Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

Well, not quite ALL things, but we do want to make SOME changes to CMM from next issue. Firstly, we’ve listened to those of you who talked about your favourite things from other magazines that you’ve enjoyed. So, from July’s issue we have Kev Raymond, formerly of Performance Bikes fame, digging around on the internet for those things called ‘projects’. We’ve all seen them – and yet we all know they can lead to pleasure and pain! Often more of the latter… Please do let us know what projects you let go and sold, and tell us if you’d wished you’d kept them! Secondly we want you to SHOW US YER SHED! Next issue, Pip Higham will show us his. He’ll talk about his favourite bit of his workshop, his…

A good time was had by all at the Green Dragon public house in Northamptonshire, when Niall Mackenzie dropped in for the CMM and Classic Racer evening. Niall was interrogated by our own Bertie Simmonds about his career (Niall’s, not Bert’s) and around 40 fans dropped in to listen. As well as being kind enough to bring some goodie bags for all and sundry, Niall also ‘borrowed’ a pair of son Taylor’s race boots which were auctioned off for charity (see Letters pages for more!). Eventually a total of £809.46 was raised for the local Cransley Hospice. The big question is: Do you want some form of event in your home town? Something CMM and Classic Racer inspired? Let us know at the normal address……

Ouch! Oooh… Yeow! Arrgh! Bloody hell… The 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja and I haven’t made the best of starts together… I’m sure the bike was never as uncomfortable as this back in the day. I’m cramped sitting on the 820mm high seat… the reach to the bars is putting weight on my wrists like I’ve not experienced for some time and my knackered knees are crying ‘Enough!’. Meanwhile I’m trying to make sense out of this completely bonkers and at times utterly brilliant sports machine… It is ruddy crazy, way too much for the road and very reminiscent of my recent rides on modern sports bikes of 1000cc or thereabouts. The ZX-10R’s place in litre sports bike history is assured. Twenty years back we were eagerly anticipating this very machine.…

Yup, think back to the legendary VFR750F and later 800s, even the later VTEC models are just sublime. Then factor in the homologation specials like the RC30 and RC45 and (in this issue) we praise the Pan, Honda’s V4 ST1100 Pan European, so they can make great tourers, too. Of course, other manufacturers have gone with the V4 layout as it makes so much sense: they can be much more compact; they offer a smaller frontal area over an inline four; a 90-degree V4 has perfect primary balance; the design gives good torque and power; but V4s are often more complex to work on and more expensive for things like parts. But – well – the sound of a V4 is like nothing else. It’s probably no coincidence that most…

Around 36 years ago, a film came out with a dashing young US Navy aviator, who rode a bike that was already somewhat iconic. This became the bike that every young biking man (or woman) wanted to ride and look like: the cool dude aboard was called Maverick and he was riding the Kawasaki GPZ900R A2. Now with a small delay (more than 30 years) the new TOP GUN Maverick film has wowed so many. If you haven’t watched it, you should. It’s a brilliant sequel and in the first five minutes of the film there it is, the original TOP GUN bike in all its aging iconic beauty. It was right at this point in the film that I said to myself that I would become that man Maverick…

Last time I had started building the engine and had most of the bottom-end components in place. I had fitted a new primary drive chain, as it seems logical to do this when the engine is apart. But I thought: ‘What if I wanted to know if it was worn or not? How long do they last before they are worn out?’ A quick internet search gives a rough figure of 60,000 miles and the Honda manual gives a measurement of 129.78/129.98mm between the outside of the shafts, which makes no sense. But, it implies that a chain is worn when 1.3 to 1.1mm longer than a new one. I measured the old and new chain difference between 10 link pins (Photo 1) and got 184.02mm NEW and 185.08mm OLD…

Bridgestone is a household name these days and most of us will agree, the Japanese giant based in Kiyobashi, Tokyo, makes an awesome motorcycle tyre. However, a little less known are its ripping little rotary-valve air-cooled two-stroke motorcycles that were faster than pretty much anything on two wheels when they peaked in performance before production stopped in 1970. Oh yes, Bridgestone produced 50cc, 60cc, 90cc, 100cc, 177cc, 200cc and 350cc two-stroke models, the latter three being powered by parallel twin-cylinder motors. They were fantastic bikes, with class-leading performance and on-track success, but due to their high quality and expensive production costs they were expensive, and retail sales were lower than the other Japanese brands at the time. This, plus pressure on Bridgestone from the big four Japanese brands to focus…

FURYGAN FURY AIRBAG The Furygan Fury Airbag is an In&Motion airbag vest zipped into a compatible Furygan jacket. The brain of the system is an In&Box module, which is removable from the hard shell back protector for charging. Once it’s fully charged (three hours of charging gives you 25 hours of riding) just slide it back in its place,and double tap the power button to switch the airbag on. You need to register and activate the unit online, and pay for the subscription. Subscription costs £120 per year (or £12/ month) for road use and an additional £25 per year for track use. Another option is to pay a one-off fee of £399 for unlimited use. You also need a compatible Furygan jacket for the system – I used a…

It’s time: late June and the Longest Day Challenge looms large into view. In the last two weeks, and for the first time since I’d signed up, I felt good about it. Largely because I was sure I’d picked a brilliant motorcycle to work with – my bog-standard 51k-mile 1992 CBR600F-N… The event has run since 2013, and involves going from Land’s End to John O’Groats, in one ride, on the longest day of the year, on limited budget motorcycles. Oh, as if that’s not hard enough, you can’t use motorways either. Right you are. It’s not just a jolly – the event is a fundraiser for Cancer Research, and the accumulated rider sponsorship total now exceeds £300,000. The twin kickers of avoiding motorways and using cheap bikes really make…

Iam no rivet counter and I am more than happy to fit pattern parts to my bike, providing they’re not a King’s ransom to buy and of decent quality, right? For my favourite bikes, Kawasaki Zeds, I have happily fitted pattern mudguards that cost less from Z-Power than the eyewatering fees demanded by those who replate originals and are at least as good as those leaving the factory all those years ago. There are pattern switches available for some Zed models and whilst I have used them in the past, they really don’t ‘feel’ quite as nice as the originals. If I’m rewiring a client’s bike, I will usually fit these aftermarket switches because most people don’t want to pay my hourly rate to bring their original items back from…

EXHAUSTS This is the last big Zed with a four-intofour system and it needs to be there. Replicas are available but at £1300 so haggle accordingly. CHASSIS Benefits from decent bearings in both steering head and swingarm. Original examples will now be passed their sell-by date; replace with modern alternatives for better handling. ENGINE Tough as they come but if it smokes suspect valve stem oil seals as a first off. Cam-chain tensioners can rattle but are easily fixed. How times have changed – the one-time wallflower of the four-cylinder, DOHC, air-cooled, 1970s Kawasakis has now become the belle of the ball. No longer are those sombre brown and deep green candy paint jobs looked down on – the Z900A4 is suddenly very desirable. No one is punting out the…

Since the age of 16 I’ve had a fascination with the humble two-stroke – there’s something intrinsically pure about a motor with so few moving parts. The sound, the way they spin up, how they come on pipe, even that smell from the exhaust… it all puts a smile on my dial. Yes, okay, I freely admit my first dalliance via a Mobylette SP93 very possibly wasn’t the best start but the Yamaha RD200 that followed it certainly pressed all the right buttons. And somewhere between paying the hire purchase payments of the ‘Moby’ and saving for the RD I discovered performance two-stroke singles. To be more precise the weekly bike papers flagged up strangely dedicated individuals racing 250cc-plus single pot stinkwheels against much bigger, faster and more powerful twins,…

Last time out, I sorted out the brakes on my Stock 1976 Z900A4 project and fitted the 630 pitch rear sprocket to the wheel. This month I am going to kick off by reassembling the wet multi-plate clutch. This isn’t a difficult job providing you follow the rules. I tend to buy new friction plates and springs when building a new motor. They don’t cost very much and it is such a ball-ache when a clutch starts slipping so you may as well replace all the consumables when building the engine. I have always been taught that you should soak your clutch friction plates in oil before using them, but whilst I have always done this, I didn’t really know why. I asked a few friends in the trade and…

It was a bold return for a big name… In the early years of the Isle of Man TT races, it was natural that the British manufacturer would get involved. Triumph won its first race in 1908 with Jack Marshall, with a fastest lap of 42.48mph (and that’s even with having to stop to replace an exhaust valve…). More Triumph wins – some very notable ones – would come along, making names of the men such as John Hartle, Malcolm Uphill, Tony Jefferies, Mick Grant and Ray Pickrell as well as that of the machines, such as the famous ‘Slippery Sam’. By the 1980s the British motorcycle industry was in the doldrums until John Bloor bought the Triumph name and began motorcycle manufacture in Hinckley, with a model range launched…

We love this heartwarming story, which comes via a charity called Ambient Support and involves DK Motorcycles, suppliers of many a classic motorcycle part and machine. The hero of this story is Darren, an individual with a learning disability, who loves motorcycles. A while back, his team leader at a Learning Disability Supported Living Service in Staffordshire run by charity, Ambient Support, went above and beyond to secure volunteer work for Darren at DK. Darren told his team leader, Melissa Gadd, that he loved motorbikes, that his favourite rider was John McGuinness and his favourite bike was a Kawasaki Ninja (good choice, mate…). Melissa says: “When Darren first moved to the supported living service in Staffordshire, I discovered that he had a real passion for motorbikes and mechanics, so I…

My Dad Mike Evans always had a bike when I was growing up. Nothing with a big engine, but his all-time favourite was a 1979 Kawasaki Z250. Dad was and is not mechanically minded, so it was left to my brothers and myself to look after the cars and bikes in the family. I remember doing small jobs on his bike at just 14/15 years old when I was just starting to learn the motor trade, working at a bike breaker as a Saturday job. He also let me take it out on the road as I got older but eventually the bike had to be sold as the engine began to fail and we were unable to afford the repair costs. Whenever he meets fellow bikers, the only bike…

The beginning of the 1990s was a pivotal time for motorcycle development. Sports and touring machines were increasingly more powerful, fast but – disturbingly – heavy. Bikes such as Kawasaki’s ZX-10, Suzuki’s GSX-R1100 and Honda’s CBR1000 could top 160mph, while well-equipped tourers like Honda’s flat-six Gold Wing were even more unwieldy. With riders demanding more accommodating machines, something had to give. But manufacturers were not unaware of the trend. Towards the end of the 1980s Honda had been working on two new and what would become significant machines: the lightweight CBR900RR sports four that would appear in 1992, and to satisfy the needs of long-distance riders in continental Europe, a more agile touring machine than the Gold Wing. Development of the tourer that would become the ST1100 Pan European originated…

Good news, folks. I managed to get the original screen off eBay for £21 including postage, which was a complete bargain, especially as a new one on Fowlers would have cost over £200 when they were available. I removed the blue screen and disposed of it accordingly, reusing the old well nuts. After fitting the new screen I decided to give it a polish with my new cordless polisher using a medium grade cutting compound from AutoSmart to remove the light scratches and any oxidisation. Later on I will use this on the bodywork to refresh the paintwork. So next on the list is to change some of the less attractive looking fasteners that the bike has acquired over its 20-plus years with genuine parts. Fowlers had everything in stock…

Ever followed a mate’s bike down the road and thought: ‘Wait a min, what’s goin’ on ’ere?’ You can see the back wheel of your pal’s bike but there’s something wrong; it’s not quite following the front one, even a tiny miscue here is quite easy to see. If you feel brave you can crouch down in the road in front of your mate and observe the ‘tracking’ from the sharp end. Normal rules of engagement apply here: pick a deserted spot, preferably with as little camber as possible, and don’t get run over! You’ve been warned! As a long-time MoT tester I always preferred ‘the real world’ to theoretical and stationary tests. I always rode bikes and hit the brakes at about 25mph. This sort of test threw up…