My bikes, part two.

[mickj]

As I have more than one bike and they are all different (but similar) I thought I might write a little review of each of them, so here is the second oldest.
MZ 1000sf.
When I saw the first pictures of the MZ I was quite interested and thought I must find one to see one in the flesh. After moving home I found a dealer and tried the ST version (Fully faired touring version) but didn’t like the fairing so kept looking for the naked sf version. I eventually found one in South Wales and went for a look. I thought the bike was very different to anything else out there so asked for a test ride which I got. Being a high compression parallel twin with virtually no fly wheel this bike is very different to ride (and difficult to ride smoothly) but it was enough for me to do a deal, after a bit of haggling I bought it and rode off into the sunset. This is the only bike I have bought where the first “free” servicing was just that, free, even got a courtesy bike while the servicing was being done. During the run in period the bike broke down and I had to ring the dealer who came out to me (80 miles) collected the bike and left me with another bike to get home on, fault was traced to a started rely bypass in the headlight cluster, that was the only warranty work carried out. The only other real problem I have had is that the coils don’t seem to last forever but I found an easy fix and so now make my own from Citroen coils (£25 as opposed to £125) and the return spring on the gear lever failed (common fault) which I replaced as changing gear was very difficult. I changed the cans and fitted crash bobbins, an alarm and bypassed the headlight relay as I want to decide when to have my light on or not, that’s been it for mods. MZ only made 1500 of these 1000cc bikes in three versions, the “S” (Sport) a fully faired sports bike, the “ST” (Super Tour) a fully faired touring bike with top box and panniers and the “SF” (Super Fighter) a stripped street fighter, all based on the same chassis and engine but in different states of tune. The factory went bust in 2009 so there will be no more, mine is only one of eight in the UK and not all of them are used. Over the years I have found that some of the rubber items are of fairly poor quality but most of the fixtures and fittings are of good quality. Brakes are the same as my Speed Triple so are really good, suspension is the same as a Ducati Monster of the period so is good and the bike is very different. With a bit of research I have found a lot of the other parts are common to other bikes so spares are not really a problem (yet) and most consumables are easily obtained, engine and some cycle parts are still available direct from Germany or the UK importer. I like this bike very much and get a great feeling of satisfaction after a ride, revs need to be above 3000 or it’s like riding a jack hammer but everything works well together. Servicing is easy, economy is pretty good as I get over 50mpg and it pretty good with pillions as it’s physically a big bike. Unfortunately the fuel tank is plastic so has suffered like my Speed triple and has stretched a bit and therefore needs Esso super unleaded, I have it under control now. The bike always attracts a crowd as most people have never seen one or know what it is, some don’t believe it’s an MZ as “they only make two strokes”. I would like to think this will become highly collectable in the future if only as a curiosity, (I believe J Leno has two) but as I enjoy it so much I will keep it for a while.

[Rrawlings]

Always fancied one of these

[mickj]

Originally Posted by Rrawlings

Always fancied one of these

I think you will be hard pushed to find one for sale in the UK, you might find one in Germany.

[Luddite]

That's quite a rarity, Mick. There's an interesting article in July's Bike magazine about the DDR Motorrad Museum in Berlin, which is full of MZs of all description, including a 1000S.

That fuel tank is quite Monsteresque, don't you think?

[mickj]

A little but not quite as curvy.

[Rrawlings]

My dad has an Mz Scorpion which has a Yamaha 660 single in it. It was a total whoot of a bike with some sticky tyres on it. Ride the pants off of it but never actually going that fast

[Rrawlings]

Sorry he had an Mz my fat fingers got things wrong

[Darren69]

looks A bit like a Laverda Ghost

[Doggy]

That's certainly different! Nice too .

[mickj]

Originally Posted by Rrawlings

My dad has an Mz Scorpion which has a Yamaha 660 single in it. It was a total whoot of a bike with some sticky tyres on it. Ride the pants off of it but never actually going that fast

Scorpion was one of the first, if not the first bike to have the frame glued up rather than welded. MZ used the same engine in other bikes in the form of a trail/enduro bike and a supermotard, they were the Baghira and the Mastiff.