Retrospective: MZ Saxon 500 Country: 1992-1996

1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country; Owner: Steven Rossi, East Haddam, Connecticut.
1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country; Owner: Steven Rossi, East Haddam, Connecticut. (Photography by Steve Cote)

Nice half-liter thumper, this MZ Saxon 500 Country, looking like a somewhat dated dual-purpose machine, powered by a dependable Rotax single-cylinder engine. But it was being built in the old East Germany. And to Americans that aroused suspicion of shoddy work. What gives?

1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country
1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country

Most motorcyclists will scratch their heads when they hear MZ. What’s that? It was a motorcycle factory—Motorradwerke in German—in the town of Zschopau, in what used to be East Germany. MZ…get it? And Zschopau is in Saxony, one of the 16 German states, hence this motorcycle’s name.

This Saxon 500 story begins shortly after the fall of the wall in Berlin in 1989, but the company actually goes way back to 1906 when a fellow named Rasmussen bought an old factory building and began manufacturing industrial steam fittings. Following World War I, he put his efforts into building a small two-stroke engine that could be attached to a bicycle. This was quite profitable and, by the late 1920s, Rasmussen claimed to be the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world.

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World War II came and went, Rasmussen fled west to escape the incoming Russians, while the motorcycle company adapted reasonably well to life under the communist regime. It was building and selling hundreds of thousands of simple, utilitarian two-stroke 125s, similar to Harley’s S-models and BSA’s Bantams.

1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country
1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country

In 1956, Stalinist marketing types thought that MZ would be a good name should they ever get around to exporting machines. In spite of much criticism concerning socialist economies, MZ did put a lot of time and money into research concerning the improvement of two-stroke technology. The ES125/150 and ETS250 were big hits, with MZ doing well on the European racing scene.

After the fall of the wall, MZ got privatized and immediately understood that the West was not interested in buying two-strokes—namely because they were highly illegal polluters. The sensible decision was to get into the four-stroke world as soon as possible, and a deal was made with the Austrian Rotax company for engines. And a formidably reliable engine at that, around since the early 1980s, and much used in Can-Am dirt bikes.

The engine was an oversquare unit, an alloy cylinder having an iron sleeve with an 89mm bore, 79.4mm stroke, totaling 494cc. The four-valve head had the sophistication of a belt-driven single overhead camshaft running on reliable ball bearings. A 33mm Bing carburetor fed regular gas to the combustion chamber and its 9.2:1 compression ratio. At 7,000 rpm, the power at the crankshaft was rated at 34 horses, while the rear-wheel stable housed only 28.

1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country
1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country

Gears ran the power back to a 5-speed gearbox, and from there a chain went to the rear wheel—fully covered, we might add. This had been designed by engineers accustomed to utility, and an enclosed chain lasted a lot longer than an exposed one. A modern touch was the electric leg—backed up by a kickstarter.

1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country
1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country

This engine was all new to the workers in Zschopau, but they went to work to fit it into a suitable chassis. A cradle frame held the engine in place, with a box-section backbone holding the three liters of lubricating oil for the dry-sump motor. The swingarm provided mounting places for a pair of West Germany’s prestigious Bilstein shock absorbers, although the dual shocks looked more than a little strange in the age of single-shock bikes. For the 35mm front fork, Bilstein also provided the internals. A single disc up front and a drum brake at the back worked effectively. These MZs were really a potpourri of foreign parts: Italian switchgear and disc brakes, a Bosch headlight, Nippondenso ignition, wire wheels from Spain.

Knowing that capitalists always liked to have choices, the decision was to make three slightly different variations, beginning with the rather retro-looking Silver Star, having 18-inch wheels fore and aft. Followed by a Tour version with Italian-made cast wheels (18 front, 16 rear) and a quarter fairing/windshield mounted to the handlebar. The one we are looking at is the Country, with spoked wheels, a big six-gallon gas tank, and a small fairing integrated into the tank.

The Country was the answer to the growing dual-purpose market, with a 19-inch front wheel, plastic skid plate under the engine, and an upswept exhaust system snaking around behind the engine to emerge on the left side. The low front fender indicated this bike was not intended for serious off-road work, but more for trailing—or showing off in town. Wheelbase was a rather short 54 inches, with a dry weight of 335 pounds.

1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country
1995 MZ Saxon 500 Country

At the top, I noted that the Saxon 500 was made from 1992 to ’96—but that was for the European market. In this country, an outfit called American Jawa, also with East European connections, was the importer, and the first shipment was of 1995 models. These MZs had an admittedly rather stodgy look about them, and they also suffered a serious pricing problem. The Country was priced at $5,600, while a single-shock Kawasaki KLR650 had a tag of only $4,500. And a heck of a lot more dealers.

Next year, the Country’s price got bumped to six grand. After that, the Saxons disappeared.

Since then, MZ has had its ups and downs, mostly down, with the company declaring bankruptcy in 2013.

(This Retrospective column was published in the December 2014 issue of Rider magazine.)

7 COMMENTS

  1. Nice write up! These bikes are rare a hens teeth. I took my 95 Saxon to mid Ohio last summer and nobody knew what it was, aside from a handful of former owners/dealers.

    Spot on with the parts bin style of these bikes. You have a bike that was manufactured in a former East German facility and sprinkled with bits from all corners. The result works pretty well on the bike. Maintenance is key when it comes to ownership. Parts are out there, too.

    Little mistake in the article. The headlight used in the Saxon Tour/Country was a CEV unit from Italy. Though, the original bulb may have been Bosch.

  2. I have one in the saxon tour 1995 model

    and love it.. and yes you have a rare bike
    mine goes on trips its not a trailer queen
    dave

  3. I’m 61 now and I’ve owned my MZ Saxon Tour NRX 500 for 16 years now and I love it, so much in fact that I will never sell it. It’s a very small bike for a 500 and light weight, the narrow engine gives great clearance when cornering which combined with the short wheelbase gives very sharp and nippy handling, the front brake is very powerful too. My son has a Triumph Daytona 600 and recently we had a bit of a race on the road, in a 10 mile blast along twisty country roads he could not get away as it was about handling not top speed. Recently I’ve converted the engine to 560 cc which was money well spent as the low rev lugging power now is amazing.
    In 16 years only had one problem with this bike which was the crank pinion nut came loose but it was easily fixed and cost nothing in parts. Rotax engines are the biz,

  4. I like the look of these bikes. I am considering one as a first bike ( it has a sidecar). Would this make a decent first bike? Are parts available for the bike( (ie: Oil filters, etc.)?

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