Chat 25
MZ'ing the final chapter
Did I mention I blame my fixation with
'Eastern European' motorcycles on my first purchase - true i'd been
the proud owner of Norman Nippy and Sachs 50'cc mopeds but they
never actually went on the public highway. I lived in Malvern Street
Stapenhill at the time and our neighbour (the guy who'd previously
donated the Sach's and Norman Mopeds) asked my parents if they were
OK if he showed me a 'Proper Road bike!" I use the term looseley as
it turned out to be a Jawa 50cc Scooterette - with 3 gears and a
manual clutch but a scooter all the same. It was located at Kirtons
Garage at the Derby Turn Burton and if my memory serves me correctly
cost £7 and 10 shillings.
This was bought and after learning to ride on a patch of private
land in Spring Terrace as my 16th birthday was almost upon me it
packed up - refused to start - withdrew its support and left me with
a duff Jawa 50 - luckily my friend David Gibbs - founder of Coytes
stepped in with his red van and transported Jawa and myself to
Rosliston Road garage where the condenser was found to be the
villain of the piece and a new one was fitted and all was well. Pay
Vadis £2 and 5 shillings for insurance - 10 shillings for a
provisional licence, road tax a Gold Stadium Jet Helmet and goggles
from the Grattan catalogue and I was away!! Dave Bickers was the
Jawa importer at the time and I spent many a happy hour ordering
spares from the 'pidgin english' parts list.
This was swapped for a Honda S90 at Pyecrofts on which I passed my
test then came a Triumph T100 from Dennis Bowley at Tutbury.
Numerous Bantams, a Tiger Cub, a Raleigh Runabout and the A10
previously mentioned have graced my shed but as you know my heart
really lies in the land of the rising sun!! So after the total
engine strip and rebuild of the Honda CB650Z which I swapped for a
sparkling brand new Yamaha XJ600 (not a Diversion) which in turn was
swapped for a Suzuki Bandit then a Pan European and a GSX 1400.
I've always liked little bikes and owned a plethera of single and
multi cylinder smaller bikes from all the major Japanese
manufacturers and at one time bought three CB400/4's of which I had
two on the road and one for spares and a fair handful of Super Dream
250's and 400's which I wont mention - ok I just did!! - and of
course I now own that elusive Kawasaki 250 two stroke triple.
But along side these i've constantly owned an Eastern European
offering on which I pop - pop -pop once a month to the club meeting
to talk about two stroke oil and why i shouldn't use fully synthetic
oil or Iridium plugs in and old bike - but I always do - and look at
each others bikes and how we laugh when its time to depart and
someone's bike wont start - of course we're laughing in sympathy
knowing only too well next time it will be our turn!!
My present ride of choice is the SWM 440 Gran Turismo I bought just
over a year ago which has totally amazed me and is much more than
the sum of its parts, however up to very recently I had quite a
choice of steed including the MZ ETZ 251 which started my MZ ing-story.
- Well unfortunately the MZ is no more thanks to a blue Ford Fiesta
and I really think with the sale of my Jawa that my Eastern European
adventures have finally come to an end - not perhaps as i'd have
wished but there we are. It was good fun whilst it lasted and i've
met some great people (who I'll continue to see) but in future I'm
afraid I wont be in attendance on an MZ/Jawa stroker but I'll always
hold a special place for them in my heart it was great fun whilst it
lasted- - -MZ ETZ 251: 1989-2020 - - - RIP.
A
pair of model radial engines of the same parentage from different
parts of the world.
These model radial engines have something of a mixed heritage
starting in this country. They were designed and made by Glen
Hargraves initially in Heywood, Lancashire. They are both 15cc five
cylinder four stroke engines with glow plug ignition, that makes
them 3cc per cylinder. The engine is nicely made and attractive
although some parts were moulded in nylon to presumably save cost.
This was the crank case backplate and the rocker boxes. They need to
run on a mixture of methanol and oil for lubrication and sometimes
nitro methane is added to improve the limited power output. There is
down side to use of Nitro, because it forms nitrous oxide which
attacks anything ferrous if not flushed out after running and not
many owners do that?? The first example has plain alloy finish and
was called the Powermax and this is number six of those made. It was
produced for and distributed by Harden Associates in Bolton. The
association did not last very long before Hargraves moved to
Southern Ireland and continued production there and this move
occurred in 1976. Only ten Powermax engines were made in total so
they are very rare today.
.JPG)
The next that was heard of Hargraves is that he turned up in USA
having emigrated again. Production was restarted in USA as the
Technopower still of 15cc capacity now anodised black and the one
shown here is the first production engine made in USA, number 000.
The nylon back plate was replaced with an alloy one and this was the
only difference. It was planned to make seven cylinder and nine
cylinder engines. Only small numbers were made and I have seen
examples of the seven cylinder, but not the nine cylinder version
except in magazine pictures. The sensible revolution range was 1000
to 4500 rpm with the radio controlled throttle fitted.
.JPG)
Their reputation was not good because of a problem which turned out
to be the use of Nylon for the rocker boxes. A story very similar to
early ABC motorcycles?? The engine ran nicely until it got hot and
then it would stop because the nylon softened and distorted, causing
the push rods to drop out stopping the engine. The instructions make
a great play on not running the engine above 5000 revs per minute
otherwise damage may occur, but they hardly ever wore out because of
the rocker box issue. I did plan to make some alloy rocker boxes and
anodise them black, but then thought what price originality? They
are basically a collector’s item today because of their frailty. A
lot more Technopower engines were made than the Powermax, but they
are still quite rare. Hargraves eventually sold out to an American
who corrected the rocker box problem and other weaknesses making it
a more viable proposition, but they suffered from their early
reputation and went out of production a few years later.
John Goodall.
DSCF0001 (24).JPG
DSCF0002 (23).JPG
DSCF0003 (21).JPG
>