MZ/MuZ Riders

Hi
I'm looking for a bit of advice, a few mates and I came up with a cool idea of flying to Italy and buying vintage Vespas and driving back home to Ireland. The general idea being a cool holiday seeing loads of Europe and have a project to work on restoring it. However when looking into buying a vehicle in Italy it looks to be to be impossible unless you live there. So we did a bit more research and came across the MZ TS250 and thought that might fit the bill. Looking at this community you guys know these bikes inside and out can you give me your opinion on the following:

1: Overall is this do-able over 7-10days? I was thinking 2.5-3 hours driving each morning about about the same again each afternoon.
2: Which bikes do you recommend? I like the TS250 but with the comments on here about the brakes perhaps we should be looking to buy ETZ250 or ETZ251 for this trip?
3: As you guys know the bikes what spares should we bring with us to keep us on the road?
4: anything else you guys think we should know?

Hi,

Should easily be doable over 7-10 days providing you don't break down for very long or have a crash that requires new items..

You will certainly enjoy the alps.

I have no idea on a TS250 as I have never experienced one full time. The ETZ models of the 250 and 251 are quite different bikes I would say. As an owner of both they both have different riding handling what with the 251 having a shorter wheel base and 16 inch rear wheel.

I always bring such spares as coil, spark plugs, fuses, plenty of wire, bulbs and brake/clutch levers. Don't forget the most important cables like the clutch and throttle cable. you can do without the choke cable if it does brake, spare contact breaker of course! I bring many tools in order to maintain the bike incase of situations such as flat tyres. Though upon the range of a few bikes, equally you carry less together than a single person does on his own. I've also brought spare voltage regulator and rectifier too. They're not too large.

The reality is- you just don't know what will fail on a trip.. some vehicles go tens and hundreds of thousands of miles before major componants fail or become and issue.. But sometimes you can be unlucky and something will fail pre-maturely.

The more important thing is:

Mz bikes are oldtimers.
You rarely find a bike on the market just to sit and drive.
If you buy an "unknown" bike it might go well, but it also can break down after 5 km

Especially if you buy from a private person you don´t know.

And MZs are not cheap here in Germany...

Right, and then take the ferry in Bilbao. A trip like that is possible & has been done before. A friend of mine used to go out to Bilbao, back via Newcastle, on a Triumph Trident if I remember correctly. Several times, always alone.

Of course Blurredman is the resident long-distance rider here, but from my side there are a few considerations:

- Have you ever been riding for 6 hours/day, for 7 to 10 days at a stretch? If not, I recommend to first get some practise.
- The more people/bikes join in, the greater the chance that a bike or rider brakes down, or gets involved in an accident.
- If you travel with more than one, it is sensible to use the same bikes - fewer spares to carry.
- The idea that you go to a foreign country & then just buy an vintage bike (or scooter), and straight away do a long distance trip with it, is a total non-starter IMO. Firstly: how good is your German, or Italian for that matter? Secundo: yes, MZ's were made in Germany, and Vespa's are made in Italy, but that doesn't mean you can instantly rake them in, and at a good price. And the other thing is: if you buy an old bike, 9 out of 10 times it will need some work. The restoration that you mention comes before you do the long haul trip, not afterwards, after you come home. But maybe you can buy 1 fully restored bike, at a top dollar price, that would be suitable. But still, old bikes are not necessarily the best choice for long distance trips.
- What are you going to do registration & insurance-wise? In several countries you can only register a vehicle to your name if you're a resident, and/or insure it when you're a resident. Maybe my view there is too negative, but have a look.

Alternatively: fly to India & buy a new RE to ride home? A challenge too, yet possibly more feasible.

At any rate: if it happens, enjoy your trip!

Thanks Blurredman loads of info to digest!


Guesi, thanks also. Yeah that’s a worry alright, we were planning on buying from a dealer in Calau seems to have a good stock rough plan was to contact him before hand do the deal for 3 bikes and pay extra to get them serviced and some bits changed (chain, spark plugs, brakes) I’m hoping this will “should” help avoid issues. If needs be one or two of us can fly over a few weeks before the trip and check the bikes, do the deal and agree what needs replaced before we start. Well that’s the plan could fall flat on its face but I’m sure it will make a good story either way! When you say the MZ’s aren’t cheap we were looking bikes like the link below, do you reckon these are too cheap(IE avoid)?

https://www.classic-trader.com/uk/motor ... reset%5D=0


Puffs, no I need a negative nelly to point out the flaws in the plan! Plan is 3 possibly 4 of us, and we all buy the same type of bike. Actually insurance and registration looks pretty straight forward in Germany. I’ve a few colleagues based in Germany who might be able to help out for translation.

I know this dealer as a buy and sell dealer. So no garage to repair and restore bikes.
I think there are some better places to buy from.