The CZ 125 has a good engine ruined by crap electrics and a good chassis hidden under ugly cycle parts. The latter is just the result of dumb communists not knowing any better. The former is cutting corners to make sense of subsidised prices and probably plain old ignorance as to Western standards.
CZ 125s are amongst the cheapest bikes on the road. Because of the electrical problems it’s even possible to pick up a three or four year old with less than 10000 miles on the clock for a couple of hundred quid. This makes the electrical nastiness a positive point in the bike’s favour if you know what you're doing.
The whole wiring circuit needs to be torn out and all the electrical components replaced with Japanese stuff. I did try a 12V conversion but that just burnt out the generator (the one thing that can't be replaced), so you're stuck with 6V. Direct earth connections to everything helps keep the lights working, although they have a disconcerting habit of flickering at tickover when waiting at junctions. I usually throw the indicators away as they suffer periodic epileptic fits.
Of course, you may enjoy living dangerously. In which case savour live wires coming loose, shorting out the whole electrical system. The combination of a fire and a dead engine will prove endlessly amusing to bored car drivers. I know, it happened to me once and some concerned citizen rushed over to dump the contents of an aerosol fire extinguisher over my genuine army surplus gear, which was worth more than the CZ.
New bikes aren't so bad, although running the rear light's wires under the back guard with no protection from the wheel proves many a moment of amusement for bemused commuters. The latest bikes have been restyled but they went for a flash look rather than a functional one. At £1150 new it’s not a cheap option these days.
Not that there’s any need to buy a new CZ. The name of the game being sensible mods to bring the best out of the beast. Once the electrics are sorted, the timing can be set (quite awkward until you get the hang of it), decent stroker oil added (the cheap stuff oils the plugs and needs 2000 mile de-cokes) and replace the gearbox selectors as they are a weak spot in the motor that'll break when you least expect it.
That leaves the chassis. The forks, fitted with gaiters, are long lasting, reasonably sprung and damped. They are a bit spindly but with a bike that will only do 70mph under extreme abuse they never become too nervous. The rear shocks are OK when new but a couple of years will have them bottoming out. Desperate poverty’s a viable excuse for ignoring the back end’s weaves as it never really goes out of hand. Spend an hour in the breakers finding something that'll fit. For strange reasons I like to run on an inch longer than stock as it makes for quicker steering without threatening to throw the CZ into wobbles.
I'd say that with a little effort the CZ 125 can be made to handle better than most Japanese commuters. The frame and geometry are certainly up to the job. I prefer wide ape-hanger style bars for the extra leverage, the bike always feeling more than its 250lbs.
The drum brakes are something else. The hubs are full width but they are not large. Rapid stopping can be achieved a few times a day with a full right-hand grip you have to pull until it feels like your hand’s about to fall off. A desperate stamp on the rear brake lever helps. That’s in the dry, in the wet lag comes in that’s worthy of a seventies disc. Drums are supposed to be very gentle in the wet but that theory’s ruined by the poor fit of the brake plate to the drum, allowing the ingress of water. Shoes last a long time and it’s possible to learn to look ahead. Possible but not really advisable if part of the daily trudge involves going through Central London.
An MZ front end with Brembo disc can be fitted if you have a spare week and access to a milling machine... the transformation was well worth the effort but required instant dumping of the East European tyres in favour of a set of cheap Conti's. The communist rubber was sliding away every time I touched the brake lever.
Having fixed the chassis that just left me with the cosmetics of the five year old machine to sort. Finish wasn't bad by commuter standards but the shape of the tank, seat and panels caused peds to throw up, kids to chuck bricks and my mates to piss themselves with laughter. Some idiot had hand painted everything in slime green, which helped not one bit, although the factory itself was not above coming out with some awful colour schemes, probably buying up surplus stock left over from the days when British Leyland produced junk like the Morris Marina.
CZ have actually produced some neat tear-drop tanks in the past which went well with a BMW R80 seat. The guards were cut down, some strange bits of tin around the panels were thrown away and the whole lot sprayed gloss black on the theory that anything that didn’t look right would fade into the background. It must've been good, the laughter stopped and I could ring-a-ding-ding through town without causing a sensation.
CZ exhausts are not as long as those fitted to MZs, they stop just short of the rear mudguard rather than acting as a warning to blind car drivers. My theory is that the long exhausts are due to the poor quality of stroker oil in Eastern Europe, meaning the massive doses of pollution have to come out as far away from the rider as possible. The CZ has a primitive if reliable petroil system, which means every time you fill up with petrol oil has to be added. A bottle of lubricant must be carried at all times. Emission laws must eventually outlaw such quaintness, especially if they check emissions at MOT time.
All this might seem a lot of effort but it was done gradually over a few months, the total cost, including that of the CZ, was less than £300. As 18000 miles, and three years, of trouble free riding followed this renovation it was pretty good value by any standards.
The biggest cost by far was fuel, which hovered around 40 to 45mpg. Admittedly I rode hard on the throttle for most of the time, but even my dad, who rides in a way that defines an old codger, couldn't better 50mpg when he borrowed the bike. I played around with the silencer, air box and carb - rather than improving economy I ended up with either a coked up spark plug (replace every 500 miles, by the way) or an exhaust downpipe that glowed red hot in the dark. It's just a crap combustion chamber design!
The back tyre was another expense, lasting a pathetic 5000 to 7000 miles. Outrageous given the 10hp output. The chain and front tyre were much longer lived. I scrounged parts from breakers most of the time. I did a decoke every six months and fitted a new set of points every year, which ensured a first or second kick even in the depths of winter.
I had no qualms about riding through winter. I came off a couple of times on ice and snow, but it was low speed work that damaged neither the CZ, which was basically solidly built, nor myself who was protected by leathers, waterproofs, boots and gloves. My resemblance to the Michelin man was more than passing but in the cold and rain I didn’t give a damn.
The CZ ended its life when the main bearings, gearbox and piston went west. The seized up engine didn’t respond to my desperate grab for the clutch and I was slung off. The CZ hit an ancient brick wall that didn’t collapse. There wasn't £25's worth of bike left! I walked away with a slight limp and a happy grin.
Jay Farr