Zundapp Bella, a what? why?

So I guess the first question is why pick an obscure 1955 german scooter that few people have heard of over a vespa or lambretta. I mean, if you are going to restore a 50+ year old scooter it’d be good if there was a ready knowledge base and parts supply wouldn’t it.

In retrospect I think it can be put down to two things, an impulse and an excess of wine.

I must admit to having no knowledge whatsoever of the Zundapp Bella before I purchased it, but a quick google told me it would look cool.

The second question is why you’d buy one as a box of bits in the UK when you live in Dubai… I would direct you to my previous reasoning!

So here we have it, my latest purchase, a box of Bella.

The reality is I wanted something mechanically simple that I could tinker away with in my recently built air-conditioned ‘shed’ in Dubai, something small enough to fit and different enough to be interesting.

Having sorted through the bike and an half I’d purchased I arranged shipping to Dubai through a friendly freight firm and it arrived safely in hundreds of rusty pieces some weeks later.

Now one of the problems when you buy a 50 year old German bike that is in bits is that there is no readily available manual and of course you can’t record the dismantling. But hey these are the cards I’d dealt myself…

That said there are some resources out there and despite never speaking with them, certain people have inspired and supported my efforts. The Kislingbury Bella build blog at bella.bizzypeople.com has proven invaluable, so thank you and I commend you on your choice of the R154. Which reminds me, mine is an R154, a 150cc, electric start marvel. One day it should look something like this…