is in fact A796 TBDYCH 110Y is 3016!Close Derek, but no coconut ....DC

[Dell Boy]

Ha!! Everyday a million brain cells die, or something, but in my case probably a lot more. In my head I am convinced it was 3006 but in reality with the passage of more than 20 years it probably was 3016 if that ties with the reg. no.Derek F.

[Richard Negus]

That's a relief! 3016 checks out in my records as a Derby bike too.I was beginning to think I was involved in some sort of road bike fraud. Fake race bikes are bad enough.R.

[Malc]

3016 sounds right from memory, I didn't log the frame/ engine numbers until a few years later when there was a problem.The first Derbyshire bike that went for auction was the Derby city bike YCH 107Y. It went for sale at Measham in the midlands and made daft money. I had the day off work to go and bid on it but having serviced it for 5 years, I wouldn't pay too much as I knew what was wrong with it.The next 2 bikes went for sale at Huthwaite, A631 and 108Y, I also went to that one.Derbyshire did not notify change of engine numbers though, so many of the Derbyshire bikes went for sale with different engines fitted as they would be swapped around as they became uneconomical to repair. Because of the cost of sevice exchange engines, Derby made the unusual step of buying at least 2 written off bikes back to use the engines out of. One bike I saw at show had a duplicate engine number as the bike in question had had a exchange R/H endplate. The factory filed off the original number and the new number re-stamped. The original plate found its way out of the factory without the number being changed and I know this had happened on 2 occasions. I saw one bike where the owner had altered the eng number to match the frame and yet I had the original R/H endplate in the garage.I do not consider this a big problem though as after contacting DVLA about an imported bike, I found it was not a requirment to have the engine number. Also some Japanese market bikes only had a code on the engine and not individual numbers stamped. DVLA did say there where different regulations for cars where the eng number is required.

[gripper]

Are there any records of where the military IP2s have been over the years? I know there was one in the workshops in Aldergrove Northern Ireland in about 1995. Might even still be there. Not sure how military reg numbers were allocated.

[Interpol2471]

Strange I never saw that as I was in Aldergrove upto 1994???

[gripper]

Might have been on my previous tour 81-85, it was a non runner in the RAF MT section

[Interpol2471]

Oh RAF never went to the posh side unless we went bowling or for a fight lol