The manufacturer presented the newly developed TS 250 to the public for the first time at the Leipzig Autumn Fair in 1972[1] and began mass production in April 1973.

[3] The abbreviation TS in the model name stood for Teleskopgabel, Schwinge (english: Telescopic fork, Swingarm).

[4] The chassis is a parallel tube backbone frame with a telescopic fork at the front and a long swing arm at the rear.

However, the investments in tools and machines required for series production were not approved by the government of the GDR.

In response to customer requests and not least due to intervention by the editorial staff of the magazine Kraftfahrzeugtechnik, a sidecar connection was added.

The de Luxe has a 16 l fuel tank (12 l in the standard version) and chrome-plated or polished parts.

The poor quality of the tires from the supplier, background noises from disrupted combustion processes and when shifting gears as well as a rattling clutch were criticized.

(A piston seizure that occurred at around 3050 kilometers was due to a loose screw on the intake manifold and thus false air.)

Given that the TS has a telescopic fork and the ES, previously produced by MZ, has a front swing arm, the assessments of driving stability were only satisfactory.

It has, among other things, individual seats, side luggage racks, tires with a deeper profile, a slightly raised exhaust system and a paint job similar to that of military vehicles.

Including the pre-series (61 units in 1972), a total of 101,015 MZ TS 250s were produced from 1973 to 1976 (excluding special models).

Apart from many design details, the most significant changes concern the engine and the switch to an 18-inch front wheel rim like on the small TS.

A newly designed step-by-step switch with over-shift lock made gear shifting easier.

The driving performance was judged to be very good, and the improved braking deceleration compared to the TS 250 was also highlighted.

The features of individual seats, side luggage racks, deeper profile tires, slightly raised exhaust system and military paintwork were the same as the previous model.

In 1977, the Briton David Baynam made a motorcycle touring from the Arctic Circle in Finland to Cape Town, covering more than 35,000 mi on the MZ TS 250 he had chosen for the trip.

A year later, he rode the successor model TS 250/1 (marketed in Great Britain as the “MZ Supa 5”) between 11 June 1978 and 18 April 1979 from New York across North and South America, ending in Brazil, a distance of around 48,000 mi.

In 1990, the company, now trading as Motorradwerk Zschopau GmbH, quoted from a letter Baynam had written to the factory in 1979 in its own magazine:[25][26] Es ist keine Übertreibung zu sagen, daß viele Leute beeindruckt waren von der Leistung der MZ.

Es ist bestimmt das beste von den 25 Motorrädern, die ich besessen habe.