Well, not quite all!

This blog is about the sale of Mark Dickers's Bikes. That is all done now, but there is one extra MZ related foot note to this. Mark was a collector of MZ documents. Manual, advertising brochures and the occaisional piece of factory Memorabelia. He was chuffed when he found on Ebay a 10 inch high Factory Mascot which I only know as the MZ man. An example of the plastic figurine is below, stood on the seat of the Trophy that is now in the possession of Kevin.

This particular MZ man was on its way to Pately Bridge to the residence of Peter a long standing friend of Mark's and former MZRC Yorkshire Section Rep.The MZ man's trip coincided with a Memorial Mark Dicker Mystery run organised by Ian who housed Mark's Panther in his cellar for several years. Mark was renown locally by MZRC Yorkshire section, Huddersfield MAG section and by his local bike club 'Famous Last Words MCC', for organising some excellent Mystery runs. From follies, to engineering acheivements, to abandoned railways, to things that were never there, Mark's knowledge of Yorkshire was encyclopedic.

So it was that MZ man was taken to the Bingley 5 lock rise on a glorious Saturday morning. The lock gates are made from huge lumps wood. The cafe does excellent cakes, so is up to Mark's standards.

The next location was the Cow and Calf on Ikley moor a location known for its climbing and where Harley riders can recline, admire the scenery and wonder if after 50 miles they still have enough fuel left to get them to the next 'Mystery' location.

A short break at Ian's house near Fewston to drop off camping gear and the 12 bikes (Joined by Andy on his Kawaki KLE) headed off to Buffers. Buffers is a Cafe near Bolton Abbey. It is just of the A59 but the road you have to go down to get to it is really small. I soon had to put my visor down as the Gagiva Raptor of Ross ahead of me sprayed me with gravel. Buffers is the unlikely location of a cafe devoted to model trains (and hence a favourite of Mark's). It is an eccentric place with the upstairs packed with model railways that the visitor can operate. A great location out in the sun.

Then an unplanned stop for half an hour to wait for the thirteenth bike ridden by 'little' Ben to catch up. He set off two hours late and then spent the rest of teh afternnon trying to cath up with us.

The next section was from Kettlewell to Middleham via Coverdale. This was the best section of the ride. Some really challenging gated roads across the moors with seriously steep climbs and tarmac that was just draped across the countryside with no attempt to make it level. The MZ Trophy I was riding has a lazy gear box so gear changes had to be well planned in order to get the revs right to pull up. That said the big heavy Jap lumps had no advantage on this terrain.

So it was we arrived in in Middleham, the home of Richard the Third. Below are the two MZ's that were on the run.

From Middleham to Lofthouse, to Summerbridge, to Pateley Bridge and finally to Toft gate we made our way. The Lime Kilns at Toft Gate were one of Mark's favourite spots and was often a Mystery run stop off. Ian has organised a collection to put a memorial seat for Mark at this location. The money is in and Quarry and Harrogate council have settled on where it is going to be, they have not got round to it yet. So in the tradition of Mark's Mystery runs we visited the thing that wasn't there. In this case myself and Neil showing off the bench that was not there (yet!!!).

 

Ben finally caught us up as the run came to an end. A few of us headed back to Ian's house where we sampled the Theakstons at the Sun Inn. In the morning I loaded up my Trophy and we headed off to deliver MZ Man to Peter. Mission Accomplished. All I had to do now was head home across the moors in 50mph gusts on a bike that had the aerodynamics of a brick and mudguards that were effective wind scoops. The joys of motorcycling. Thanks to Mark for inspriring this run and to Ian for organising it.

Well That's All Folks !!!!

It has been probably the busiest week this week. All five remaining bikes have now either gone, paid for or as in the case of the ES150 a price has been agreed and it is being collected this Tuesday. All that remains is the 'rubble' as Pete calls it. Although some of that went as well this week including the tool chest on wheels and the small bike lift. Below is pictures of two of the bikes going. I have also included other older pictures that I have of bikes Mark owned. Unless anyone else wants to donate more pictures of Mark's former bikes I am not going to post any further updates. The Blog has served its purpose splendidly.Thanks to all those that have supported this. To those that bought the bikes I hope you enjoy them.

The RT125 and the MZ Trail bike off to there new owners.

Kurt and Mark bringing Mark's ES150/1 outfit to the UK.

The TS Supa 5 off road outfit outside his old house in Cleckheaton.

Mark's Twin Port Jawa 250 single. Taken at the same time. Looks like a blue Supa 5 behind.

The Jawas and the Trophy Sport have now gone

Quite a crowd down in the cellar on Wednesday. Andy from Mollsprings to take Trophy Sport to Fred. John and John arrived to take away the two Jawas. He had a homemade trailer that was quite a piece of engineering. it easily accommodated the two bikes. As well as the usual there spring out the bits, Ed, Pete and Jonny turned up. Expecting a few people next Wednesday, hopefully taking away more bikes.

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The Panther has gone.

Normal service is resumed following a holiday in Ayr. Tonight the Panther is on its way to its new home near Nottingham. Not quite as far as Hungary. It will be in the company of several other Brit bikes.Need to work on getting rid of the remaining bikes. There are 8 left. The 150 Trophy and the MZ 150 Trail are lovely bikes, come on someone :-)

Its Hungarian and its gone !!!

I got a phone call today at 5pm from a Hungarian Lady called Andrea, she was in Cambridge. She and her husband had set off from Hungary on Sunday evening to travel 2000km's to Milnsbridge to pick up Mark's Pannonia. I wasn't really expecting it until Wednesday but it was the way it turned out. Nigel and Neil had no problem with change of plan. As the pair travelling back to Hungary are catching the ferry Friday I hope they get a chance to rest and take in some of Britain (probably the South Coast). So it was that they arrived at 8:30 ish and we loaded the Pannonia onto the bike trailer and we saw them on their way. Safe trip to them and the bike.

The thing is, it was not even their bike. A collector of Pannonias from Hungary called Roland will be the proud owner of the motorcycle. By all accounts he has eight already and very nicely restored. One of which is of only 30 that were ever made. I hope he would be able to explain to the appreciative audience of this blog. All this is the sort of eccentric lunacy that Mark would approve of. Below are a few pictures to record the event.

More close up pictures of the ES 150 Trophy Hybrid

A mentioned in the last posting about this bike it has a TS150 back end and seat. The original rear casting and seat are with the bike. The original seat has real springs and would seem to be of a better quaslity than the 70's TS seats.

A bit of Spannering to make the TS 4 Speed presentable

Unlike the 250 Trophy and Trophy Sport the TS 4 Speed was already reasonably together. After a two hour bolting together session it has started to look like a fairly complete bike. Here are the pcitures showing the fruits of our labours.

This is how it was when we lifted it out from underneath the cellar steps.

This is the right side following assembly. We picked out the best bit out of a selection of hubs, brake covers etc.

It looks fairly complete from the left side. Needs cables, torque arm, brake lever etc. These look to be in the baskets of bits.

It does have a silencer. It is brand new so we carefully took it out of the box for this shot and then put it back again. The new down pipe is on the seat.

The shot from the rear shows the new seat cover and the new tool box cover with keys to the lock. Not the new rear foot pegs also.

 Finally or the bits that go with the bike in one place.

More close ups of the 1960's RT125

A couple of pictures of this one and a description was posted back in January. Here are a few more pictures of its classic Teutonic features.

 Note the shape of the air box. Inside is a metal gauze very similar to that on the IWL scooters.

 As proof that it is just a collection of bits a bungie holds up the exhaust. The rear sprocket and chain case is metal.

 View of the engine from the the other side.

 A bakerlite box for the electrics that was made on Craggy Island. Didn't check the under side of the seat to see if it was made by RS ! I bet replacing the electrical box is tricky and pricy.

Some Russian bits

 There are still a large number of parts in the cellar though most have now been sorted at least into Make and sometimes model, although there is one basket full of indicators.

Below Mr Shaw models a pair of earings made from Dneiper wheels

There is the front brakle of a Dneiper and a light lens.

The BMW outfit goes to Colchester

Two more bikes went yesterday, both to Essex. The BMW by trailer and the MZ ES 250/2 Trophy went in the boot a car.

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More close up views of the Hungarian Panonnia 250

This bike has some quite unusual features both deliberately in sytle and accidentally, so I thought I would post a few more close up shots.

First a reminder of what it looks like.

 This is a shot of its good side. The other side has a hand painted design that is totally different?

 A close up of the mighty powerful 35W generator

 One of the striking featiures is the metal, painted, enclosed chain guard. I prefer mine in rubber.

 The hand painted lettering indicating miles is a nice touch.

 Controls welded to the handle bars? even the Japanese didn't think of this money spinner ifyou ever dropped the bike.

 The original British side of the mudguard number plate showing its authenticity as being registered as a small batch of Pannonias that made it to the UK in the 1960's

 Apparently the rear light was modelled on a Russian MIG jet fighter!  Mark was less flattering about it. The black spilt paint over the back end of the bike adds that nice touch to patina of age.

 The view from the front.