I'm wanting an MZ 250 as a winter hack, advice needed

[Ribenapigeon]

i've always admired MZ and I would like one of the 250s as a winter hack. What should I look out for model wise and what should I pay? And any other advice?

[garth]

UnSpeedySam has one he doesn't want. Pm him.

[Ribenapigeon]

[MarJay]

250's are fairly difficult to get hold of. A lot of them are raced. A 300 is often easier to get as it is not within the rules of the BMZRC.

I had a 300 Saxon Fun and it was a good laugh but it needed so much doing to it. It wasn't exactly a ride and forget bike. Parts are cheap though.
____________________
British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[thx1138]

I had one yonks ago an ETZ 250

it was okay, had it between superdreams, it slowly deteriorated towards a rat bike as I used to it to get to work and back and bodged it to keep it going, quite liked it, sold it to someone who did it up again before it got too ratty.

About ten years ago, flirted with the idea of another one, test rode an older left hand kick start model. Disliked!

[Ribenapigeon]

I would choose a Saxon at a push but definatly nothing kickstart.

[MarJay]

[Ribenapigeon]

[UnspeedySam]

Yeah I've got a 251 (the slightly cosmetically tarted up version of the 250) from 1990. But I'm about as far away as is possible from you by the looks of things. Can't give my opinion of it, other than my anger at the infuriating clutch design. Might even get it back together and on the road by the winter.
____________________
Riding: BMW R1150RT `02 bought mildly crashed
Fixing: Also the BMW as I get less broken bits
Gone: ZZR600 '00, TRX850 '97, RXS100 '93, JS125-6B '07, BMW R1100RS '93, Kawasaki ZX-6R-J2 '01, Honda Bros NT400 NC25 '88

[blurredman]

No MZ's have electric start. Not even the late late 90's ones.

Nothing wrong with the kickstart being on the left, let alone having one at all. On a cold engine, a well tuned machine will kick start with 2nd, even 1st kick. And that's without using that 'MZ starting technique' which to me just seems pointless.

And what if you stall it at lights? You can still pretty easily kick it over with the left leg while on the bike first time.


As for the clutch, yes it can be a bit of a pig, but I suppose that is what comes with 'too simlpe' engineering.
____________________
CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 51k.

[Ribenapigeon]

i've never used a kickstart but I would give it a go. Dousent seem a great winter option though.

[Islander]

[blurredman]

I agree with Islander..


This is why you have such devices such as choke or fuel enrichment devices (as the MZ's have) so that starting the bike is even possible in winter and even in summer you'd need a certain amount of choke for a first start. It's just a case of pulling a lever or knob and kicking it over with the right technique.

That's no more or less than what an electric starter does bar the choke, it just turns the engine over for you, that in itself is more unreliable what with the wear of bushes and even complete breakages of starter motors/relays etc when you think of the theory of it.
____________________
CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 51k.

[UnspeedySam]

Having owned an RXS100 as my first bike and ridden it as my only transport for about a year I agree that kick start on a small single is no problem at all...can't speak for what something like a '79 GS850 with kick start would be like though

In fact I've had much more trouble with batteries dying on bigger bikes and having to put great effort into bump starting them and looking like a right muppet in front of work colleagues.
____________________
Riding: BMW R1150RT `02 bought mildly crashed
Fixing: Also the BMW as I get less broken bits
Gone: ZZR600 '00, TRX850 '97, RXS100 '93, JS125-6B '07, BMW R1100RS '93, Kawasaki ZX-6R-J2 '01, Honda Bros NT400 NC25 '88

[Ribenapigeon]

Ok so kickstart is not a deal breaker then, i'll just have to nut-up