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34 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com 1974 MZ 250 ISDT 1974 MZ 250 ISDT Eastern Bloc Beast Eastern Bloc Beast By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart This month's vintage feature is an interes ng ride that we woke up a few years back. Some might be familiar with the brand MZ, others not so much. We'll do our best to tell the story. MZ was a German motorcycle manufacturer. The name stood for "Motorenwerke Zschopau," mean- ing Zschopau Motor Works. Zschopau is a small town in Saxonia, formerly communist East Germa- ny. Founded by Jorgen Ska e Rasmussen, a Danish engineer and industrialist, MZ motorcycle produc- on began in 1922. The Zschopau works was one of the oldest mo- torcycle factories in the world. They were the first company to develop the two-stroke engine for vehicle use and were a leader in two-stroke devel- opment worldwide. Rasmussen had begun mo- torcycle produc on under the brand name DKW. In the world economic crises of 1929, four local automobile manufacturers under the leadership of Rasmussen's DKW founded Auto Union, known today as Audi. The most popular motorcycles from Zschopau were the two-stroke 125cc and 250cc models, ES, ETS, TS and ETZ. In the 1950s, MZ was the world leader in two- stroke engine produc on. Through the work of MZ racing engineer Walter Kaaden, MZ engines became nearly unbeatable. In fact, in 1961 MZ nearly won the world championships in the 125cc class against Soichiro Honda's four-stroke engines! The championship was lost through one of the biggest spy scandals in motorcycle history. Factory rider Ernst Degner fled from East Germany and handed all the MZ trade secrets to Suzuki. This was devasta ng to MZ as Walter Kaaden's most sensi ve and important designs were stolen. Most notably, Kaaden had devel- oped the two-stroke tuned exhaust pipe, known today as an expansion chamber. In 1962, Degner along with the stolen designs that he brought to Suzuki, won the first world tle for the Japanese manufacturer. Bri sh author Mat Oxley wrote a book about this scandal tled "Stealing Speed." On a lighter note, we've heard tales of a factory worker who smuggled parts out of the factory and made an Ultra-Light, which he used to es- cape Communist East Germany. It must be true, as I saw it on an episode of Mission Impossible many years ago.