Found a nice-looking MZ/MuZ forum while trying to Google myself. It's definitely alive, but not busy like some forums I've been on in the past - which is good because I won't feel the need to monitor it all the time. I tend to get in trouble at work when I'm forumming...
I've put a link to them in my useful links slot, although probably the only people who are ever going to visit this blog are people from the forum (and not many of them and not very often). Hey ho.
So hello to everyone from http://www.mzriders.com/, see you on the forum!
Friday 25 April 2008
Shopping (again)
You can tell I'm a girlie! I've been shopping again. Just to get some more tags and a permanent pen (I noticed the biro had mysteriously disappeared from a couple of tags the other day).
Haven't been in the garage since last weekend as I was away in Hoofddorp (nr Amsterdam) for the early part of the week. That wasn't as interesting as it sounds because I was doing an audit on one of the contractor companies that I work with, and basically saw the hotel and their offices. I hate it when people do that, but I didn't have much choice. I could have got on a bus and done some exploring on my own, but knowing me I'd've got lost. If I'd had the Skorpion with me it would have been a different story!
Haven't been in the garage since last weekend as I was away in Hoofddorp (nr Amsterdam) for the early part of the week. That wasn't as interesting as it sounds because I was doing an audit on one of the contractor companies that I work with, and basically saw the hotel and their offices. I hate it when people do that, but I didn't have much choice. I could have got on a bus and done some exploring on my own, but knowing me I'd've got lost. If I'd had the Skorpion with me it would have been a different story!
Sunday 20 April 2008
Up to date!
Hooray, that was all of the previous items I'd created and saved to the memory stick promising myself I'll set up a blog "soon"... So now you're up to date, apart from this weekend...
Well, yesterday. A trip to Halfords yielded a can of 3-in-1 oil and a nasty plasticky modern version of the oil can I was on about. It works, but isn't as aesthetically pleasing as the old-fashioned variety. Oh well. Still haven't tracked down any barrier cream though. I NEED to get some of that, it takes days for my hands to be clean again after a proper session, and I'm supposed to be doing an audit in the Netherlands early next week. Ah well, they'll just have to think I'm slightly mad. They won't be far wrong, will they?
On to the work. I realised I'd made a basic mistake with the brake caliper when, after an amount of huffing and puffing and leaning on spanners etc to get it apart, I realised I'd need to push the pistons out from behind in the normal way (ie with brake fluid, which would mean putting it all back together and rigging up a master cylinder & lever etc). Biscuits. I don't wan't to damage them by pulling out from the front if I can help it. So I spent a lot of the afternoon taking the front brake setup off the 251 in the corner, getting that caliper broken down properly & rigging the 125 caliper to its brake line. I'm not sure it's ever going to bleed through though, as there was a lot of a kind of waxy substance in all the channels in the caliper, and of course I'd disturbed the (rather dry and old-looking) seal too. At the time of writing, the system is hanging from the garage ceiling with the lever cable-tied open and the bleed nipple open to see if the fluid will just seep through given enough time. I seem to be getting more fluid out of the joints in the brake line than the bleed nipple though. We'll see next weeked I guess. If it hasn't made any progress by then I'll have to think of another plan. I also got the exhaust off, broken down, cleaned and bagged up. Now I've got the oil can, all the components that are going into bags are getting a smear of oil so hopefully at least won't deteriorate any further. Many of the nuts & bolts etc probably won't be used again, but it's a useful discipline and it'll be good to be able to identify them for replacement purposes... That was about it for yesterday, aside from formally christening the kettle and getting the CD player to work for 2/3 of a CD, until I started hitting things on the bench which put it right off its stroke. It still hasn't forgiven me. Will have to keep an eye out in charity shops etc for a new one...
Today, 20th April. Thinking back on the day, I don't seem to have got very much done. I faffed around with the brake caliper some more, and got that rigged up to the ceiling to gravity bleed over the week. I made a bit more progress towards getting the engine out - carburettor and generator cover off. This engine is the ETZ version (I think of as the "old" style) with the clutch actuator on the right hand side, and a pin all the way through the engine to the actual clutch on the other side (no, I don't know why, either). So I'm struggling a little to break down the clutch actuator assembly inside the generator cover itself. I need to fabricate a tool as the retaining system for the arm is, um, interesting. I'll try to remember to double-check the manual before doing too much more next week. Haynes are quite good at suggesting alternatives to the "special" tools.
The carburettor is all broken down, oiled and bagged up. It wasn't in bad nick really, there was a bit of jellified fuel in the bottom of the float bowl and bottom end of the main jet, but that'll clean up with some brake cleaner (something to add to the list there) apparently. It could have been a LOT worse. I couldn't get the idle adjuster screw out though, will have to attack that again sometime.
I also had to spend some time fixing the chain on the Skopion again. It had managed to lose the retaining clip of the joining link... I seriously didn't think it was a good idea to ride the bike, knowing it was like that - obviously I must've ridden it a bit before I saw the problem - but I have no idea how far. So Justin (bless him) took some time out from finishing coursework and starting revision to help me out with that - the chain tool just doesn't have long enough levers for me! I made a good stab at it myself first though, I promise. Then Justin wanted a lift up to town to go in to the Uni for a while, and (cheeky sod) a lift home too when his friend wasn't available for a beer... Still, he's cooking a bacon and mushroom omelette for tea, so perhaps I shouldn't complain too much.
Taking the generator cover off also confirmed my suspicion that this little bike was once well cared for, under the rubber bung that hides the end of the clutch mechanism on the outside, was evidence of a generous smear of grease last time it was assembled. I'm impressed. A lot of the alloy is furry, but it cleans off fine and hopefully the oil should stop it coming back while in storage.
Basically I ran out of time today. I was in the garage until after half past nine last night, and as I'm going to be away for three days this week I figure Justin deserves some of my time tonight. So when I got back from picking him up from town I really only tidied up and called it a day. I do prefer to finish the component/assembly that I'm working on, but I can see that clutch actuator taking a while to extract. And it's going to have to come out if I'm going to repaint or otherwise refurbish that cover...
TTFN
@
Well, yesterday. A trip to Halfords yielded a can of 3-in-1 oil and a nasty plasticky modern version of the oil can I was on about. It works, but isn't as aesthetically pleasing as the old-fashioned variety. Oh well. Still haven't tracked down any barrier cream though. I NEED to get some of that, it takes days for my hands to be clean again after a proper session, and I'm supposed to be doing an audit in the Netherlands early next week. Ah well, they'll just have to think I'm slightly mad. They won't be far wrong, will they?
On to the work. I realised I'd made a basic mistake with the brake caliper when, after an amount of huffing and puffing and leaning on spanners etc to get it apart, I realised I'd need to push the pistons out from behind in the normal way (ie with brake fluid, which would mean putting it all back together and rigging up a master cylinder & lever etc). Biscuits. I don't wan't to damage them by pulling out from the front if I can help it. So I spent a lot of the afternoon taking the front brake setup off the 251 in the corner, getting that caliper broken down properly & rigging the 125 caliper to its brake line. I'm not sure it's ever going to bleed through though, as there was a lot of a kind of waxy substance in all the channels in the caliper, and of course I'd disturbed the (rather dry and old-looking) seal too. At the time of writing, the system is hanging from the garage ceiling with the lever cable-tied open and the bleed nipple open to see if the fluid will just seep through given enough time. I seem to be getting more fluid out of the joints in the brake line than the bleed nipple though. We'll see next weeked I guess. If it hasn't made any progress by then I'll have to think of another plan. I also got the exhaust off, broken down, cleaned and bagged up. Now I've got the oil can, all the components that are going into bags are getting a smear of oil so hopefully at least won't deteriorate any further. Many of the nuts & bolts etc probably won't be used again, but it's a useful discipline and it'll be good to be able to identify them for replacement purposes... That was about it for yesterday, aside from formally christening the kettle and getting the CD player to work for 2/3 of a CD, until I started hitting things on the bench which put it right off its stroke. It still hasn't forgiven me. Will have to keep an eye out in charity shops etc for a new one...
Today, 20th April. Thinking back on the day, I don't seem to have got very much done. I faffed around with the brake caliper some more, and got that rigged up to the ceiling to gravity bleed over the week. I made a bit more progress towards getting the engine out - carburettor and generator cover off. This engine is the ETZ version (I think of as the "old" style) with the clutch actuator on the right hand side, and a pin all the way through the engine to the actual clutch on the other side (no, I don't know why, either). So I'm struggling a little to break down the clutch actuator assembly inside the generator cover itself. I need to fabricate a tool as the retaining system for the arm is, um, interesting. I'll try to remember to double-check the manual before doing too much more next week. Haynes are quite good at suggesting alternatives to the "special" tools.
The carburettor is all broken down, oiled and bagged up. It wasn't in bad nick really, there was a bit of jellified fuel in the bottom of the float bowl and bottom end of the main jet, but that'll clean up with some brake cleaner (something to add to the list there) apparently. It could have been a LOT worse. I couldn't get the idle adjuster screw out though, will have to attack that again sometime.
I also had to spend some time fixing the chain on the Skopion again. It had managed to lose the retaining clip of the joining link... I seriously didn't think it was a good idea to ride the bike, knowing it was like that - obviously I must've ridden it a bit before I saw the problem - but I have no idea how far. So Justin (bless him) took some time out from finishing coursework and starting revision to help me out with that - the chain tool just doesn't have long enough levers for me! I made a good stab at it myself first though, I promise. Then Justin wanted a lift up to town to go in to the Uni for a while, and (cheeky sod) a lift home too when his friend wasn't available for a beer... Still, he's cooking a bacon and mushroom omelette for tea, so perhaps I shouldn't complain too much.
Taking the generator cover off also confirmed my suspicion that this little bike was once well cared for, under the rubber bung that hides the end of the clutch mechanism on the outside, was evidence of a generous smear of grease last time it was assembled. I'm impressed. A lot of the alloy is furry, but it cleans off fine and hopefully the oil should stop it coming back while in storage.
Basically I ran out of time today. I was in the garage until after half past nine last night, and as I'm going to be away for three days this week I figure Justin deserves some of my time tonight. So when I got back from picking him up from town I really only tidied up and called it a day. I do prefer to finish the component/assembly that I'm working on, but I can see that clutch actuator taking a while to extract. And it's going to have to come out if I'm going to repaint or otherwise refurbish that cover...
TTFN
@
08 April 2008
08/04/08
Had a lovely shopping trip today. Walked down to Halfords, which was disappointing as they didn’t have any barrier cream, but I got a catering size can of WD40. Tescos only had Large resealable bags – will have to go to Sainsburys sometime for small and medium, although my local Savacentre doesn’t always have small ones. WHSmith provided a magnetic dry-wipe notice board which I hope will be very handy. Wilkinsons supplied their usual line in el-cheapo stuff, a handful of notepads, washing up brush, toothbrushes, little food storage pots for tea/coffee/sugar/milk. Finally, a trip to Argos yeilded a kettle for under a fiver. I’ve decided to keep an Accounts spreadsheet, and this shows I spent £25.64 today, which isn’t bad for the amount of stuff I got. I’m nearly there with the scrounging list, although I haven’t really managed to “scrounge” much of it yet… I’ll steal some teabags, coffee, sugar and dried milk (only bought for breadmaking – we don’t normally use it!) from the kitchen at some convenient moment, that’ll make me feel better about it. Now, how to get all this lot home from Uxbridge…?! I’ll have fun loading up the Skorpion tonight. It might take a couple of days… Although I always say “where there’s a will there’s a way”, so I’ll give it a good go before I leave stuff here.
Had a lovely shopping trip today. Walked down to Halfords, which was disappointing as they didn’t have any barrier cream, but I got a catering size can of WD40. Tescos only had Large resealable bags – will have to go to Sainsburys sometime for small and medium, although my local Savacentre doesn’t always have small ones. WHSmith provided a magnetic dry-wipe notice board which I hope will be very handy. Wilkinsons supplied their usual line in el-cheapo stuff, a handful of notepads, washing up brush, toothbrushes, little food storage pots for tea/coffee/sugar/milk. Finally, a trip to Argos yeilded a kettle for under a fiver. I’ve decided to keep an Accounts spreadsheet, and this shows I spent £25.64 today, which isn’t bad for the amount of stuff I got. I’m nearly there with the scrounging list, although I haven’t really managed to “scrounge” much of it yet… I’ll steal some teabags, coffee, sugar and dried milk (only bought for breadmaking – we don’t normally use it!) from the kitchen at some convenient moment, that’ll make me feel better about it. Now, how to get all this lot home from Uxbridge…?! I’ll have fun loading up the Skorpion tonight. It might take a couple of days… Although I always say “where there’s a will there’s a way”, so I’ll give it a good go before I leave stuff here.
07 April 2008 (2)
Spot the difference! Today’s work on the project consisted of the start of the dismantling work on the 125. I don’t think very much of this bike is going to end up getting used in the 2x250 rebuild, but I’m building in as many good habits as I can re. tagging everything that comes off the bike with what it is and which bike it came from. There are a lot of items already removed from various bikes that aren’t tagged, but I’ll work them out when I come to putting things back together I think. So far all the components are getting bagged up in groups by item (so, for instance, the brake caliper is with all its bolts, hydraulic fittings etc.). I’ll find out how good a system it is when I get to rebuilding… I’ve noted all the different wires on the blocks in the headlight surround, what colour they are and where they go to, on little diagrams that are in with the cowl, and noted the “headlight end” of all the separate bits of loom that have come away from the front end of the bike so far… I might even be able to rebuild this loom!! I don’t think it’s possible to have too much information of this type, so I’m taking it slowly and getting down what I can. I would’ve taken photos of the wiring but it was such a tangled mess in there, I don’t think it’d have been any use anyway. I’ve been quite impressed with how easily this bike is coming apart. It had been abandoned in a sorry state (partially dismantled) but would seem to have been a pretty well-cared-for bike before then. Apart from one item, the throttle cable housing on the handlebar, everything has come off/apart very easily with only a light, pre-emptive, squirt of WD40. I’ve basically gotten the front end apart now, back to the fuel tank (which was full of water…). I’m leaving the wheels in until the end of dismantling so the bike can be moved if necessary. Next job is to get the engine out. I’ve squirted all the relevant bolts with WD40 so it’s got time to work its way in over the next week, and drained the oil (UKK!! I’ve rarely seen nastier looking “oil” come out of an engine, and there wasn’t much of it either! But it’s not siezed up, so I can hope that there’s some life left in the gearbox yet. Engine stripping is much later, but we’ll find out what the damage to that is then. I’ve made a note that I need to strip the brake caliper down & at least oil all the bits, as the hydraulic line was open to the sky when it was standing, and all the bits I took off squirted water everywhere. As water is heavier than brake fluid (I presume – it’s heavier than oil anyway!), I fully expect the caliper to be full of water, so it’ll be a mercy to it if I get rid of that & sort it out sooner rather than later. Today (or tomorrow) I will have another shopping trip & get some more stuff from the buying/scrounging list. It would be really useful to have one of those magnetic notice boards they’re selling in WHSmith (I think) for ongoing notes and “to do” lists. I’m also going to see who sells barrier cream as I don’t really get on with working in gloves, a couple of proper old-fashioned oil cans (always wanted one!), a couple of notebooks, some more food bags – re-sealable this time, the tie-tag ones are OK, but resealable is better I think. And I’m going to cheat and get a cheap toothbrush from Wilkinsons. We use an electric toothbrush and the heads from that aren’t really what you need for cleaning motorcycle parts. If I can find one for under a fiver I’ll get a kettle too, and a supply of teabags, sugar and maybe some of those longlife milk cartons like you get in cafés. So, Halfords, Tescos, WHSmith and Wilkinsons. Quite a walkabout for a lunch hour…
07 April 2008
07/04/08Did I miss a weekend? Ah, no. Easter was 21st to 24th, and last weekend I went to the police BikeSafe national doobrie at Hendon on the Sunday, so I would have been doing all the weekend’s work on the Saturday. Really enjoyed the Bikesafe event. Blagged myself a ride on a BMW GS1250 for the observed rideout (because I didn’t take my MoT & insurance docs with me). A load of manufacturers were doing demo bikes – on the condition that you only took them out on a formal observed ride. Good plan! Gets a lot of the real loonies out of the system. My friendly policeman was very complimentary about my riding (thanks to all those who have given me various types of advanced training over the years), and apart from a slight misunderstanding I had with the bike about indicators at the beginning… I really enjoyed the ride. The GS (mine was a 57-plate so probably the latest model but I didn’t get any real details) is a stonking bike! I couldn’t really find out everything it could do with a fluorescent yellow police bike behind me, but I was impressed. I don’t want one though, there’s that irritating flat spot in the fuel injection at around 4,500rpm where the emissions are tested (you don’t get that with a carb!) and it really is just too BIG!! Very smooth though, and you certainly get a commanding view of the road. Anyway, on to Project 250. Hopefully there are some photos hereabouts... Ah! At the top. OK. Well, picture 1 is the bench in all its random glory, picture 2 is the pile of 250s in the corner, and picture 3 is the 125 in position ready to be dismantled.
20 March 2008
20/03/08
Well, on Monday I spent an entertaining lunch hour roaming around Uxbridge high street gathering labels and bags and tags and things. I eventually found everything I wanted, but it was certainly a learning process! WHSmith is the place for little labels with string on, full size luggage labels and little re-sealable bags. Wilkinson was disappointing but I bought a load of el-cheapo food bags (10p for 50 small ones and 10p for 20 large ones – last of the big spenders, me!), and also a through-switch and plug for the bench light.
I also managed to pootle around in the garage a bit in the evening and rig up the light. It took a while but that’s mostly because I was enjoying being in the garage and just working at my own pace.
On Tuesday Justin and I changed the front wheel bearings on the Skorpion, which went very smoothly, so I shall be going away for the weekend! Justin works a lot faster than me, which was good given the light was going, and isn’t afraid to HIT things! I must learn that one…I’ve just given the Skorp a last once-over, adjusted the chain and checked the oil (which for once didn’t need topping up), so we’re all fit to go. Just got to pack…
Well, on Monday I spent an entertaining lunch hour roaming around Uxbridge high street gathering labels and bags and tags and things. I eventually found everything I wanted, but it was certainly a learning process! WHSmith is the place for little labels with string on, full size luggage labels and little re-sealable bags. Wilkinson was disappointing but I bought a load of el-cheapo food bags (10p for 50 small ones and 10p for 20 large ones – last of the big spenders, me!), and also a through-switch and plug for the bench light.
I also managed to pootle around in the garage a bit in the evening and rig up the light. It took a while but that’s mostly because I was enjoying being in the garage and just working at my own pace.
On Tuesday Justin and I changed the front wheel bearings on the Skorpion, which went very smoothly, so I shall be going away for the weekend! Justin works a lot faster than me, which was good given the light was going, and isn’t afraid to HIT things! I must learn that one…I’ve just given the Skorp a last once-over, adjusted the chain and checked the oil (which for once didn’t need topping up), so we’re all fit to go. Just got to pack…
16 March 2008
16/03/2008
Well, Day Two has been quite successful. Not totally though; Justin’s ZZR battery isn’t taking a charge so I’ve had to put that in the garage on the Optimate in the hopes we’ll have a miracle between now and next weekend, else he won’t be riding at Easter. So I couldn’t sort out the toolboxes which are basically now totally obstructed by the Z.
Still, the bench end of the garage now looks marvellous. I’ve had a good old-fashioned shift around and organise of everything. So now all the oils are on one shelf together, all the cleaning stuff is in one place. You know the drill.
The guy who lived in this house before us was a painter-and-decorator type – and all the work he did on the house (and garage in particular) seems to have been done with stuff left over from various jobs. All the shelves in the garage are made of cheap bendy old chipboard held together with odd bits of wood. The workbench looks like it’s made of old pallets or something. Still, I am absolutely not complaining. At least the ARE shelves and a workbench. That kind of stuff would be expensive for me to put in because I’d buy metal stuff from whoever took over when Dexion folded… And I like the random rustic charm of it all.
So, while there hasn’t been any real progress bike-wise, at least I’ve now got an indoor area when I can work – with a little oil-filled radiator I’ve scrounged – that is quite comfortable and homely. The old stereo still works too, so there’s radio and cassette (remember them?) facilities. Hmmm, just thought, since the kitchen’s been redone in red, the old green kettle looks really out of place… I will have to persuade Justin that we really need a nice new one, in keeping with the new kitchen… Then a little fridge… No, that’s a step too far; I don’t need the power consumption. But if I had tea-making facilities out there, I could spend WHOLE DAYS in the garage, only making trips indoors for the loo and food… Must remember to take a CD out next time I go, to check if the CD player still works. It didn’t like the last one I fed it.
What else needs doing? Well, I could use a light above the workbench. There’s a fluorescent tube about a third of the way down the garage, but you end up working in your own shadow. A little strip light would be best, but there’s a random light fitting of the hanging-from-the-ceiling type that I’m sure I could adapt – as it’s already lying around. It’s not that I’m trying to do this project on the cheap, but I’m trying not to spend money unnecessarily, and anything I can re-use or scrounge or make do and mend, means there’s more money in the pot for things that NEED money spent on them.
It would be nice if I could get the existing fluorescent tube body at the door end of the garage working too, but I haven’t really investigated what that needs, apart from tubes and an electricity supply… Again, it’s there, which is half the battle.
Other stuff on the list is a lifetime supply of those little tags with string on them, for identifying parts (been there, done that!), lots of re-sealable plastic bags, for keeping related parts together, and I think a dodgy calendar would be in keeping. Firefighters maybe…So, a reasonably successful day all in all, considering the difficulties. There won’t be any progress next weekend as it’s Easter and Justin & I are going away with the gang to Gloucestershire for the weekend. I may do some pottering around and tidying up during the week (especially as I have to change the front wheel bearings on the Skorpion before I go away) but I’m making no promises.
Well, Day Two has been quite successful. Not totally though; Justin’s ZZR battery isn’t taking a charge so I’ve had to put that in the garage on the Optimate in the hopes we’ll have a miracle between now and next weekend, else he won’t be riding at Easter. So I couldn’t sort out the toolboxes which are basically now totally obstructed by the Z.
Still, the bench end of the garage now looks marvellous. I’ve had a good old-fashioned shift around and organise of everything. So now all the oils are on one shelf together, all the cleaning stuff is in one place. You know the drill.
The guy who lived in this house before us was a painter-and-decorator type – and all the work he did on the house (and garage in particular) seems to have been done with stuff left over from various jobs. All the shelves in the garage are made of cheap bendy old chipboard held together with odd bits of wood. The workbench looks like it’s made of old pallets or something. Still, I am absolutely not complaining. At least the ARE shelves and a workbench. That kind of stuff would be expensive for me to put in because I’d buy metal stuff from whoever took over when Dexion folded… And I like the random rustic charm of it all.
So, while there hasn’t been any real progress bike-wise, at least I’ve now got an indoor area when I can work – with a little oil-filled radiator I’ve scrounged – that is quite comfortable and homely. The old stereo still works too, so there’s radio and cassette (remember them?) facilities. Hmmm, just thought, since the kitchen’s been redone in red, the old green kettle looks really out of place… I will have to persuade Justin that we really need a nice new one, in keeping with the new kitchen… Then a little fridge… No, that’s a step too far; I don’t need the power consumption. But if I had tea-making facilities out there, I could spend WHOLE DAYS in the garage, only making trips indoors for the loo and food… Must remember to take a CD out next time I go, to check if the CD player still works. It didn’t like the last one I fed it.
What else needs doing? Well, I could use a light above the workbench. There’s a fluorescent tube about a third of the way down the garage, but you end up working in your own shadow. A little strip light would be best, but there’s a random light fitting of the hanging-from-the-ceiling type that I’m sure I could adapt – as it’s already lying around. It’s not that I’m trying to do this project on the cheap, but I’m trying not to spend money unnecessarily, and anything I can re-use or scrounge or make do and mend, means there’s more money in the pot for things that NEED money spent on them.
It would be nice if I could get the existing fluorescent tube body at the door end of the garage working too, but I haven’t really investigated what that needs, apart from tubes and an electricity supply… Again, it’s there, which is half the battle.
Other stuff on the list is a lifetime supply of those little tags with string on them, for identifying parts (been there, done that!), lots of re-sealable plastic bags, for keeping related parts together, and I think a dodgy calendar would be in keeping. Firefighters maybe…So, a reasonably successful day all in all, considering the difficulties. There won’t be any progress next weekend as it’s Easter and Justin & I are going away with the gang to Gloucestershire for the weekend. I may do some pottering around and tidying up during the week (especially as I have to change the front wheel bearings on the Skorpion before I go away) but I’m making no promises.
15th March 2008
15/03/2008
Today is DAY ONE of Project 250. I have owned, run and loved MZ’s iconic 2-stroke machines since I bought my first ETZ301 Tour in June of 1995. At that time I was living with a bunch of students in Hatfield, Herts, although I had a job to pay for the lifestyle. Long story!
Anyway, we were planning a major European tour on the bikes. I’d only passed my test about 6 months previously (don’t tell the authorities!) and I was still riding my 15-year-old Honda 125, rebuilding it most weekends trying to keep it running to get to work in Paddington… I digress. I persuaded my father to lend me £2000 for a bike to do the trip and just to move up to a more reliable machine. The group knew someone selling a fairly old but well looked-after Honda CX500 for about that much…
After looking around and having a think, I realised I could have the old CX or a BRAND NEW MZ 301 Saxon Tour. Brand new, eh? I was sold! The bike (one of the last genuine German-built ones) was purchased from Raceways in Rotherhithe two weeks before the trip and I spent every spare moment getting it up to 500 miles for the first service before we went away.
The tour was a great success, I was riding with a CBR600, a GPZ750, a VFR750 and (until it broke down) Justin on his CB400 Superdream. Heady days! The bike acquitted itself remarkably well considering the company, carrying me and my luggage everywhere at 80mph all day, up hill and down dale, over 3,000 miles and 10 countries in 3 weeks with hardly a murmur.
There was one worrying moment in Slovakia when it started making very rattly exhaust noises, but that turned out just to be the exhaust ring working loose. A quick adjustment and all was back to normal.
When we got back home I used the bike for YEARS, all year, rain, snow, hail, sun, for the commute to work. It went to France again a couple of years later with another group of friends, and all over the UK. After a few years I felt the urge to upgrade, so bought a Skorpion Traveller, which also went to France a couple of times.
But I never got rid of the 301, on the basis that it owed me nothing, was worth nothing and could always be cobbled back together in an emergency, albeit missing 2nd gear and speedo drive by now. It’s surprisingly easy to live without 2nd gear if you rev it like mad in 1st and don’t mind the sluggish bit when you hit 3rd…
Anyway, over the years I had lots of bikes but the little MZ was always at the back of the garage. Then, in another long story, Justin acquired a 251 Tour via a deal with a work colleague, and I suddenly had a fully working stroker again. This coincided with the coming of the BUELL. The most disastrous piece of motorcycle engineering I have ever been stupid enough to buy. It spent more time off the road than on it, so the 250 was pressed into service more and more often until I admitted it was my main bike and but the 301 barrel on it. I rode it in this build until the odometer returned to 0… I know the piston and barrel have down a lot more than 60,000 miles – without a rebore, just a new set of rings when I transferred it to the 251 gearbox. Still, it was time to retire the poor beast – the gearbox had basically fallen apart and was making the most pained rattling noises – everything was on its last legs, mostly held together with gaffa tape and faith. Thankfully I’d had no serious electrical problems though. I nursed it up to the big 0 (100,000kms), got my treasured video of the event and transferred to Justin’s Skorpion (our 2nd one, my original was written off in a misunderstanding about roundabouts).
Now the time has come to put my ship in order and start the rebuild project. I should have nearly enough bits for two complete bikes, due to gifts of odds & sods over the years, although one of them will be a serious bitza. I’ve acquired half an old-style ETZ250 and about 1/3 of an ETZ125. I don’t know how much of the 125 will port across, but I’ll find out in the fullness of time!
So, today is Day One, I’ve been doing some spannering on the Skorpion recently and have remembered that I can actually work on bikes successfully (the Buell knocked my confidence a bit), so now I have a job of work on my hands. The first task is to get the garage into a fit state for serious mechanicing – rather than occasional maintenance. This will entail moving some other frames & stuff out, having a bloody good tidy up so I can find all the tools etc. and getting rid of everything that’s not necessary to the project in hand.
I don’t think Justin will let me put his half-built Harris into a shed though, which is a shame as it lives on the ramp. Oh well. Still, I’m sure I can get rid of the donor GSXR frame. When I start breaking down the bikes I’ll gain some more space anyway. So that’s tomorrows task, at least it won’t matter too much if it’s raining. When that’s done I can start breaking the bikes down with a view to getting the frames powder coated.
I’m intending to get at least one bike out of this that, while probably not concours standard, will go around the clock again, so there is a lot of incentive to do stuff like that properly. I don’t want to have to revisit the frame for at least another 10 years!
Then it’ll be engine rebuilds, probably electrical fixing, accessories – panels, fairings etc. – rebuilding, recommissioning, legalising. I’ll throw a big party the day I get an MoT, I can tell you!Today I have been mostly thinking about the project, finally in a more focussed way than over the last 6 months or so; tomorrow I start doing stuff.
Today is DAY ONE of Project 250. I have owned, run and loved MZ’s iconic 2-stroke machines since I bought my first ETZ301 Tour in June of 1995. At that time I was living with a bunch of students in Hatfield, Herts, although I had a job to pay for the lifestyle. Long story!
Anyway, we were planning a major European tour on the bikes. I’d only passed my test about 6 months previously (don’t tell the authorities!) and I was still riding my 15-year-old Honda 125, rebuilding it most weekends trying to keep it running to get to work in Paddington… I digress. I persuaded my father to lend me £2000 for a bike to do the trip and just to move up to a more reliable machine. The group knew someone selling a fairly old but well looked-after Honda CX500 for about that much…
After looking around and having a think, I realised I could have the old CX or a BRAND NEW MZ 301 Saxon Tour. Brand new, eh? I was sold! The bike (one of the last genuine German-built ones) was purchased from Raceways in Rotherhithe two weeks before the trip and I spent every spare moment getting it up to 500 miles for the first service before we went away.
The tour was a great success, I was riding with a CBR600, a GPZ750, a VFR750 and (until it broke down) Justin on his CB400 Superdream. Heady days! The bike acquitted itself remarkably well considering the company, carrying me and my luggage everywhere at 80mph all day, up hill and down dale, over 3,000 miles and 10 countries in 3 weeks with hardly a murmur.
There was one worrying moment in Slovakia when it started making very rattly exhaust noises, but that turned out just to be the exhaust ring working loose. A quick adjustment and all was back to normal.
When we got back home I used the bike for YEARS, all year, rain, snow, hail, sun, for the commute to work. It went to France again a couple of years later with another group of friends, and all over the UK. After a few years I felt the urge to upgrade, so bought a Skorpion Traveller, which also went to France a couple of times.
But I never got rid of the 301, on the basis that it owed me nothing, was worth nothing and could always be cobbled back together in an emergency, albeit missing 2nd gear and speedo drive by now. It’s surprisingly easy to live without 2nd gear if you rev it like mad in 1st and don’t mind the sluggish bit when you hit 3rd…
Anyway, over the years I had lots of bikes but the little MZ was always at the back of the garage. Then, in another long story, Justin acquired a 251 Tour via a deal with a work colleague, and I suddenly had a fully working stroker again. This coincided with the coming of the BUELL. The most disastrous piece of motorcycle engineering I have ever been stupid enough to buy. It spent more time off the road than on it, so the 250 was pressed into service more and more often until I admitted it was my main bike and but the 301 barrel on it. I rode it in this build until the odometer returned to 0… I know the piston and barrel have down a lot more than 60,000 miles – without a rebore, just a new set of rings when I transferred it to the 251 gearbox. Still, it was time to retire the poor beast – the gearbox had basically fallen apart and was making the most pained rattling noises – everything was on its last legs, mostly held together with gaffa tape and faith. Thankfully I’d had no serious electrical problems though. I nursed it up to the big 0 (100,000kms), got my treasured video of the event and transferred to Justin’s Skorpion (our 2nd one, my original was written off in a misunderstanding about roundabouts).
Now the time has come to put my ship in order and start the rebuild project. I should have nearly enough bits for two complete bikes, due to gifts of odds & sods over the years, although one of them will be a serious bitza. I’ve acquired half an old-style ETZ250 and about 1/3 of an ETZ125. I don’t know how much of the 125 will port across, but I’ll find out in the fullness of time!
So, today is Day One, I’ve been doing some spannering on the Skorpion recently and have remembered that I can actually work on bikes successfully (the Buell knocked my confidence a bit), so now I have a job of work on my hands. The first task is to get the garage into a fit state for serious mechanicing – rather than occasional maintenance. This will entail moving some other frames & stuff out, having a bloody good tidy up so I can find all the tools etc. and getting rid of everything that’s not necessary to the project in hand.
I don’t think Justin will let me put his half-built Harris into a shed though, which is a shame as it lives on the ramp. Oh well. Still, I’m sure I can get rid of the donor GSXR frame. When I start breaking down the bikes I’ll gain some more space anyway. So that’s tomorrows task, at least it won’t matter too much if it’s raining. When that’s done I can start breaking the bikes down with a view to getting the frames powder coated.
I’m intending to get at least one bike out of this that, while probably not concours standard, will go around the clock again, so there is a lot of incentive to do stuff like that properly. I don’t want to have to revisit the frame for at least another 10 years!
Then it’ll be engine rebuilds, probably electrical fixing, accessories – panels, fairings etc. – rebuilding, recommissioning, legalising. I’ll throw a big party the day I get an MoT, I can tell you!Today I have been mostly thinking about the project, finally in a more focussed way than over the last 6 months or so; tomorrow I start doing stuff.
Welcome!
Well, my first entry in this online blog. I guess the first thing I should do is upload the backfill entries that I've had on a memory stick for a while. Then I'll do today's entry so it's in the right place. Back in a bit!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
