More Relevant Than You Might Think: 0 Mile MZ1000S
I know it doesn’t have the wow factor of a lot of the bikes we post but if you are a history buff you know some of the strokers we feature here owe their beginnings to the East German built MZ’s of the past. I’ll get to the history in a bit. What you are looking at is the last gasp of MZ: well sort of, more on that later as well. The 1000S sports a unique trellis frame and it houses a MZ built parallel twin engine. I read one article saying the body work was designed by an engineer that worked on the Stealth F-117 Fighter, who knew? I’m guessing this a 2005 model but don’t hold me to it. The bike was introduced to the United States in 05 as a sport/tourer with an emphasis on sport. Most of the reviews I read were quite positive about the bike with maybe a feeling that it was just kind of “vanilla”.
You can’t deny it has a unique front end. If someone doesn’t want the usual cookie cutter bike I could see this as an alternative at the right price, with an *. What about parts and service? The seller claims only 40 were imported and as far as I can tell all the MZ infrastructer has folded. The engine was designed in house, as well, so God only knows how you would source parts.
So why is MZ relevant? The extremely abbreviated story: they developed the modern two stroke engine. Suzuki was having a heck of a time getting a bike through a race and not grenading. In a real life story of polictical and corporate espianage, they managed to spring the top MZ rider (he was basically an engineer as well) from East Germany. He brought with him some parts and the knowledge Suzuki needed to redesign their racing two strokes. That technology was used in Suzuki race bikes and would trickle down to the RG series we all love so much. I highly suggest reading Matt Oxleys, Stealing Speed. It is a great read on the MZ story and all its’ twists and turns. To a certain extent every two stroke that came out of Japan owes a little (or a lot) to old MZ.
That is the past. The future is uncertain but there is news on that front. In 2009 former GP riders Ralf Waldmann and Martin Wimmer (backed by investers) purchased the rights to the MZ name. There have been rumors of a Moto2 bike and possibly a 600cc road bike. Keep your fingers crossed.
It has a BIN of $10,000. That sounds very optomistic to me but for the right price I would think there might be a collector or sport/touring rider who might take a chance. Das motorbike is here.
Ian
Way over priced, and this one has been hanging out for a while… if you check the MZ owners group you’ll lots of references to this particular bike.
However if you can find one… at a reasonable price, buy it, you will not regret it. Can run with full on modern sport bikes, out handling some other the other exotic stuff out there one day and go sport touring the next.
I bought one used 25k on the clocks and it is an absolute blast to ride fast and corners like it’s on rails.
Compare these to Moto Guzzi’s for longevity… so 25k is just breaking it in…big British like twin.. only water cooled that loves to spin right to redline.
I paid just over 3k for mine…. this bike, not run very often will need parts, seals and the like… luckily they are easy to get and available from England.
Full service manuals are available online in English as are the part info.
I have had to get some parts, air filters and such that are specific to the MZ and had them in hand in less than 10 days. Only failure was a pencil coil and had the replacement in 7 days.
Owners group is amazing and will cross reference parts for you if asked…. front sprocket from a Honda and rear matches a Yamaha that you can get at any dealer, oil filter is the same as a Nissan car.
German engineering in a torquey high rev’ing package…. pulls like a Ducati, but can scream like a RC51…well sorted flickable package and you are guaranteed to be the only one with one of these any where you go. MZ, brought most of the dealer stock back to Germany, so very few stayed here.
5k is reasonable….. 10k is an insult, and why he still has it.
Oh, and why would a bike that has never been ridden need a generic tank pad?
Scott,
Awesome info that you can only get from an owner. That is good news on parts.
I’ve owned one a couple of years back and it was everything Scott wrote above.
Extremely reliable and just rode it for three years with no issues at all.