The Memories of Rolf Wassens – Part 5: Marly 2 and adventures with the MZ

In this fifth part of “The memories of” Rolf Wassens continues his motorcycle adventures. He tells about his new Jawa 350, the infamous Marly oil, and his experiences with the MZ, including winter rides and remarkable journeys through Europe.

On the advice of TTN I bought an MZ TS 250 from them, nice steering and comfortable. Actually a fine motorcycle, also with rubber tunnels and various nice solutions such as a slide over the ignition lock, so that no water could get in and therefore it could not freeze. Why don't you find that anywhere else? Afterwards it turned out that the dealer had set the air/petrol mixture ratio incorrectly; in any case, buddy Luut called my MZ 'concrete mixer'. He had had one himself, which ran better. With the MZ and buddy Jaap on the back I drove to St. Gallen and two very nice nurses. I had met them at a mill in Norg, and then it was already nice; they invited us to come to beautiful Switzerland. The first time we went by train, that was very nice. Maybe a little less that Lisa, while she was tearing through hairpin bends with us in a Mini, looked a bit too much at her handbag near the accelerator. Then we suddenly found ourselves upside down against a Tannenbaum and looking into a deep abyss. Apparently Swiss people carry rope as standard, because another driver managed to get us out of the car with the help of ropes.

This second time, with the MZ, it turned out that their love had cooled down a bit, which was disappointing. When there was also an aggressive Italian walking around, we decided to drive back to the Netherlands. We got rejected, and we also turned blue from the cold. It was freezing and snowing, but we just kept on driving with a rear wheel that sometimes skidded. With the help of tape, string and my big red handkerchief I had to keep the coil free of snow, a bit stupid of those men from Zschopau to hang it open like that. But we got home. That is also typical MZ, they had quirks, but you got home. Only I had gotten cold, it was already well below zero. After I had dropped off Jaap, I drove to Nijverdal. Cousin Wim heard 'thud'. 'Thud', that was me who, completely frozen, just managed to let myself fall against the wall. They had to lift me off the bike and put me in front of the fireplace.

I traded in this MZ quite quickly, mainly because of that rattling noise. I drove about 15.000 km with it, despite the noise of the engine block without any problems. I always drove through the winter, and so again on a Saturday morning from my hometown Norg to Dalen, where I was giving a course. It was slippery in the municipality of Zweeloo, but they had gritted it, so I didn't understand why those cars were driving so slowly. I happily drove past them all. Unfortunately, the neighboring municipality of Dalen had neglected to tell me that they had not gritted it. From one moment to the next I was driving on a road that was as slippery as glass, and there was an immediate bend to the right, so off I went. The motorcycle went into the ditch on the left, and I went into the ditch on the right. The car behind us also went into the ditch, but that was a few meters further. You can drag a simple motorcycle like an MZ out of the ditch, you bend a bit on a mirror and the steering wheel, wipe off some of the mud and you just drive on.

A bit further back in time I had an ETZ 250 as a second bike for years, that was a better bike. On the way in the dark in the Lauwersmeerpolder the float chamber came loose. I had some bag strings with me, and with a flashlight between my teeth I tied the float chamber under the carburetor. You could reach everywhere with such a thing. Kickstarter – pedal and walk. Try that with a modern bike.

I also had an ETZ with a Stoye sidecar, but I couldn't stay ahead of the trucks, then it becomes dangerous. In itself that thing drove fine.

Part 1, part 2, part 3 en part 4 you will find it via the links.