Mz 1000s

MZ 1000S

A sport-Twin worth the wait

MZ first showed its twin-cylinder 1000S sportbike at the 2000 Intermot Show in Munich, but since then it’s been all quiet on the former Eastern Bloc front. Thanks to the fine folks at Continental, however, journalists recently had the opportunity to ride the yet-to-be-released machine in conjunction with a press introduction at the tire company’s proving grounds in Hanover, Germany.

Why the long delay? We posed that question to Ray Campanile, Vice President of Motorrad North America (www.motorradna.com), the importer of the German brand, who said, “Refinements needed to be made in fuel-mapping, but EPA testing has been more expensive and time-consuming than anticipated. Americans are a tough crowd to please, and we want it to be perfect before its release.”

Unaffected by EPA reg’s are the multi-faceted, hard-angled lines of the 1000S’s fairing, which comes in black or silver. Looking straight at the bike from the front reveals its distinctive face with two pairs of vertically stacked headlamps, one on each side of the windscreen. A petite swallowtail accents the taillight.

More than looking the part, the MZ’s fairing provided a fair amount of protection from the elements during our travels on the autobahn and twisty forest roads of northern Germany. The body worked, tempering temperatures on this chilly day, and proving slippery enough to draft past my fellow journos on the highbanked “Contidrome” and infield road course.

The MZ’s ergos are aggressive enough for attacking a road circuit, yet reasonably comfortable on the road. The gas tank is rounded upward to interface with the rider’s torso when tuckedin. Unlike with that “other” German company’s motorcycles, we found the MZ’s switches at the tips of our fingers, where we are accustomed to them.

The 1000S is powered by a wet-sump parallel-Twin, the cylinders of which are angled forward at 40 degrees with a bore and stroke of 96 x 69mm for a displacement of 998cc. The dohc, four-valve heads are fed by a programmable fuel-injection system that sparks the motor to a claimed 115 horsepower at 9000 rpm-more than enough power to propel the claimed 462-pound machine. Power characteristics are as you might imagine, closer to a VTwin than a Four, with less engine braking and more controllable corner exits than on a typical four-banger.

Our only gripe concerning the engine had to do with it sometimes running-on when we slammed the throttle shut after holding it wide-open on the banking. We also detected a slight surge during extended steady mid-throttle operation. On a positive note, the six-speed, cassette-style gearbox seems up to the task, as we experienced no difficulties banging downshifts in haste or making clutchless upshifts.

The chromoly dual-tube bridge frame felt stout enough to handle more power than the parallel-Twin pumps out. Sachs suspension with street settings sucked up the road, yet had enough range of adjustability at both ends to allow us to dial it in for track duty. Patented Twin System wheels feature conical-curved spokes that end where the tire beads begin. The Nissin brakes-dual four-piston calipers up front and a twin-piston job in the rear-provided fade-free stopping power during dizzying durations of hard laps around the test track.

The 1000S’s twin mufflers fitted with three-way catalytic converters sounded our arrival and echoed our goodbyes to entertaining rides in the German countryside. Hopefully, we’ll see the $13,995 MZ stateside sometime this summer.

Mark Cernicky