Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2019 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

Turbo time and peaky blinders There’s something so cool about the way a power delivery can brighten your day… This issue sees Jeff Ware get under the skin of the best of the 1980s Turbo bikes and it’s interesting to read the comparison of the types some 35 years or so after they first saw light of day. I recall my uncle – a mechanic for Dave Fox Kawasaki (now, sadly gone) – explaining how the GPz750 Turbo had the same performance as the GPz1100 and how it bucked out of control on him on a test ride when the turbo spooled up as he hit a bump on the A2… Fast forward 15 or so years and this was in my mind when I finally managed to have an…

Marketplace Import-ant With this issue seeing a test of the rare RZV500R, we ask about the relevance of imports and why two-strokes are going up in value. WORDS: PAUL JAYSON PICS: GARY D CHAPMAN Is the Japanese-market RZV500R – and other imports – less valuable than the home-market models? The RZ with its ‘hand-crafted’ aluminium frame, restricted motor, gold wheels and self-retracting sidestand, is the holy grail of road-going Yamaha two-strokes. Yes, there’s an irritating red light that confuses the rider when it comes on at 55mph, eliciting fears that your two-stroke oil tank has run dry, but this can easily be disarmed and the bike can be derestricted so you can enjoy the full (claimed) 90bhp. There are conflicting stories about how many of these particular 500 fours were…

cmm News WIN WITH THE National Motorcycle Museum! A very lucky winner picked up a new, unregistered 1977 Norton Commando 850 after taking the plunge in the National Motorcycle Museum’s winter raffle. The raffle prizes were drawn by TT star Ian Hutchinson at the International Classic Motorcycle Show in Stafford. Winner Dave Street was understandably over the moon! Other winners included Gary Agar, winning the second prize of a Sealey electric/ hydraulic bike lift (worth £1500), and Clive Piddell winning the third prize of a luxury break at a top hotel. With this in mind, check out the prizes for the NMM’s summer raffle. “We have a stunning prize for our summer raffle by offering another brand new/old stock machine!” said Museum Director James Hewing. “This time it’s a…

Prize winner Sound advice… Have to say a big ‘thank you’ to CMM for giving me a bit of inspiration over the last few months. Like John English and his letter last month, I too have been checking your pages to see what’s what, what’s hot and what’s not! I’ve been away from bikes for a fair few years now (almost 20) and – while I can happily sit and look through your pages at old bikes I’ve loved, learned on and lacked mechanical sympathy for (I once blew up an old RD350LC by not caring for it or looking after it as a kid – I could weep now) – I realised that something more modern may be in order to get ‘rebooted’, so to speak. With the green…

RETRO RIDE OUT OF THE BAG The new ‘retro’ Suzuki Katana has arrived in the UK and a damp Bertie Simmonds splashes his way through Warwickshire. WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PICS: SUZUKI UK/JASON CRITCHELL I’ve been so looking forward to this, but to say I’m upset at the British weather is an understatement. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to this, the first UK ride of the new Katana and – in usual style – the weather really isn’t playing ball. As the rain hammers down on the roof of the large marquee we’re sitting in at the Caffeine & Machine in Ettington, I’m the only one asking questions like: “Why is the tank a pitiful 12 litres?” “Why wasn’t the beauty of the original clocks carried over to…

CMM TRACK DAYS Be an Award winner! Two CMM track days are taking place this year, but it’s not all about what happens on the tarmac – we have awards too! Classic Bike Track Days and CMM are going to be giving away some one-off awards at our two events this year. So, even if you don’t want a toddle out on track, why not attend as all classic machinery (we stick to VJMC rules of 15 years or older) will be in the running to get a one-off award! CMM editor Bertie Simmonds explains: “One of the highlights of our CBT/CMM day at Anglesey back in 2015 was the awards for the best bikes in show. This time, at both the CMM Cadwell Park (Sunday, June 30) and Castle…

CLUB FOCUS AIR COOL! In the first of a series, we look at the best classic clubs in the country: First up, those cool cats with cool Kats (and other bikes) of Air Cooled Suzuki. WORDS: JOHN MARTIN PICS: GARY D CHAPMAN I was in the Katana club and Old Skool Suzuki and they were great, but it was at a Katana event that I realised I loved lots of air-cooled bikes (and especially Suzukis), so I decided to take the lead and set-up ACS about eight or nine years ago as a result. We now have about 2000 members split between the forum and the thriving Facebook page. I love the fact that it’s such a very diverse range of bikes and people who all help each other. You’re…

HAYNES PRINT & ONLINE Project Triumph CRK Café Racer part 3 Digital trickery A change of plan means with the spraying of the CRK 1200 being brought forward, some electrical challenges can be met head on by Nutters, with mixed results! WORDS: JOHN NUTTING PICS: GARY CHAPMAN/JOHN NUTTING Electrical circuitry is simple, yes? Join up the wires between a lamp and a battery and, hey presto! illumination is provided. Or so I thought, with distant memories from soldering tiny nickel-silver models in my school days barely helping to meet the challenge I’d presented myself with the CRK 1200 Triumph project. If you’ve seen the first two parts of the project in CMM, you should be aware that I’d had the 24-year-old 1200 Trophy tourer stripped…

John Haynes: 1938-2019 John Harold Haynes was the man behind the Haynes publishing empire and sadly he died in February this year, aged 80. He was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) but his family moved back to the UK in 1950. Famously, the idea behind the manuals came about when John would duck out of playing rugby at school so he could re-build an Austin 7 into a sportier machine. The 17-year-old not only made a profit on the car, but wrote a book on the project, even doing the detailed drawings too. He would later take to the tracks in his own car and race. After National Service and further time in the RAF, he married – famously giving wife Annette a second-hand typewriter as a wedding gift.…

Comm-yew-nick-hey-shun What’s the most important thing in this place: a curt question from my third engineer when I was a pup in the Merchant Navy a few years back. “Erm... is it, erm... spanners?... or air?... dunno boss, gizza clue.” “Comm-yew-nick-hey-shun! I speak, you listen.” True dat, no question, but as with so many things in life, conveying a message to a mate is frequently easier said than done. I used to have a well trotted few lines about fuel delivery and the necessity to flow half a gallon a minute for safe operation of a well sorted GS/GSX. Less than that and top-end performance (is there any other kind?) would be lost, possibly accompanied by a toasted piston and fricasseed valves for pudding. The inevitable response was that when…

ADVERTORIAL No admin fees from the classic specialists When you buy a classic motorcycle – whether it’s a minty fresh white 1980 Yamaha RD250LC or a seen-better-days Honda FireBlade in the timeless red, white and blue livery – choosing the right insurer is vital. The last thing you need when you’re anxiously stripping down your new pride and joy to see what horrendous bodges have been perpetrated against it by previous owners is to discover that your new insurer has tacked on a few little extra fees for‘administration’and ‘document handling’. It’s important to have confidence and trust in your insurer – that they are going to understand the giddy highs and (occasional) bolt-shearing, paintwork-ruining lows of owning a beautiful classic machine from an era when manufacturers and owners did things…

cmm Stuff The latest riding kit, top tools, tyres, retro clothing and more! ARAI PROFILE-V This is the new helmet from Japanese giant Arai. The company says it’s improved the fit and feel as well as the ability to get the lid on and off by opening up the bottom of the helmet, while still retaining a snug fit. The Profile-V comes with a wide-vision, F1-derived visor, ready for the Pinlock lens system (anti-fog – it works) and its PRO Shade System, which is a flip-up lockable sun peak: Arai claims this is a better solution than the internal sun visor system adopted by many of its contemporaries. The lining is semi-removable (which means top padding stays in place) and ear pockets are used for speakers. Nice. It’s also fully…

Sandcast wins at The Quail Thousands of visitors attended the 11th annual The Quail Motorcycle Gathering and Awards Show in the US. Best in Show went to a lovely 1969 Honda CB750 Sandcast owned by Sam Roberts, who beat the 350 or so other entrants to this top award, held as ever at the Quail Lodge & Golf Club. The event marries the best in classic motorcycling as well as some awesome food! Next year’s event is already set for May 16, 2020. For more go to: www.peninsula.com/en/signature-events…

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 Colin Oldroyd’s 1982 Kawasaki GPZ550H This was bought in 1988 in a very rough condition, then tidied up and ridden for 10 years before being resprayed in 1997 in RAF fire engine red colour. I then sold it in 2007 after a motorbike accident on another bike and regretted selling it. I then tried for 10 years to buy…

MAIN TEST TURBO TIME! WORDS: JEFF WARE PHOTOS: HEATHER WARE The 1980s was a special time for motorcycling, but the years that interest me the most are 1982 – 1984, the turbocharger era… It was an era when the Japanese went nuts over forced induction. Yes, the machines that the short-lived bikes were based on were largely old tech: push-rods, air-cooled, two-valves per pot and carbs. Soon they would be replaced by normally aspirated machines with better performances. You’ll spot below that the machine missing from my test is the Suzuki XN85. In my opinion the Katana-styled 673cc 85hp bike was an epic fail and the most unreliable and poorly selling turbo bike ever. They used to break down all the time and the turbochargers would…

RETRO REBOOT Yamaha R1-Z V4 500 edition In a pixelated world you can build anything you like, so we came up with this not-so-subtle reboot of the humble Yamaha R1-Z 250. WORDS AND IMAGES: KAR LEE Big, sporty naked bikes are all the rage right now. Yamaha MT-10s, Aprilia Tuonos, Ducati Monsters and KTM Super Dukes all live in a buoyant wind-in-your-face market. With their 160bhp power outputs they make grunty real-world propositions and track day performers that can live with all but the fastest hardcore sportbikes. But what if there was a sporty naked that trumped them all for silliness and sheer lunacy? A bike so ridiculously light and powerful you could end up in a hedge faster than you could bend a set of reed stops back? We…

Project Yamaha Fazer 600 part 2 Cam-chain of fools! Al has picked up a neglected Fazer to pass the time while his turbo ZRX is at the exhaust welders. He’s made a mixed bag of discoveries this month. Would you like the good news or the bad news first? WORDS AND PICS ALAN DOWDS So, on with my rather neglected 43k mile T-reg Fazer 600: I’m going to start with the good… As we covered last month, the first issues to look at are the rattly cam-chain and the leaky carbs, so I charge down to Wokingham with a car boot full of tools and cameras. Big CC obviously has a wall of Snap-On tool chests, but as we know, there’s nothing like your own tools, even…

BUYER’S GUIDE YAMAHA RD200 Yamaha’s last roll of the dice for the RD200 proved to be a good one with the ‘coffin-tank’ model. WORDS: STEVE COOPER PHOTOS: GARY ‘D’ CHAPMAN SEAT BASE & GUARDS Spares are rarer than rare, so ensure what’s there is at least salvageable. EXHAUST SYSTEM Manyperiodexpansion chambers were sold as 125 & 200-compatible, so likely to be a performance compromise. Standard pipes are best option. REGULATOR/STARTER RELAY Poor starting and/or charging generally down to contacts inside gold-coloured box under right-hand side-panel. Carefully clean and adjust as per factory settings. CARBS Spares for the Tekei units are hard to find and generic repair kits might not necessarily contain the correct jets. MASTER CYLINDER Always worth renewing fluid and potentially overhauling, especially if the bike has sat unused…

Project Kawasaki Z650 part 2 Welded bliss! Ralph is back with the clutch conundrum for the Kawasaki Z650 belonging to She Who Must Be Obeyed! WORDS AND PHOTOS RALPH FERRAND Last month I introduced my wife’s Stinky. For those who are not in the know, Stinky is the moniker afforded to her bitsa Z650, which has caused me mountains of work and frustration over the years. As with many Z650s of the period, the sidestand is a bit bent and the bracket welded to the frame is a bit cream crackered, so it leans over far more than Ben Inamura at Kawasaki Heavy Industries ever intended. Consequently, the VM series Mikuni carbs are unable to keep the contents of their float bowls to themselves and dribble it…

Project Team Allspeed part 3 A right wind-up! Power-crazed Tony is doing his nut over how to power two pretty beefy headlights, until he gets a West Country wind-up! WORDS AND PHOTOS: TONY GREENSLADE I am happy that the bike works and handles well after the races at Brands Hatch, which is a result! Our attention now turns to how we can power these big spotlights on the bike. A standard TZR250 puts out about 80W to power the very dim single bulb headlight. Our twin spotlights will need double that. One option is to use an aftermarket ignition system that offers a high output generator. However, we have always found the standard Yamaha ignition system to be very reliable. My thoughts are always to stick to…

cmm Archive Mick and the RZV With this month’s test on the rare Yamaha RZV500R, we figured we’d show this as-rare shot from Mick Doohan’s own archive of the time he rode one. In the mid-1980s and with Mick’s riding raising a few eyebrows, the young Aussie hooked up with Jon MacGillvray, who owned a Yamaha RZV500 that he ended up putting Doohan on. The two would become firm friends and Jon would later become Mick’s manager. In 1985 they had a great idea: paint the bike in camouflage, make Mick ride in leathers with camo overalls on (‘I’d puff up like the Michelin man’) and erect a military-style tent where the team could hang out and enjoy some beers with a barbecue. A year later the camo was gone…

cmm Tested Riding kit ridden in, tools twirled & tyres tested ERBAUER CORDLESS DRILL Seventy quid doesn’t seem to buy you much these days but this Erbauer brushless, cordless, 18-volt drill has to be a genuine Barry Bargain. Super light to use yet packed with power, it’s the business – whether you’re drilling out a broken stud on your bike, removing a screw head or taking off some old paint with a flap wheel. You get the drill, two batteries, a charger and a decent case. I’ve tried damn hard to kill it over the last year but have failed spectacularly so it comes highly recommended. Steve Cooper From £69.99: www.screwfix.com ERBAUER DRILL BITS Does 150 drill bits for less than 30 quid sound too cheap? Don’t let the price…

MIRA FILES MASTER BLASTER! Yamaha’s 500cc V4 two-stroke was in 1984 the first bike to offer the average rider the experience of what a Grand Prix racer might be like. John Nutting enjoys a blast on the special Yamaha RZV500R. WORDS: JOHN NUTTING PICS: GARY CHAPMAN, JOHN NUTTING We’ve grown so accustomed to being able to buy sports machines that have been homologated for racing that it’s hard to remember that there was a time we could only dream of the idea. Superbike racing has reached a pitch where more than a handful of factories offer road bikes that are potential winners on the track. And with enough cash, you can buy replicas of MotoGP V4s like the Ducati Desmosedici or Honda RC213V-S: we’re spoilt rotten. But it was a…

A spotter’s guide to 500cc Yamaha two-stroke road bikes The Yamaha RD500LC was launched at the Milan Show in 1983. The first model year was 1984 with the 47X version having engine numbers from 000101 to 014000. The 1985 model was designated 1GE with engine numbers from 000101 to 030000. Small detail differences were included on the 1GE but the widely mentioned change to the balance shaft drive is untrue, says Stan Stephens, and he’s worked on more than a few. A few of the 1985 machines were sold in the following year, and that was it. The RZV500R Japanese market version designated 51X differed by using an aluminium-alloy frame, forks with damping adjusters, a fuel gauge and a speedo with a red warning lamp that illuminated at 55mph. The…

The kitchen zinc… When it comes to zinc plate, you only get good results with decent preparation! Scoop talks about preparing for zinc plating. WORDS AND PICS: STEVE COOPER Nothing is cheap when it comes to old bikes, but if you do some of the preparatory work before handing the parts over to specialist refinishers you might very well save yourself some cash. Zinc plating is probably one of the least expensive jobs you’ll encounter when it comes to restoring an old bike, but that doesn’t automatically mean you should cut corners. The old computing acronym – GIGO – is very apposite: Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you hand over a box of cruddy parts covered in chain oil, road dirt, rust and heaven knows what else, the parts you…

Project Kawasaki Hybrid part 7 A bit of push and shove Scoop’s Kawasaki Hybrid engine is doing the hokey-cokey this month. WORDS AND PICS: STEVE COOPER Projects: you have to love them. It really doesn’t matter if you’re doing a pin-point, 100% perfect show bike or just fettling that long term rider… they all have the power to go belly-up on occasion. The first major niggle to blight the project was finding one of our carefully selected barrels had a crack in it. Amazingly this priceless piece of Kawasaki ephemera had been looked at by five pairs of eyes and was only spotted when the cylinder had a first cursory pass on the boring bar. Closer inspection revealed a gudgeon pin may have tried to make a…

What to buy and how much to pay For once you’ll be looking either within the UK or to Europe, as these later RD200s never made it to the US of A. Basket cases in packing crates and cardboard boxes can be a royal pain of epic proportions, especially if some numpty has lumped in some period RD125 stuff. While the smaller bike’s parts look like they should fit, most of them won’t. Trust us when we say you don’t want to chance a 125 Autolube pump on a 200! Similarly, look out for contemporary RS200 barrels with their uniquely angled inlet tracts and strange absence of reed-valves… you don’t need a top-end from one of them either. A wheelable project with all the correct stuff has to worth at…

Yamaha FZS600 Fazer In timely fashion, Scottie Redmond breaks a Yamaha Fazer. Are you listening Alan Dowds? WORDS AND PHOTOS: SCOTT REDMOND This was once the best budget-priced sensible middleweight that you could buy, it offered better specifications and build quality than the Suzuki Bandit 600, whose throat it was designed to go for. The FZS600 Fazer 600 is one of those bikes that ticks so many boxes, it makes a great first big bike post test, a wonderful second bike for when you don’t want to risk your pampered classic bike and it doesn’t look too shabby either! Little wonder our own Alan Dowds got one. I hope he’s reading this to find out the scores on the doors for old parts. Prices for decent bikes start from around…

Project Honda CL350 part 3 Advancing on! Mark is now speeding ahead with his shakedown of the Honda CL350. WORDS AND PICS: MARK HAYCOCK After sorting out the oil filter I needed to fill up with oil, as the sump was apparently empty. The oil capacity is just two litres, the level being checked with a dipstick. You rest the top on the crankcase hole to set the dipstick position for checking, rather than screwing it all the way in and out again. I did briefly mention the contact breakers last time and one area I should have mentioned was the auto-advance unit behind the points. Although the mileage was very low, this bike had probably been out of action for years so I think it is…