Fitting Handlebar Heaters	Home Page (part 1)
The Dark Side (part 3)	The Good, the Bad and the I can live with that (part 4)

First Impressions.

Tuesday 15th March 1994 I rode up to Flitwick Motorcycles for a first hand look. I was greeted by David Jordan, a very sociable and helpful salesman, who showed me their black 301 Saxon Tour demonstrator. I was impressed. Smart appearance, better than the brochure, modern switches and electrics, lots of plastic including petrol tank so minimal cleaning, plus all those sensible touches like gaitered forks, hand adjustable shocks and the famous enclosed chain (perhaps these last three items should be the club entry requirements?).
The bike was prepared and I had the go ahead for about an hours ride. I had planned to take in large town traffic and the motorway to give the best impression of my ride to work. As I left the dealers it started to rain and the wind was now blowing pretty hard. Great! Luckily I was wearing my full yachting outfit (more of that another day. Yes there will be more!) and so the rain and wind didn't stop me from giving the bike a run for its money. I didn't encounter any real problems. There was some lurching on the over run, the rear brake had a lot of travel and not knowing about the power band left me in the wrong gear a few times. Apparently the seat was also supposed to feel like a plank! Generally speaking I was impressed. David suggested the fuel consumption would be more likely 60mpg from experience and oil consumption 600 miles per litre, basic service every 2,000 miles £35-£40. He also pointed out that prices had recently risen by £200 per model due to exchange rates and may be subject to further increases, so an early decision might be worthwhile (clever salesman or what). They could supply and fit a rack but were not sure about a fairing, although they would fit one if I got hold of one. I returned home with my mind already made up. All I had to do was decide on the colour and organize a fairing. Both problems were sorted when I gave my usual fairing supplier a call. Acrybre Products of Weymouth (Tel: 01305 787498). A full fairing would cost £149 + £18.44 p&p (free fitting at their factory). They were unable to colour match the red or blue bikes because they did not have access to the pigments, so my idea of an all red bike went out of the window. Instead, my macho side, (OK Hilary stop laughing) beat my safety concious side into submission and an all black bike was on the cards, rather than a black bike with white fairing.

  The £500 saving and likelihood of cheaper spares for the MuZ over the long term (Benly exhausts were £90 each and it had two of them which rot from the inside after about 30,000 miles) made me plump for the MuZ 251 Saxon Tour. Orders were placed, money exchanged and on Saturday 23rd April 1994 my wife and son took me to collect my new pride and joy. Hilary (not a lover of motorbikes) was very impressed by the looks and the mechanic was pleased with the protection afforded by the fairing when he got caught out in the rain during the pre-delivery ride. A minor problem with the front brake pipe rubbing against the fairing was resolved with a very long nylon cable tie and the faulty paint on the grab handle had already been noted and a new one would be fitted under warranty.

  After the usual signing ceremony and riding instructions, I was ready to go. Queue rain! The obligatory photographing of the new motorbike was to wait until Sunday when I could give it a quick polish. I also spent some time removing side panel and seat to get some Waxoyl to the inaccessible areas.

Believe it or not this motorcycle has completed over 80,000 miles. The only non-original items in the picture are the rear shock absorber, fairing (which was replaced due to an accident), and tyres.

Running In

I always take time over running in new motorbikes, taking more time than that laid down by the manufacturer. Fortunately, at 3500 rpm in top the MuZ was jogging along nicely at about 50mph, so I was not a hindrance on the motorway. The biggest problem was keeping the revs down when pulling away, as it wouldn't budge without at least 3500 rpm showing on the tacho. Two weeks old and it was in for its 500 mile service. 4th June and it was in for its 2000 mile service and the running in procedure was now finished. In the process I had found the red line at about 6500 rpm having finally increased the revs until they wouldn't go any higher. I had also established a few other things. The gear change was slow and heavy. So heavy in fact that my left foot ached for 2 months until it got used to it. This was one thirsty motorcycle. Low 60's mpg, fortunately offset by oil consumption of 750 miles per litre. The seat remained as hard as a plank giving a numb bum if the speed was constant i.e riding on motorways. The rear wheel locked up on braking which was why the demonstrator's was slackened off. Generally speaking though I was getting used to it. Every Sunday I would top up the oil tank with 0.5 litre of oil having covered 375 miles, check tyre pressures and tread, all lights and horn. Then I would clean all the visible bits. Well, after a few weeks I thought it would be just as easy to coat the wheels with Waxoyl. At the same time I did the swinging arm and the rear shocks. In fact after about 2 months most of the bare and painted metal parts had been coated. Except the exhaust. All I was cleaning was the exhaust, lights and the plastic parts. The exhaust was to fall prey to the Waxoyl treatment at a later date.

  I certainly found the MuZ attractive (Sorry dear, did you say there were some men in white coats at the door?) in its all black attire. Surprisingly, so did quite a few other people. OK probably not your average Fire Blade rider, but Joe Public would stop and look. The most memorable occasion was when it was parked outside my son's school where my wife was having trouble with our car. The MuZ was parked on a man hole cover in the middle of a large area of grass, and as the 6-9 year olds left school it was soon surrounded by about 8 boys all cooing over it, with the usual "I'm getting one of these when I grow up"", "Bet it does 100mph.", etc. The lump in my throat went after a while. It was also well received at the MZRC BMF Rally stand in last year.

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