MZ Riders Club

This year’s Section AGM was Donald’s last as Section Rep. Can I take this opportunity to thank Donald on behalf of everyone in the Section for all his sterling effort over the last few years. It can be a thankless task as I know to my cost, so why, with no one else wanting to, or able to, step in and take on the job for the coming year did I find myself putting my hand up and volunteering to do it all again? Ooops!

Okay, as the Section essentially runs itself after all this time, the job of Section Rep really only entails someone to organise the monthly meetings, one rally each year, and answer the odd question about MZs in this part of the world. The questions part I find I am already doing somewhat through the section website (see address above) but I’d like to ask existing section members to contribute a little something to the former and pick the venues for next year’s meetings. This can be either a place we’ve visited before or somewhere completely new that you’d like for the rest of us to visit. Usual rules apply: must be within the section catchment area. Do food and be reasonably easy to find. Try and let me know soon and I’ll start drawing up the venues for next year. The first of which should appear in the January issue.

Right, enough of my ramblings, make sure and have yourselves a very Merry Xmas and a smashing New Year, and I’ll hopefully see a good few of you out and about in 2008.

This picture is from fellow sidecar pilot Pat in Ireland, by way of David ‘The Sidecar Man’ in the US and is a picture of Milan Vaňásek and his wife Alena from Spišská Nová Ves in the Czech Republic (God, we’re nothing if not cosmopolitan in this publication). This is Milan’s immaculate 1959 Jawa 250 sidecar outfit, hauling a period PAV-40 trailer.

Scottish Rally 2008

It might seem a bit strange to start thinking about next year’s summer rally, but time can have an unpleasant habit of catching you napping so it can be important to make provision for the bigger events early, especially should you be looking for accommodation. So, the full details for next year, as sorted out by Donald, are as follows:

Mains Farm Campsite, Thornhill, near Stirling

(Please note: there are TWO Thornhills in Scotland, so don’t go to the wrong one. We won’t be there and you’ll feel awfully lonely on your ownsome - M).

Directions: from the M9 Motorway (Exit 10) - take the A84, signposted Crianlarich and Callander. After approximately 6 miles bear left onto the A873, signposted Aberfoyle and Thornhill. In about 3 miles and at the crossroads at Thornhill Village turn left onto the B822, signposted Fintry. About 125 metres downhill the site is signposted on the right hand side. Rally field is on the left hand side.

Camping: no need to book, just turn up. About £5 per person per night. Weather forecast - tropical sunshine, guaranteed …maybe.

WigWams: mainsfarmwigwams.com - the site has wooden wigwam things which can accommodate 4/5 people each. These may be available if you book early. Bring a sleeping bag. £15 per person per night (minimum nightly charge £30). Please phone for availability. 01786-850-735.

B&B’s: in Thornhill Village there are two pubs, which offer full restaurant menus, bar meals and accommodation:

Right, get that marked in your diaries, make your excuses to your wives and start the ball rolling should you need to book accommodation. I will endeavour to get some one-off t-shirts sorted out well in advance for those who make it along to this event so bring some spending money.

Internet Sites

As they would have it, “stuff you don’t need… but you really, really want” - www.iwantoneofthose.com

If you thought that owning an MZ two-stroke was a bit eccentric and marked you out as someone with "singular" (strange?) tastes, then check out this web site - http://www.corrugated-iron-club.info/

I came across this club through my interest in archaeology. It epitomises that oh-so-British obsession with the different or quirky.

I was particularly interested to see photographs of the Tin Tabernacle (Skelton in Cleveland). As a young man I used to pass this building regularly on my way to and from work. I never thought that one day it might become famous.

I am sure these people are just as dedicated to their sphere of interest as we are to ours. Now where did I put the spanners and the big hammer? I have an ETZ251 engine and gearbox to strip down. There again I may just trade-in the ETZ for a tin chicken shed - do you think Carole will be suitably impressed?

Ingenious Uses For an MZ

This homebuilt aircraft was designed and built to enable a family of five to escape from East to West Germany in 1981, but has never flown. The family were arrested the day before their planned escape. They were charged with 'Preparing an illegal border crossing in a heavy case', convicted and imprisoned for one year. They were then deported to the Federal Republic of Germany.

To keep construction a secret, the builder used only non aviation-grade materials and generally available components. Power was provided by two East German MZ motorcycle engines.

Builder	Dr. Gerhard Wagner, Kaiserslautern
Year	1981
Wing span	9 m
Gross weight	580 kg
Speed	approx. 200 km/h
Engine	2 x MZ-ES-250/2
Power	28 kW

This is the fourth article of an occasional series on faultfinding with the MZ 6-volt dynamo.

The dynamo is comprised of two functional units: the alloy pole cap containing the field coil, and the rotating armature. This article covers the armature and general dynamo testing.

The armature consists of two parts: the armature coils embedded in the slots of a laminated iron core, and the cylindrical commutator made up of individually insulated copper segments upon which the carbon brushes bear. It is the carbon brushes and segmented commutator that act as a mechanical rectifier such that the dynamo outputs DC for charging the battery.

If the armature is suspect it is best removed for examination and testing. Removal will not necessitate re-timing the engine since the armature is keyed on the end of the tapered crankshaft. Examination of the windings should reveal any physical damage to insulation leaving adjacent copper windings exposed and shorted. The armature is the most likely part of the dynamo to fail as it provides the current output of 10 amps continuous maximum to 15 amps intermittent peak. Failure may be caused by high current demand with consequent overheating, windings flying apart under rotational stresses, partial or complete shorts to earth or insulation failure due to age. Overloading by a duff battery or malfunctioning voltage regulator will also lead to burnout.

Static tests for the armature include full or partial shorts to ground for each copper segment to the internal iron core of the armature when each resistance check must show megohm or infinity. It is not practical to test for shorted turns without professional equipment. Check for the same low resistance between adjacent pairs of copper segments on the commutator. A high resistance indicates a broken wire in one of the armature windings. Final proof may only be obtained by substitution of a known good armature.

A preliminary check on the electrical health of the dynamo is to see if it will run as a motor. Take out the spark plug to remove compression. Join the D+ and DF terminals together and connect a 6-volt motorcycle battery to D+ and earth; if the dynamo turns clockwise it is an indication of a fair state of health. However, this test is not totally conclusive because the dynamo may run as a motor even if there is an armature winding fault, which would prevent it generating, but it does indicate brushes and field connections are correct.

If the dynamo motors anti-clockwise, it has its polarity reversed. This will have been caused by a reversed battery or, rarely, a poor earth connection. To correct both situations it is usual to flash the field windings for a couple of seconds by connecting battery positive to DF and battery negative to earth. The alternative method is, with the ignition off, to press the cut-out contacts together momentarily in the MZ electromechanical voltage regulator. In fact, it does no harm to adopt this as standard practice when rebuilding a dynamo since it re-establishes residual magnetism that only aids excitation at startup.

Note that the dynamo must be driven in the correct direction, which is clockwise for the MZ engine. If not, it would fail to start generating for the initial generated current from the armature would tend to negate and eliminate the residual magnetism in the iron field poles.

It is worth understanding how the charge bulb functions with a dynamo. Engine stationary with ignition on results in the charge bulb glowing. This is because the bulb is supplied with battery volts with the bulb earthed through the low resistance of the field coil. Above idle as the dynamo voltage rises to equal battery voltage the charge bulb will extinguish as it has the same voltage either side. The cut-out contacts then close, connecting the dynamo and battery directly, but also shorting out the charge bulb.

In general, intermittent charging or no charging at all are the troubles that most often originate in the dynamo. Overcharging, low charging, or a fluctuating charge are most likely the result of a malfunctioning voltage regulator. But establish that the battery is good first; otherwise you may end up chasing red herrings.

Keith’s Kolumn

In an earlier Kolumn I rambled on about the deteriorating fuel consumption of my ETZ251. Well I am sure you will be pleased to know that the new carburettor bits made a big difference and the lower gearing gave the bike that extra zip, most noticeable in traffic. Even better, the lower gearing had minimal effect on main road performance; in fact if I hadn’t counted the gearbox sprocket teeth I would have doubted if it was one tooth smaller. So why am I writing this in the past tense? Well, the ungrateful piece of East European grief rewarded my efforts by breaking a gear lever return spring; oh well I feel another engine rebuild coming on. The question now is how much to replace? All springs, bearings and seals as a minimum, but should I include the crank? The little-end bearing was replaced last year and I have wondered if there might be some wear in the connecting rod eye. I guess the only way to peace of mind is to fit a new con-rod kit at the same time. All I need now is the time to get on with the job.

2007 began on a much better note when I collected an ETS150 (yes, a baby Trophy Sport) from Tynemouth. Although it was the middle of February I elected to ride the bike from Tynemouth to Killearn a distance of 180 miles on the route I had chosen. The bike ran faultlessly at a steady 50 mph and I was surprised how quickly you can cover the ground at these lowly speeds. No sooner had I passed Newcastle airport than I was pulling into Jedburgh for a coffee break. As I put the ETS onto its centre stand a new BMW R1200RT pulled in beside me. The rider and passenger looked at my machine; “I have just bought it” I announced. I don’t think they were very impressed, but I was the one with the big smile. It seemed almost indecent to be having so much fun for so little cost.

Early 2007 saw the return of my TS250 back into use after its winter engine rebuild. I had two concerns, was Hylomar Blue a wise choice as the crankcase/gearbox sealant and should I have re-bored the cylinder. At first the engine was a bit rough and lacking in compression but this disappeared as it slowly bedded-in. By the time I had clocked up 2000 miles the bike was back to its old self. Carole and I took the TS to Ballacolla, easily cruising at 65 mph on the open roads and returning 67 mpg for the journey despite strong head winds for part of the way. I may have to re-bore the engine some time in the future but not whilst it is running this good and I will definitely be using Hylomar for the next engine rebuild. Which brings me back to where I started; had we taken the ETZ to Ballacolla it would almost certainly have suffered the gearbox problem on that trip. You need a bit of luck now and then.

Tales from the Shed

I recently replaced yet another tail-light bulb on my Skorpion. The vibration from a big single can play merry hell with your bulbs’ life expectancy and, although I am pretty used to this after years of Rotax and then Skorpion ownership the fact that I live out in the sticks can mean that the lack of a rear light could have serious repercussions with the nights as dark as they are just now. I decided that enough was enough and began to look for an alternative. Since so many bikes now are fitted with LEDs as standard I began there. I eventually found a complete tail-light unit fitted with both red and white LEDs designed as an after-market replacement for a Ducati Monster. It is a clear plastic unit with coloured bulbs, rather than the more usual, and aesthetically pleasing (to me, anyway), red plastic shell fitted with clear bulbs.

As it is a designed as a straight replacement, fitment only took about twenty minutes, but this included the time it took to remove the bodywork, change the connectors from bullet to blade connectors, fit the unit and replace the bodywork. It was that easy.

What about the end result? Well, it’s as bright as before, should last longer as LEDs don’t blow and is a lot more waterproof than the standard unit which, if all else fails I can re-fit as easily as I took it off as I still have it in a box in the shed.

For anyone else looking to replace their Skorpion Tour/Traveller tail light lens it is the same one as fitted to the Ducati Monster 600/750/900 (1994-2007) and the Buell S1/X1/M2/Blast (1999-2003). Take a look at http://WWW.clearalternatives.com for ideas.

Next up, Terry tells us that the bike lift that he bought from Makro had to be returned as it was totally unsuitable. Should you have a bike where the exhaust pipes run under the frame tubes, as a lot of bikes do, then the Makro one is of no use to you. If you are in the market for a bike lift then you could do worse than take a look at the folk that I bought mine from http://www.kdbenches.co.uk/ and drop some heavy hints for Xmas.

I saw you, hug your purse closer to you in the grocery store line.
But you didn't see me, put an extra $10.00 in the collection plate last Sunday.
I saw you, pull your child closer when we passed each other on the sidewalk.
But, you didn't see me, playing Santa at the local mall.

I saw you, change your mind about going into the restaurant.
But, you didn't see me, attending a meeting to raise more money for the Hurricane relief.
I saw you, roll up your window and shake your head when I rode by.
But, you didn't see me, riding behind you when you flicked your cigarette butt out the car window.

I saw you, frown at me when I smiled at your children.
But, you didn't see me, when I took time off from work to run toys to the homeless.
I saw you, stare at my long hair.
But, you didn't see me, and my Friends cut ten inches off for Locks of Love.

I saw you, roll your eyes at our leather jackets and gloves.
But, you didn't see me, and my brothers donate our old ones to those that had none.
I saw you, look in fright at my tattoos.
But, you didn't see me, cry as my children were born and have their name written over and in my heart.

I saw you, change lanes while rushing off to go somewhere.
But, you didn't see me, going home to be with my family.
I saw you, complain about how loud and noisy our bikes can be.
But, you didn't see me, when you were changing the CD and drifted into my lane.

I saw you, yelling at your kids in the car.
But, you didn't see me, pat my child's hands, knowing he was safe behind me.
I saw you, reading the newspaper or map as you drove down the road.
But, you didn't see me, squeeze my wife's leg when she told me to take the next turn.

I saw you, race down the road in the rain.
But, you didn't see me, get soaked to the skin so my son could have the car to go on his date.
I saw you, run the yellow light just to save a few minutes of time.
But, you didn't see me, trying to turn right.

I saw you, cut me off because you needed to be in the lane I was in.
But, you didn't see me, leave the road.
I saw you, waiting impatiently for my friends to pass.
But, you didn't see me. I wasn't there.

I saw you, go home to your family.
But, you didn't see me. Because, I died that day you cut me off.
I was just a biker. A person with friends and a family.
But, you didn't see me...