The former owner had fitted a new Jap battery, indicators and even a fog light, although the generator provided insufficient power to run ail the electrical components simultaneously. The first day I had the bike I couldn’t get it started, but this was just because I hadn't realised that full choke was needed from cold. Luckily, I did realise that you had to mix oil with petrol. The bike was easy to ride and ran along fast enough to amuse me after the moped.
I quickly put in for my test and passed, although the chain jumped off during it. Then on the way home afterwards it jumped off again on the front sprocket and cracked the crankcase. The engine leaked oil like mad all the way home. Ever tried buying new crankcases for a Polish bike? What a laugh, eventually a breaker welded up the old ones, but even that wasn’t very cheap.
Next problem was a strong smell of petrol there was a very fine crack in the petrol tank. The breaker, brave man, welded that as well, keeping it full of water the whole time so as to avoid an explosion from the petrol vapour. Two months later, during a 200 mile ride, the bike went dead. The condenser was wrecked. This happened on a second trip as well. A friendly AA man was able to supply a car one. Another time, the exhaust bracket broke, but I had this welded by a garage, who also did the centre stand at the same time as this had partially collapsed.
An unusual piece of design was the seal between the crankcase and the cylinder, a tiny bit of metal strip. Luckily, I never had to break that seal. Generally, engine mechanics were very reliable and I never had to do a strip down. The speedo cable always gave trouble due to dodgy cables. The tyres were Polish and generally horrible but better than MZ Pneumats.
The brakes worked after a fashion, even fitting British shoes didn’t help much. The original shoes were quickly reduced to dust but the British ones lasted a long time. The bike was very easy to work on, like something the British might have produced in the fifties. Only the lack of spares was a cause for concern. In the end I became tired of its 14hp, although not of its 83mpg.
Altogether I covered some 10000 miles with the WSK and I only had two breakdowns. I never had any accidents, nor did the bike ever fall over of its own accord in my three years of ownership. Not the greatest of motorcycles, perhaps, but the WSK 175 will always keep a special place in my memory.
Toni Kersbergen