The Moped Man
When Knut Eliesen from Hvam took up his interest in motorbikes again a few years ago, he also restored his dream bike from his youth, a Tempo Cross. The work led him to “Tigerstadens Tempoklubb”, and here his interest in old mopeds was awakened. We have been to the “wagon shed” to look at the moped collection, which mostly consisted of close to 25 thin two-wheelers.
Knut Eliesen actually inherited his interest in mopeds from his brother, after he took over a 1958 model “Rixe” with a 98 cc Sachs engine in 1964. The bike was used for practice riding and for his driving test that same year. However, Knut wanted a tougher two-wheeler, and in the spring of 1965 he just as well bought a Tempo Sport 125 cc. The bike was bought from Eldar Hagen Sport, precisely to get Tempo emblem on the tank. Erling Sande also sold Tempo , but they went under the brand name “Arrow”, and that wasn’t tough enough for the young Eliesen. Knut remembers that he bought the bike on installments, for the tidy sum of NOK 3645. The payment consisted of monthly installments of NOK 136. His monthly salary was NOK 150, so there was barely enough left over for petrol. The bike was used extensively, including for motocross and cross-country racing at Bjerke.
Eventually, Knut took the plunge, and the Cross was put away. The Tempo sat hidden away for nearly 40 years, but it was not forgotten. In 2008, Knut found the remains of the Cross, and painstaking restoration work was carried out. The old papers were retrieved from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, and the same applied to the old registration number. In connection with this work, he joined the Tempo club, which put Knut on the trail of old mopeds.
A significant number of mopeds eventually found their way home to Knut's garage. The collection of veteran mopeds consisted of almost 25 examples at most, but now Knut is content with "only" 10 mopeds. Among the jewels in the collection I find a neat Raufoss moped. "It is the Raufoss moped in particular that has caught my interest," says Knut, pointing to a great example of a small piece of Norwegian industrial history. And, when the weather is nice, he lets the little 2-stroke simmer with a lovely streak of blue smoke, because then Knut enjoys life. Because as he says; "They are built to be used".
0/0