It has to be said that the ETZ was evidently styled by disgruntled communists desperate to get back at the company management. I can understand that the shape of the petrol tank has to be dictated, in part, by the cost of mass producing it but the ETZ’s effort surely isn't any cheaper to produce that something less awful looking. The motor was hung beneath the backbone frame in an unlikely manner and lacked any kind of Teutonic functionality. I was glad to be wearing a full-face helmet with a tinted visor, anyway.
The first shock came with the lack of an electric boot. The awkward kickstart needed a couple of prods, much fiddling with the choke and perfectly positioning of the throttle to get the old hack (56000 miler...) to rattle into life. The motor made an awful din and the ungainly exhaust emitted a tiresome yowl that immediately gave me a headache. First stop, Boots, for some ear-plugs. That bad.
I had to get there, first! The clutch was vicious, the gearchange imperious and the throttle only vaguely connected to the engine, judging by the lack of power that hit the back wheel and the amount of time it took to react. I managed a hop, skip and jump down the road, then the motor stalled for no sane reason I could thing of. Apparently, I'd managed to oil up the spark plug. Brilliant if you want to relive vintage days cleaning the spark plug by the side of the road - but not much use if you want to get somewhere fast!
That done, I managed to lurch off to the nearest town, buy the much needed ear-plugs, then put the MZ on to the motorway and head for London. 200 miles, one fuel stop (about 65mpg), four hours of flat out 70mph riding, I was back in dear old London. Actually impressed that the bike had got there without breaking down and that it was mostly pain-free! I could name much more modern and powerful bikes that might do the trip in an hour less but would've left my body in a wretched state.
Despatch riding in Central London was less enthralling, mostly down to the nasty gearchange and clutch, plus the plug oiling up a couple of times a day. In the end I bought a couple of spare plugs and got the change down to less than a minute, not that great an inconvenience. Handling was OK, braking barely adequate and comfort close to excellent. Economy was better than most DR hacks but the engine's thirst for oil more than made up for that.
Still, it not only survived two weeks of hardcore despatching, it also did the run back up the motorway flat out again and doesn't seem the least bit the worse for the wear and I'd even got the starting down to a nonchalant one kick affair. My mate wasn't the least bit surprised that I'd failed to destroy it - he'd been trying for years but the little sod just kept running and running!
Put a proper tank on it, sort the gearchange and clutch (might just be the wear and abuse but I doubt it) and you'd have a half decent little commuter that could also take on the weekend chores.
Dick Lewis