Non Laverda Out n About.

I made the morning commute a long one so I could have fun on the MV, started off in the dark and rode along the coast as the sun came up , now its Autumn we have had drop in the temp of 10-15 degrees which means I can get through the last city part without having the fans kick in, in summer thats not possible. The bike to the left is my yard bike, its an 84 schwinn, the shipyard here is getting so big you need a set of wheels to get around
 

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sideshow said:
I made the morning commute a long one so I could have fun on the MV, started off in the dark and rode along the coast as the sun came up , now its Autumn we have had drop in the temp of 10-15 degrees which means I can get through the last city part without having the fans kick in, in summer thats not possible. The bike to the left is my yard bike, its an 84 schwinn, the shipyard here is getting so big you need a set of wheels to get around
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The 'quick' way to work, Todd!
 
sfcpiet said:
Yep. Apparently had more potential than the Rotax unit. ;)

piet
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same engine as the SZR & XTZ660. And Aprilia used them in the later Pegaso - though having had an earlier pegaso with the 5 valve 650 rotax engine, I'd say that it was a better engine though I'm not sure how much potential for further tuning there was with it.

Just to make it feel like a small world, the bloke who seems to be the guru for the Skorpions used to race a Mirage...
 
chrisk said:
I don’t think we ever had MUZ here, but I seem to recall a Zundap/MUZ collaboration, or am I mistaken?
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Zündapp was long gone (1984) by the time MuZ arrived (1993). Casal of Portugal produced several licenced models based on Zündapp.

Zündapp production facilities went to China, final MZ 2-strokes were built in Turkey under the Kanuni brand, catering for several eastern european markets. MuZ started anew after the fall of the Wall with 4-strokes only, but they were never able to shake off the el-cheapo 2-stroke reputation. While the Rotax-engined bikes were loosely based on the old 2-stroke frames, the Skorpion range recieved an all-new up-to-date chassis designed by a Brit (Kerr?) The Yamaha engine was also used in the Baghira and Mastiff models. While the later RT/SM/SX125 for the beginners market were gems and created lots of revenue, the big 1000 twin, introduced 2002, was a dismal sales failure. Not essentially a bad bike, but it was too little, too late, and hardly appealing to anybody. It all ended in 2008 with the malaysian investors bailing out, losing 70 million Euros. Former GP stars Martin Wimmer and Ralf Waldmann stepped to the plate and attempted to re-start with electric scooters and providing enormous support for Anthony West in Moto3. They went into recievership 2013, losing a further 6 million.

Turned out OCT was to become one of Germanys most sucessfull 4-stroke MZ dealers. While the 1000s were always rare and have a small but dedicated group of fans, there's still a lot of the 125s being thrashed to near-death by young wild ones. Quite a few Baghiras regularly drop in for a service as well.

piet
 
Didn't know OCT were involved with MuZs as well - it's another useful option for spares then :)

The 125s look good but seem pretty rare in the UK, don't remember the last time I actually saw one. Mind you, same goes for the 1000, there was a dealer (with a demo bike) about 60 miles from here but he went bust before I managed to get a test ride.

The Skorpion was originally designed by the Seymour Powell design agency, they may have had a hand in the 125s as well
 
sfc1000uk said:
Didn't know OCT were involved with MuZs as well - it's another useful option for spares then :)

The 125s look good but seem pretty rare in the UK, don't remember the last time I actually saw one. Mind you, same goes for the 1000, there was a dealer (with a demo bike) about 60 miles from here but he went bust before I managed to get a test ride.

The Skorpion was originally designed by the Seymour Powell design agency, they may have had a hand in the 125s as well
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Can't imagine that, the 125 chassis was nowhere as innovative as the Skorpion. Very, very basic and cheaply built. The engines were brilliant though, they'd go at max revs all day long. Kids even had their Super Moto series here, run exclusively with the SM125. They'd manage to break just about everything, except the engines!

piet
 
wdzqz6N.jpg


400k done, still 50k to home.
 
On the right is the Ducati that sat under my bench in pieces, now assembled by Chris Cutler and his mate Rick in Murwillumbah. On the left is the 1926 Chater-Lea 350 face cam Brooklands Replica. Can't wait to see and hear it on the track. It is a great job and Chris should be very proud of his work.
 

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