Since I like to do long distance tours on my MZ I modified
it a bit. This is a photo from 1997, today the MZ looks like
MZ Country, has 100000km, rear swing arm MZ Country,
rear tire 120/90-16, stronger rear shock absorber, 300cc,
27hp and GPS IIIplus by Garmin:
And in addition a photo from 1994:
You can see added sideboxes, a topcase, a disc-brake-cover,
some additional lights (1 highbeam, 1 fog), that will give you more light
and takes a lot of cold wind from your knees (!), bigger mirrors,
handguards, a windscreen (GDR-made brand).
The 2 side-box-carriers are connected by a selfmade Aluminium-brace, to
prevent the box from feather and makes driving more safely.
The brake.cover was removed after a tour trough the Alps. On a long way down
a pass the brake got so hot that the cover started melting. I never put it back.
I added these things step by step, and always tested the bike on road with
the new equipment. When I finished , I got a quite good comfort on road,
but the frame of the bike (I thought so) was to weak, sometimes the handlebar moved
quickly from left to right side (Shimmy-effect) when starting to drive. So I installed a steering-shock-
absorber (correct?) from sidecar-models and got a quite good feeling with it.
But later I thought that fighting against the effect is not the correct way, so looked
for the reasons of the oscillating handle (Shimmy-Effect).
1.: At first I added stronger front fork coil springs - a bit better.
2.: Stronger rear coil springs - better but not ideal
3.: Longer shocks rearside and much stronger rear swing arm - yippie that was, what I was looking for!!
4.: Back to softer front fork coil springs and added a non stepping coil adjustment for fork.
Now I ride most corners 10-20km/h faster and safer than before, never use the steering damper again.
Here You can see my selfmade-engine-protector, that I built for my Icelandtour.
It is made of finest 7mm-DUR-Aluminium and protects the engine from flying stones
and hitting the ground offroads.
During my Iceland-tour I heard a lot of hard knocks, when a stones crashed to my engine
but nothing got damged - only a few of little craters in the protector...
Around the cluch cable You can also see a clamp the protect the gearbox from getting
water in it. In Iceland we crossed river as deep as the cylinder head and the engine was working
all time. Of course, before I started to Iceland I changed and added some more things.
I added a tube to the Oil-inake of the gearbox, that ends under the tank. So no water may
take this way into my engine. Any cable to the carburettor is sealed to protect also the carb
I also changed from normal battery to a gel-battery, that has no breathing tube.
The engine is converted to 300ccm and got a 22 instead of a
21-teeth-wheel. Now I have at 110km/h about 4700rpm, which gives the
engine possibly a longer live. The power of the 300cc-engine is much
better than 250cc even if fitted a 22-teeth-wheel.
At this photo you can see a lot of things: the longer shocks, the stronger swingarm, the
2 Liter (1/2 gal.) Oilreservoir for the engine - very easy to remove. Simply remove a little
screw on top and it's easy to fill up also if the boxes are mounted to the bike.
The rear footrests are higher than original models to protect sozius' shoes from the exhaust's heat.
I changed to TS150 models of rear footrests.
My model of the sidestand has 2 springs and lifts automaticly when you lift up the bike a bit.
The top ends of the rear shocks (shocks from MZ ES 250/2) are covered by a metalcap to prevent
lugguage from being damaged when offroading.
The Cockpit.
What is changed here: I change to the army-model-handle-bar. Added a digital thermomater
left beside the tachometer. In the middle of the cockpit I added a switchboard for foglight and
warning indicator. Right beside is the checklamp for the brakelight. On left and right end of the
handlebar there are special weights added to reduce the vibrations - it really works.
I added finally a biclycle-computer at the left side of the handlebar. The magnetic part is installed
at the front wheel and it work really fine.
The tank-cap is changed to the lockable version of the newer MZ-Models.
The End: My Topcase, and always an actual list of the countries, I visited on MZ... ;-)