Viral Interlude

[Puffs]

Well, he speaks Dutch and Dutch plates are shown...

The problem w/ vid's is that it takes me too long, I'll figure it out myself.

[Blurredman]

His problems were interesting though- some issues he has had that I haven't ever experienced with MZ's.

[AlanJ]

Hi Puffs,
Sadly I had just written you quite a long reply to your problem of moving your feet position and just as I was about to submit, Matt put his reply
through, and it wiped me out, i'm not grousing. I will try to resurrect that reply later.
Take care Alan

[AlanJ]

Hi Puffs,
While the sun was shining I just had to satin black spray the caliper so, back to your moving footrests. The Saxon as you know has a cast alloy footrest
asy which is bolted to the bike using the swinging arm pivot, that's no problem just a longer pivot you would need a bracket welded to take the lower fix which stops the whole asy from pivoting. Then you would need a new rear brake actuating asy ( quite expensive) and difficult to get hold of ( probably s/h). To be honest Puffs I would use what you already have, ie. alter the footrest bar, shorten the rear brake lever and use a shortened gear lever, which I have seen for sale recently. That certainly would be the cheapest option I would think. Anyway just thought I would mention, You remember you said for you using Istanbul was not
cost-effective because of import/ customs in Belgium, Well, I have just received a customs bill for £37 for my last delivery from Parcalari and that 37 quid
makes it non cost affective for me also so goodby Turkey, bit sad really I won't have a thing to grouse about.
Wish you well on the 251 Alan.

[Puffs]

Ta Alan, no worries, I'll sort something out - if ever I'll get to it.

Here in B customs just keep your stuff in hostage, and take a few weeks to tell you. Then you pay them, and several weeks later your order arrives. Ask me how I know... It's a true incentive to stay below the €22 limit, or not buy outside the EU. Which will soon also exclude the UK.

On the upside, there is a website on which you can beautifully calculate the costs.

[AlanJ]

Hi Puffs,
Yes, you are right about the Turkish website it's easy to use and probably one of the best in the business, it's the same with this website, I think this is much easier to see and use than the other MZ site. Sorted most of the electrics out yesterday, so that's the lights, indicators, and horn, etc. Today I hope to tackle the ignition. That should be fun. Had a word with Les about that weld, I hope it goes ok. Have a good day Puffs Alan.

[Puffs]

Well, when I said "there is a website on which you can beautifully calculate the costs" I was referring to the "Invoercalculator", available in both NL & B, not so much the Turk's site (Virgil Sollozzo?).

On ignition, I don't know what is original on the Saxon, but if you are going to replace things, consider the more modern construction that works without a battery. The advantage being that then you are not dependent on a battery, and that it is a more dependable construction with less contacts. Vape is quite expensive, but you can just plonk it in (as per instruction) and it works, or see viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10432, viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10669 & other threads.

[AlanJ]

Hi,
That last topic mentioning the Polish Co Turbo Zabytki. I must tell you I wish I had heard of them earlier because looking at their site the product for say
the ETZ 251 at £92 and that's probably the same for the Saxon, looks really good. Do you know any info on it Puffs? When you look at the Vape system at close
to £250 that's one hell of a difference and by the pics on their site you get some extra parts as well. Anyway thanks for that Puffs. Alan.

[AlanJ]

Hi,
Just to add, I have sent mail to Turbo Zabytki be interesting I hope.
Alan.

[Puffs]

No Alan, I have no (0) experience with either the Turbo Zabytki or the Audiobas system. My MZ has the original points/battery ignition, my Jawa has a Vape system I bought a while back, then for a much lower price (I chose 6V). The Vape has worked flawlessly, and has required no work at all. It's pictured on my 634 in one of those threads, re-linked here:



The Vape (PowerDynamo) system has quite a good reputation and I think the current price, particularly for MZ, reflects market forces and demand from particularly Germany. The much lower price of the Polish systems should not mean those aren't any good, IMO, but I just don't know. My wife has a Chinese CG125 copy with a GY6 ignition, which has also worked flawlessly now for well over 40k km.

I installed the Vape system on my Jawa 634, primarily because the original system has the ignition very distant from the main bearings, making it sensitive to vibration at particularly high RPM. Those points were right at the far end of a tall stack, making the timing inaccurate. Anyway, with the Vape system the high RPM performance has improved significantly. On the 251, the ignition/generator stack is less tall than on the 634, and it runs fine; this is why I haven't yet bought any other system.

But in view of those considerations, I would be reluctant to fit the rotor via an adapter (see Kruh's text), and he is right: it is very important how well balanced and solid the rotor fixation is. And how close to the main bearings - one of those pics looks quite unappealing.

[AlanJ]

Hi Puffs,
I understand where using an adapter for the rotor is thought to be a possible problem, but, thinking about the system and it is to be used by quite a few makes of bikes. The cost of tooling for many varients of rotor against tooling for various adapters would I feel be a big saving and as for vibration I would make darn sure that would never be an issue, or if that was so then the buying market would soon know and then your sales would drop. Communication around the world
( computer systems) is a good thing for sales, but if your product is not up to it, well! Talking about my problem with the ignition, I have just got hold of a Haynes ( not over keen on them) but this one came as I am typing this, and it has a wiring diag for the Saxon and as the loom has 4 wires all cut off short, I may be able to sort the problem of the sparks out. Incidentally, I received a favourable reply from Poland so all is not lost yet.
Wish you well Alan.

[AlanJ]

Hi Guys,
Had another go, yesterday and today, at sorting out the ignition and have added a relay after the kill switch which switches the relay and bingo we have liftoff. Sparks, lights, indicators and horn. At the moment the sparks are going off somewhere near TDC, but I can easily move that to a running position. The
next bit of the puzzle is, is it charging ok, and I won't know that till I get the whole shebang on the ground, bit more sorting before that happens, but, at the
moment I am feeling good, for a change.
Take care all. Alan.

[Puffs]

That sounds mighty confusing Alan - a relay after the kill switch which switches the relay...
Obviously your Saxon has a different electrical system than my 251; I don't think that has a kill switch. Just the ignition key, which isolates the ignition from the battery when switched off.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but a kill switch just grounds the input side of the ignition coil, doesn't it? So if you disconnect it, the bike should still run fine. Of course, if you don't have an ignition key & a stable idle, then you cannot decently switch the engine off anymore...

Maybe the kill switch became a legal requirement at some stage, all later bikes have them, often in addition to a key.

Anyway, good to hear you're making progress, and hope you can test the bike on the road soon!

[AlanJ]

Hi Puffs,
I understand your thoughts on the relay, the odd thing is my running Saxon has that in the system, so I added the same, there is a blue wire coming from the neutral switch which I hadn't connected correctly. As soon as I sorted these two areas I got sparkes The main lead that connects to the relay is the one from the kill switch and it's violet in colour. You remember I said I had just received a Haynes manual well sadly there is nothing about a violet wire from the kill switch, so that is why I copied my running Saxon. Not very understanding but it's working so I am happy with that. Mind you I must now redo some of the wiring
as I used what I had in house not what it should be (colours etc). I see the kill switch as a sort of relay in it's self, so to add another switch into the system
doesn't make much sense to me, but what the hell, it's working, so for the moment I will go with that, and later maybe have another look at it because if that relay goes down, and they do, that could be a problem.
Wish you well Alan.

[Puffs]

The concept of understanding something is often viewed as meaning that you have a theory that can predict what happens. This is what you want, if you want to manage & control the world around you. Yet for practical people, the primary target is generally that you want to achieve your objectives, rather than having a theory.

In other words: if it works - just ride the bike!

The Saxon is not in my Haynes manual (which is slightly older than the one on Blurredman's site), so your version must be newer, or different. Btw, I wouldn't worry too much about colours.