Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

The venerable Honda V4s… We’ve majored on Honda’s V4s this month because – well – it just happened. We’re relatively organised at CMM and have a number of road tests in the bag (we only like taking pictures of people’s pride and joys during sunny months) so when I realised that we had Jim riding a VF750 F from the mid-1980s and John on a VFR from the mid-1990s it seemed a good idea to put both in one magazine to show the path of development between the two. With both Jim and John having been there back in the 1980s to witness both the ‘chocolate camshaft crisis’ of the VFs and seeing the resurgence of the V4 layout with the VFR in the mid-1980s and into the 1990s, who…

HONDA’S CHEAPER V4S V4 victory, that’s how Honda teased 1980s riders of inline four motorcycles to consider changing their motorcycle habits. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and it wasn’t until the VFR750 arrived in 1986 that confidence was restored in the V4 configuration, the rest is history. Honda gave motorcycling a whole range of new V4 models in 1983; their owners mostly gave them back under warranty shortly after taking out their HP agreements. Horror stories of chocolate cams were mostly associated with the VF750F and the largely forgotten VF750SC, other models were guilty by association and Honda was left with Creme Egg on its face. If you fancy buying one of these V4 models, chances are if they are running now then any mechanical gremlins have been long since…

News FAST FREDDIE GOES FOR SILVER! The David Silver Honda Collection will have a special guest attending the museum’s open day this summer. On Sunday, June 24 three-time Honda world champ Freddie Spencer will be headlining an open day, free for Honda Owners Club members. Fast Freddie was also at the museum’s opening back in 2016. The collection continues to grow from its original 150 machines. David has recently acquired five pre-used Honda Police bikes from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. They are currently being prepared for display in the museum where Cops’ Corner will be created! The collection already boasts a 1960s CP450 Police model and this will now be joined by a 1964 CYP77 Police; 1970s CB550 Police; 1970s CB750 Police; 1970s CB650 Police and a 1980s CBX750P…

“I own this VFR750F Honda” Gerry Glidewell, who owns the VFR750F-T that is the subject of this feature, is a man who considers his motorcycles thoughtfully. “I started out on Fizzies and Suzuki trail bikes in the Seventies like most of us, but could only afford one vehicle, and reverted to Ford Escorts,” he says. “But after starting again in 1992 I had a CB650Z Honda four and then a VFR750F-K, one of the early ones. I thought it was fast and smooth – you could pull in top from 25 to 70mph so easily – but was fairly heavy for most of my riding: I didn’t need a quick tourer. “That’s when I switched to CB500 twins: I had two of them. Later I had a couple of 650…

Model History 1982 Honda VF750S This was the first bike to feature the all new V4 750. It had cruiser styling and shaft drive. The engine ran anti-clockwise. 1983 VF750F The same engine, but running forwards not backwards and this time in a decent, sporting chassis with looks to match. Early models had top end problems. They were sorted by 1984 but the stigma stuck and the model was discontinued in 1985. CLOSE RELATIVES… 1983 Honda VF400F Amazing little bike: it featured TRAC, air assisted suspension front and rear, and inboard ventilated discs (an answer to a problem that probably didn’t exist). Frame tubes were round rather than square. 1984 Honda VF500F Pocket size version released in 1984. Tester Jim Lindsay wrecked the bottom end of one on a Honda…

YOUR TIPS! Fancy fork fing! I recently purchased a 1988 Honda Bros 400. Well, I’ve made my own fork seal tool! I know it’s better to buy the correct tool but I thought I’d try anyway and was really pleased with the results so I’d like to share it in case anybody else would like to do similar. The tool consists of a flat piece of scrap timber with a 44mm round hole drilled into the centre and a plastic push-fit plumbing fitting that I sanded down to match the outer circumference of the fork seal. It works with no damage to the fork at all! And the materials cost under two euros! The principle should be the same for any other bike, so if anyone wants to do similar…

A case in point… Our Project Yamaha RD350 is likely to remain work in progress for some time and one of the areas that, in my opinion, lets the bike down is the outer engine cases. Yamaha’s adoption of semi matt black cases was more to do with cost saving than looks. Before the RD’s forerunner, the YR5, Yamaha engine cases had been satin silver but this necessitated a decent base metal surface which added cost: using a flat black required minimal preparation prior to a quick blast of paint. Time and use had taken its toll on the 350’s cases so they’ve received the High Calibre Coatings treatment and how much better do they look for it? Mucho, I reckon! All the scuffs, grazes and missing paint are gone…

What to buy and how much to pay Accept that nothing is cheap any more in the classic world and you can begin to see why folk are asking £2500 plus for any Honda CB125T in reasonable condition and running with an MOT. Project examples with everything there start from as little as £500 with dog rough ones half that. Much beyond £2.5k and the bike really will have to be extremely good for that sort of money. Even though the CB125T falls into the ever-widening chasm of being perceived as a classic, the model is not in particularly high demand. There’s nothing overtly wrong with it but it’s not in the same league as, say, a Yamaha RD125LC or a Kawasaki AR125. At all costs avoid any example that’s…

WORK SHOP cmm Getting his bearings You can make sorting wheel bearings hard or easy for yourself, reckons Scoop. Let’s see how he did! Every motorcycle depends on its wheel bearings for a decent quality ride. Upgrade to the stickiest tyres out there, fit the best suspension available, blow the budget on adjustable fork-angle yokes but if your wheel bearings are knackered you’ll be wasting your hard-earned cash. In almost every wheel fitted to a motorcycle there’s two pairs of ball races carrying the entire weight of both you and your bike. Whether that’s a nifty fifty or a fully dressed Gold Wing your forward momentum is entirely reliant upon just a handful of individual ball bearings at any given moment in time. And those balls and the races that…

Black Cat Bikes! There’s a new firm building the oh-so-cool café racers we know and love. Black Cat Bikes is the name and its aim is to build quality, value-for-money café racer kits for Triumph's modular models from the 1990s. Jeremy Crowther is the man behind Black Cat Bikes and he says: “For several months I have been developing a kit for a café racer and now it’s ready. The kit is designed to make life easy building an individual-looking bike. Jigs and moulds have been made to produce the parts in small batches to keep the cost competitive and the quality high. Each kit is built up on a frame to make sure all the parts fit correctly. The rear sub-frame is constructed from steel and is supplied unpainted.…

SEE YOU THERE! May 2018 5-7 Llandudno Transport Festival, www.llantransfest.co.uk 6 Sammy Miller Museum, autojumble. www.sammymiller.co.uk 6 Yamaha Day Ace Cafe London, www.acecafe.com 7-12 Scottish Six Day Trial, Fort William: www.ssdt.org 13 BMW Bike Day Ace Cafe London, www.acecafe.com 16 JUNE ISSUE OF CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS 19-20 MCN Festival of Motorcycling Peterborough Arena: www.mcnfestival.com. 20 Essex & Herts Air Ambulance’s Spring Motorcycle Run www.ehaat.org/events-calendar 20 Romney Marsh Bikejumble: Hamstreet, Kent: www.elk-promotions.co.uk 20 Two-stroke Blue Haze Day Ace Cafe London, www.acecafe.com 20 Rattlesden Bike Show, Rattlesden Community Pavilion, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP30 0RT. 25-28 The Main Event: Santa Pod Raceway: www.santapod.com. 26 Bideford Bike Show, Devon: www.bidefordbikeshow.org. 27-28 Cheshire Classic Motorcycle & Car Show Capesthorne Hall: www.classicshows.org…

Super six-pots! Unwrapping the March edition of CMM I couldn’t believe the article ‘Super-sixes or pish-pots’, which I’m convinced was written for me! Back in December 2017 I purchased a 2000 Kawasaki ZX-7R, which came with non-stock Nissin four-pots. Being non-stock and after discovering that I was unable to remove the calipers without having to remove the front wheel and brake discs, in February I decided to change them for fully refurbished Tokico six-pots supplied by Powerhouse; and as your article rightly states, ‘the brake caliper experts’. So, armed with fully refurbished calipers and new Venhill hoses and aware that these calipers have a reputation for trapping air when bleeding I opted for reverse bleeding, a method that forces air upwards as nature intended. To date, I haven’t completed many…

Tweaking the twin: Its evolution and a rare beast Honda was only too aware of the CB92’s potential and offered a tuning kit that would turn an already potent road machine into a production racer. The race kit contained: megaphone exhausts, freer flowing downpipes, single seat, revised minimal wiring loom, tacho, starter motor cover, revised alternator, upgraded cam-chain adjuster, a selection of sprockets, pistons, carburettor, camshaft, coil, spark plugs, shocks, handlebars, brake vent, tyres, footrests, plus nuts and bolts drilled ready to lock wire. This kit then turned a CB92 into a CB92R and although some bikes are now sold as CB92Rs there’s little substantive evidence that Honda actually produced such a model. Those that know believe it was possible that a few specially selected dealers fitted…

Project Z1325 part 7 Exhausting times! Our Ralph is pressing on with the souped-up Zed and this time he’s shoehorning the frame into the chassis! WORDS AND PHOTOS: RALPH FERRAND It’s finally time for the dry build and the first job is to get the mighty beating heart of the fire breathing beast nailed into the now stiffened frame. I am way too old to be picking up heavy engines and will use all the mechanical advantage I can get my hands on. The engine was initially in my engine building frame on the top of a roller cabinet so that I could wheel it around and the motor could be turned around through 360° depending on which bit I wanted uppermost. I moved the roller cab next to the…

Project Suzuki GSXR750WT SRAD part 4 Golden Wonder Our Scottie is wondering what lies beneath the battered panels of his SRAD! WORDS AND PHOTOS: SCOTT REDMOND Getting under the skin of a bike will always reveal things that you were blissfully unaware of. My Suzuki GSX-R750WT is no exception to this unwritten rule, bugger! I know that my bike hasn’t had the easiest of lives, a dented frame and various track day stickers are the most obvious outward indicators that this Suzuki hasn’t led a pampered life, that’s exactly why it appealed to me when I set out to find myself a project. What more would I learn about my bike once I had taken its clothes off? Starting at the front I took the fairing off: the fasteners were…

Project Honda CB750 K2 part 11 Chain reactions Mark sorted the sprockets last month and found some odd things. Sorting the chain should be simple, right? WORDS AND PHOTOS: MARK HAYCOCK. We are now ready to fit the new chain to the CB750, and I shall take a look at a couple of very reasonably priced tools to facilitate this. First though, before putting back the cover over the front sprocket, I did notice that the electrical connections in this area (Photo 1) were not in great condition as the insulation must have shrunk after being heated by the engine for years, exposing the conductors, so I wrapped them with extra insulation in the form of non-sticky plastic tape: best to sort this out now, rather than by the side…

It’s my bike: Dale Rutherford It was 1989 and I finally convinced my mum that I needed a bike. I was ‘big boned’ and couldn’t see myself on a 50 so started shopping before my 17th. The choice was varied but then there it was: a 1988 CB125 TDJ in black with only 26 miles on the clock! I eventually got my dream bike for £1100 and couldn’t believe my luck. The TDJ was the last version of the bike produced and differed from the TDC in that it has the alloy wheels, CV carburettors, a better paint scheme and a clean silver engine instead of black. The little brother to the 250 Super Dream it feels like a much bigger bike than most 125s and I felt like a…

Cleaning bearings There’s actually no justified reason for changing bearings if there’s nothing wrong with them. The fact that many owners simply knock out the old ones and fit replacements shows just how cheap new ones are. You can clean bearings in situ but it’s messy and frankly a bit awkward. Whether you opt to remove the bearings or not here’s the SP: if the balls and races are protected by a metal shield then this can normally be carefully prised out. Some plastic shields can also be winkled out but take extra care here. Wipe away as much of the old grease and dirt as possible with a lint free rag; then wash out the old grease with white spirit or similar. When all of the old grease has…

Next month CBX REMEMBERED: John Nutting celebrates 40 years of Honda’s CBX1000 with former Honda UK man Gerald Davison. BMW R100 RS: Steve Cooper rides a very capable Beemer. SUZUKI RF900R: Top 1990s budget sports tourer! YAMAHA RD400: Scoop with our buyer’s guide! YAMAHA XS1100: One big Yam restored by a CMM reader! WORKSHOP: Specialist tools checked out by Scoop! PROJECT BIKES: Ralph is back on with Project Z1325 ‘Big Zed’ while also sorting his Kawasaki Z1300. Mark Haycock is further on with his Honda CB750 K2, while editor Bertie gets more stuff sorted for his £100 Hound Honda VFR750F. Steve Cooper is back with his Yamaha CS3C and Jeff Ware continues with his Suzuki RG500, meanwhile Allen Millyard continues with his diminutive six-cylinder race-replica build! AND MUCH MORE! DON’T…

cmm Marketplace The pricey Honda V4s Every month we take a look at the classic motorcycle market with a range of industry experts. This month, Paul Jayson from The Motorcycle Broker and our very own Scott Redmond look at Honda’s wonderful V4s: cheap and not so cheap! In the 1980s Honda delivered unlimited cash to the development of race bikes for podium domination. Perhaps the cash came from booze and tobacco sponsors back in those heady, carcinogenic days and Honda blew it all on delivering race technology to the public. In 1984 Honda delivered the VF1000R which offered 122bhp and one of the first machines with gear-driven cams, but it lived in the shadow of the camshaft failures of the earlier VF750F. Bad reputations travel quickly and the stink always…

Modern classics at S&D Motorcycles There are plenty of modern classics around now at dealers up and down the UK – and S&D Motorcycles is just one such shop. Scouring S&D’s website shows many an affordable modern classic as well as some real gems. Manager Ben Bradley says: “We have four GS1000s (one modified to 1062cc), KR1s Kawasakis, an RD 400 Yamaha, Triumph Daytona 1200, three Suzuki GSX-R1000 K1s, three Honda CBR1000Fs, a Kawasaki ZX-12R as well as a number of GPz Kawasaki models.” We will be riding some of these lovely machines soon. S&D Motorcycles is based in Brentwood, Essex. Check out: www.sanddmotorcyclesltd.co.uk…

SCOOPERMAN! The sunny side of the classic world, with the VJMC’s Steve Cooper How authentic do you want your Japanese classic? What is it that enhances its appeal? I only ask as, following two record-breaking auction sales, I’m beginning to feel a little conflicted as to what makes a classic super-desirable versus what detracts from its appeal. Recently a pre-production Honda CB750/4 sold for £140,000 plus commission, taking the bike to some £161,000 which is a lot of dosh by anyone’s standards. The bike looked a tad careworn, the candy paint had faded somewhat and it was hardly in its first flush of youth yet more than one would-be buyer saw beyond the ‘patina’ and decided that, for them at least, beauty was in the eye of the beholder etc.…

FEEDBACK Post to Mechanics, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ or email your pictures to editorial@classicmechanics.com Trails of the expected Scott Redmond should appreciate that one of the main reasons for the current demand for adventure/trail type bikes is due to a lack of young people taking up motorcycling. There is now a group of steadily ageing bikers who can no longer cope physically with cramped, high speed sports bikes. Keith Farley Bertie says: “Personally I don’t think it’s just down to that Keith, as the general trend has been moving away from sportsbikes, but we take your point.” Retro rumbles on… I felt I had to add to the Retro debate. I had to agree with Paul Weddle’s letter in the March edition, as if I wanted new…

Show us yours Jeffery Shallcross’ Mobylette and Z650 Okay, okay, stop sniggering. I know it’s only a little French moped, but it’s my first nut and bolt rebuild and one just like this, many years ago, got me hooked on two wheels, so being a fan of your mag rebuilds, when this rusty old 1974 Mobylette N40T came along, I decided to have a go and see what I could do. It was a total wreck and I nearly just chucked it away when I got it home. The engine was seized, chain so rusty the wheel couldn’t turn: nothing worked. The tyres and wheel rims were scrap, but it was mostly complete and when I got it all to bits, I started work and I felt a bit better.…

Origins of the Honda VFR750F PERFORMANCE TOP SPEED: 152mph STANDING ¼-MILE: 11.6secs So poor was the V4 engine’s image in the mid-Eighties that Honda was on the verge of abandoning it. The firm’s reputation for solid reliability was in tatters following a bungled response to problems that had emerged with its VF750F sports bike that was part of a complete range of sophisticated liquid-cooled 16-valve V4s. Camshaft bearings and lobes had been wearing prematurely but Honda failed to solve quickly what was basically a simple production issue. Yet the V4 range offered impressive performance (at a price) and reflected Honda’s dominance in road racing: Joey Dunlop had been the owner of the Formula 1 title for three years, but this wasn’t enough to compensate for the contempt that the public…

Why a 700cc Honda V4? Although the bike tested here has a retrofitted 750cc engine, it started life as a 700. The lower capacity was introduced by Honda and other Japanese manufacturers to bypass legislation introduced by the US government in 1983. At the time, Harley-Davidson was the only large manufacturer of motorcycles in the USA in a market dominated by Japanese bikes. Clyde Harnsworth, reporting for the New York Times on April 2, 1982, said: “In an unusually strong protectionist action, President Reagan today ordered a tenfold increase in tariffs for imported heavyweight motorcycles.” The action was intended for one purpose only, to protect sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. ‘Heavyweight’ meant over 700cc. The import duty went from 4.4% to an eye watering 49.4%. Vaughan Beals,…

CLASSIC EVENT Welcome back JR! John Reynolds returns to both racing and classic racing at Endurance Legends! The weekend of May 12-13, 2018, at Donington Park will see fans’ favourite and multiple British champion John Reynolds make his return to classic race action. Return? Aye… JR first got into racing riding his dad Jack’s Velocette back in the 1980s and loves his classics: he once owned a Honda CB900F which he bought BEFORE he passed his big bike test. Not only did John win the 1992, 2001 and 2004 British Superbike titles on Kawasaki, Ducati and Suzuki machinery he even took the wibbly-wobbly Kawasaki ZZ-R600 to the 1990 UK Supersport title! JR will be joining Team Classic Suzuki at the Endurance Legends 4-Hour, which takes place at Donington Park on…

WORK SHOP cmm Q & A Our very own wizened sages, Messrs Mark Haycock and Steve Cooper are here to answer all of your woes, be they Mudguard missive Q: My front mudguard has been re-plated superbly, however the underside will require some extra protection. What can I use? Chris A: The traditional advice would be to use underseal, but there are better products available now. Have a look for what is called Stonechip, which is a harder and more durable solution. You can get it in aerosols but a better result might come from a visit to a car body repair shop as they use professional equipment and products which should be long lasting in regular use on a car – and I take it you…

Project Honda VFR750 F-R part 4 Hundred pound hound! Started at last! Will he finally get a project finished? WORDS: DARYLL YOUNG/BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: DARYLL YOUNG/KAR LEE OK, I’ve not done much for the last year on my £100 Hound Project VFR apart from get you lovely people to vote on a colour scheme but I’m about to change my mind. The change has come thanks to the fact that I really need a relatively practical bike to use day-to-day. The idea of getting it painted up in these classic VF colours is great, but I want to get this bike sorted ASAP. Needs must and all that… To recap, a mate bought this VFR750 F-R about eight years back. It stood for two years until I bought it in…

WORK SHOP cmm High calibre coatings! If powder-coat and standard paint just ain’t good enough, who ya gonna call? Scoop may have the answer. WORDS AND PHOTOS: STEVE COOPER Just suppose you’re looking to sort out the running gear of your bike but wanted something a bit more robust than, say, the more traditional routes. Powder-coating is a fine thing but just like any professional finish it needs to be done right or it can create more problems than it solves. Two pack paint generally looks more like the original finishes and it’s very often the medium chosen for those who turn out show standard machines. But let’s say you want to build a good looking bike that’s also going to be actively ridden, in a variety of conditions and…

Project Kawasaki Z1300 A5 part 2 Well and truly sumped! Ralph gets the engine apart on his Godier Genoud Z1300 and doesn’t like what he finds… WORDS AND PHOTOS: RALPH FERRAND Last month I started dismantling the smoothly beating heart of my straight-six water-cooled leviathan Kawasaki. I have to mention here, that I have no interest in safe bikes with ABS, traction control, eleventy billion suspension settings and clocks that look more like an iPad; I want a raw exciting bike that has to be tamed. The Z1300 does that in spades, or at least it did before the water pump drive went south. When I left you I had just removed the longest cylinder head I have ever seen on a motorcycle and am ever likely to. At this…

Project Kawasaki Hybrid part 4 Arty farty… This month the old fool worries about the bike’s cosmetics! What is he like? WORDS AND PHOTOS: STEVE COOPER Well progress is being made and if it’s not necessarily by me then it’s by my mate Ian Bird, who has been cracking on at a right old pace. The 500cc H1 engine is now housed within the confines of the 250cc KH250 chassis and if you didn’t know better you’d have to say it actually looks right. And when Ian then dropped in the H1’s air-box and carburettor rubbers, two things were really obvious. Firstly, there’s really not that much difference in terms of inches or centimetres between the 250 and 500 motors and secondly, the KH’s frame has more than enough space…

Pip Higham Tuner, engineer, rider Make it shiny… on second thoughts… When I was a lad, I invested a significant proportion of my ‘spends’ on Solvol Autosol. This was a magic smooth white goop that arrived in a natty gold and black tube and put a lovely shine on polished alloy and chromed components. I stripped the paint and lacquer off most of the alloy parts on my CB160 and then spent a not inconsiderable bit of my waking hours maintaining that mirror finish, incidentally the cloth of choice to apply the aforesaid and buff to extreme shininess was unquestionably cotton Winceyette, as in old pyjamas. Nowadays I don’t enjoy the mind numbing, fingerprint erasing torture at all. I’m just not a fan of the mirror polish. Now I do…