Hi Ben,

Your article brings back many memories I used to ride an R25-3 many years ago , 1967- 1969. I too did work on the engine and I had very little money at the time so it was not as thorough as your rebuild. What caught my eye was your comment that the piston head would separate from the skirt. This actually happened to mine!!

I was touring Sweden from the UK.I had ridden across northern Germany, all through Denmark and across the Skattegat into Sweden.I rode north up through Stockholm and Uppsala. Further north , at a place called Soderhamn, I was riding merrily along, probably about 80-90 kph when suddenly the bike went quiet and I coasted to a halt. I tried to kickstart it but the engine turned over freely and without resistance. I took the plug out and looked down the hole as I turned it over, sure enough, I could see the top of the piston and it didn't move. It had separated around the bottom ring, the oil control ring. Just the skirt was going up and down and it was very quiet !

The police had me picked up by a motorbike shop and they ordered a new piston by train from Stockholm. It was Hepolite, a very good English brand, which surprised me as it is a german bike. About a day later , I was back on the road and I broke it in by riding 500 km the next day. It was quite an adventure I assure you as I speak no Swedish and the people who repaired it spoke no English. Thankfully I had no more problems until about a year later close to my home when 3 dogs ran across the road in front of me and I couldnt miss them all.The dog died unfortunately and the bike was sold off for parts. It was heavily damaged on the front. My father said that was the last motorbike I was having so I ended up driving a three wheeled Isetta bubble car after that with a 300 cc BMW single in it. Thanks for reviving my memories!!

Cheers, Steve Cotsford

I should add, that Steve later wrote to me saying he rode the bike quite hard and that this particular R25/3 did have 100k km on the engine and slight piston slap.