Simson mopeds from East Germany may still ride at 60 kilometers per hour if they were first registered under the old GDR rules before 28 February 1992. Newer mopeds are limited to 45. The reason is a clause in the Unification Treaty of 1990. Production ended in 2002. The historian Jens Schöne calls the mopeds robust and comparatively easy to repair, which mattered in the GDR.
How many are still on the road is uncertain. The Federal Motor Transport Authority counts 20,000 registered GDR mopeds. Experts assume there are far more.