Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

What makes a special, special? This issue has some very exciting news in it. Firstly, you can’t help to have noticed the trick-looking Kawasaki Z900 on the cover and here above. Yes, this issue we touch upon a company that builds specials based on Kawasaki Z-model machines which are tastefully updated for modern times, while keeping those classic Kawasaki looks. Also, you’ll find this month that world-renowned specials builder Allen Millyard is embarking on an exciting Kawasaki special of his own: a six-cylinder powered machine based on the Z900… To say we can’t wait to see how it turns out is an understatement! And then there’s our new 2020 search for the best special build and finest restoration of the year. We’ve teamed up with Bridgestone tyres to launch our…

cmm Stuff The latest riding kit, top tools, tyres, retro clothing and more ! LS2 VALIANT II HELMET The Valiant II features a 180º swing-around chin bar and is doubly certified as both a full-face and open-face helmet – so it’s legal to ride in open-face mode. We like this! Updates to this model start with an outer shell, which features re-designed aerodynamics for greater stability/reduced fatigue at speed. Ventilation has also been enhanced, with two intake and three exhaust ports up top, along with a re-designed chin intake. The Valiant is also LRP 3 Bluetooth ready, for wireless connectivity on the move. The 2020 LS2 Valiant II comes in sizes XS-XXL. www.ls2helmets.com CLARKE MOTORCYCLE SHED This thing is great for use as a storage area in your…

cmm News BIKE OF THE YEAR If you’ve built a classic ‘special’ or restored a classic then we want to hear from YOU during 2020. Why? Well, we’ve teamed up with Bridgestone tyres to search for the best restoration and finest classic-based special of 2020. Each month we will showcase either a special’s build or straightforward restoration in CMM’s pages and the owner featured will win a rather spiffing Bridgestone roll bag, which our esteemed editor says is a very handy piece of kit… As we move further through the year we will be working with Bridgestone to choose the best restoration and special, which will feature on our stand at The Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show over the weekend of October 10-11, where the winners will be receiving…

WIN Duchinni Sherwood Boots TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING, HERE’S HOW TO ENTER: 1. Go to www.classicmechanics.com 2. Fill in your details 3. Press enter 4. Sit back, relax and wait. Competition closes: 13/03/20. Good luck! There are no cash alternatives available. The winner will be the first name drawn at random. Terms and Conditions apply. To view the privacy policy of MMG Ltd (publisher of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics) please visit www.mortons.co.uk/privacy We’ve teamed up with our friends at Duchinni to offer you the chance to win a pair of Duchinni Sherwood boots worth £129.99. Classic full-grain leather boots, with a waterproof lining and zipper closure. Find out more at www.thekeycollection.co.uk…

Big Bert’s 929 Blade… Now, because I’m of a ‘certain age’ (that means much older than Boothy) it means I’ve had a lot of Blades pass through my hands… At last count I’ve had a 1995 Urban Tiger RR-S, a 1997 RR-V, an RR-5, 6, 7 and 8, and I also had two long-term loans from Honda in the early noughties of an RR-Y in 2000, then an RR-1 in 2001. My first encounter with the 929 was a very pleasant ride home before a big ‘litre-class’ sportsbike test Bike magazine was conducting on the likes of the Blade, Yamaha R1, SP1 and Kawasaki ZX-9R at Castle Combe. Where the R1 and the SP1 could come in for some criticism for almost being ‘too much’ on the road (even back…

CLASSIC EVENT Come to Cadwell Park! Classic Bike Trackdays and CMM – in association with Bridgestone tyres – have a weekend of fun lined up at Cadwell Park in June. PICS: MORTONS ARCHIVE CMM’s very good friends at Classic Bike Trackdays have joined forces with ourselves and Bridgestone tyres to line up a super-cool weekend of fun at Cadwell Park this coming June! Over the weekend of June 6-7, at the Lincolnshire track, we are offering some track time for classic machinery – most notably Yamaha’s RD-LC family of machines to mark Elsie’s 40th birthday. So, if you have an LC of any type, or even a later Powervalve, why not come along? You’ll be in good company, as CMM’s very own Niall Mackenzie has volunteered to turn up with…

BMW R1100 S Full Restoration part 4 Rockers and mods Getting the heads off has meant turning to the big toys for our own Ralph Ferrand and the BMW R1100 S… WORDS AND PICS: RALPH FERRAND I am back at the bedside of the R1100S, which is in serious need of somewhat more than a facelift after enduring 160,000 miles under the cruel whip of a giant Scotsman with a serious addiction for speed. With the owner clad in Rukka riding gear, the poor machine got no time off, even when schools are closed for the cruel extremes of British winters. While the machine has barely missed a beat during a lifetime of the sort of abuse that would surely kill a lesser machine, this one truly…

Yamaha FZ600 part 1 Fantastic Four! Oh dear… the temptation has been too much once more. Our (and the VJMC’s) Andy Bolas on his latest acquisition! WORDS AND PICS: ANDY BOLAS These nostalgia-fuelled purchases seem to be getting a more regular occurrence at the Bolas household! A few years back (ok, many years back) I had only ever ridden two-strokes! This was all about to change mid-1992 as I saw a 1988 FZ600 in PW Ranger, which was my local dealer at the time. I was very much in love with the twin headlights and silky white colour scheme, so when the offer of a test ride came up I thought it would be rude to say no. Now, bearing in mind every bike I had ridden…

Honda ST1100 Pan European part 2 Squeaking Pan Something’s going ‘squeak’ in Allen’s Pan… wonder what it is? WORDS AND PICS: ALLEN MILLYARD My Pan European started to make an intermittent squeak from the engine, but it didn’t bother me too much at first because I’ve had a similar noise before and it turned out to be the heat shields on the exhaust manifolds flexing from cracks around the mounting screws. A few days passed and the noise was getting louder and more persistent, so I removed the side covers from the fairing, but could see the exhaust heat shields were fine and the noise seemed to be coming from the front of the engine. My Pan European has done 88,000 miles so I thought maybe it…

What to buy and how much to pay As always, panel work is the key to purchasing a viable and successful Japanese classic; if that’s there then you’re on to a winner. A vast amount of RD250/350s swap over with little if any effort so it’s worth doing some research to ensure what you’re looking at isn’t a hybrid. Many a YDS7 was upgraded back in the day to become a YR5 but, as well as barrels and pistons, both the oil pump and primary rive are also different. Easiest way to spot a changeling is by the frame and engine numbers; YDS7 250s start 280 or 281, YR5 run 278 or 279. It’s also equally possible to run YR5 motors in RD chassis so do your research before handing…

Best of Bristol! For me, it’s an annual day out at the Bristol Classic Motorcycle Show and one which I always look forward to. After what seemed to be months of rain, the day had come for our trip to the Royal Bath & West Showground in Shepton Mallet and it seemed to be a fairly bright and clear day as I made an early start to pick up Peter Culver and Pete ‘Frosty’ Frost. With us having bought advance tickets we were aiming to arrive at opening time and indeed parked up bang on 9.30am, accessibility and parking being painless and well organised as ever! Once inside we always do a quick tour of the halls to get any photos of the bikes on show before the halls get…

** Prize winner****** Loved the Feb issue! Just wanted to say thanks for another great mag, and really appreciate the CMM team for personalising it specifically for me! Attached are pics of a couple of my bikes, so you’ll see why! And a couple of the latest project! The Mars Bar Elsie is pure nostalgia for me. The YZR replica (just like Niall’s) is a rocketship (Stan Stephens Stage 3, Zeeltronic, the lot), but the new YZR will be even more radical and strictly for the track! Probably. Chris Beadsmoore Bertie says: “Wow! We love those Chris – check out our Bridgestone/CMM 2020 search for the special and restoration of the year on pages 26-29 – you may be in with a shout of winning!”…

MAIN TEST Max Zed VROOM! The proof of the pudding is in the eating, right? That’s why we ride a very trick one-owner 1976 Z900 A4 from BuzzWorkz! WORDS: ALAN DOWDS PICS: JOHN GOODMAN We’ve all got that one special bike in our past, haven’t we? The one we wished we’d kept hold of? Maybe it was your first ‘big bike’ after passing your test, or something weird like a big two-stroke or a factory turbo, which you can’t really buy any more. Perhaps it was the first bike you bought ‘brand new’ from the dealership – with that indefinable smell and slick feel all over. I’ve definitely got one or two – including the Suzuki B-King I had as a long-term test bike back in 2008, and which…

Kawasaki Z550F part 2 Oil be fine! Our mate John gets all handy with the Multi Lube in his second part of the Kawasaki Z550F missive! WORDS AND PICS: JOHN VASSALLO Back to my latest purchase then, my 1987 Z550F! I bought it because it was cheap, and will hopefully give me enjoyment cleaning up, repairing and riding it. Since the last issue I’ve had a good tidy up of my garden, the reason being a man in my local pub (The Windmill) rebuilt my patio, hence he needed plenty of work space. This now tidy area will surely benefit me too, and the Zed! Wheeling the bike about on the patio reminded me that flat front tyre needs changing pretty soon. I was also careful not…

Allen Millyar Award-winning motorcycle engineer! Z900 Super Six is go! Our Allen is a man with a plan and the plan this time is to build a Kawasaki Z1/Z900 six-cylinder! I like to be busy working on a project, especially during the winter months when it’s usually wet and there is salt on the roads. I have just finished working on a Channel 4 TV programme, ‘Find it, Fix it, Flog it’, which has been taking up a fair amount of my time and I was now thinking about a new motorcycle project, but the problem was my mind was blank. I usually need something to spark my imagination, like a simple comment at a show or seeing a particular bike or engine in a magazine or on-line. While I…

BUYER’S GUIDE YAMAHA YR5 We think it's time for you to meet the RD400's grandfather! WORDS: STEVE COOPER PHOTOS: GARY ‘D’ CHAPMAN SEAT Natural latex based seat foam acts as a sponge if seat cover is perforated leading to rusted seat base. Trim strips incredibly hard to source. SUSPENSION Upgraded with modern shocks and uprated springs or even fork emulators get the best out of the race-derived chassis. EXHAUSTS Exhausts tend to get stressed if fitted badly. Get them mounted without stress at the barrel first then adjust at the silencer before nipping up the nuts back at the barrel. Rusting at the top mount is endemic due to poor plating. OIL PUMPS AND TANKS Check the roll pin on the top of the pump for security as…

Project Suzuki TS400 Apache part 3 Scoop scalped! The silly old fool has apparently found the bike of his dreams... in America! He’s about to be financially scalped by an Apache! WORDS AND PICS: STEVE COOPER Do you believe in fate? Are coincidences real or imaginary? Are parts of our lives preordained? I only ask because occasionally, just occasionally, the planets all seem to align and things mysteriously work in our favour. Just before I went on holiday (go on Bertie have another dig, ho-ho) I was idly perusing Facebook when, out of the blue, I chanced upon someone selling a TS400. This is indeed a rare situation as those that own Suzuki Apaches generally don’t tend to move them on, or if they do it’s only…

CLASSIC RACING Fast Berks ride again! PART 1 Our own Charlie Oakman went racing after being given a TZR250 2MA in boxes. This time he’s been bullied into racing by Bridgestone tyres’ Gary Hartshorne! But first, let’s recap… WORDS AND PICS: CHARLIE OAKMAN AND GARY HARTSHORNE In 2017 I came up with a hair-brained scheme to build, restore and race a 1988 Yamaha TZR 250 2MA that we had languishing in numerous boxes in Fast Bikes magazine’s lock-up. You may be aware of Fast Bikes, a sister title to CMM from the Mortons stable, which deals with all things new, shiny, dependable and dripping with electronics and rider aids. This is where I did my ‘motorcycle knowledge apprenticeship’, but had a hankering for something different. This was a monumental project…

cmm Marketplace Special K! Can a special made from a classic make money? Only one man to ask: Paul Jayson from The Motorcycle Broker checks out customised Kawasaki Zeds WORDS: PAUL JAYSON PICS: MORTONS There’s something beautiful and rewarding about finding an incomplete, iconic classic motorcycle and deciding to make something unique out of it, realising a vision and creating a thing of great beauty. Unlike a restoration, you don’t have to look out for impossible to find parts or be outbid on a part which hinders the build. If the part you’re after is snatched out from under your nose, then find something else that looks as good, or maybe even better than your original idea. It’s evolving and constantly changing. I built plenty of custom bikes when I…

cmm News GET OUT ON TRACK WITH CBT! Head to page 45 for ‘STOP PRESS’ news on our own CMM/Bridgestone-backed track day weekend at Cadwell Park in June. It promises to be one helluva event, but our chums at Classic Bike Trackdays also have a number of other events, so check them out! Suzuki Live promises to be a great mix of modern and classic Suzukis with road and race machines, parade sessions and much, much more! • Fri-Sat, May 1-2: Castle Combe (Sat = VJMC trackday) • Sat-Sun, June 6-7: CMM/Bridgestone Track Weekend, Cadwell Park • Sat-Sun, July 25-26: Anglesey • Sat-Sun, August 15-16: Lydden Hill • Sat-Sun, September 5-6: Cadwell Park – Suzuki Live! www.classicbiketrackdays.com for more info!…

CLASSIC RIDE BLADE SHARPENER Two decades ago Honda released it’s ‘sharpened’ FireBlade – known to many as the 929. How does it fare today? WORDS MIKE BOOTH AND BERTIE SIMMONDS P CS JAMIE MORRIS In the 1990s Jarvis Cocker gave us the advice to meet up in the year 2000 and that’s where I’m going today, by the fountain down the road… In the pre-Brexit Britian of 1999, we weren't worried about what would happen when we left Europe, instead we were a worried about whether or not the ‘Millennium Bug’ was going to mean we all had to buy new microwaves come New Year's Day. Thankfully, it was all just a case of ‘Project Fear’! Meanwhile, in the late 1990s Honda had been busy developing an all-new FireBlade which,…

CLASSIC LOOK SUPERSONIC ! Dave Ennis used to fettle Concordes for a living. But he works on different high-speed transport nowadays… Welcome to BuzzWorkz! WORDS: ALAN DOWDS. PICS: JOHN GOODMAN It was George Orwell who said that, by the age of 50, everyone has the face they deserve. Which is bad news for your scribe (and his editor), who are hurtling towards the half-century as we speak. But as I stand in a slick home-workshop in South West London, chatting with Kawasaki specialist Dave Ennis, it’s a quote which pops into my mind. Why? Because here’s a man who (at a bit over 50) has definitely ended up with the job he deserves. Dave’s a man steeped in aircraft engineering and motorbikes, who trained as a British Airways apprentice, straight…

RETRO REBOOT Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade With a new Fireblade out there, we asked Kar Lee to re-imagine the original from 1992. WORDS AND IMAGES: KAR LEE The new Fireblade has officially been revealed and it’s almost as good as ours. Tadao Baba’s 1992 893cc Honda CBR900RR FireBlade (cap B until 2004) promised a lot; the handling of a 750, the power of a litre bike – and they delivered on that promise. It was a gamechanger, stomping over bikes like the Yamaha FZR1000 EXUP and GSX-R1100 in the performance stakes and was aggressively styled to boot. With updates every two years, the FireBlade stayed at the top of the pile for six years until Yamaha replaced their outgunned YZF1000 ThunderAce with another bike that moved the game on – the…

PROJECT RICKUKI part 10 Rick’s return! Welcome back to Scoop and the project that has dug more holes over the last few years than JCB! WORDS AND PICS: STEVE COOPER How time flies! Yes, it’s been a year at least since CMM caught up with Project Rickuki and despite an apparent lack of visual activity, things are actually making progress. The truth to the ongoing engine rebuild is as simple as it is brutal; a lack of time, appropriate skills set and workshop resources mean I have to engage professional input to progress the motor’s rebirth. Some might argue that because the powerplant is just a simple two-stroke I should be rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in. However, for the same reason most of us are unlikely to…

Yamaha TX750 part 3 Filtration fun! Mark delves deeper into the engine and finds some rather curious things going on… WORDS AND PICS: MARK HAYCOCK After sorting the contact breaker bits, I did need to dig a little deeper with the Yamaha TX750. After removing the rather inaccessible and tiny auto-advance drive pin with forceps (Photo 1), I could take off the large circlip and that odd-shaped plate, then using a couple of 6mm screws, pull out the component underneath (Photo 2). The shaft for the contact breakers is actually an extension of the oil-pump drive and this component (called the rotor filter cover) stops oil from reaching the points – or is meant to – but it has been the subject of a Service News item.…

Project Yamaha YZR500 part 2 Master Blaster! With 160bhp going through it, the YZR clutch needs to be up to the job. Niall’s wasn’t! What else did he find lurking under the fairing? WORDS AND PICS: NIALL MACKENZIE The decision to give my YZR a full overhaul was mainly based on visual observations so it was no surprise that on closer inspection there was plenty more work to be done. It started with brake fluid from the front master cylinder seeping down the right-hand side of the nose cone melting the paint. Nothing can stop time taking its toll on seals, etc., so I knew there was probably much worse lurking beneath. If you follow my exploits in CMM you’ll know my go-to company for anything resto…

Guide to clutch basket shock absorber part 2 Shock tactics! Necessity is the mother of invention and we may have a solution. Read on… WORDS AND PICS: STEVE COOPER There has been a lot of research and head scratching going on since last time to find a viable material to use within the clutch shock absorber. Urethane seemed to come out top searching online (bet the missus loved going through your search history Scoop: Bertie) and speaking to tech-heads. However, sourcing something suitable proved to be irksome simply because there are so many options. Automotive suspension bushes were an obvious choice along with bike shock absorber top mounts. I eventually managed to source something designed to be used on mobility scooters and, crucially, it had the correct…

The plan of attack for the Apache Given the current condition of the TS400K I’m not expecting to have to do too much to it, but I’m pragmatic enough to realise it’s still likely to need some fettling. Unusually for a trail bike, the Apache runs 12-volt electrics so fingers crossed they will at least work even if the connectors and earths need a thorough clean-up later. Obviously I’ll need to check spokes for tightness, wheel bearings for wear and head bearings for rock, but I’ve a belief they’ll all be spot on, or close to it. One thing I won’t be taking for granted will be the state of the brake linings. Two of the three bikes I’ve imported have had what looks to be decent shoes but, upon…