A real motorcycle for only DM 2690.00? To good to be true? A commi-bike mingling with the likes of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki plus Italian and British bikes in the West? And it is brought to you by a mail order house? Trust the slogan: “Neckermann makes it possible!”
All the product information that the Neckermann catalog provided was the above picture of the bike’s right side with key features and specifications. It highlighted the top speed and the price. That’s it. Clockwise:
- Two panoramic mirrors
- elastically suspended tachometer and speedometer with odometer, easy to read
- 179mm headlight with asymmetric low beam
- sporty telescopic fork with 185 mm of travel
- horizontally ribbed aluminum cylinder for high high output
- 244cc 2-cycle engine, 17 hp at 5400 rpm, elastically suspended
- 5 speed transmission, fast and easy, low noise shifting
- fully encapsulated chain by patented MZ enclosure.
- rear swing with struts and 105 mm travel
- turn signals front and back
- wide, comfortable double bench with built in tool box and on board tools
- 17.5 L tank, 1:50 mixture.
English speaking riders were treated to this TV commercial:
The severely redacted history of the bike is this: After WW II the DKW factory assets were used by the Allied for war reparation. The blue prints of their RT 125 bike went to Britain and the US and the production equipment – together with a team of engineers – went to Russia. The folks in Zschoppau were left with a gutted factory and the determination to get going again. They first produced the RT 125 again, then in 1956 the name changed to Motorradwerk Zschoppau, short: MZ. They made single cylinder bikes of various displacement up to 250cc.
And there was also this very BMW-esque boxer twin, but still two-stroke and with 350 cc.
The first iteration in 1956 had a single cylinder 2-cycle engine with 4 speed transmission in the same housing. The frame featured an Earles type fork in the front and a swing in the rear. The “E” stands for Einzylinder (single cylinder), the “S” stands for Schwinge or swing fork.
The 60’s Trophy version had a large front fender and a unified headlight housing and tank. It made the bike look front heavy. In my opinion it does look like an “Ersatzauto”, honest to its mission.
For 1973 this model was updated to MZ TS 250 when it received a parallel tube frame with a long travel telescopic fork, no doubt to make it look more modern vis-a-vis Japanese bikes. It made 19 DIN hp at 5700 to 5900 rpm and 2,5 kpm torque at 4800 to 5000 rpm. While it is still kind of crude it does have good proportions.
The next upgrade 1976-1980 was called MZ TS 250/1. It received a 5th gear.. Cooling was enhanced with larger horizontal ribs. When West Germany reformed the insurance classification from displacement to horsepower ratings the engine was de-tuned to 17hp for that market which was a whole lot less expensive to the owner.
The bike was revised once more and named ETZ . Most importantly, it received a front disc brake. It was produced until 1991 when the reunification cut off the East Block customer base. A Turkish outfit purchased and moved the whole production facility to Turkey where it had its very last stand under the name Kanuni.
The closest I ever came to an MZ TS 250 was on a cold Sunday early Spring 1975 or 76. Willy and I went on our first ride of the year on the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse. We noticed a bunch of bikes in a parking lot and stopped to see what’s up. One rider had a flat tire on his Honda CB 250. There was no chance for him to get a new inner tube on a Sunday. I kind of twisted Willy’s arm to go and pull an inner tube off a bike in his collection. I stayed at the parking lot guarding the disabled bike while Willy and some guys went home to fix the front wheel. Soon the rrring-ding- ding of a 2 cycle engine cut through the frosty air. This guy on the yellow MZ TS 250 stopped and struck up a conversation. He was a strange fellow, scrawny, about 40 years old with a slight speech impediment and a lot of enthusiasm for cheap “DDR” bikes. I think he considered himself as the in-official spokes person of MZ in West Germany. Not only could he rattle down all the advantages of the MZ he also knew exactly what the motorcycle dealers with their chrome laden multi-muffler Kayahondasukis were all about: pull lots of money out of your pocket!
“Forget them! This is your next bike!” He gently slapped the tank of his “Emm Tsett” (pronounce the “T’s” real sharp – we are proud of our consonants!) “Go to Neckermann and buy an MZ!” There was no other bike that could win him over. “But spare parts…” I muttered. “No problem! Neckermann has them all.” “No shop will help me….” “You don’t need a shop. They are so simple,” he countered. “Are they lasting?” “Sure they are! I run 1:33 mixture, not 1:50 and I raised the main jet needle by one notch. They only made those changes because of the environmental regulations. That kills the engines. Mine lasts!” Then he pulled the lid off the fuel tank and there was a string with a measuring beaker dangling from it. “This is how I make my 1:33 mixture. I fill in 15 L of regular and add that much oil. That’s it. Done.” Then he showed me some tools and spare parts he carried along.
I have to say he ran a good argument for the MZ. But a strange fellow he was standing there next to his bike in his grimy trench coat. I can still picture him in my mind as he started the engine with one kick, clicked it into 1st gear and rrrrang off with a slight bluish contrail of smoke exiting the muffler.
“For men who know how to ride!”
Was it as good as he said? I will never know from personal experience. However, the interwebs are a great source for such info, much more so than the one page ad in the Neckermann catalog ever was.
Here are some comments I collected on the internet:
Steven Kearney wrote: “For reasons best known to himself, Twin No 1 decided to go dispatching and in 1979 bought himself a new Supa 5 for about £500: all black and chrome, just like a Vincent (ahem). It seemed like an excellent bike right from the start, and we couldn’t believe how bright the lights were. The whole bike displayed a quality of functional concept and execution and was pleasurable to ride too.
It might have been simple but it was also refined.
If you need this point demonstrated, try a CZ 250 from Czechoslovakia, a country then operating under the same socio-economic system as the former East Germany. The CZ was of similar specification: 250cc two-stroke single, petroil mix, intended for rugged transport. You’d imagine therefore that the two machines would be pretty similar to ride: not a bit of it. The designer of the CZ clearly intended that nobody should ever get any pleasure out of riding it – and he succeeded!
[stuff cut…..]
The big weaknesses were the electrics and the front brakes. Despite the glowing (no pun) account above, the electrics were just not up to the job, providing weak lights and virtually no horn – an almost fatal combination for dispatching. I can only assume that a combination of continuous town running and accumulated dirt and corrosion in the wiring harness caused the lights to fade from their original brilliance.
The single leading shoe front brake wasn’t strong enough for city dispatch work; in fact, both twins complained that it was downright dangerous. The Supa 5 remains, however, the most rust-resistant bike I have ever seen.
The shortcomings mentioned above have been largely overcome with the ETZ250, which boasts a disc front brake and 12-volt electrics. With over 30,000 miles, no main bearing faults were reported. It has an autolube system but I’m not sure if this is the reason.”
This guy shows there is nothing on an MZ that couldn’t be fixed with a healthy dose of attitude:
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 Re: 74 MZ TS250 Yep I had one, and that is my Yammie 550 Minimum in the background with the RWL Dunlop Qualifiers, so *****in!
Now here is the scoop on the TS250. Run for the hills, sell the sunbritches! Just kidding, not really, hahaha? Mine was a 1974, and this photo was taken in 1992. I bought this thing with 200 miles on the clock for $200 in 1991. The previous owner was a serious wrench and he worked out most of the bugs, emphasis on most. I have no idea what the top speed was, it would get way squirrelly at anything over 58 mph. Expect the generator to have a short in the wiring, which, if you can find it and insulate it, will make this a somewhat usable scoot. There is a little door at the back of the seat where the tools live. Never open that door, you might find the tools. If you are lucky and get it running, I would l consider moving to the former East Germany, where you can probably make a decent living fixing these things. If you decide to give up on fixing it, the eight foot long exhaust can makes a passable gutter downspout and the fork tubes can be use as pipe cleaners. Amazing how the chain will last almost forever in it’s totally enclosed housing, long, way long after you have lost interest in the thing. Great bike though :>(
Oops I forgot, I had a kryptonite lock for it, which as you can see in the photo, I never used, duhhhhh! One morning I got up and discovered some basstard stole my lock and left the bike.
Uri Crashovitch
Message Edited by andoulli on 02-01-200708:31 PM Message Edited by andoulli on 02-01-200711:18 PM |
02-01-2007, 09:25 PM
On a German forum someone asked about the bike’s long distance capability . “Alexander” replied with some detail, then summarized: “Die Grenzfahrdauer wird durch die Leidensfaehigkeit des Arsches bestimmt.” Translation: “The long distance limits are defined by tolerance for suffering of the arse.”
You will not find any complaints about the strength and stability of the frame. This parallel tube frame has proven itself in International Six Days Trophy competition with 6 world championships. The lower top tube doubles as air intake snorkel.
The front drum brake was consistently bemoaned for its lack of performance. Barely adequate performance can be achieved with painstaking maintenance of the cables and other moving parts. As a result many have used the disk set up of the newer MZ ETZ 250 to upgrade their older machines. The duplex brakes of other bikes have also been transplanted.
This post in RealClassic.co.uk confirms that it was a design flaw:
“Everybody knows that the Supa 5 front drum brakes are rubbish. Don’t they? But why? The front brake is the same size as the rear one, and that can lock the wheel. I’ve had a play and think that I have solved the problem…
When examined, the front brake seems well made. It looks rigid and is surely big enough at 160mm. Two things struck me:
1: The actuating arm and cam is half on before the lining makes contact with the drum.
2: The back plate is a close fit on the spindle so it doesn’t allow the brake to centralise [sic] within the drum. (This last one may be a red herring as I carried this mod out first and although the brake improved, it was not the full solution).“
He had the shoes relined, put the brake in a lathe and trimmed things to size with this result: “Out on the road, the bike is transformed! The efficiency is fantastic, as good as a disc. I could make the front tyre squeal with a two-finger application at 30 mph, and the rear wheel was becoming airborne.“
It is actually surprising to me that the comrades at MZ never bothered to improve this brake if it was that simple: provide a little clearance for self centering and change the cam.
And here are a few passages of a road test written by Wolfram Riedel and published in “DER DEUTSCHE STRASSENVERKEHR”, Vol.9/1973, page 298-302:
“We have to admit that we took stretches of rough roads always at higher speeds than normally. The TS chassis imbues a sense of safety even when other vehicles have long assumed more moderate speeds in order to take care of tires and suspension parts or to maintain contact with the road surface……The long traveling and truly excellently tuned telescopic fork affords very precise wheel control even on roads that are not worthy of the term….. Fuel consumption values were 5.6 L /100km city, 6.4L/100 km Autobahn and 4.9L/100 km highway. Of course with a relaxed highway ride it is quite possible to get by with 4L/100 km.“
The gear diagram as found in East German magazine “DER DEUTSCHE STRASSENVERKEHR” shows a well chosen pattern. Take it to the apparent red line at 7500 rpm and you hit the next gear close to the engine’s maximum torque of 2.5 kpm (18 lb ft).
It is safe to say that the MZ motorcycles were a huge success in the East Block countries and many developing countries. It was not so successful in Western economies where riders looked for glitz as much as functional values. In all MZ produced about 2.5 million motorcycles until it all ground to a halt when the Berlin Wall tumbled and the Eastern European customer base was cut off.
To this day I think that the MZ TS 250/1 could have been or should have been the alternative to the 1956 BMW R 26 I owned. From all I have learned researching this article this machine provided the joy of a quality ride with rugged simplicity, a high level of reliability and economy. On the other hand it might have exposed me to the snickering of fellow riders with their snazzy Japanese bikes and monthly payments who were as biased about the MZ TS 250/1 as I was. – A bike from the communist East, purchased through a mail order house, and promoted by an excentric 40 year old fellow in a grimy trench coat.
Very interesting writeup! One would have thought that the motorcycle, one of the ultimate expressions of individualism would be somewhat antithetical to the communist mindset…
You’re missing the key point. Motorcycles were much cheaper than cars, hence they were a key part of the personal transport system. Back then, and in many developing countries, motorcycles aren’t bought for “personal expression”; they were the only mechanized personal transport they could/can afford. Have you seen pictures of India, Vietnam, etc., where the streets are clogged with motorcycles and mopeds?
It was like that through much of Western Europe too until the mid-late 50s. And in the US too, before the war. The “expression of individualism” thing didn’t come in until the 1950s in the US, with the first biker gangs.
And anyone who thinks that riding a Harley in the last 30-some years is “expressing individualism” needs to have a reality check. More like the ultimate herd mentality or conformity.
You think this couple with a little baby (below) on the road in the US in 1948 were “expressing individuality”?
You’re right, it’s very easy to forget that from a modern perspective. My grandfather certainly did not drive a moped for the sake of individualism… I wasn’t being that serious with my comment though, not to be defensive or anything 🙂 It’s just that in my head I associate communism on a philosophical level with a cramped buss.
No one can argue with your point Paul.because it’s straight fact.Down here in IRAN,a new single cylinder motorcyle like 100cc or 125cc goes for about 500 USD but the cheapest domestically assembled car(KIA PRIDE)is about six thousands USD.that means most young people(OR young couples) can’t afford a new PRIDE so they have no choice but to buy a motorcyle.
Looks like a family outing to me. My parents did this frequently with me and my siblings.
He had a 40 Chev sedan and a Harley with sidecar.
He and a lot of his friends did it for enjoyment.
If you want to call a trip with a baby from Omaha to Cheyenne on the roads of the time “a family outing” “for enjoyment”, help yourself. That info is from the original caption with the picture. There’s little doubt in my mind that these folks didn’t have a car at their disposal.
You may be partly correct.
It does not state the intention of the happy couple in the following link, or whether they have another vehicle.
The roads look better than the ones my parents traveled on.
I prefer to think of their excursion in a positive light. Like my experience .
http://www.vintag.es/2016/04/family-driving-on-motorcycle-and.html
Ah! I see sex sold things in the Eastern Block as well. And they professed to not being capitalists! Rubbish.
You think sex is something exclusive to capitalism? 🙂
Communism doesn’t mean products don’t need to be sold; it’s just that the profits don’t go to any shareholders. The USSR’s economy grew very fast in the mid-late 50s and early 60s, and there was some serious concern that it might eventually eclipse the US’. Obviously, that was an overblown concern.
Communist countries were desperate for hard currency, so they had to sell their products in the West, and they imitated western advertising practices. That’s the gist of this whole story, that the MZ was being sold in Western Germany for less money than the W. German brands.
Paul, I was trying to be facetious. Apparently my humor does not always come across humorously. Don’t take my replys so seriously, at least not most of the time. Hell, given how strong East Germany accepted a “naturist” life style, I’m surprised the model wasn’t completely topless.
When Nikita Khrushchev in the 1950’s famously said, “we will bury you” that was in the context that the productivity of the soviet system would eventually overtake the productivity of the west. In reality that boast was too optimistic, but selective products produced by the soviet system were high quality goods.
The Soviet R8 ICBM and its engines initially designed by Korolev’s team in the 1950’s became the world’s most reliable man-rated booster first lifting Yuri Gagarin into orbit and still, years later, continues to reliably ferry US astronauts into low earth orbit to the manned space station. The USA has bought Russian rocket engines to used in the revised Atlas launch vehicle ( the first USA ICBM) which had been used in the initial US Mercury orbital flights( John Glenn, etc). The revised Atlas with Russian rockets engines (engines built in Russia) has proven to be a very reliable launch vehicle for current US NASA space missions.
So don’t dismiss all Soviet/Eastern bloc products as inferior. In their context many products were inferior to the western products (i.e Trabant) but other products especially military and space related products have been world class.
I agree with Paul. The West doesn’t have a monopoly on sex. The sidewalks of Moscow and former Eastern Bloc cities like Lithuanian Vilnius have many stunningly beautiful women walking upon them.
Just so ~ .
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I love my three (O.K.,I’m stupid) Russian Ural Solo Motos, they’re tough as nails, i can thrash the living shit out of them and they beg for more .
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Leaving the candy colored ricky racers behind on the ACH is sweet .
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Jawa used to sell these cheap two-smokers motos that you had to crush to kill ~ FUGLY but durable .
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-Nate
Hehe, Why can I still drive my Jawas (one with Velorex 700 sidecar) and air-cooled VW kombis from the 1960s?
Because they are not beyond economical repair – it is much cheaper to repair them than buy new replacements. They are just slow, like me nowadays 🙂
Wendy”s Commercial from the 80’s
“Now Eveningwear”
I like the idea of having a 125cc or 250 cc motorcycle for daily commute.if the climate permits and only one person is moving from A to B, why bother pulling a car or truck out of garage.when you can get 120 MPG on a HONDA CG125 and have some fun as well.
I very much agree with you. That is the essence of a small motor bike as a vehicle. Only the bicycle beats it at that because it provides cardiovascular exercise and it is more efficient than any other form of transportation.
I’ve messed with an MZ or two over my lifetime of motorcycle riding (never owned one), and still consider the CZ/Jawa the better bike. MZ’s struck me as utilitarian transport only, while the CZ could aspire to some sporting characteristics. Maybe a bit on the crude side compared to a given year Japanese bike, but they were still good competition for British two-strokes of the time (mainly because Villiers had an aversion to updating their engines).
Yep, typical Eastern Bloc: “Built like Russian Woman, strong like tractor.”
Interesting bike, I see a lot of influence from Honda and Yamaha (the ETZ, picture #6 looks like a Nighthawk 250, see my pic) cool torque specs for a 250…..holy crap! That last shot is worthy of any good ad agency at the time, which looks like ummm 1976 based on the MZ, the bell bottoms and the glasses.
They definitely were taking styling cues from Japanese bikes.
The torque was important because the bike was also used to add a sidecar. The ETZ engine had less torque.
the torque was a result of the long exhaust pipe. Their engineer Walter Kaaden refined the resonance scavenging in their racing program.
What a combo: torquey engine, weak brakes and a side car.
MZ was a bit of a joke in the UK for a long time. A cheapskate get-to-work hack.
However, for many years an MZ-only race series has been running, and it is an excellent way to get out on a racetrack for not much money. http://bmzrc.net/category/bikes-for-sale/
Loved the Ad, including the Wartburgs in the background.
I believe they were another East German incarnation of the DKW.
Happy Motoring, Mark
These were common in London in the 1980s, and from what I remember they had a good reputation – never rode one myself though.
Two Smoke ! .
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Five speed ! .
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Disc brake ! .
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Chrome and best of all :
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! CHEAP ! .
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What’s not to like ?.
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I well remember old Iron Curtain two strokers ~ they were near impossible to kill if fairly ploddy .
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-Nate
These MZ’s were advertised in the back pages of some American motorcycle enthusiast magazines, like Popular Cycling back in the 1970’s. They downplayed the country of origin, and emphasized a long list of standard features at a low price.
As I recall, their sales got some … um.. traction in the US, in part because oddball European lightweights had some appeal. Even their Eastern Bloc origins did not dissuade some people because CZ was moderately successful in the free market.
As I recall, East German industry made many respectable and long lived products, especially home appliances and optics. Sure the Trabant was awful, but an East German refrigerator, camera or binoculars would be decent. There’s no reason to think MZ’s were any different.
There is an MZ Club in Miami, Fl. Cuban expatriates mostly. Check youtube.
My dad owned a MZ 250 in Australia, bought around 1973-74. Low cost was of course the leading feature.
Functional as basic transportation but it belched smoke like a chimney and spat oil on the rider’s ankles. Reliability was a problem and getting parts was a months-long ordeal. He never felt confident of it to take it on road trips. In the end he regretted not spending the extra for a Japanese bike.
My dad had a Praktika 35mm single lens reflex camera. He bought it from a mail order catalogue I think, or when he was in East Germany in 1969. He enjoyed it very much as it was well made with a good lens. Much cheaper than a Leica and much smaller than a twin lens Mamiya that he bought in Japan on the same trip.
I found a mistake in my article: “They made bikes of various displacement up to 250cc” This is wrong. They also made a very unusual bike called MZ BK 350. It had a 2 cycle boxer engine and a drive shaft.
Paul: I can’t edit the article. Please change 250cc to 350cc for me. Thanks!
Done! Wow; never seen that before, and unusual, a boxer two-stroke twin.
They felt the need for such a bike for the military. In the field the singles proved to be more nimble and therefore the better bike for the purpose.
Paul et al,
what is interesing about a boxer two stroke is that both cylinders fire at the same time. This is common in radio controlled aircraft engines and can be found in small drones and experimental aircraft engines, but more like a big single that vibrates less.
Yep. I had an old Johnson Skee Horse snowmobile with a big opposed twin on it. It was interesting, and generally sounded like a twin at idle or low load, then more like a single with no vibration at full chat
I passed my driving test on MZ 250 and i have good experience with it. It was well balanced motocycle, very comfortable suspension but also stable and confident in curves.
Max speed was around 130 km/h, nothing very special but acceleration was decent for the time (it was the year 1978), certainly better than almost any car that was available on our market. It was one of 2 “real” motocycles available for ordinary people, the other being Jawa/CZ. I remember that “Motorrad” magazine made a group test of 10 motocycles with 17 PS some time around 1980.
There were models from Honda, Yamaha, Zundapp, Kreidler, some small Harley Davidson, some other that I don’t remember and – MZ 250. Test had 2 parts, first part was dealing with the engine, acceleration, suspension, riding comfort etc, and the best one turned out to be – MZ 🙂
Later in the next magazine issue was test part 2, dealing with design and stuff, and because of that, and week front brake, MZ fell to the third place. All in all, not too shabby…
I tried to find this issues of Motorrad online but without success. If somebody have it, It would be an interesting vintage review.
Thanks for this info, drazen_r!
The insurance brackets were up to10 hp, up to 17 hp, up to 27 hp and the rest I don’t recall. The laws required that the premiums must be higher for each bracket. Typically there was a big jump from 17 hp to 27 hp. Therefore it made a lot of sense to compare bikes that were rated in the same hp bracket. In other markets it may make more sense to compare bikes that have similar retail prices.
In any case what you report shows that the MZ 250 was a very well sorted out machine, an outstanding value as long as you adjust your riding to the weak brake or improve on it. Now imagine the brake were as good as the modified one referred in the article. That would make for a darn good canyon carver.
As you said: not to shabby!
Some of those did make it stateside, I had a TS 250 in 1985. Sadly though I never got it running before it found a new home. I would love to find one today.
… and they make a very cheap basis for a café racer…
See here: http://99-garage.blogspot.co.at/2014/12/mz-ts-250-cafe-racer.html
These motorcycles are common in Cuba, of various vintages. All singles, mostly drum braked but some front disked. They are one of the faster bikes and can be found with sidecars.