Skorpion sport

[friendfire]

Hello All, First post on here so hello to everyone! reason for post is i have been offered a 1994 skorpion sports, never owned one of these bikes and if you browse through the web and a lot of people who have never owned them take great pleasure in slating them! which is no help to me.
So can you give me your honest opinions about this bike, can the performance be improved, what are they like in general, and living in essex in England how easy is it to get parts for etc.?

Anyhow i really like the look of the sport so i dont need convincing there, and im quite happy to get something a little different from the norm. And if anybody lives near me that would be an even bigger bonus as i can pick your brains....meet up etc.

Happy New Year to you all and thanks in advance for your replies.

Thanks
Mick

PS i will add a picture of the bike in question once i figure out how!!

[Whysub]

Skorpion Sport? In Essex? Snap. Don't work in SE london do you?

Anyhow, I love mine (except the headlight which is, frankly, bloody dangerous). Handles well, is light, and I will keep my licences as cruising over the ton, whilst possible, is better done in spurts. 90 mph is cruising is fine though. Comfort is very good-500 miles a day is fine, but then I am a bit on the lardy side

Not done anything to mine (yet) but have a load of OVER racing parts I will be fitting when I get the time-headlight is the first mod to do. Will do 115 easy enough, and 50 mpg. Tyre wear is good, noise is very quiet, servicing is dead easy, and parts are easy to get-any Yam dealer for the motor, BSA Regal wensite for MZ bits, mosyt of which he can get quickly

Where are you in Essex? I am near Braintree, & work in EC4. Also have a Baghira which I love-far morte practical that the XR650 I ran, and almost as much fun. But taking the XR far was a no no-whereas I have regularly do 400 miles a day on the Baggi.

PM me, and we'll meet up somewhere, like High Beech on a Sunday.

The Sport is unusal, and eminantly practical too-see a (poor) picture of mine attached.

[friendfire]

Work at the Natural History Museum in west London! live in eastwood wich is quite near Southend, will be using the bike to commute to work which is about 48 miles each way, swapping my GPZ600r for this MZ so its completely different, but thats what i want.
Nice to see someone near me with the same bike, if i get it will have to meet up!! dont like the sound of the lights though, bit worrying! especially as i use the A13 every day, they dont seem to see you at the best of times!! come to think of it neither do they in London.

Take Care
Mick

[friendfire]

The guy did tell me this about the MZ

"i must tell you the exhaust is tonefully modified it sounds like a proper big single and i have never been stopped for noise even though it will piss off your neighbors if you want to.."


So i dont think this will be very quite!

[Whysub]

I know Eastwood-not too far from me I suppose. And it will do the commute to SW London easily (I do 120 miles a day commuting), and it is so narrow filtering is piss easy (in comparison to the GSX1100 I used to use).

I must comment on the exhaust noise though. The exhaust is whisper quiet, as it was on my Baghira. My garage is in a walled in court yard, so amplifies the noise any engine running makes. My missus cannot hear me when I park up the Skorpion (or the CBR come to that), but does hear the Baggi (now fitted with a Carbon Can Co end can), and the CB750 (Predator system fitted). The advantage to that is when she hears me, she puts the kettle on!!!

I have a set of Pete Gibson pipes for the Skorpion, but will not fit these until the summer, as they are so thin and lightweight, they will rot through riding in all the salt they are chucking down on the road at the moment. I will look for a second hand end can to “beef” the noise up a tad-the Baggi is so much nicer now it can breath properly, and the exhaust tone is a delight, especially through the Limehouse Link Tunnel. And anyway, aren't singles meant to be loud?

As for the Skorpion headlight problem, I am going to do an HID conversion (when I find the time), as Phlat described. I think the main problem with the standard light is down to the standard bulbs, which are a strange, unique fitting that can only be obtained from MZ (at a hell of a price), and are also of a very low wattage (55w/40w). I recently removed the bulbs and used a paintbrush to clean all the dust out from the inside of the projector lenses, which did improve things slightly, as there was quite a lot of dust and road soot that came out.

I cannot find the same bulbs anywhere (except the MZ dealer), let alone any with a better wattage. I will tonight attempt to temporarily resolve this(until I do the HID conversion) by cutting down the fitting plate on an ordinary H4 (65w/55w) bulb to match that of the MZ bulb, and try that. I will need to fit the block that fits the prongs on the back of the H4 bulb, as the MZ one’s are much smaller. I got two of these free from a local car scrap yard. I will let you know how it goes.

I believe the light from a Yamaha TRX 850 and FZR400 RRSP fit, and one from a late 600/900 faired Diversion looks similar, but as I have been unable to find any secondhand ones anywhere, cannot comment.

Incidentally, I bought a CB750 and a CBR600 to use through the winter as hacks to save the MZ's from the salt, but I have only used the CB once and the CBR twice-much prefer to use my MZ’s, even if it means I have to hose them down when I get home after work-but what’s 10 minutes compared to two hours enjoyable commute each day? I do 120 miles a day, and find both the MZ’s ideal (bar the light on the Skorpion in the winter). Only trouble with the Mz's is that when the weather is good, the trip home goes up to 80 miles, and takes at least 30 minutes longer!!

let me know if you decide to buy-if not, I may consider buying another!

Hope some of this helps.

Col

[Whysub]

Cannot seem to add a photo attachment of my bike-don't know why though!

[friendfire]

I also go through Limehouse link so will have to keep my eyes open for you on your MZ, i am 99% sure of buying this to be honest, have a choice of two bikes the MZ and also a 1989 Susuki GSX 600f, everyone i talk to all say buy the GSX (mainy because they have never seen the Skorpion) and believe it or not neither have i!!

Be interested to know how you get on with the lights as that would be one improvement i will certainly make! im useless as mechanics etc. so when it comes to trying out different exhaust and stuff i get totally lost, will pick your brains if you dont mind?

Anyhow safe riding and thanks for your help, certainly helped me make a decision.

Thanks
Mick

[friendfire]

By the way Mate, where is the MZ dealer that you use? any known online shops for MZ parts as well?

Cheers
Mick

[oldboyonrgv]

Hi there Ive got one, but I just got it from a block who was about to throw it on the tip !!, Its in re-build mode, if you need any photos/info give me a shout

[friendfire]

"Hi there Ive got one, but I just got it from a block who was about to throw it on the tip !!, Its in re-build mode, if you need any photos/info give me a shout"

Hello Mate, any advice would be great! picking the Bike up on Sunday, would like to know if you made any mods on the rebuild and how that went etc. and would really like to see some of the photos! you can email them to me mick.anderton@btinternet.com

Many Thanks
Mick

PS as we stated previously any mods to the lights would be really helpfull

[Whysub]

last night I adapted an H4 55/60w bulb to fit-a decent improvement-I can see something on high beam!! Rode in this morning at 6 am, and the five miles of unlit B road to the A120 did, for once, feel safe. Now I will use this instead of my Baggi for my daily commute-a protection the half fairing gives is a Godsend when it is cold and wet

Looking at my light last night it appears to be very dirty inside the main lens, but I cannot clean it-all I can clean is the inside of the two projectors. Maybe the light on your bike is cleaner, and therefore will give better light distribution than mine does

I will finish this quick adaptation and post up some pics so you can see what I mean-a change to higher wattage H4 bulbs goes some way to improve things-but I will still do the HID conversion that I have in the garage (when I find the time).

[Whysub]

Oh, and the Lomdon dealer is Jack Nice in Palmeston Road, Walthamstow E17, two minutes from the North Circular/M11.

I've got on well with them (Jamie in the workshop seems very knowledgeable), but I beleive that one or two on here may have had different experiences....................

[oldboyonrgv]

Well my scorp sport is still in re-build mode so the only phots I currently have are of it in a somewhat sorry state, I have now cleaned/de-greased it twice and it's starting to look like a motorbike and not a blob of oil/white Alloy oxidisation.

I may well start putting some stuff onot the web as I re-build it, would you be interested ? I have some webspace in MSN

see here GarysMuZScorpion@groups.msn.com

[oldboyonrgv]

Sorry thats the email address for the group here it is http://groups.msn.com/GarysMuZScorpion/homepage

[oldboyonrgv]

I have also uploaded some photos of my old Baggy here

http://groups.msn.com/Rowmx/shoebox.msnw