maiden voyage

[ghostinthemist]

Took my ts 150 out yesterday after an almost total tear down and restoration. Made it almost all the way home then blaaaaaaa. Nada. no lights no nothing. Luckly i broke down close to a buddies house and parked it and stewed about it over night. Went out today....spark plug completely fouled and gap completely wrong. Turns out my friend dropped it before he handed it to me and neglected to tell me. New champion spark and one kick and i was off! Now its time to rebuild a 250

[radiograf]

Try fitting a NGK BPR8HIX, the projector nose reduces fouling, and the iridium electrode is supposed to improve the spark. As the plug has a resistor, use a non resistor plug cap, NGK part LZFH, works well for me in my ETZ251.

[therealche]

Great news! Makes it worth all the hassle when you get that ring-ting-ting and a cloud of two stroke smoke.

[ghostinthemist]

took her out again today. Im a hard breaker if your my bike you better be snappy. When i first started going today it was the usual bwaaaaaaaa chug chug bwaaaaa. Rode for 15 min then i came to the top of a hill that drops quickly that i use to hard break bikes and as soon as i went over the top at 45 dropped her from 4 to 2nd just for a second or 2 then hold open clutch and back to third! On purpose! Third bike ive broken in on this road. When i first put rings in i ride her like a babe for the first 50 miles then i take her down the hill. As soon as i hit the bottom of the hill i stopped it and let her cool down for 15 min. Got on started her up and it sounded very different like rap rap rap rap. Hopped on and took off she even tried to peal! Reached a flat and opened her up 75 mph! Brought her all the way up to top speed for about 5 seconds then dropped her back down to 55. I love breaking bikes in. im 26 and i hope to have this one when im 96

[ghostinthemist]

heres a couple of pics i did the one in bnw for nostalgic purposes

[ghostinthemist]

the one thing i love about every MZ pic i have on my comp is that there is a secondary picture provided by the shinny side panel in every picture that shows Germany and England in the background. This one is I think a very stereotypical American reflection.

[therealche]

What a sweet little bike. Take your time running her in. Unlike modern motorcycle the cylinder wont be as finely honed so takes more running in. I have always been interested in the way MZs morph between models. Yours is a TS yet to me the only bit that is TS is the tank. The rest ETS.. the forks, headlamp etc. And then there are the differences between on the bikes for the American market. Lucas indicators and rear light, those side reflectors on the headlamp brackets.
Mind you I am the kind of person who gets a strange pleasure pointing out when people have put rear lenses on front indicators on the german indicators. I need to get out more!

[ghostinthemist]

The front forks are of the ts model just there are the newer integrated telescopic forks that were put on in late 74 models in England along with the Lucas style lenses that were on these. I choose to find ones that were as close to the German ones as possible. The headlamp is a Lucas not an ETZ these were fitted to comply with American standards.

[therealche]

Don't like to contradict you........BUT....... the forks are the early forks as fitted to the ETS between 1969 and 1973. These have chromed steel bottoms and are just about impossible to take apart unless you have the proper tool, and even then it can be a total pain!
Here is a picture of an ETS 150

Then there came your TS150. If memory serves the tank, rear aluminium part of frame and seat are different to the ETS

Then comes an intermediate. This has the later forks with aluminium sliders , which necessitates a different front mudguard and brake plate.Also has a different mounting for the rear light

And finally the last incarnation of the TS150. Later forks, different headlamp, and rev counter and speedo on aluminium dog ear brackets

So there you go, a quick history of the evolution of the TS150!

[ghostinthemist]

im confused because the American Haynes shows a ts 150 for my manual is exactly the same as my bike just red?! I think they did whatever they wanted depending where they were finished. The picture says it was taken in chicago?

[ghostinthemist]

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2627
refer to this pic which is the exact same bike as mine except handles.

[therealche]

No need to be confused! You have an American version 1974 TS150. However apart from the tank and seat the bike was the same as the ETS150.

However by 1977 the front end, instruments, headlight and rear light had been changed. However MZ never changed the model name!

As a matter of interest ( to me ay least) does anyone know who "Americanised" the MZs for sales in the US?

[ghostinthemist]

The answer to your question is a Lucas plant in England did all the standard lighting taco and spedo for 1966 and up. The first MZ's to be sold in the US were sold as enduro bikes not as street. I have only found one place that sold MZ in the north here and it was a BMW dealer back in the 60-80's