Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

The Ton-up Club! Weird as it sounds, even a classic motorcycle magazine has to keep up with the times. For example, it’s been a while since even the CMM office has seen a Hermes typewriter and while our amazing archive is full of gorgeous black and white (and colour) prints and transparencies, we use more digital than ‘actual’ pictures in today’s day and age. It’s just the way things have developed (ahem…). Truth be told, magazines need to evolve to survive and that means we need to move onwards (and hopefully upwards) and keep abreast of the big trends. Now, while we still get the odd hand-written letter from our dear readers, the majority of you send in emails, which means you’re mostly computer and internet literate. This is why…

NEWS & events OUR SORT OF BIKE DEALER! Lightning Quarter Garage is a newly-opened sports and classic bike dealership in West Sussex. They are currently offering clubs and riding groups a chance to win a Scalextric set when they take part in one of their ‘Bikes, Cars, Coffee and Cake’ Saturday mornings. Pride of place in the Lightning Quarter showroom goes to a custom-built landscaped Scalextric track. While visitors are enjoying complimentary coffee, tea and cake, they can take turns in testing their slot-racing skills. Each visitor will be timed over four laps and the fastest driver will take away a brand new Scalextric set of their own. Be careful though – just like the real thing, if you crash you’re out of the race! Each ‘Cars, Bikes, Coffee and…

Prize winner Keep it simple Stan! Stan gives a fantastic insight into repair and tuning, but no detail on HOW to get into the ports and cut to the correct dimensions. The bores are small and difficult to work, what does he use? I regularly read these articles like Stan’s but they never go into the basic things we want to know. Like how did Fred Dibner put his scaffold at the top of a chimney? What was the first piece up? We will never know, what a great man. Great mag! Nick Coates Bertie says: “Stan or Fred? Or both? We could ask Stan to do some back to basics stuff. Stan what do you think?…

show us yours We want to see YOUR pride and joy in our pages, so you can share what you ride and restore with fellow readers. Email your hi-res shots to bsimmonds@mortons.co.uk or mail in some photos to the address at the front of the mag. Let us know what you’ve done and how you’ve done it and send before and after shots if you can. Do get in touch. Bertie. We’ve teamed up with The Hobby Company www.hobbyco.net which distributes Tamiya plastic motorcycle kits in the UK to give our favourite restoration one of its amazing motorcycles in miniature. So, send in your pictures of your bikes and you could win the chance to indulge in a miniature motorcycle restoration of your own. Remember to send your name and…

CLASSIC RIDE RARE TREAT! It’s a genuine example of ‘you don’t see many of those’ – Honda’s C72 is a visual feast. WORDS: STEVE COOPER PHOTOS: GARY CHAPMAN Having a good memory for countless motorcycle moments is something of a mixed blessing; there are times when I could kick myself for passing up some of the bikes I’ve been offered. to the valanced rear and its various profiles give the bike a very strange look. Elsewhere Honda’s aesthetic team had a field day. The square headlight stares out over that front mudguard and the then obligatory throat slicer front number plate. On the headstock we have a period angular speedo set in a binnacle with the ignition switch on the left side. When no one else was interested in them alocal…

HONDA NS 400R Just like Freddie’s! Honda’s three-cylinder two-stroke NS400R was launched in the 1980s at a time when keen riders were looking for the experience of Grand Prix racing bikes on the road. Now they are appreciating in value… WORDS: JOHN NUTTING PHOTOS: GARY CHAPMAN, JOHN NUTTING There’s nothing quite like the excitement you feel when a high-performance two-stroke comes on song and propels you out of a corner on a wave of power. More so when it’s a rare example of factory-made exotica: I’m riding an NS400R, the bike that Honda produced in the Eighties to offer the average rider a taste of what the Grand Prix racers were experiencing at the time out on track. Along with Yamaha’s RD500LC and Suzuki’s RG500, the NS400R represented the pinnacle…

FEATURE FOCUS FIVE ALIVE! Meet Unit 5 Motorcycles, a few-man band who happily herd bikes back from the continent for our delight. WORDS: SCOTT REDMOND PHOTOS: IAN ‘SHROOM’ BURGESS It’s 9am and I’m standing in a yard in Essex. Between the Range Rovers that all wear personalised number plates, there’s two big vans and a trailer that are all loaded up with used motorcycles. I can make out the shapes even if from a distance I can’t identify the models. There’s something so exciting about wanting to see what’s loaded up. Tony Greenslade greets me and we both head towards the vans. Tony knows what’s inside them. His business partner at Unit 5 Motorcycles and himself got back at just gone midnight after another successful trip to France to buy…

RETRO REBOOT Triumph Daytona 1050 If Triumph ever built a Daytona 1050, it might just look like this. WORDS AND IMAGES: KAR LEE Triumph’s Daytona 900 was Hinckley’s first big triple sportsbike, launched to much interest in 1992. Overshadowed by the likes of the FireBlade, Triumph joined forces with Cosworth in 1994 to come up with a limited run of a more powerful version called the Super III, but it was too little, too late. In 1997 Triumph unveiled a 955cc fuel-injected inline triple with a claimed 128bhp and 74lb-ft of torque and all-new chassis. The T595 lived up to expectations, charming all with its excellent road manners and engine characteristics. Although still outpaced in the performance stakes, it was a sales success. Following a name change to 955i (to…

WORKSHOP Project Fast Berk part 2 Race inspiration He’s yet to get his hands dirty but he promises to next month: our Charlie sees what he’s getting himself into! WORDS AND PHOTOS: CHARLIE OAKMAN As I entered into my second month of the Yamaha TZR250 build and race project I thought it was best to see exactly what I was letting myself in for. To recap: I’m the bloke who sells ads in CMM’s sister title Fast Bikes, and – with the promise of an old Yamaha TZR250 2MA from a mate – I’ve foolishly decided to get the thing going again and take part in a race meeting before the end of the 2017 season. Well, the opening round of the Yamaha Past Masters Racing series kicked off in March…

Scoop’s pipeworks! Yes, even at his age – with no off-the-shelf options he fits his own coolant pipes! WORDS AND PHOTOS: STEVE COOPER If you own a liquid-cooled motorcycle then it’s kind of obvious that the coolant needs to stay where it is most needed. Leaking head gaskets either ooze down the engine so can you spot the leak or dribble water into the cylinder so you can’t! Water pumps can do likewise but both are generally fairly readily, if expensively, sorted. Stuff like Suzuki Kettles, Yamaha LCs, Honda Gold Wings are generally well supported with either OEM or pattern seals/gaskets. Where it gets a wee bit more complex is when you own a less common machine that’s suffering from incontinence but even then there are specialists who will tool…

Brad Lackey WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: MORTONS ARCHIVE Brad Lackey is a bona fide motocross legend. Born in 1953 in California, son of a mad-keen motorcyclist, ‘Bad Brad’ as he became known to his fans, showed terrific determination to eventually become the USA’s only 500cc World Motocross champion. Despite the lure of staying in America to pick up titles (he was 1972 AMA 500cc champ) Brad spent time learning his trade in Europe while riding for CZ prior to his AMA win. Even while he was dominating in the States he wanted to return to Europe to take the 500cc world title. He won the first of seven Grand Prix in 1977 in Britain (the first for an American) and came second in the overall title hunt the following year…

Honda C72/77 series The C72/77 marked a sea change for Honda; the new for 1960 machines ran a wet sump engine as opposed to the outgoing C70/71 bikes that had run the more European-like dry sump with an external oil tank. Also key to the bikes’ success was the relocation of the clutch which was now sited on the gearbox main shaft as opposed to the end of the crankshaft. With the move to dry sump the crank cases were extended as an aid to both enhanced lubrication and cooling. These changes would effectively amount to the basic blueprint for Honda twins hen f th Th bike’s styling tended option yet period ro referred to it as ‘ultr Set against virtua contemporary bike, certainly almost eve single 250 of the…

“I own a Honda NS400R” The Honda NS400R is just one of a number of exotic Japanese sports bikes owned by Owen Cashin. “I meant to buy one when they first came out in 1985 to replace my RD350LC but my girlfriend at the time flatly refused to go on the back!” he recalls. “So this bike is a bit of a nostalgia trip.” With less than 1500 miles clocked and in spotless mint condition, the NS400R is Owen’s most recent acquisition. Like most of his other machines, it’s a sports two-stroke from the 80s and 90s, a period when the Japanese factories were competing fiercely on the domestic market to technically upstage each other. “The NS400R came from Aberystwyth and it’s absolutely mint condition with only 1500 miles,” says…

READER’S RESTORATION One in a million! It’s not just our Niall Mackenzie who thinks an old Cub is worth restoring or recommissioning: ask CMM reader Jerry Thurston. WORDS AND PHOTOS: JERRY THURSTON So, this feature is all about the most common motorcycle of all time, one of the 87 million Honda cubs built between 1958 and today well, 2014 according to Wikipedia!). quality 6V 4 amp battery for £18, not forgetting to put the negative to the blue wire, positive via an 8 amp fuse to the red. Beware though, If you find a ‘faded’ red wire and connector, ignore it, it’s not faded it’s meant to be pink and it’s a spare. This Honda Cub is a 1969 50cc variant that had genuinely been in a barn for years and…

WORKSHOP NEWS The Shed... New tools for sale, old tools rated. Mind the cat’s litter tray. You’re in The Shed. WD-40 at Wemoto! The WD-40 range of fluids, cleaners and lubes is now available at Wemoto! The Specialist Motorbike Range has been developed in conjunction with the British Superbike Series and Sheffield University, to include anti-fling testing and to ensure the products meet the high demands of racing. The range is designed to give riders all-year-round maintenance care which will improve performance and extend the life of their machines. The range includes chain cleaner, chain lube, brake cleaner, silicone shine spray, wash fluid and wax polish in 1 or 5-litre sizes. The full range is priced from around £3.50 up and is now available to buy at Wemoto, along with…

Project Suzuki DR600 part 7 The missing link? Can an in-frame cam-chain replacement help CMM’s DR finally flex its muscles? WORDS AND PHOTOS: PAUL ‘PB’ BERRYMAN This month the search for oomph from CMM’s mega-thumper deepens still further. Finding just five of the missing 13bhp we’d been looking for on our 1985-vintage DR600 after a major engine refresh was not a decent outcome. Although the new 1mm oversize piston into a fresh bore had seen power go up from 27 to 32bhp the bike had failed to produce what could reasonably be expected: I still coveted the idea that we’d get somewhere north of 35bhp. Suzuki’s claim of 45bhp when new meant using time-honoured ratios of claimed vs real-world bhp, even as high as 40 ponies might be possible. So,…

WORKSHOP Project Suzuki GSX-R1000 K1 ‘Runt’ part 2 Silence of the cans Seems like our Scottie doesn’t like saying it loud and proud. WORDSANDPHOTOS:SCOTTREDMOND Loud exhausts save lives? It’s a debate that’s older than this 15-year-old GSX-R1000K1, but loud pipes also give me a headache. Initially in the medical sense but more so in finding a remedy to cure this unwanted blight that’s afflicting my motorcycling enjoyment. When I purchased the bike it was fitted with a stumpy aftermarket silencer. I’ve no idea what its origins were, but it had been cut and shut to create a minimalistic way of silencing the heartbeats emitted by the GSX-R engine. It was very loud and also looked wrong in my opinion. The K1 needed a different silencer for both looks and noise reduction,…

Project Yamaha DT175 MX Part 9 Perfect timing! Ralph gets on with the motor once more and sorts the timing out on his WORDS AND PHOTOS: RALPH FERRAND First up, as promised last month, is the ignition timing. This bike came with CDI (Capacitor Discharge Ignition), which was a massive improvement on the traditional points system of the time. The timing of the spark was previously triggered by a cam opening and closing what was effectively a switch. Points were very simple and easy to fix, but were vulnerable to the contact points of the ‘switch’ (points) getting burned by the arcing of the current as the circuit was constantly made and broken, many thousands of times a minute. The heel of the points, which was being pushed by the cam…

BUYER’S GUIDE SUZUKI X7 Later overshadowed by the RD250LC, the X7 is still a little legend. WORDS: STEVE COOPER PHOTOS: GARY ‘D’ CHAPMAN Far too often in the world of motorcycles we hear the phrase game-changer. Those two words are supposed to imply the bike in question somehow radically alters the perceived status quo. However, many bikes ascribed such status are, in reality, little more than reworked models. Fortunately the bike in camera this month does truly warrant the sobriquet of game-changer; Suzuki’s seminal X7 represented the first serious challenge for years to the perceived order of things in the 250cc world. Here was a totally new motorcycle that had been designed from scratch and with just one specific aim: to become top dog in the vital learner bike sales…

Next month KAWASAKI Z1000: Mildly-modded, massively marvellous! Ridden and rated by Scoop! BEST BIKES OF 1982: The best bikes of the year recalled by John Nutting. YAMAHA TRX850: The story behind Yamaha ‘doing a Ducati’ by Bruce Cox. HONDA CB1300: Quick Spinned by Bertie Simmonds. BRIDGESTONE 350 GTO: Buyer’s Guide. PLUS: We have the inside line on a Honda CBR1000F that couldn’t be killed (possibly), a Suzuki GSX600F Teapot used in a weird way and an Aussie Honda XL500S restoration. WORKSHOP: Stan Stephens and a Suzuki RG400/500 special! Painting alloy heads or casings. And on the project bikes front, Steve Cooper returns with part (gawd knows what) of his Suzuki Stinger, Ralph Ferrand is on with part 10 of his Yamaha DT175 MX resto and part three of getting a…

Quick Spin 1979 Kawasaki KH250 Why is the man with an RG500 worried about riding a little three-pot stroker from the Seventies? Let’s find out. WORDS: ANDY BOLAS PHOTOS: GARY D CHAPMAN So here I am on my way to pick up a KH250 from CMM reader and Kawasaki nut Doug Perkins for a quick apprehensive to say the leas spin and I’m a bit. On arrival, Doug gives me the little KH and we’re soon way back to sunny Staffords concern? Well, I’ve ridden lo but I haven’t ridden a bike f good few years, the last bei rather impressive motor b left a lot to be desired to th tried to kill me a couple of t circuit at Snetterton! e a few tips on starting n loaded…

NEWS & events MODEL MAGIC! Our friends at Tamiya are celebrating their 100th 1/12th scale bike kit release by re-releasing this masterpiece. Yes, it’s the 1/12th scale Yamaha YZR500 kit of the great Kenny Roberts. For three years from 1978 King Kenny reigned supreme and (we think) this Tamiya representation kits the 1980 OW-48/48R version of this legendary bike. The kit costs £34.99 and is available from www.hobbyco.net And, if any of you remember the awesome (and large) 1/6th scale Tamiya kits (Katana, CB1100R, CB750F, Z1300 etc.) you’ll have heard about the new ‘Africa Twin’ model. Okay, so this isn’t our old evergreen V-twin fave from the late 1980s-1990s, instead this is a kit of the latest parallel-twin road machine, but the kit itself seems very impressive! Again head to…

£100 Reboot! Votes in! Bertie, best of luck with your project VFR 750: I think colour scheme number 3 would be ideal & it would give the bike a really racy look. Fred Cowhig I like the Wayne Rainey but it’s been done before. The NS one is nice but my favourite has to be the VF1000R, number 8! Awesome! Great mag. Mark Bradley I just received the May issue of CMM through the letterbox, opened it up, grabbed a coffee, settled on the sofa and flicked through the magazine where I landed on page 58 and the VFR 750 ‘Retro Reboot Special’. What can I say other than they all look fabulous. I was truly impressed. I’d personally v for paint scheme number 8 in fact I was so inspired…

MANUFACTURER FOCUS BEST OF British! With almost 60 years of rich two-wheeled history, it’s good to see that Rickman Motorcycles is still going – and going strong. WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: GARY CHAPMAN In today’s motorcycling world, we see more and more old British bike names of yesteryear dug up, given a good dusting down and reinvented for the modern motorcyclist. We won’t embarrass them by naming them here, but these offer only the merest pastiche of the glory and history that went before. It’s often the case that these daftly-expensive machines are (effectively) motorcycles for the millionaire, or the collector – someone who wouldn’t know one end of a motorcycle from the other. Thankfully there are still artisans out there in the UK, still building beautiful machines, frames, or…

WORKSHOP Project Ducati 996 part 6 Alarming stuff! The alarm bells are ringing. Well, not for our Jim! WORDS AND PHOTOS: JIM LINDSAY I hate bike alarms. They drain batteries, go off at random, wake your neighbours and bike thieves fear them as much as they would fear a small, toothless dog. The Ducati had one fitted when I bought it. It had been disabled but the previous owner had fought shy of disconnecting the mass of cables designed by Beelzebub to spoil a perfectly good wiring loom, cutting power here, making the indicators flash there and emitting unearthly screams from under the seat whenever it felt like it. The first task this month was to banish it. Until disarmed, it cut the power to the starter solenoid and the fuel…

Project Honda C70 Cub part 5 Cub scouts! It’s rebuild time, but what do Niall, Daryll and Craig at IDP Moto find standing in the way of an easy build this time? WORDS: NIALL MACKENZIE PHOTOS: BERTIE SIMMONDS There is something special about building a bike up from scratch. It may well be a man thing, but I find turning a bench full of bits into a living, breathing object of beauty is both exciting and satisfying. And having an expert to hold your hand throughout the process is always a good idea, yes I know some of you may moan at me for this, but I’m not as experienced as you, so once again, I gathered up all my C70 bits and headed off to team up with Daryll…

Project Honda CB400 Four Part 2 For forks’ sake! Our Ralph finds a litany of bloomin’ bodges when he strips the Four’s forks. WORDS AND PHOTOS: RALPH FERRAND Last month I cleaned and set up the carbs on a Honda CB400 Four that was running as rough as a Badger’s botty and I soon had it singing as smoothly as a Honda should. This month I turned my attention to the forks stanchions’ chrome that had more holes than a Swiss cheese. I explained to the customer that while his bike engine now ran like a (again) Swiss watch, it was unlikely to handle like one, given the amount of the suspension fluid that was outside the forks and I doubted that the MoT inspector would be especially impressed. While…