MZ TS125

Over a year ago I bought a B reg TS125, with panniers, rack and 9000 miles on the clock for £225, I had to ride it 100 miles home, which taught me the folly of riding in training shoes - it snowed. I had to stop in Reading to buy some green wellies.

I found the bike to be quite good for running around town and the occasional long run, but fuel consumption was bad (50mpg) perhaps due to my full throttle technique, necessary to get any go from the bike. A pint oil made 300 miles and top speed was around 60mph.

Soon, little rattles started coming from the bike. The points are a simple, cigarette paper job, the plug was fine but I replaced it and the problem went away. 1000 miles later the rear tyre blew, the only known way to get rid of the awful Pneumats as they seem to last longer than the bike. Roadrunners were bunged on, and worth every penny.

After covering about 8000 miles on it, including regular weekends to Brum (260 miles), I spotted another for sale at £70, W reg but only 3000 miles with four years stored outdoors with no use. A despatch rider parted with £160 for the original bike.

Perhaps I'd moved a little too in this dealing, for after replacing tank, cables, brake shoes, points, oil (the old was like mayonnaise), sidepanels and exhaust (£25 for the lot from a breaker), the bike still didn’t run properly.

It would not charge the battery which. when charged then died quickly - I found that the battery came from a C50, but fitting a new 6V MZ one didn’t help. There was also a persistent misfire, not helped by the chewed up points screws which made adjustment difficult without replacing the whole assembly.

I didn’t trust it on long journeys so made a great effort to pass Part 2. I then sold the bike for £150, which I put towards a BMW R600/6 for £600, having not been put off by this magazine's comments on that bike, but that’s another story.

Mark Davey