If you have an old motorcycle stashed in your garage, backyard or basement, waiting for its turn on the workbench, you’re not alone. Old bikes can spark joy—but they can also take a lot of time and patience to get them to where they can spark joy.
Jürgen Becker, a comedian and actor from Cologne, Germany, can relate. He took pity on a 1955 Minsk M1A that was destined for the junkyard, graciously adopting the diminutive two-stroke. Then he brought it back to life as a vintage electric bike and named it after a Jimi Hendrix album.
If the M1A looks familiar, that’s because it’s technically a DKW RT125—the same bike that was copied and sold around the world under different names.…