mz black panther ive been converted

[big neil 2 para]

ive been a sports bike rider for years now after seeing many friends dead or being scraped up from the road i took the decision to change my motorcycling habbits and try something different for the weekend sir when i saw my first mz 660 i took a double take i had remmenitions of very ugly cold looking square and noisy 2 stroke bikes with exhausts as long as a tanks gun turret pointing out the arse of the bike making strange tinkling noises with a note that sounded like a rd 350 yamaha being strangled so to my suprise i actualy took a genuine hard look around this bike it was a black panther 660 the person riding it was a converted sports bike rider saying that he loved the bike and wouldnt ever go back to a sports bike again then off he went on his bike with a very big smile as he went wheelying down the road on it with this lovely single bark note resonating from the aftermarket devil can he had fitted to it a couple of my mates came over and said what the hell are you doing talking to the super moto poof brigade for them bikes are for queers not for real bikers from that moment the seed had been planted i kept looking at other super motos like the xt honda the ktms the suzuki drs but nothing quite struck me like the muz did it just looked so different from all the jap stuff it was aggressive looking had all the nice goodies on it ie white power shock marzocchi upside down forks behr wheels which could accomadate mostly any brand of tyre that took your fancy and most importantly a total individual look fron all the normal bikes out there which i really liked being as every body had all the same bikes as each other but with differant paint schemes it was a painfull decision for me to accept that my sports bike days were coming to an abrupt end but perhaps fate played a major part in it i was riding my blade with the usual suspects on a very sunny sunday afternoon tearing the arse out of the streets with no regard for anyone wanting a quite day in the garden or a lesuirely afternoon drive to the local garden centre i and all my mates were on our usual sunday suicide mision seeing who could get there knee down the furthest or whose pipe made the loudest sound at 12.000 rpms we were tearing through the country side at over a ton laughing at old ladies jumping out there skins or mums grabbing there children from near the pathway seeing 10 to fifteen bikes bearing down on there kids at way past the legal limit through there sleepy towns and villages it was all very funny from this side of the visor then it happened we had all stopped for a fuel fill and a quick ciggie i was the last one out the petrol station and was on catch up knowing my mates well they never waited for no one the friends motto was all for one and everyone for thenselves if you were in last place tough tittie catch up or be left in the wake of dust and exhaust fumes so the hand went on the throttle right back to the stop in every gear i could just make out ant like specs in the distance about half a mile in front of me i was probaly pushing 150mph i was on a long clear road with light traffic coming up behind a red toyota carina with a family of asians in it i was coming up very quick and just about to pass the car there was a lorry coming the other way trundling down the road i thought ill easily make it then for no reason whatsoever as i was just about to make the overtake the car slammed on his brakes and swerved out to the right i grabbed a handfull of front brake with all my might clipped the rear bumper of the carina and went on a flying leson about 20 feet in the air landing heavily on my left hand my bike carried on up the road fully upright for about 500 yards i went skating on my stomach in to a ditch thinking to myself oh dear me or words like that but not printable once the dust had settled a bit and i realised i was still alive purely by the fact that my right arm and hand were in a lot of pain plus i was spitting out the contents of my crash helmet from my mouth there was grass weeds and a topping of mud all in the mix i started to touch myself all over yep i still had two legs thank god my arms were still attached to my torso phew my leather trousers looked like id been savaged by a pack of lions my leather jacket looked even worse i crawled out the ditch and sheepishly had a peek left and right expecting to see the people from the toyota hailing a thousand appoagies on me or all my mates with helping hands trying to give me some comfort and support nope it was just me and my self sitting a bit dazed and confused by the side of the road i half expected people to throw money out the window at me saying look at that poor begger fellow poncing on the side of the road with his clothes and body looking all disheveled after ten minutes or so of people slowing down and having a good stare tutting and shaking there heads as they drove past i realised it was up to me to take care of myself i pulled what was left of my mobile phone from my pocket the whole front had worn to nothing there wasnt any nunbers left on it to see who i was ringing i just had to guess where i thought each number should have been when it was all intact success i get to speak to the wife where are you she says hmmmm im in a ditch somewhere betwwen chelmsford and harlow i say all i heard was this ear splitting scream from the other end of the phone i said can you come and get me dear as i probably need to be rebuilt by the hospital i wont be hard to find just keep your eyes open for a tramp looking biker with about a tenners worth of 1 and 2 pences laying around him on the side of the road this didnt go down to well with the misses wheres your so called f*****G friends she says urr i dont know i say thats it she says no more poxy f*****g bikes then hangs up on me the phone then rings back about a minute later trouble was there wasnt any buttons on the phone so i couldnt answer it i must have had some effect on people passing as now i have about 6 people trying to help me by trying to rip my crash helmet off saying get if off his head he will breath easier and other people pulling of my ripped clothes trying to accertain what injuries i had sustained oohh says someone look at the hole in his elbow and look at the size of the cut on his knee his hand looks kind of twisted pipes up another i try to be polite and thank all the budding doctors and nurses for there help but leave me alone please i feel like an art object on exhibition well theres gratitude for you says this lady who then walks off to her car then drives off then i hear a shout give him space give him space im a menber of the british red cross this guy about late fortys very spotty looking with beer bottle glasses who probably still lives at home with mum and dad says im a qualified first aider to everyone then starts poking me all over can you feel this can you feel that then hes got my very painfull hand lifting it up and starts taking my pulse i think when i shouted for him to f**k off very loudly he probably realised that hand was injured he then says its ok everyone hes just in shock what a total nightmare im having then what seems like a week later i see her face amongst everyones its the wife sitting beside me holding me in her arms i felt a lot better i must admit the pain sort of eased a bit has anyone called an ambulance the wife asks people then look at each other going no i havent have you no nor me have you to which my wife says help me pick him up and get him into my car she takes me to the hospital herself and the doctors patch me all up better i leave hospital with a broken wrist with four very broken bones in it floating about a sewn up elbow that took sixteen stitches to close and 18 stitches in my knee plus a whole lot of bumps and bruises and a very dented pride funny thing was the bike only had one very light scuffed panel on the right hand side a scuffed bar end and one very buckled front wheel and that was it


now we get to the reason why ive bored you all to death with my story im at home recouperating from my accident the wife has told me for the thousandth time no more bikes for you i then was having a look on the internet on auto trader and typed in mz and was having a look at what was on offer i then saw it a 2007 57 plate brand new black panther 660 with no miles on it in a independent dealers reduced from £4650 list price to £3650 with the option of an offer on it my bike was all back together looking brand new again only costing me £250 to put completely back to mint i says to the misses what about one of these then its not a sports bike and its really slow love hmmmm she says maybe but darling i say its not a sports bike it goes slow and i wont be able to go out with the boys anymore as i wouldnt be able to keep up with them shes debating it for a few minutes then says ok then yes im thinking great i ring the dealer up and offer my blade with only 5000 miles on it on a 2001 y reg he says hell let me know tommorow what deal he could do next day he rings up and says £200 and your bike we dont sell mzs any more and this is the last new one we have i say bring it down for me now today and ill do the deal the £200 is in my wallet hes at my house within 3 hours scrutinising my blade very nice he says very very nice to be honest i really do look after my bikes meticulously cleaning them and always doing anything that needs doing without fail we shake hands sign over each others bikes and now im the proud ownwr of a brand new mz 660 black panther first things first im thinking my hands still weak and messed up but sod it im going to ride it even if it kills me my god this is gutless the standard exhaust is strangling the bike to death with the huge cat on it plus the thing weighs the same as the humber bridge and looks a lot like it as well im now thinking ive made a really big mistake in my new purchase bearing in mind what ive been riding for the last two years after 20 mins my hands killing me but im enjoying the feel of the bike so sod it lets keep going im starting to be impressed a bit especially with the balance of the whole setup of the bike i then go home and leave the bike for about 4 weeks while its standing idly ive put a bsm race pipe and middle on it ive had a one off custom made stainless header pipe made with a slightly larger bore stage 3 dynojet kit k&n air filter taken off the rear end with that ugly tail light that looks like something miners used as davy lamps in the pits back in the 1800s replacing it with a clear led light much nicer on the eye ive changed the indicaters as well for small arrow ones the originals were ok if you wanted to guide jumbo jets onto a runway from 3000 feet ive also put braced renthals on and taken the originals off there was nothing wrong with them except they were too long for me so when turning i never felt in full control properly plus they made my arms ache on a ride round the lanes the white power shock is the dogs danglys with full adjustment everywhere i like that a lot the forks are good quality but are still a bit spongy for me but im putting progressive springs and heavier fork oil on the bike to sort this out i like the ease of use with the engine the yam block beats like a drum never missing a beat its quite a reasonable power delivery especially now ive done all the mods lastly i put a set of michelin pilot power track tyres on it it sticks like glue but the fun lasts for about a thousand miles at £250 a set its expensive fun but worth every penny when you are riding it on these amazing tyres which brings me to the moral to the whole story i was out on my toy a few weeks ago i hadnt seen any of my old mates since the accident taking the view they never gave a crap about me so why extend the friendship back to people that are motivated by adrenaline alone and who just are out for themselves not giving a hoot about friends and the value of friendship to one another pure selfishness to put it into one wordany way i was on the very snakey back roads between dunmow in essex and finchingfield they are about 6 miles long very twisty a few straight bits and a few very tight hairpins im riding mr sensibily on my own with my brand new black jacket with full armour my brand new black arai lid black visor and my black panther bike under my bum (very stealth looking ) im then passed by a stream of bikes sort of blowing me into the gutter sort of feeling as they passed me a wave of the demons passed over me and i was off on there tails by the second corner id passed about 4 bikes by the tenth corner there was only 3 in front of me i dont condone or endorse this type of behaviour but hey we are all free thinking people who can make choices and id made mine i was on a mission i was struggling a bit my hand still was a bit weak but i was determined that even if i was beaten by all the bikes to the village in finchingfield i would have a least put up a bloody good effort the hairpin is coming up im in 3rd place they are all heavy on the brakes i brake late and go around all of them sticking my foot out just in case i power on quickly im a hundred yards in front of my nearest rival next hair pin one of the riders goes on a suicide mission as im turning into the hairpin hes coming round me wrong side of the road thank god no ones coming the other way he has to brake quick to scrub his speed i just point the bike and give it full throttle and im away again in the front theres 2 miles left of the ride to the village theres a few long straights then a couple of very long 3rd gear right hand sweepers the four bikes closest to me all pass me on the straight bit the first corner we hit ive passed 2 of them the next corner there just 1 in front of me do i do a bad thing and ride into the village at over 90mph or back off i decide to back off and all four go flying past me at over a ton into the village i pull up at the cafe they are all taking there lids off and looking very happy with themselves as i pull up to stop one says nice riding mate you done really well there unlucky i stop take my helmet off and yes its my old muckers or at least 3 ot them in the 20 bike group you should have seen the smile dissapear from 2 of there faces when they realised it was me riding a queers bike as they had called it months before

[Sue]

Wow, what an intro! Welcome on board

Took me a while to read, and typed my reply... think I took a while reading as found I had been logged out and cant remember what I put.. heres my second attempt LOL.

You've just described why I like riding my Baggi so much. I'm another convert from sports bikes. Decided its time to scrub off the high speeds before I lose my licence or kill someone. Had never heard of the Baggi until a friend suggested I consider one (a friend usually worth listening to). Saw a pic of one on ebay and was already hooked. My CBR is very much neglected now while the MZ takes preference, its awesome. Had the usual ribbing from my fellow riders, but they had a totally different attitude after my first ride with them... left them behind off roundabouts and they just couldnt handle the twisties the same way the Baggi does, and thats just pootling! LOL. I've not been riding that long, but its a bike that just does what it should... open it up on the twisties, throw it round the corners... it really hates going slow round corners! Huge grins everytime I go out... and no more aches and pains from the more extreme riding position of sports bikes. Heaven... and mine is still standard, as funds dont allow changing too much yet, but I will. This bike will always be with me, however much it costs to keep on the road.

Sue

[scout18]

Great intro. Welcome form Oregon USA. I have a 98 Mastiff and is it a hoot. Do your physical therapy.

Sue you might as well sell that CBR and put the proceeds into your Baggi. (grin)

[Sue]

Great intro. Welcome form Oregon USA. I have a 98 Mastiff and is it a hoot. Do your physical therapy.

Sue you might as well sell that CBR and put the proceeds into your Baggi. (grin)

I would if it wasnt for the fact the CBR is my only form of transport at the moment! Really missing my Baggi, but at least can give it some tlc while its stripped down.