Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

It’s fair to say I’ve never been the sort of person to be at the cutting-edge of fashion. By this I don’t just mean about clothes, or TV shows, but anything really. I like different, I like quirky. And many of us do... Bikes can also be unfashionable. In this issue, Steve Cooper talks about how the normally unfancied Moto Morini 350K can be a decent (and cheaper) substitute to the much-loved 3 ½. He’s right… it’s all of that bike and more – but for less! Other bikes pop up in the head for the same reason. Much as we love the original 900cc FireBlades, pre-2000, the last from that decade (RR-W/X) were the best of the bunch. But, because by then the Yamaha YZF-R1 had come out, they…

Last month we told you that three-time 500cc world champion Wayne Rainey would be riding his 1992 title-winning Yamaha YZR500 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed: he’s going to be joined by some old friends… Team boss and fellow three-time 500cc champ Kenny Roberts will be coming to Goodwood over the weekend of June 23-26 as well as Wayne’s two fiercest rivals, Kevin Schwantz and Mick Doohan. This will represent a real one-off event where these rivals will ride together for the first time in almost three decades. Schwantz, who was 500cc champ in 1993, the year Wayne was tragically paralysed in a race crash, had perhaps the fiercest rivalry with Rainey. He said: “Riding a 500cc Grand Prix bike alongside Wayne Rainey is something that has really underpinned my…

Rob Gooch’s Suzuki GS550 Your magazine has literally been a life-saver! Back in 2015 I was involved in a life-changing road collision, thankfully not on my bike. I was hit at a combined speed of approximately 90mph by a 40-tonne lorry on the wrong side of the road and I suffered horrific injuries. After King’s College Hospital saved my life, I was let home six weeks later. But that was just the beginning of a long road to full recovery. After multiple surgeries and a lot of metalwork inserted, I was able to walk, but sadly unable to ever ride again. As you can imagine I thought life as we know it was never going to be the same. After nearly four-and-a-half years I am still struggling to reach the…

PICS: Just thinking of the words Moto Morini will instantly conjure up a certain stereotypical image for many CMM readers of a certain age. Even if you’ve never owned or ridden one you’ll have a fairly standardised image filed away within the old grey matter. There’s going to be a cute V-twin motor beneath a red and black tank; a humped seat; side-panels bearing the curious ‘3½’ badge; flanged alloy rims with wire spokes; dropped bars; long, tapering megaphone exhausts; black-bodied gauges; and, of course, the iconic, twin-sided, single leading shoe, Grimeca front brake. This is, after all, the quasi-accepted profile of the rather special V-twin that inspired so much desire in the latter half of the 1970s. When importers Harglo went out on a limb and risked all to…

PICS: I guess we should start right at the beginning of this story… Before TAB II Classics, there was T. A. Baker, probably the most famous tank maker in the world (that no one had ever heard of, unless you were part of the ‘scene’!). Back in 1972 when he was just a mechanic working in the East End of London, Terry Baker became frustrated at not being able to find a lightweight fuel tank for his racing motorbike. Being the doggedly determined bloke that he was, he decided to give it a go making one on his own. For most people this would have been a major challenge, but Terry was a master artist with an eye for all things motorcycle, and so making the one just for himself…

Are you both sitting comfortably? Good, then I’ll begin. Back in the day, when we first took on the Suzuki agency in our little shop in the late 1960s, we sold a few Super Sixes. They were the subject of much press scrutiny, mainly, ‘Would they do the much fabled ton?’ (They wouldn’t, unless you count downhill with a following hurricane) but they were still pretty amazing. In fact, in 1967 one came third overall in the Thruxton 500 miler, ironically run at Brands Hatch! The next year the Super Six cranked it up a notch and another T20 ridden by Brian Ball and Gordon Keith finished second. In both cases they trounced dozens of bikes, most of which were 500cc and more! After the Super Six, which was confusingly…

Back on with the Z900A4. Last month I fitted the barrels over the pistons of this fine engine and shared a few of my tips and tricks to make it easier. Now is the time to fit the all-important cylinder head. The secret behind operations of this nature is to get everything ready and laid out, read the entire process in great detail from the Kawasaki bible, and have it open at the right page should you need to check anything. All mating surfaces were thoroughly cleaned with blue paper wipe soaked in brake cleaner. As with the barrels, there is more jeopardy, but this time in the form of not one, but two lots of cam-chain idler wheels that each have two little rubber dampers sat on their axle,…

PICTURES: For some reason, the GPX750R didn’t last long… which is a bit of a shame, but then it did lead to the ZXR series. In the mid-1980s the 750 class was where it was at, thanks to machines like the Suzuki GSX-R750F, the Honda VFR750 and Yamaha’s FZ750 – these were the cutting-edge 750s, which battled for sales alongside others such as Kawasaki’s own GPz750R and shaftie GT750. The GPX would be the range-topping 750, introduced in 1986, being liquid-cooled, 16-valve, 100bhp (claimed) and capable of 150mph, thanks in part to those ‘quirky’ aerodynamics. Out on the road the GPX was a real flexible machine, being able to handle both spirited riding and a two-up tour. In World Superbikes it won Kawasaki’s first race in that class with Adrien…

SENA 10C EVO CAM/COMMS SYSTEM There are safety arguments for and against being able to listen to music, communicate/make phone calls or listen to sat-nav while riding. I guess it’s up to the individual. The ability to take real-time video recordings of journeys is one benefit which prompted me to check out the Sena system, with the other opportunities for communication being an added benefit. The fact that the 10C Evo bluetooth communications platform comes with an integrated camera able to capture video quality at 4K all wrapped in a sleek, compact, aerodynamic design, sold it for me. Offering four-way bluetooth intercom up to a mile is another major benefit, particularly, on a personal note, as my daughter recently passed her CBT and is now able to ride with me,…

Yamaha has launched a new version of its top tiddler XSR125. Called the XSR125 Legacy, this gives a further retro twist to the entry-level 125cc machine which is part of Yamaha’s Sports Heritage range. The ‘standard’ XS125 was launched last year and has already proved itself in the A1 category with its high specification and reliable single-cylinder engine. It’s also got a Deltabox-ish beam frame and upsidedown front forks. The ‘Legacy’ adds style with its wire wheels, gold rims and distinctive paintwork. The XSR125 Legacy will retail for £4950 and be available from June.…

PICS: I was just getting into the swing of things, loving riding in Europe and buzzing from the anticipation of the trip ahead. And then I buggered the whole thing up by falling off the GSX-R! As I hit the French soil, I really wanted it to swallow me up. Masses of organisation, not to mention a fair few quid had gone into organising this gig. Getting four classic Suzukis, and seven people down to Spa to cover The Biker’s Classic event, demands a big effort. But my faux pas looked like it had just killed the prospect of it going a single mile further. What a prat! Toppling off a fully restored 1985 GSX-R750F at a standstill, in an abortive attempt just to get aboard the thing, was never…

PICS: It’s been a lazy winter for the Project Aprilia Tuono R – not anyone’s fault but my own, really. Last June I bought a Mk.II Aprilia Tuono, 2006, with about 34k on the clocks. Daftly, I bought it almost unseen (I turned up late and hardly had any time to check it over properly) and on the way to pick it up the dealer said the clutch was fecked so deducted more money from the price: result. So, with £2400 paid for it, it had to get a thorough look over by the experts – and by that I mean Griff Woolley AP at (Aprilia Performance) Workshops. He’s been running this business since 2008 and his current staff include the knowledgeable Steven ‘Snox’ Snoxall and Amber Victoria. My aim…

All the project bikes I have owned have arrived with a non-functional front brake and this CB450 was no exception. A look inside the master cylinder reservoir shows one reason (Photo 1), but as usual there are a few more besides. An external check showed that the flexible hose was perished but curiously the banjo bolt connections still showed the yellow paint which had been in the factory so long ago (Photo 2). The paint was a marker on various screw fasteners to show that it had been tightened correctly. Looking here, the lower yoke looks distinctly careworn but the hydraulic junction appears to be new: it is not, but just painted properly! I have found that the hardest parts of overhauling a long disused bike hydraulic braking system are…

Way back in 1979 there were no computers, no social media, no mobiles, no nothing really so how we got to hear about this new motorbike film coming out in the cinema was anybody’s guess. Must have been word of mouth or maybe the TV, but in any case we got the message and we turned up to our local flea pit to watch it. It was not a ‘biker’ film as such, it was more of a futuristic end-of-the-world movie but it did have lots of bikes in it, especially some 900 and 1000 Kawasaki Z-bikes…. I am sure you have all seen it at some time in your life and maybe it’s not aged well. After all, it was filmed on a budget with a lot of unknown…

It’s fair to say that ‘we’re never too old to learn’ and that’s true when it comes to riding motorcycles. We learn every time we head out on two wheels and that’s why the MCIA (Motor Cycle Industry Association) wants more of us oldies to set a good example and do more advanced motorcycle training. That’s why the association started a new website called ‘The Elite Rider Hub’ (www. eliteriderhub.co.uk) which carries a full list of all the available advanced riding courses. Tony Campbell, MCIA CEO, says: “As an industry we believe that better-trained riders will be safer riders and post-test training will be the best way to address this. Improving our road safety record will be key to the industry’s future. However, this is not just the riders’ fault,…

Often our passion for motorcycles comes from a loved one and more often than not, that person is a close relative: so it’s been with Steve Earnshaw. Steve’s dad sadly passed away from cancer, and Steve was left with an A-reg Kawasaki GPz900R. What started out as a restoration to get a useable motorcycle soon became a labour of love, with a lot of new and refurbished parts. Steve says: “Despite the money I’ve spent on it (more of which at the end) this isn't a complete nut-and-bolt restoration. However, a lot of new parts have been changed.” But first of all, a word on much-loved dad, John. Steve recalls: “My Dad was a self-taught mechanic and although he could fix things properly, sometimes he chose to ‘bodge it’ to…

PICS: Kawasaki traditionally has been ahead of the game when it comes to retro machines, styled to look like bikes from years gone by. It could be argued that the Zephyr range, which first saw the light of day as far back as 1989 in (Jap market only) 400cc guise, was the precursor to what we have today. They eventually spawned a number of 550, 750 and 1100cc versions and – thanks to supply and demand – the need for a machine which resembles a Z1 means that these have become classics in their own right and prices have reacted accordingly. But, move forward 10 years from a classic Zed and you’d be looking at something like a KZ1000R – the Eddie Lawson replica. Again, Kawasaki spotted the gap in…

When did you last see a really decent Yamaha R6? With the R1 stealing the limelight from 1998, the R6 (launched a year later) was also the bridesmaid of the Yamaha pure sports range, but up against its rivals it was the bridesmaid that got all the attention, if you catch my drift! It was racier than the CBR600F Steelies from before and more aggressive than the aluminium framed F-X model that Honda launched to keep itself at the top of the charts at the same time as the R6. Kawasaki had played things safe-ish with their ZX-6R G and J models of the late 90s. Maybe only Suzuki offered a genuine alternative to the lithe R6; in fact, some say the GSX-R600 SRAD was even better than the R6,…

PHOTOS: There was genuinely a time when riders seriously questioned the purpose of Honda’s GL1000 flagship – the Gold Wing. At its UK launch in 1975 few could grasp why anyone might want a one-llitre, liquid-cooled, flat-four that weighed in at 273 kilos… dry! It wasn’t in the mould of anything else out there and few could see a real and genuine purpose for its existence. Some 48 years later the original machine has sprouted two more cylinders and almost doubled in capacity so there’s little argument The Big Aitch wasn’t on to something special when its blue-sky research team first drew up the sketches. To date the GL, in all of its various guises, has sold over 640,000 units, which rather marginalises the Brits who simply couldn’t get their…

It's not every day that someone gives you an iconic 80s superbike. In fact, for most people it's not ANY day. But a good few years ago I was poking around behind a (nowdefunct) bike breakers in Corby, looking for parts for a ZX-6R-based special I was building, when I spotted a distinctivelooking tail-light poking out from under a tarpaulin. A quick tweak of the edge of the tarp revealed a 1987 Suzuki GSX-R1100 – the legendary 'Slabside' model. Well, the remains of one, at any rate... Pulling it out from its hiding place revealed it was missing its whole frontend, fairing, seat, exhaust and the top-end of the motor. Evidently it had been crashed at some point, wrecking the crank and the crankcases, then robbed of most of what…