"Elefanten Treffen part 1"

To Elefanten Treffen Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
In Germany, in wintertime, there is a motorcycle meeting (treffen) called Elefanten Treffen. It's located in a little town called Solla, in Bayerischer Wald near the city Passau. Map (360 kb)
In the beginning a few sidecar lovers drove there Zündapps KS 650 to a meetingpoint. The nickname of that bike was "Grüne Elefant" And so the Elefanten Treffen was born. Nowadays about 5000 to 6000 people join the treffen every year. It is not resticted to sidecars only, there are even more solo bikes than sidecars.
Almost ready for a wintertrip to the Elefanten Treffen
For a ride to the Elefanten Treffen, the old
MZ has to carry some stuff and two persons
This sidecar is a great 
beer-transporter
Here you can see the real reason for riding a
sidecar, it is a great beer transporter.
Sidecar as a bath
Oké, some people have other reasons to ride with three wheels.
From my hometown it's about 960 km (600 miles) to Solla. Because it's a wintertreffen the riding conditions could be hard. So man and machine must be well prepared. You need a good sleeping-bag and a tent to survive the low temperatures at night.

My MZ has done the ride five times without big problems. The bike is build in 1965 in the DDR (East Germany, "Behind The Wall").
250 cc, 6 volt system, a topspeed of 90 KM/hour (56 miles/hour) and a sidecar added. It lookes like a rat-bike.

This is our kitchen A photo of the kitchen. Eating and drinking is our core business.

Left; Kees Kentrop from Roké Motors and our great mechanic
Middle; Marco Dreuning from Theo Van Esch Tires and also my brother
Right; Just me
Full Elefanten gear You can see the 5 liter beer can on the left leg protector.
It's used to store the non-skid chains. A salad box is used as cover.

To Elefanten Treffen Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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