MZ BAGHIRA 660 (2001 - 2007) Review

The MZ Baghira is a great bike for taking you to work or throwing you around mountainsides at weekends, the Baghira’s a torquey little beast with brilliant, light handling. Cornering’s hilarious. In town, that towering seat comes in handy. Quirky looks and a good price should make it real competition against its rivals

Forget dual purpose, the MZ Baghira is a street bike, perfect for negotiating rush hours and school run traffic. Loads of grunt, good brakes, tall seat: it’s ideal. Take it out on the twisties, tweak the suspension to suit (it’s quite soft as standard) and the handling’s magical. Slightly vibey though, steer clear of motorways and it’s pretty lardy for this type of bike…

The ubiquitous Yamaha XT660 engine strikes again in the MZ Baghira: the liquid cooled, four stroke single powers other steeds such as the MT-03 and Aprilia’s Pegaso Strada. Gutsy down low, it propels the bike around town and corners like there’s no tomorrow. It can cruise at 80mph and peaks at around 100mph but the rider’s likely to have passed out by then. Carbed, not injected.

Excellent, which surprises those who don’t equate MZ with quality… Things have changed. The Baghira boasts plastic parts made by Acerbis, an engine by Yamaha and WP suspension and is, overall, very well put together. Finish is very good, and seems to last well, and that engine’s proved itself more than capable over the years.

For a commuter/weekend fling, the MZ Baghira’s pretty good value. What’s more, parts are affordable, fuel economy’s great, insurance is a pittance and reliability means garage bills should be minimal. Yamaha’s own XT660X is an option at more money for less power while KTM’s lovely 640 Duke may be cooler and hold its value well but it costs significantly more. Find an MZ Baghira for sale.

The MZ Baghira's seat is very tall, the bars are wide and you ride close to the tank, supermoto-style. There are basic clocks, pillion provision (optimistic) including grabrails, a fairly small tank and a funky, chunky (and heavy) pipe. The single headlight’s not great. A lower seat/shorter wheelbased option is available too: 850mm/1465mm (down from 900mm/1530mm).