MZ ETZ250

MZs - you either love 'em or hate 'em. Personally, I love 'em. They're simple, basic and honest. And, if properly serviced, they're reliable and capable of high mileages. What's more, even though some ill-informed bikers regard them as a joke, they actually make pretty good racers. Indeed, there's an MZ racing club which runs a series devoted entirely to MZs. And..., not that long ago, the engineering genius Walter Kaaden developed a grand prix bike which took on, and beat, the Japanese works bikes. And..., the great Mike Hailwood raced one, as did Bill Ivy (unfortunately Bill fell off one when he was pootling back to the pits without his helmet on - died from his head injury... very sad). Anyway, MZ works rider Ernst Degner (an East German and Kaaden's trusted jockey) defected from behind the Iron Curtain and resurfaced as a Suzuki works rider. Having gained Kaaden's MZ engineering secrets, Suzuki then began winning world championships with bikes that bore an uncanny similarity to Kaaden's MZs - take a look at Barry Sheene's Suzi for example. Then Honda and other Japanese racing factories followed suit. Thus, it's widely recognised that Japanese race brands owe a big debt of gratitude to MZ and Walter Kaaden in particular.

Anyways..., having owned five MZs in the past, I regularly keep a lookout for any good 'uns that come up for sale. Spotted this one the other day - a 1982 ETZ250 that's only done just over 4000 miles. Up for grabs at £800. Seems a good deal to me. Am trying really hard to resist the temptation to buy it, but I feel myself weakening...

Dammit! Someone beat me to it!

P.S. I've also included a photo of one of my fave MZ models, the TS250 which was produced from 1973 to 1982 (it's the blue one).