Can anyone identify this carburetor?

[Guesi]

Gucci, can I add that to my ftp ?

I don´t sell any fashion, so my avatar name is not Gucci but Guesi

And sure you can...

[traderyoda]

Hello Guesi,

I'm indebted to you for sending along the instruction book - very helpful, thank you.

It shows a 6V mag-dynamo which is what I was expecting to find when I opened the case cover, but this motor is equipped with the standard 6v field coil generator. A fellow I've been chatting with in the UK who rebuilt a same vintage ISDT machine didn't have a mag-dynamo either. I assume the factory switched at some point after 1970. It is a 5-speed. The BVF KN-1 carb is the closest things I've found to what was on this bike but someone, the factory or original owner, mounted the 30M4-G mystery carb that I have. If I understand correctly, the earlier ISDT machines ran 28mm carburetors.

In searching for parts I did find your website. To order parts which model should I use regarding this ISDT motor? ETS250? I know that shipping from Germany to the U.S. is extremely expensive these days, but there are no reliable sources of MZ parts in the U.S.

[Puffs]

For the life of me, I can't see any good reason why not to use a mag-dynamo, as in the instruction booklet on the original G-5. Other than that Rickman didn't have the parts when they assembled the bike? And the same might have happened when Rickman assembled the other one, that's still in the UK. The 2 might have been assembled at the same time...

Btw, as yours doesn't have lights, I don't think it's an enduro (ISDT/ISDE, like Guesi's) model, but rather a non-road registered MX model. I have no doubt that can also be used in events like desert races in the US, Australia, Africa, or the UK at the time, but I believe proper ISDT/ISDE bikes need to have lights and comply with the legislation for use on public roads. Then as well as now. And while in the UK at the time a 'Daytime-only' use may have been legal, on the continent it most certainly was not, hence not ISDT.
On the Classic MX races you see Rickman bikes quite regularly, with other engines (just about anything from the period). Best have a look at photos from the ISDT's from the time, maybe I'm wrong.

All MZ's btw.

Anyway, it still leaves you to take a view: stay with the ignition/carb you have, which were possibly fitted by Rickman at the time, or upgrade to something more modern, which is certainly not original, but might work better.

[traderyoda]

Yep, that's always a tough call - update or keep. I'm going to try the latter route until forced off of it.

There are two Rickman MZ machines I know of, but the other one your refer to was an adaptation. I managed to track down a chap who remembered assembling the bike back then. I have a picture of the other one around here someplace and I'll see if I can find it. This machine, however, was a prototype built by Rickman expressly to test the MZ engine as a 2-stroke contender for the American market. The Rickman brothers realized the advantaged of 2-stroke power at the time and the importance of accessing the U.S. market with complete bikes vs kits. They tried with Starmaker, Bultaco, and Yamaha and all flopped for various reasons. Initially the Yamaha motor held great promise and they geared up for production - when that engine didn't work out it really hurt their business. Lynn, who was close the MZ factory, and was loaned an ISDT bike to test (I believe one of the bikes in your picture from the '64 MS ISDT team), pushed the notion of trying the MZ as a contender motor. He got the MZ factory to cough up a specially prepped motor, the Rickman's modified a MkIV frame to fit it (it's stamped "X1", and shipped it off to Steen's Cycle where Lynn picked it up). By all accounts it was extremely fast and reliable. Lynn kept the bike and treasured it... which is why I'm trying to keep it as he owned it.

Here's Lynn riding the ISDT bike the factory loaned him - people are still trying to find this bike which seems to have vanished.

Lynn was pushing hard to try and help the Rickmans find a path to a production 250 machine. My Yamaha DT-1 MkIV Petite Metisse was an enigma when I first encountered it. It was an original machine for the first batch shipped but someone had modded the frame at some point. I couldn't understand what happened until I met a fellow who knew John Steen and hung around the shop. He recalled what happened to the machine I would buy much later down the road. The bike was tested by Lynn and didn't hold up - in fact he blew up the DT-1 motor. The bike went back to Steen's and sat around until it was modified to fit a Pannonia 250 Cross motor. That proved another dead-end... under-powered and unreliable. The DT-1 engine was put back in and it became a showroom queen for nearly half-a-century. I have to think that the combo of a Rickman frame and MZ motor could well have proven superior to the Montessa, but that's just my bias.

[Puffs]

Great stuff!
Your thread caused me to look through an old booklet, from which I vaguely remembered I saw something you might find interesting:

You may not quite catch some of the Dutch, but maybe a bit; it mentions the Rickman story up to that time (late 60's). The pic is a Matchless engined one, and they also mention the Rickmans re-focussing on Bultaco at the end of the previous 4T era. In those days Yamaha, MZ & others were still to come.

In the flesh I have only seen Rickmans with British 4T engines, and with Bultaco 2T engines.

[breakwellmz]

Montesa, Villiers, Yamaha.....

[traderyoda]

And Maico, Husqvarna, Honda, CZ, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Pannonia... just about every motor you can think of. Many are modified MkIV or Montesa frames.

[breakwellmz]

The list goes on, and on...........
I can`t see what you would gain in some cases of replacing the original frame with a Rickman, CZ for example.

[Puffs]

Maybe I saw more then, can't quite remember. And I only competed in the pre-70 MX, Rickman's expansion might have come later.

Indeed, both Husqvarna & CZ had quite a track record in winning in the pre-70's - with their own standard bikes, no need for Rickman mods. For instance my '68 CZ 250 was world champion in that year, with Joël Robert (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motocross ... ampionship ). No, not with my specific bike, obviously.

I don't know about Joël Robert, but Stefan Everts put in his contract that he could keep every bike he became champion on. A collection.