It was love at first sight! The CZ stood there resplendent in its sort of silver grey with metalflake bits. Compared to my 65000 mile CZ 350 rat bike it had style. A quick test ride confirmed that nothing was untoward with the engine and money changed hands. He needed the dosh for tyres for his FJ1200 and so had decided to sell his commuter bike.
I was now the owner of a CZ 350 Custom Mk.3. Power output of 22hp at the rear wheel and 34ftlb of torque, with only 8000 miles on the clock and still with an unblemished fairing and GRP stream-lining bits. An MOT was due on the bike so I set to work on improving the front brake with a set of Ferodo AM4 linings.
While I was at it I also decoked the exhausts by removing them and burning out the old oil/petrol mix until the exhaust glowed nicely. As usual the baffles were in the wrong way round. Why do people put the hole at the front when it should go at the back? This slight error reduces top speed from 85mph to 70mph in one go.
I quick blat down the local bypass showed that the top speed had gone from an indicated 76mph to 89mph. CZ speedo's always show 2-3mph less than the actual speed. This I've had confirmed by those people who drive cars with flashing blue lights on top. All the indicators had been removed though all the connections were still there. I decided not to fit any indicators and it passed the MOT.
Within a week I was bored shitless by the lack of top end speed, though the acceleration was no disappointment and could see off CB400N's, and the like, easily. During one weekend I set about removing the engine restrictors in the air box - I cut off the nozzles on top of the air box cover thus bypassing the intake silencer/restrictor under the saddle - removed all of the blotting paper like material from the air filter and replaced it with foam sprayed with K and N filter oil (I could have as easily fitted a K and N filter) and removed the first stanchion ring in the silencer end caps on both exhausts. Only a slight adjustment of the pilot jet screw and needle position was necessary.
The bike did an indicated 101mph when tucked in behind the bikini fairing and the acceleration was transformed. Second gear wheelies were also possible, usually at really inopportune moments such as going for a gap in traffic. The stock Barum tyres were totally lethal and unable to cope with the increase in torque from the engine. They also made banking over on the throttle a knicker staining experience. Metz's were much better and last okay (rear, 8000 miles; front, much more).
One of the more eventful times was a trip to Braintree where the plan was to do a Saturday morning run to London to join in with the leg protector demonstration. The motorway run was quick at 80-85mph but the M25 was full of cagers having picnics on their car bonnets - I nearly ran a few of them over.
Friday night was spent in the Red Cow pub drinking, taking the piss out of MZ riders, etc. One MZ300 owner was bragging about the superiority of his machine...It was obvious his eyesight was lacking, perhaps with the level of self abuse he was indulging he should've considered buying an LC, as they all tend to be wankers as well. Next morning on the A12, the MZ rider was blurred with the vibration at 90mph and was left to eat my pollution at 95mph - he didn't speak to me again.
The demo was a sight to behold, with bikes as far as the eye could see, sort of reminiscent of the great African Plains with all the herds of wildebeests, water buffalo, zebras, etc. Getting out of London was no problem and only took 20 minutes via the numerous roads that run parallel with the Thames. We seemed to have several other bikes following us, obviously assuming that I knew where I was going.
Once on the M11 we were safe from the worst drivers in Britain. It's amazing that there isn't any traffic on the M11 in between rush hours, not even police vehicles. After a while we spotted another couple of bikes travelling at fuel conserving velocities (ie 50mph). An RG250 and NS400, who were passed at 55mph. They then passed at 65mph. Then the CZ was in warp drive. 105mph! The engine was running like it was only doing 60mph and seemed quite happy.
A quick twist on the throttle revealed that I wasn't quite flat out yet. Something must be wrong. Sure enough, the right-hand header pipe was just about to fall off, so it was panic, slow and hit the hard shoulder for repair.
Now I subscribe to the gremlins school of motorcycle physics. Every motorcycle or any other piece of machinery has a certain number of gremlins living in it. On Jap bikes they are held in check until 20,000 miles comes up and you all know what happens next. On other makes they all man certain posts. Such as the one that makes the neutral light not work, the one that makes the chain loose, the one that makes the footrest fall off, etc. You get the picture?
Now, major mechanical disasters like an engine blow up require the combined effort of all the gremlins in the bike. Hence, why bikes only blow up when they are going better than you've ever known before...The next time your motorcycle's running exceptionally well, panic!
After fixing the exhaust, I had to battle against gale force winds, only able to get 80-85mph and 50mpg out of the thing. If I ducked behind the bikini fairing 90mph was possible but the displaced air swirled over the small of my back. A lot of bikes are worse off because they can't match the CZ's torque - so there!
I used the bike until it reached 34000 miles, when on the way to another Jawa/CZ rally in Swindon there was the problem of the top gear locking in when going up hill. This rapidly deteriorated into not staying in top gear on the level when under power, then no top gear. The engine wasn't making any unusual noises at the time and all the other gears worked okay.
As Swindon was only ten miles away this was no great problem, but, boy, ain't the world a big place when you're stuck in a low gear. The return trip was a real pain as I was stuck behind a caravan - on the straights he could leave me behind but in the twisty bits he was only doing 20mph. In the end, someone overtook and blocked him so I could pass.
On returning home, the gearbox turned out to have chewed up a gear selector fork which only took an hour to change, especially as it's not necessary to change/remove the oil when working on a Jawa or CZ gearbox. After fitting the £2 part the bike was happy for another year until the fateful day in Newbury at 5am when the top gear went completely and the crankcases started to lose the oil in a big way.
I limped into Newbury at 18mph, flat out in third gear. Phoned the RAC and waited for four hours for the recovery service. Once home I dumped all my equipment on to my Canadian import Suzuki GT550A and went on that. The bastard thing broke down when I arrived there as well. It was a bad day.
Another bad point was the way the tail kept falling off the back of the saddle. The standard brakes and tyres weren't up to the performance. Neither was the ground clearance - not even with GS1000 shocks, which are three inches longer than stock. A lot of this could be due to the fact that you can lean a CZ over a lot more than a Japanese machine. I once decked an X7 trying to pull a CZ style turn. The Lucas indicators are also poor.
The good points include 67mpg at 80-85mph, the fairing, big bike gear ratios and gear speeds (Ist: 0-34mph; 2nd: 34-56mph; 3rd: 56-75mph; 4th: 75-103mph when derestricted), big bike engine torque though not the speed, the toolkit, cushdrive rear wheel and the ability to out-scratch old Jap bikes.
Plus, they're cheap to buy and insure - no-one wants to joy ride or nick them. Unless they are an MZ or Cossack rider wanting to move up in the biking world...
Andy Reid