Musings

I have been off the road for a while recovering from a hip operation, NOT caused by falling off a bike, BTW.
While watching a tape, since the 30 or so channels on TV here are currently not worth watching, I was suddenly struck by some thoughts.
You may remember earlier this year there was a programme on BBC2 concerning the origin of certain phrases eg. Bog standard. The presenters could not trace that phrase back beyond the mid 70s, though I recall using it at UMIST re motorcycles.
After Uni I met Howard Place, whose family owned a few baker shops in Dulwich and Nunhead and also a few vintage motorcars.
The link is that Howard, who ran, when he could get it going, a 350cc Gold Star, was convinced that the M/C manufacturer knew best. Therefore, if the manufacturer fitted (rubbish) Britax handlebar levers to his product they were clearly the best for this machine. I am pretty sure he was serious!
Another point that came from my musings was memories of my MZ TS250/1. When my first ETZ250 was stolen in 1988 I phoned Ken at Kick Start Motorcycles to tell him that I would need another. When I got there he showed me a Supa 5 he thought I would like. He later described its acceleration as being similar to ‘shit off a shovel’ when I asked him to check something for me by riding it.
It was much cheaper than a new ETZ, and, remembering the superb fuel consumption (up to 100mpg) of the 250 Sport, was obviously a bargain.
Since it was going to be used to commute into Central London, some modifications were needed, anathema to Howard, remember. First, the slightly wide handlbars were replaced with very narrow straight bars. Since I have scars in both legs caused by the bloody awful early MZ switchgear I immediately changed the switchgear to the user friendly ETZ version.
To keep the bike narrow, useful for negotiating narrow gaps in the traffic, the (single) mirror was mounted inboard of the switchgear. A Honda TLS front brake was fitted and finally, the rather stone age 6V electrics were converted into 12V using a JG electronic voltage regulator (as used on 6V Brit bikes), which transformed the electrics beyond recognition.
This bike was used to commute almost 25 miles into Central London very sucessfully until we relocated to Holland in 1992. The proof of the pudding, so to speak, was the day that the buses, Underground and trains were all out on strike. The roads were almost gridlocked but my trip to work took only 5 minutes longer than usual! Only one other colleague got in that day.
The MZ continued to be used in Holland for five years more before expiring on the motorway into Amsterdam one day.
Falling back on using the Morini, I remember one Dutch Public Holiday when I had to go to work there were almost no other vehicles on the road. The trip in, at 100mph plus on the empty motorway, took 25 minutes instead of the usual 45.
The current MZ remains virtually as made, except I use Petroil rather than the oil tank, after a nasty, expensive experience with the earlier ETZ, but that can be the subject for a future ramble through memories.
P.S. happy new year to all