Fitting Handlebar Heaters	Home Page (part 1)
First Impressions (part 2)	The Good, the Bad and the I can live with that (part 4)

The Dark Side

2/8/94     Having set off for work early on a sunny dry morning, I rode on to the roundabout below Junction 11 at about 10 mph only to be violently thrown to the road and see my lovely new MZ sliding along the road in front of me. Luckily all the other motorists avoid me and gave me assistance in getting the MuZ to the side of the road. Looking at the roundabout I could then see the long stream of diesel in the outer lane, in the shadow of the bridge. Having ridden along its length had been my downfall. Result in brief, First ever insurance claim in 18 years of riding, £150 excess to pay, smashed glasses in my pocket, badly bruised arm and knee so two days off work. 3 weeks without the MuZ while new fairing shell, centre stand, rear indicator plus a few other minor bits were replaced.

26/10/94     On the way home, I am looking forward to apple crumble for my tea. As I started to join the M1 at Junction 2 the steering began to feel decidedly dodgy as I negotiated the bend on the slip road. Pulling up on the hard shoulder I discovered a long gash across the the tread of the rear tyre. I knew I should have got round to putting some OKO in the tyre. As the motorway was being resurfaced a mile away, I couldn't push the MZ to Scratchwood Services and the emergency phones were out of action. I waited 20 minutes for the Police patrol to arrive. They confirmed a rescue vehicle would be there in 15 minutes. Wrong! 5 friendly motorcyclists, including one who rang my wife for me, another Police patrol and an hour and a half wait and the truck turns up. "Sorry guv a bit of a mix up. I was told you had a Skoda. Saw you earlier talking to another biker thought you had just stopped for a chat so picked the car up further on." Skoda!! Stopped for a chat on the hard shoulder!! Keep your thoughts to yourself Nick, you're not out of the woods yet you know. Fortunately the RAC records of my membership (BMF discounted scheme) were not as detailed as they should have been and I managed to get full recovery back to my home in Luton courtesy of SOS Motorcycle Rescue, who were unable to fix the damaged tyre (so there is a god).
The next day when having the tyre changed, I discovered it was actually tubed. Ever since I had seen the cast wheeled MuZ's, I had assumed that they were tubeless tyres and never thought of asking for confirmation. You live and learn, talking of which I put OKO in both tyres to try to prevent further mishaps.

9/11/94     Apple crumble and custard was on the menu again. My mouth was already watering as I walked back to the MuZ parked in Finsbury Circus. As I pushed it off the stand there was a clonk as the rear rim hit the road. I looked down to see the rear tyre completely flat. Ba?$£! I removed the offending rusty screw which had managed to penetrate 7+mm of Metzeler C block. Never mind, there is OKO in the tube, I will get a pump. Wrong! After a fruitless (or should that be pumpless) search I returned to the bike. Hello, there was the 301 and its owner with a top box, but unfortunately no pump. However, he also had a puncture in his rear tyre, coincidence or anti-MuZ action we will never know. He had already called the RAC and I logged a call with them as well. Fortunately the SOS van had two suitable tubes on board and I was on my way within 45 minutes. Following these incidents I now only have apple crumble and custard at weekends. I also bought a CO2 pump (£12.00 from bicycle shop) to keep in the toolkit.

15/11/94     A week had not gone by and the clutch cable snapped as I pulled into the in-laws driveway. Every Tuesday I run the gauntlet with the Mother in Law when my wife visits her. Well at least I had a lift home and a safe place to leave the MuZ, although MIL pointed out it had better not be there too long. The next day I left work early to get back to Flitwick Motorcycles pick up a new clutch cable and spent half an hour trying to fit it until I realised it was too long. Next day I phoned Burwins in London having found their name in the dealer list. Yes they did have the proper cable as soon as they could get it off a model in the showroom. I picked up the new cable and also a new bronze nipple holder as mine was badly worn (some how that doesn't sound right?).  On examining the old cable I found it was completely dry! Strange. The service schedule says all cables should be lubricated at every service and the bike had had 4 dealer services to date. What was I paying £25 an hour for? I therefore took the precaution of getting as much Waxoyl (no I don't have shares in the company, just a gallon can of the stuff in the garage) down the cable as possible and left it flat for a few hours to let the Waxoyl harden off. Since then I have worked a few blobs of grease in at the lever end every thousand miles and the new cable is still going strong.
  Thankfully winter passed without mishap, although I was dreading any snow, what with the high revs needed to pull away and the power band. Fortunately I needn't of worried. Once rolling the MuZ chugged along merrily at 1500-2000 rpm negotiating snow and ice without difficulty.

4/2/95     19,300 km on the clock. Hang on a minute. Divide by 1.6 = 12,062 miles. Ahhhh! The warranty has technically expired, 2 months before the 12 months is up. So what? Well the head gasket had always had a slight weep at the rear. I was told it would stop as the engine coked up, but it didn't. Fortunately, the dealer kept his promise and replaced it under warranty when it had its 12,000 mile service.

5/4/95     During the usual Sunday check over I noticed oil dribbling from the sight glass. Must be working loose I thought. Not knowing which way it should turn I gently turned it left and right. Hmm still dribbling. Better leave it alone. The next day on the way to work I stopped at the first set of traffic lights off the M1. I looked down to check the sight glass to see that the dribble was now a stream. A pit stop at Burwins was called for. The old sight glass breaks in two upon being removed. Unfortunately half inside and half outside the tank. Off comes the tank. Having removed the remaining piece an attempt to fit a new sight glass was made. Unfortunately it didn't want to play ball, the thread on the sight glass and that on the tank appearing to be different. A second hand tank is fitted instead, filled with oil, pump primed and I was half an hour late for work as well as being £20 poorer. Now why couldn't it have failed 3 weeks before, during the warranty period?

9/6/95     Another puncture in the rear tyre. Fortunately it was a slow one and a little extra OKO stopped it. The tyre was down to 1.5mm after 10, 000 miles so a replacement was due anyway. A trip to Central Tyres and a new Pirelli MT65 and tube were fitted for £35.00, plus a free bottle of OKO as I had spoken so highly of it and they had some gathering dust (more on tyres later).

1/8/95     20,000 mile service at Burwins. The original front tyre which has started to crack up is replaced with a MT65 (£40.00! Must remember to go back to Central Tyres in future.) I also asked them to check the carburation as the plug always seemed to be black indicating a rich mixture, plus the indicators were sometimes reluctant. This resulted in a new choke cable, which was apparently sticking on and new indicator relay.
I was now getting a lot of stick at work because of the number of new parts my new MuZ had had and that it must be nearly new again. Ha ha!

4/9/95     The indicator relay packed up again and was replaced free of charge.
This month turned into a nightmare. While I was out on the MuZ with my son, my garage, which is part of a garage block, was broken into but nothing was stolen, suggesting that the MZ was the target (remember I live in Luton). I therefore parked the MuZ behind the house until the garage door and lock were replaced. At the same time the weather became cold and damp to the point of saturation. In general not the ideal weather for keeping a motorcycle outside. That is what I thought when 3 days on the trot it took over half an hour each morning to get the bike started, and that was after I pre-heated the spark plug on the gas cooker. It had also started to use much less oil as well. On checking the pump setting, it appeared the oil cable was retarded so I set it according to the manual.

27/9/95     I decided that the original battery was looking the worse for wear and may have been contributing to the poor starting. I replaced it with a larger battery as I was contemplating fitting heated grips. The starting improved for a few weeks.

25/10/95 After another period of poor starting and also running I was thoroughly p...ed off. By rights I should have returned it to Burwins as they had said if there were any problems to let them know. However, I have an inquisitive nature and I therefore turned detective. I found that Burwins had done more than fitted a new choke cable. A NGK B7HS had been fitted instead of a B8HS. The needle was also on the top groove. I reset the needle to the 2nd groove, then spent an hour getting the needle and holder back in the carburetor. God is that spring strong or what. Put the top back on. Hang on which way round did it go?  Easy most carburetor tops only fit one way.  This one fits both ways though! I decided on fitting it so the cable appears to run down the front of the carb. body. A new spark plug, and make sure the idle air screw is 1 turn out. Warm it up and reset oil pump. That was better, but just in case I took it for an engine tune at Flitwick motorcycles to make sure the CO reading was OK. Unfortunately they set it to the lowest possible setting which was with the idle air screw a quarter of a turn out and the bike had no guts at all. At the same time they also confirmed my worst fears. the steering head bearings had formed a notch in the head races. On the road, this meant that the front wheel sometimes felt like it was caught in a rut when negotiating bends. No problem though they could fix it for £93.00. How much!
  Over the next couple of weeks I twiddled with the idle air screw between one to one and a half turns out until I got the best fuel consumption. I also decided it would be best to get the steering head bearings done sooner rather than later, especially as winter was coming up again.

11/11/95     The steering head bearings and races were fitted and I was £93.00 poorer, but the MuZ was steering much better. Maybe not as precisely as the Yamaha 900 Diversion I had used as a courtesy bike, but at least the MuZ was easier to ride and the frame didn't get in the way of my knees!

20/12/95     This is where we started. Broken down at the side of the A1 into London. SOS Motorcycle Rescue turn up again complements of the RAC. (I took out personal cover at renewal for an extra £10.00 just to be on the safe side). Me and my not so trusty steed are transported to Burwins where it is left to under go surgery. Luckily I get a lift almost all the way to work and I am only 2 hours late. My old Benly had never let me down like this in 15 years. Burwins traced and fixed the fault the same day. A break in a wire in the loom under the petrol tank. There was no evidence of other damaged wires but no guarantee was given, so I live in fear now. £32.00 later at least I am saved the expense of two days train travel of £34.00.
  Thankfully the only problems since then has been a couple of poor starting days solved by generous squirts of WD40 on the electrics. The ignition circuit will therefore need closer examination.

Home Page (part 1)	First Impressions (part 2)
The Good, the Bad and the I can live with that (part 4)	Fitting Handlebar Heaters

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