Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

What goes around, comes around… It is strange when the rolling time-scale of classics move forward. When I first happened upon CMM, it was around 2005. I was 34 and I think I recall a Kawasaki Z650 on the cover. Even just a year later, CMM had a FireBlade on the cover, which at the time was just 14 years old. That was 2006 and yet when my predecessor, Ben Wilkins, called me he asked me to do something on the Blade in 2011 as a freelancer, it was still just shy of 20 years of age. Many asked if the FireBlade was ready to be called a classic. Now the FireBlade or Fireblade, from 2004 on) is 25 years old. That’s significant. Those 1990s machines are deserving of the…

Shows us yours We wanttosee YOURprideand joyinour pages,soyou can sharewhatyou ride and restore withfellow readers. Emailyour hi-res shots to bsimmonds@mortons.co.uk or mail in some photos to the address at thefront of themag. Send before and after shots if you can! We’ve teamed up with SDoc100 (www.sdoc100.co.uk) which manufactures some of the best bike cleaning kit in the business! So, send in your pictures of your bikes and you could win an SDoc100 cleaning kit worth £50! Remember to send your name and address on each submission so we know where to post the kit. Richie Sutton’s collection Ever since I was a kid I have always been interested in motorbikes, but it was only when I was 25 (in 2005) and having a dose of chemotherapy for testicular cancer did…

And for the purists… If bend-swinging on a modern take on the original article just isn’t for you, then may we interest you at all in the following? The original ‘modern’ roadster is arguably 1970’s R60/5. Launched in 1969 as the Type 246, this was a sweet-handling 599cc boxer-twin of around 40bhp, upgraded into the R60/6 for 1974 the Type 247 had twin dial instruments, five-speed ‘box, frame strengthening and longer swingarm. Amazingly, the basic design was so ‘right’ it soldiered on until the mid-1990s and arguably saved BMW’s bikebuilding department from getting the bullet. You can pick up a good one for £5000 or less. Don’t forget the other family members – we’d look at the R75 and R90 (no, not the S). Like the R60, examples of both…

Honda CB500T trivia For all it supposed faults the CB500T has proved to be a remarkably robust beast in the white heat of drag racing’s quarter mile. Tuned and tweaked, ported and fettled, the allegedly antediluvian twin was able to give a damn fine account of itself on the strip. Hogged out to 588cc and graced with a supercharger, bikes such as ‘The Fang’, fuelled with methanol and running a reconfigured 60? crank shaft acquitted themselves well down the strip. The bike has few real issues other than a propensity for being hard on spark plugs. This foible is believed to be down to the motor inherently running rich. The exhaust system is known to rust through with annoying regularity and replacements are rare. Cam-chains can break and cams can…

ME & MY... Vince Richer and his Yamaha RD350LC What do you do when you want something so bad it hurts? Just keep pestering, according to reader Vince Richer. WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS/VINCE RICHER PHOTOS: SONJA EARL/VINCE RICHER I have been following this great mag for many a year and thought it was time to send you some pictures of one of my Yamaha fleet! Ever since my early days in the 1980s I was thrashing around on two-strokes. I started off with a Yamaha Fizzy, then a Yamaha DT100, a DT175 MX, a DT250 MX, Yamaha XT500 then a Suzuki X7 with Microns and a Suzuki X5. Every now and again my eye would catch a glimpse of the king of two-strokes on the street: the Yamaha RD350LC: but sadly…

RETRO Suzuki RGV500 Rebooted back in 2013, we’ve given our virtual RGV a little 2017 makeover. WORDS AND IMAGES: KAR LEE THE ORIGINAL The year is 1983 and Suzuki has unveiled the most advanced road-legal 250 yet. The parallel twin Gamma 250 was essentially a water-cooled X7 making little more than 30bhp but the chassis had all the tech including Deca-piston brakes, alloy box-section frame, monoshock rear suspension, 16in front wheel and anti-dive forks. It was all wrapped up in sexy styling and the RG was propelled straight to the top of many a wish-list. By 1986 it was over: Yamaha’s TZR250 saw to that, and Suzuki needed something radical. By 1988, along came the RGV250. It was an instant hit and by 1991 the VJ22 designated RGV had a…

Two-stroke tuning Stan Stephens gives a masterclass in this dark art: from the bottom of the crankcases to the top of the head! WORDS: STAN STEPHENS PHOTOS: STAN/MORTONS ARCHIVE I’ve been doing masterclasses in the various models I specialise in and wondered whether I should do one on tuning, but one reader wrote in to say: “Would Stan keep it simple and start from the basics!” What is basic for some readers is complicated for others! This reminds me of a few years back when I decided to learn to play a musical instrument. I figured I’d choose the bass as it would be easier than a ‘normal’ guitar (four strings not six, y’see?). So I booked some lessons with a bass guitar tutor. When we sat down for my…

BUYER’S GUIDE SUZUKI T500 Charger, Cobra Titan… they’re all names for the sublime Suzuki T500. WORDS: STEVECOOPER PHOTOS: GARY‘D’ CHAPMAN TRIM Replica tank badges are available, ditto side-panel badges but not the chrome trim unique to the J model. SIDE-PANELS Very early use of plastic by Suzuki; top mount can fail but replica GRP panels are available. OIL PIPES Typical pre-moulded plastic lines with valves to stop oil tank draining through. Air bubbles in lines are normally due to failure of pipe/banjo junctions. GEARBOX 4th and 5th gears can still wear even on later models that run 1400ccs of oil. Noisy box means engine strip, big bills and bike off the road while parts are tracked down. GEARBOX OIL Gearbox oil needs to be decent quality to protect transmission. Change…

COMING CLASSIC Yamaha TDM900 WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: MORTONS ARCHIVE BERTIE’S BLATHER CMM’s editor may not be the sharpest tool in the box, but he’s got a halfdecent idea of what constitutes a coming classic. As with the TDM 900’s precursor, this parallel twin just didn’t seem to click with British bikers, which is a shame as it is – in effect – a bigger, gruntier TDR250… When the 850 was launched in 1991, the 849cc five-valve per cylinder machine was hard to pigeonhole. Here was a punchy motor (based on the Super Tenere) housed in a Deltabox chassis, with a mean twin-light stare, comfy upright riding position and half decent suspension. It was king of the urban jungle and caught on over on the continent big time, where they…

Stuff The latest riding kit,top tools,tyres, retro clothing and more! HONDA RETRO CLOTHING Everyone is fully on board the retro bandwagon so it’s good to see Honda playing on their rich history with their current range of retro clothing. From T-shirts to hoodies, each carries the classic Honda wing logo or harks back to the days (and bikes) of yore. Typical prices are £19.99 for a T-Shirt and £49.99 for a branded hoodie. www.honda.co.uk NITRILE GLOVES A staple of any workshop, garage or shed, a box of disposable work gloves is invaluable. These man-made synthetic rubber gloves are robust and resistant to punctures, tears and chemicals. They are a snug fit, but come in medium and large sizes and are latex and powder free! www.oxfordproducts.com BRIDGESTONE BT-45 Bridgestone’s most excellent…

Scoop’s Stinger Stars! Our very own Steve Cooper had his labour of love – the Suzuki T125 Stinger – adorn a prominent stand at our 24th Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show at the Stafford Showground. Scoop took 10 years to restore the Stinger (and don’t we know it) and its sheer beauty led to its prominent place on the Stewart Miller & Peter James Insurance stand. He recalls: “When I first got it, the pistons had corrosionwelded themselves to the bores, necessitating serious brute force and sharp tools in order to even start on the engine rebuild!” So far the saga (dwarfed only by Tolstoy’s War and Peace) has covered 12 parts and there are still a couple to go before the old git finally road tests it… We are…

CLASSIC RIDE Orange & Lemon Scoop re-samples Honda’s micro sports twin – the CB500T and asks is this a tangerine dream, or just a lemon? WORDS: STEVE COOPER PHOTOS: GARY D CHAPMAN Honda CB500Ts and I have a surreal history going back to 1976. I was ‘gifted’ the keys of a brown example by our local plumber. His son’s moped had gone bang big time and having dropped it off at the dealer the lad needed a lift. “He’s talking to the mechanic in the workshop,” said Mr Newman the plumber, “just ask for him at the showroom.” Few people have ever rocked up to a large, multi-franchise, dealer on a Saturday morning riding a Honda CB500T and naively announced: “I’ve come to collect Paul Newman.” I can still hear…

YAMAHA 750 Superstock replica Superstock SIZZILER! It’s been a long time in the making, but it’s finally here: Steve ‘Stavros’ Parrish finally rides his Yamaha FZ750 Superstock replica. WORDS: STEVE PARRISH PHOTOS: IAN ‘SHROOM’ BURGESS, MORTONS ARCHIVE, DON MORLEY “For a first shakedown test things went very well, but we still have a few bugs to iron out. Dyno time will sort the gap in the power delivery. Best thing though was the attention that the FZ was grabbing in Silverstone’s pit-lane. She’s stunning!” It’s been a hard slog but it’s finally turned a wheel in anger – my Yamaha FZ750 Superstock replica. The idea for this build came from a number of sources. Firstly, editor Bertie and I have the odd luncheon together along with a number of other…

CLASSIC RIDE People Jeff spends a day ‘fanging’ a mint 1991 GSX-R750M Down Under to re-live the glory days of 750cc sportsbikes. WORDS: JEFF WARE PHOTOS: HEATHER WARE When we look back at the 1990s and the evolution of the Japanese sportsbike there are few names that stand out more than Suzuki and GSX-R. The sports war was about to hot up when the M rolled off the production line in late 1990. Yamaha and Honda were not truly in the public access game just yet, with an ageing FZR1000 for most punters more realistic than an exotic FZR750 OW-01 and Honda riders having to opt for a VFR over a more desirable VFR750R RC30! What was cool, though, was the FIM spec World Superbike Championships that were really hotting…

Project Fast Berk part 6 Final furlong! The rebuild of the racing 2MA comes to a close, just testing and racing left then! WORDS AND PHOTOS: CHARLIE OAKMAN With the clock ticking rapidly toward an ominous deadline, I am pleased to say that the first of the three stages of my TZR project is just about complete. The first stage was the build of a 1988 TZR250 2MA out of a variety of boxes of parts lying around our workshop and the rolling frame of a similar project that started and stopped some five years ago. We are missing only one crucial part currently in development – a bespoke radiator hose from Samco, which is in the post, so we can now start planning for stage two and three, the…

Project Kawasaki ZRX Turbo part 15 Rex ramblings Longer in the making than the Bible, this series finally sees light at the end of the tunnel! Dowds, it’s over to you… WORDS AND PHOTOS: ALAN DOWDS It’s the beginning of the end for the ZRX project build now. With the engine in the frame, the Rotobox carbon wheels fitted (see box) and some usable stock (for the moment) front forks sourced, it’s starting to look like a proper bike. And the next big hurdle is being jumped as you read this. I’ve finally got hold of a turbo, and my pal James McCarthy is limbering up with his TIG welder to fabricate the necessary pipework to get it working on the ZRX. He’s gathered up the stainless steel parts required,…

IT’S MY BIKE: Malcolm Williams This particular example, a Belgian import, was found languishing in a North Wales dealership in 2013 and although complete was tatty. A deal was done and the bike loaded in to the van for its journey to its new home in South Wales. All the chrome cleaned up well, as did the alloy. A carburettor clean and timing adjustment soon had it running as it was intended to. It was then that the decision was made to respray it in the Candy Gipsy Red/ Gold colour scheme of the slightly later L model which really suits the T500. The paint on the frame was touched in and a new seat cover purchased from Pit Replicas. One modification that was made was to move the ignition…

RETRO KAWASAKIS & SUZUKIS COMING! By the time you read this, the covers will be off a new Kawasaki retro-inspired machine. This will be a bike that draws massive amounts of inspiration from the early 1970s 900cc Z1: one of the most iconic sportbikes in Kawasaki’s back catalogue. Yes, Kawasaki has done this before with the early 1990s Zephyr range, powered by the GT range of motors but from what we can see it looks good and presumably will be powered by the Z900 motor with the appropriate ‘finning’ to make it ook like an air-cooled machine. Suzuki meanwhile is using its excellent small middleweight – the SV650 – as the basis for something funky. Last year the company revealed a lovely Rally concept which we loved. Well, this is…

RETRO RIDE BYGONE BOXER Manufacturers are really cottoning onto the re-creation of yesteryear’s brilliant bikes – BMW more than anyone. WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: GARY D CHAPMAN, MORTONS ARCHIVE So, I’m sat atop the BMW R nineT Pure C, a machine which BMW describes as a ‘purist roadster, for dynamic, classic riding pleasure on country roads’. The marketing blurb continues: “The R nineT Pure embodies the essence of the purist, classic roadster – authentically designed, without frills and reduced to the absolute essentials.” So, the Pure is the very essence of a good roadster, boiled down, updated and repackaged for us, the classic-riding masses. From my position aboard it, I’m feeling the ‘classic riding pleasure’ full-on. This bike is very good fun to ride. It’s all there, everything that you need…

The brilliance of the FZ750 Yamaha’s FZ750 is now starting to be recognised as a real 1980s classic, but it’s not always been so. Why? Well, it was launched at the same time as some rather amazing peers, most notably the Suzuki GSX-R750F, their two-stroke RG500, Honda’s two-stroke NS400R and Kawasaki’s ground-breaking middleweight, the GPZ600R. Out of all these amazing bikes, one of them had to lurk in the shadow of the others and – strangely – it’s been the FZ. And there’s no reason why… the FZ laid the groundwork for Yamaha’s later domination of the big-cube bike market. The DNA is all there… The 749cc engine is canted forward 45° for better weight distribution as well as to help the engine breathe through those fuel-pump fed down-draught carburettors.…

Project Yamaha RD250LC Pro-Am part 1 Niall’s a Pro! Our man Mackenzie tracks down a 250LC for his next project: a Pro-Am race replica! WORDS: NIALL MACKENZIE PHOTOS: MACKENZIE CLAN/MARK ‘WEEBLE’ MANNING Ever since I got involved with Chris Herring from the Circuit of Wales and IDP Moto in resurrecting the RD LC Pro-Am series back in 2015 I’ve had a constant hankering to own a Yamaha RD250LC. My success in the original series featuring the 350cc model inspired me to restore one a few years ago, so now I’ve clocked up a couple of 250cc Pro-Am wins I felt it was time to track down my beloved Elsie a little sister. I remember the 250 version being the first LC to land on these shores in the early summer…

Project Honda VF750F part 3 Capacity crowd! Sounds like our Jim has more cubes than he thought he had. That’s good, right? WORDS AND PHOTOS: JIM LINDSAY The final instalment starts with a confession. When I said this was a 700, I had failed to spot the clearly marked 748 cubic cm on the rear cylinder bank. It says VF700 on the chassis plate, it says 700cc in the V5 but somebody has slipped a 750 engine in at some point. Whoopee, I’ve got a bit more capacity and power than I thought. Boo, I’m going to have to change the registration document at some point. The bike was first registered in the UK in 1995. The speedo suggests that it was originally sold in the USA. I’ll do the…

James Compton Customs SUBSCRIBE TODAY SEE PAGES 36-37 FOR DETAILS I’ve been spending a fair bit of time in the ZRX community online since I started this project. And one of the most interesting bike builders I’ve seen on there has been James Compton. James is an ex-AMA Superbike crew chief, based in Texas, and he specialises in gorgeous ZRX1200 builds. As you’d expect from his race background, James’ bikes just ooze racetrack tech, with fabulous conventional tuning work in the engine and top-end chassis upgrades. His motors are a thing to behold, with mighty 1224 and 1255cc big bore kits, gigantic flat-slide carburettors, H-beam con-rods, polished internals, big cams and valves. All the very best in pre-fuel injection, normallyaspirated engine tuning. On the chassis front, Öhlins or Penske suspension,…

Project Big Zed part 2 Heart check-up! Our Ralph this month is assessing the Big Zed’s general health. WORDS AND PHOTOS: RALPH FERRAND Last month I started building the bottom-end of a fire breathing modified Big Zed. The original Z1 was no slouch, but this big block motor should chuck out some serious gee gees on the dyno when built. With an engine churning out so much more power than the original designer foresaw, it is essential that everything is in perfect fettle. The Big Z engines were massively over engineered back in the day and lend themselves to serious tuning. I’ll start this month with ensuring that the oil pump is tickety-boo. I tend to remove the strainer gauze first and ensure that it is 100% clean and is…