HeinkelFest 2025
September 10-14, 2025
Colorado Springs, CO
by Hartmut Schouwer
Since my first journey to the USA in 1980, I more and more fell in love with this country. Vintage US cars and some European motorbikes and scooters came and went during my life. Finally I partly restored an abandoned white 103-A2, which I loved from the first kilometer. This one will be a keeper!
You can imagine what happened. As a Heinkel and USA enthusiast I searched the Web for these terms and found Mike’s website. I read about the HeinkelFests in Colorado and the Pikes Peak Challenge. I had a sleepless night. Going up to 4.300 meters on a vintage 9 hp scooter seemed incredible. I immediately got in contact with Mike. He invited me for the HeinkelFest 2025 and offered one of his Heinkels for use at the HeinkelFest. Wow!
September 1st, I started a trip with my wife through Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. We finally arrived at the Buffalo Lodge in Colorado Springs. I only knew a few of the people there, among them Mike, Carole, Shawn and Werner. We had met some weeks before at the Heinkeltreffen in Ermerstrand, NL. As we arrived at the Buffalo Lodge, we immediately found new Heinkel friends. Mike gave me the keys to his beautiful red 103-A1. It drove like a dream and I (as a guy from the flat northwestern part of Germany) quickly got used to the hills. Time to calm down!
September 11th, some of the early bird type of guys had a short trip for the sunrise in the Garden Of The Gods. After breakfast, we started for the Gold Camp Road Crawl. This route led us to a high terrain with red and yellow rocks, green trees and great views. On the way up, some of the Heinkels had sudden issues with power loss. The thin air, combined with the heat from the engines, caused vapor lock. Even the gasoline in the tank seemed to boil! After cooling down, the engines finally started again with their typical four-stroke rumble. The narrow gravel road was really breathtaking with a mix of tunnels and great scenery.
After a quick lunch at the Garden Of The Gods Trading Post (they had Bison Burgers!), some of the attendants visited the Manitou Arcade, a museum for coin- operated games and retro fun machines.
I went over to the repair-pavilion. Some of the Heinkels needed to be fixed. Tech specialists did the repairs, explaining a lot and everybody learned new facts about their Heinkels and how to keep them running. I witnessed a lot of knowledge and true camaraderie among the American Heinkel enthusiasts, who are widely spread all over their country.
September 12th was the day of the Pikes Peak Challenge! Mike had some special main jets for the carbs to make sure the scooters would ride fine in the thin air above 4.000 meters.
We started with eleven Heinkels. On the steep roads to the top I felt sorry for the little A1 – and admired it simultaneously. It had to be driven mainly in first gear with full throttle – and that for almost one hour. Respect for committing your scooters to us for that torture, Mike!
Eight Heinkels made it to the top! Up there, the humans seemed to have more problems than our 60- 70 years old scooters. The thin air caused headaches and breathing troubles.
Suddenly, the weather changed and we were confronted with fog, strong winds and hailstorms. That’s not what you need in downhill hairpin curves! We left in a hurry. Due to the weather conditions, the traditional summit picture had to be taken half way down.
In the afternoon, everybody wanted to chill and warm up the frozen body. Fun stuff like a Slow Race Challenge and Tech Sessions were the perfect way to go.
Later, a food truck provided us with mexican eatery. We gathered in the pavilion and enjoyed a nice evening with food, wine and good talks.
On Saturday, Mike and Gretchen invited us to a delightful brunch. After a chilly day a dinner in the Edelweiss bavarian-style restaurant in Colorado Springs was the last point on the agenda.
Sunday was the day to pack up and depart.
We made new Heinkel friends, had good talks, enhancing our personal horizons and had great new experiences like riding a Heinkel on American roads. We enjoyed every single aspect of HeinkelFest 2025. A dream came true!
Thanks for organizing this great event, Mike!