I’ve got a couple of longish trips
lined up for next month, so I decided that it was time to give my MZ Skorpion Tour
a bit of a service. Nothing too major, just the small routine stuff that need
doing periodically. I also decided to take a look at my other Skorpion, a Sport,
which hasn’t turned a wheel in a few years. Five, as it turned out, when I
checked its last tax disc.
I mentioned my plans to Norrie and
Terry and they both decided to come over and give me a hand. In fact, they both
ended up elbowing me out of the way and doing much of the work between them (that’s
why it’s me taking the photos). Thanks, guys. I guess that it’s not often you
get the chance to dismantle someone else’s bike without repercussions.
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| "Damn! I've dropped a screwdriver in there somewhere" |
Anyway, Saturday morning saw me haul both
Skorpions out of the shed into the daylight. Easier said than done, I’m afraid
to have to admit. I really do need to have a serious clear out over the summer
months! The Tour held no great surprises as it has been getting some use
recently, but the Sport was in a bit of a sorry state. The climate hasn’t been
overly kind to its alloy, which had gone ‘furry’, and many of the fasteners were
rusty, but nothing major, I hope. When the others arrived we set to it.
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| "Do you think that Mr. Combo will notice if I nick his stand?" |
Actually, with all three of us familiar
with servicing Skorpions it took less time than you would think to change the
oil, the filters and plugs, and check the valve clearances on both bikes. One
good thing about so many folk working on two different machines was that we
didn’t really have to hang about too much. While the oil was draining from one we
could move onto the other one and do something with that. Before you knew it we
were finished.
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| Draining the old oil |
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| Nice shiny new magnetic drain plug |
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| Changing the oil filter |
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| Checking the valve clearances |
Now was time to see if the Sport would
actually start. Without a battery of its own the simplest option was to borrow
some jump leads and hook it up to my car.
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| "Come, Igor. We have work to do" |
With some fresh petrol it started
after a little hesitation and eventually settled down to a nice quiet, healthy
tick-over. I was, to be honest, frankly amazed that it was that simple after
all this time. It looks like MZ knew what they were doing when they sourced the
engines from Mr. Yamaha.
Now that I know it runs I’ll need to
get it its own battery and tidy it up a bit before deciding if I want to keep
it or to move it on.
Job done we adjourned to the house for
tea and sandwiches and to plot our next move with regard to our trip to France
in July – watch this space.
