The MZ plant, that has made motorcycles in the eastern German state of Saxony since 1922, is to close at the end of the year after its Malaysian backers pull the plug on losses.   MZ, which stands for Motorcycle Zschopau, the town in the Ore Mountains where the company is based, has generated losses for Hong Leong Industries since being taken over in 1996. The Freie Presse newspaper from the nearby city of Chemnitz said the plant would close on December 31. The closure had been widely anticipated, as this is the date when subsidies from the state of Saxony end. 40 workers at the plant are set to lose their jobs. MZ is one of the world's oldest motorcycle makers, continuing to produce through World War II and afterwards under the communist East German government.                                                                                                                                                                               

Nein. Motorradwerke Zchopau, nicht Motorcycle.   Auf wiedersehen MZ...meine erste motorrad                                                                                                                                                                             

  Nein. Motorradwerke Zchopau, nicht Motorcycle.     I know it's 'works', I edited it cos I dint fink it made sense   It's becoming a habit, you keep adding bits to my news reports.                                                                                                                                                                               

Wills      Not wishing to appear to be taking sides but 'Give the girl a break'. We all know that you are a clever bloke but Kwak is doing her best. I, for one, got the gist of the news report. It really does wonders for your 'Self confidence' when someone keeps correcting you. Take a look at some of my posts, I can see some glaring 'Cock ups' that I had not noticed at the time of writing. Ride safe (Both of you).            M.S.                                                                                                                                                                             

Whoops...guilty, I'm afraid, of bringing my work home with me. I'm paid to correct things like that and once you get into the habit...well, you can guess the rest. Also I'm just one of those people that hoovers up trivia, which is at least good for pub quizes.   Can't be all that clever cos I ain't rich   I had two MZs...a 125 that I took my test on, basically an East German Bantam, and then a 150 I bought some years later as a runaround. Nice little runners, but they had seats like planks and numb bum would set in after half an hour. Front brake left a bit to be desired too...the old joke was that when the instructor told you to plan your braking ahead, MZ riders would check against the calendar!   The standard mod was to swap the front hub and brake for a Honda unit, though I never got round to it myself. Western tyres helped a lot too -  the originals were, I think, Barums with a very hard compound that lasted for ever but could get, er, interesting in the wet.   Sometimes I think I wouldn't mind one now as a knockabout bike despite its faults, but ebay prices are getting a bit silly.