MZ ES250/2
IT’S WORTH REMEMBERING that not too long ago a motorcycle was a form of cheap transport as much as anything. In the early 1970 the budget-priced UK lightweight had gone from the showrooms, but there was still a demand for cheap two wheelers as people watched petrol rising in price and the never-realised threat of rationing loomed on the horizon. They worried about their ability to keep their Morris Marina running and bought cheap motorcycles as a fall back, especially as they could ride a 250 on L-plates. For most riders the choice was an expensive, new, J apanese machine, a used bike from the Far East or the likes of an ancient BSA C1 5, Starfire or rotting Francis-Barnett. At this point a new supply of budget machines from behind the Iron Curtain started to arrive in earnest and these were the ideal workmanlike alternative steed for those hard times.
Eastern bloc countries, desperate for hard currency, exported bikes for sale cheaply to
