MZ Riders Club

Hints and Tips : Four-Stroke

Page updated : 27/12/2005

Site designed by Mike

In no particular order

Skorpion lights:  For those of you who have a Skorpion Traveller and, like me, are fed up with the less than effective front headlight, you might be interested to note that there is an alternative to the genuine Skorpion unit. Not having been a great fan of the original I asked Phil at BSA Regal about the availability of a TRX 850 unit. This is a sensible and well known upgrade/modification, and l could get one from stock at about half the price of an original one. No contest, really.

Right, is it difficult to change over to the TRX unit and was it worth it? Simple answers are No and Yes in that order. Let me explain:

To remove the standard headlight you remove the Traveller’s nose fairing, which gives you access to the headlight itself. You then remove four Allen bolts holding the unit in place and disconnect the electrical connector(s) behind the headlight. You now should be holding your headlight unit in your grubby paws. That’s all there is to it.

To fit the new TRX unit you line it up with the existing brackets and, using the same four Allen bolts, fit it straight back onto the bike. The electrical connectors vary a bit across the Skorpion range so perhaps yours will connect right back on or perhaps, like me, you will have to fit some new connectors. This is as complicated as it gets and a quick trip to a shop selling electrical components will sort you out with a handful of connectors for about a fiver. Sort out your connectors and then re-fit the nose fairing. Easy-peasy.

As I mentioned, I was not a great fan of the original twin-headlight unit fitted to the Traveller. It was bright enough, especially after fitting higher wattage bulbs, but the pattern spread was awful. However, the TRX unit, although fitted with lower output bulbs at the moment, is a great improvement. The light from its single bulb fans out in a much better pattern, nicely lighting up the road ahead and generally making for more confident riding at night. As an added bonus, the bulbs for the TRX unit are cheaper and more readily available than those for the original Skorpion unit.

So, if you can justify the initial expense, I’d recommend that, if you’re unhappy with your bike’s abilities at night, you invest in a TRX headlight, either brand new or, if you prefer being really cheap, get one from a bike being broken for spares, or from eBay. You won’t regret the change. Should you think that the TRX headlamp can be nice but dim, to rectify the situation a 100/55w bulb will brighten up your life. A 100/80w will brighten it up further, although may drain the battery some.

Brake Pads: (Mike) When changing the front pads on my Skorpion Traveller I discovered that, if you buy the recommended EBC or Ferodo pads, you have to take a file to them to open out the holes at the top of the pad so that the pin fits through them. This is, apparently, what your dealer does when you put the bike in for a service. I didn’t fancy this too much so bought myself a set from Hein Gericke, having checked them against the pin (and MZ are listed in their catalogue). I didn’t need the file. They fitted without any hassle. I know which ones I’ll be buying in the future.

Skorpion Indicators: (Mike) Last year the indicator relay on my Skorpion Traveller decided to die on me. A genuine MZ one was a tad expensive, so in true Zed-cred mode I toddled off to Halfords and bought a standard 3-pin, 12-watt model intended to do service in a any number of cars. However, as the standard bulbs in the Skorpion are 10-watt, the resultant disco light show when I turned the indicators on was a little alarming. So, back to Halfords where four standard 12-watt indicator bulbs were acquired. Result? Well, everything works fine, the bulbs are a tad brighter than the standard ones and, if one should blow, I can get a replacement in any garage or service station. Oh, and everything was cheaper than standard parts.

Skorpion screens: You can get a new, higher, screen for the Skorpion in a variety of different colours. Very nice they are too. There’s a huge range of stuff like this at Skidmarx if you’re interested.