Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

I just love nostalgia and I got a long slug of it in this issue thanks to two of the bikes we have on test this time round. My first-ever road test for the weekly motorcycle newspaper I once worked on was a Yamaha Virago – an XV535 to be fair, and not the 1100 we’ve got in our pages, but I still can’t help but have a little smile when I see one of any capacity. They may not have been the coolest choice of bike in the 1990s when I was cutting my teeth as a bike scribe, but they’ve sure been popular in all their various cubic capacities for those that want a custom machine that fits their needs. And then there has been the Honda CB1300.…

MOTOART MOTOFLATOR I love things that are compact but still pack a bit of welly – like small bikes, terriers and cats – and this Motoflator is one such creature. While I do have a couple of foot-pumps and two bicycle hand pumps for sorting out tyres on cars, motorcycles and push-bikes when I’m feeling masochistic, for swift inflation with no fuss, the 12-volt ‘cigar socket’ mini-pump is ideal. For a few quid you can buy something from Halfords that stores in the boot and in the garage, and it’s always there if you’re suddenly caught short of PSI in the old boots. And so it has always been thus: I always have one stored in the boot of the car and one in the garage – but I’ve never…

Last issue we had a Classic Ride on the saucy Langen Two-Stroke, but now there’s this – the Langen LS12 Turbo! The firm say this has been on the stocks since day one of the company and is based on their 1190cc V-twin Lightspeed model. They also state they want this bike (AKA the Lightspeed Turbo) to (like their other machines) ‘…bring iconic designs and engineering from the past and applying the latest technology, materials and manufacturing processes.’ So, expect that – like their Two-Stroke – this bike will take the super-cool ethos of bikes from the 1980s turbo era such as the GPZ750 Turbo/Z750T, CX500/650 Turbo and XN85 Turbos, but meld it with thoroughly modern engineering principles and styling. The firm’s press release states that with the standard Lightspeed…

The last bike ridden by Dave Myers of ‘The Hairy Bikers’ fame is to be auctioned for charity. Anyone who enjoyed The Hairy Bikers TV shows will know that Dave – alongside mate Si King – appeared in the final series riding a new, retro BSA Gold Star. The touching final series ‘The Hairy Bikers Go West’ was shown just prior to Dave’s passing from cancer. The very bike used by Dave in the final series will be auctioned at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull on Wednesday, March 26. Proceeds from its sale will go to CancerCare North Lancashire & South Cumbria and the NSPCC Childline charities. Dave fought a long battle against cancer but sadly died in February last year. The auction of his beloved BSA Gold Star…

‘Specials’, or motorcycles that are real rare Sometimes they can look lovely but perform poorly, or become time and money pits to get right. Yup, they are often a real ‘labour of love’. ‘one-offs’, can be delightful or disastrous. We’ve often championed Kar Lee/Kardesign’s beautiful recreations of classic motorcycles in the pages of CMM and these two bikes you see before you could almost be the work of the master himself. Instead, they use existing modern Yamaha styling and are the work of David Wright (dilly dilly Dave to those of you in the LC world) and Roger Scott. Their bikes are a thoroughly modern take on the Yamaha RD350LC YPVS, that look like they are straight from a Yamaha dealership of the 2020s… The overall ‘look’ of these bikes…

I bought the XV1100 as a late 60th birthday present to myself. Turning 60, I had a 1980 Honda CB900 that I had owned for six years. My wife wasn’t too keen on the Honda as the seat height was quite high and it took a huge effort by her to get on it. Having slipped while attempting to get on and falling backwards she dislocated her left wrist, fracturing it in three places. Obviously after several weeks in a plaster cast plus weeks of physiotherapy, she was not in any hurry to get back on the bike. So, we went window shopping for something with easier access. Having spotted the 1996 Yamaha XV1100 Virago I was impressed at how smart it looked and we both said yes! Sitting on…

Suzuki very possibly over-egged the pudding when it was pinning TC prefixes to some of its motorcycles. While the smaller-capacity machines very possibly had some genuine off-road capabilities, the TC200 Stingray, TC250 Scrambler and TC305 Laredo were little more than window dressing existing road models as something they patently weren’t. Fortunately, this month’s subject matter is a ‘true TC’ in every sense – the super-cute single is a properly validated dual-purpose motorcycle. Sold in the USA market as the ‘TC120 Cat’, it was soon referred to as the Suzuki Trail Cat thereby supposedly legitimising the TC moniker. The bike had a short model run of just two years (1969/1970) before being eclipsed by other trail bikes that were arguably better equipped for the task in hand. In essence the TC120…

G’day! Yes, it has been ages, I am sorry about that. Injuries, surgeries, prioritising the Bridgestone BS90, the kid’s motocross bikes that constantly need work, getting my FireBlade running, keeping Bruno the HB RG250 running, and lack of finances all got in the way of Slabby 3… Well, I am pleased to say after making the difficult decision to sell Bruno, now I have the funds freed up to finish the 750. It was a tough choice to make but came down to which bike means more to me, Bruno the HB, or the GSX-R750F. As I had never owned an RG250 in the past, I have to say I was not that emotionally attached to it. I had ridden it for a year, had my fun, and anyway I…

It could well be argued that – 50 years ago in 1975 – things were finally coming together for the 25-year-old Barry Sheene, but his most successful year to date wouldn’t come without cost… Barry was one of the favourites for the Daytona 200 held in Florida, in March, a race that was a traditional precursor to the main grand prix season and a rather prestigious one. It was here that, perhaps, good and bad luck combined to send Sheene’s popularity into the stratosphere. Bad luck, because hiss Suzuki TR750 would suffer the lock-up of the rear wheel at an estimated speed of 178mph; the bike was geared for around 180 on the Daytona circuit’s notorious banking. Initially the thought was that the rear tyre delaminated, but since then other…

There is lots to see at the International Classic MotorCycle Show sponsored by Carole Nash, held over the weekend of April 26-27. Held once again at Stafford County Showground, this year’s special guest is TV biker and restorer Henry Cole. Henry (and friends) are well known, thanks to his shows including ‘The Motorbike Show’, ‘Shed and Buried’ and ‘World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides’. Henry will be around being interviewed on the main stage during the weekend. And that’s not all. The show’s big theme is celebrating 100 years since the launch of the Brough Superior SS100 and it’s hoped the show will include the world’s largest-ever public display of these amazing machines – around 20 in total, including some of the rarest and most famous Broughs ever made. Among the iconic…

Cold War Wheels returns to the Yorkshire Air Museum for the third time – bigger and better than ever. It’s a celebration of bikes and cars from the 60s, 70s and 80s, a time when East and West were engaged in a stalemate that neither side wanted to break, for fear of nuclear war. Against the backdrop of Mutually Assured Destruction, car and motorcycle manufacturers designed some of the most iconic two- and four-wheeled machinery of all time. Oh, and the Kawasaki GPz305 and the Morris Ital. Cold War Wheels brings together two- and four-wheeled legends from that time, in front of the Yorkshire Air Museum’s collection of Cold War jets, including the mighty Victor and Nimrod, and the legendary Buccaneer low-level bomber. It’s a great day out (exhibitors get free…

Believe me when I say this, but big CAN be beautiful. Chunky can be cool, rotund can be rambunctious, and hefty can be heaven. A man of my size will obviously say this, but it’s true, well, sometimes. My final school PE report noted: ‘For a lad of his size Robert is to be commended, for while the mind is willing, the body often is not.’ I like that, because, actually, we can often overcome certain physical difficulties thanks to the strength of the mind, or strength of character. And I think some bikes are like that and I’m riding one: Honda’s CB1300. This is a bike which ‘should’ just be a bit of a pose-mobile, because it harks back to an earlier era and leans on the shoulders of…

Swrote to editor Bertie a fair while ago and asked when we were going to throw some aged limbs across Japanese factory custom bikes – so in response, here we are. At the time of this photo shoot, it’s the height of the British summer (Bertie doesn’t allow riding people’s pride and joys in winter) and yet (as you might reasonably expect) Mother Nature has thrown all four seasons into one day. It may be hot right now but there are some heavy clouds amassing, which isn’t necessarily the weather of choice for riding a machine that’s going to take a lot of cleaning if it gets dirty. Fortunately, owner Ron doesn’t seem too concerned and Gary ‘the Lens’ Chapman is delighted with the moody backdrop afforded by the potentially…

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Having stripped the bike down, the frame, swingarm and other odds and ends were sent off for powder-coating. The aim with this project was not to build a concours example, but to end up with the appearance of a virtually new bike. With this in mind, the top yoke was not powder-coated but aerosol sprayed for a satin black finish (as per the original bike back in the day). While the powder-coating was being undertaken, attention turned to the front forks, the stanchions of which had suffered from corrosion in the past and been ‘treated’ to what seemed to be a wet’n’dry session to remove the pitting. Needless to say the oil seals hadn’t taken well to working with the ‘improved’ surface and leaked noticeably. Previous bad experience with replated…

When Z-Power recently vacated its premises in Leigh and moved to bigger premises in Huddersfield, the opportunity arose for me to make the small step, from rebuilding nut and bolt perfect Z1 restorations, to build tributes to Sanctuary styled ‘retro-mods.’ This range of bikes will be known as the RDM-Range and I am building just five bikes to showcase the different styles and options, The first five bikes will be numbered from RDM-Z1 TO RDM-ZV. The concept is relatively simple. Graft the front-end and the rear-end of a Kawasaki ZRX1200 into a 1970s Z1000 frame with the aid of bespoke billet yokes. Improve the braking and suspension and give the bike that classic retro-mod, muscle bike look. It sounds simple, but it’s not as there are minor and major modifications…

Following on from the successful evening with multiple British champ John Reynolds, another star will be at a Kettering pub being quizzed by Classic Motorcycle Mechanics editor Bertie Simmonds. Keith Huewen is a former superbike and grand prix racer; he took second place at the 1981 British 350cc grand prix. Following the end of his race career in 1985, he’s carved out a career as a top-notch commentator, most notably with BT Sports/TNT where, until recently, he was one of the main anchors. He’s got plenty of stories from his racing and commentating career to keep you entertained! The night is Monday, April 28 and tickets cost £15. The pub is at 48 Woodland Avenue, Barton Seagrave, Kettering NN15 6QP and for more information go to: www.thestirrupcupbartonseagrave.co.uk or email: info@thestirrupcupbartonseagrave.co.uk.…

Colin Hill says: “So, it’s February 8, 1965 (60 years ago) and I push my BSA C15 out on to a frosty road, very early in the morning so no one was about to see my first attempt at changing gear! It was a great moment that led to me racing off-road and opening a bike shop.” Ian McLeod says: “Thought I’d share some old bike pics with CMM readers. Happy times!” Clive Edwards says: “My Suzuki GT750! I went to school in the old Vincent factory and George Brown’s Motorcycles (he of world record fame on Nero and Super Nero) was over the road. I’d been looking in the windows since the age of four. Anyway, I went in one day and asked Tony if he had anything interesting to sell…

The XV series first broke cover in 1981 in the guise of the XV750H which was supposed to supplant the XS650, parallel-twin based Special – it failed by the way. Scaling the motor up delivered both another Virago cruiser known as the XV920RH and a more traditionally styled ‘roadster’ badged as the TR1. The latter was supposed to be a modern take on the iconic Vincent theme but sales never matched Yamaha’s expectations. Despite this the firm persevered with the V-twin theme, developing a middleweight sports tourer – the liquid-cooled XZ550. Sophisticated with twin cams and four valve heads, the initial launch model was plagued with issues, leading to Yamaha carrying out a big overhaul. The resultant ‘Mk.2’ proved popular in the US, but not in Europe. The latter 1980s…

*and FB Marketplace, and Gumtree, and anywhere else we spot something we like… 1979 Honda CX500 Asking: £600 I know the Plastic Maggot isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve always liked them, especially in metallic blue or red rather than the usual drab black. It’s nice anyway just to see one these days that’s (so far) been spared the shoddy caff racer treatment. The knobbly tyres on this one suggest it’s not been pampered in the way you might like, but otherwise it looks eminently saveable. A closer look shows that someone’s given it some sensible mods at some point as well. That tangle of new-looking wiring under the seat is part of a complete Rae-San Hall effect electronic ignition set up, which bypasses the early CX’s complex and often…

I built my workshop back in 2010 as the first part of renovating the house we had just moved into. As I was building it from scratch I fabricated a bike lift into the floor by simply using a car trolly jack to pivot up a couple of H-frames to a comfortable working height. When lowered it drops flush with the floor, making working on my bikes much more pleasant, especially as I get older and do not bend so easily. I am 62 and a production engineer by trade (we made tin cans) and now happily retired I appreciate the relative calm of my workshop. Over time I have acquired some kit that has enabled me to build or modify several bikes, although my workshop is not only used…

Ihave owned this Fazer 1000 for a while now. It was purchased as I wanted something a little more modern than my old 1200 Bandit to do some miles on with my son. My shortlist of bikes for the job initially included the pre VTEC VFR800s, CB1000Fs and the gen-one Fazer 1000. The VFR would have won but I wanted something just a little more upright. I managed to get a ride on a CB1000F and it left me cold; it did everything competently but had no character or soul. My friend let me try his Fazer and that was it… plenty of character and plenty of grunt from the R1-derived motor. My hunt for the perfect bike took near to nine months as I missed out on a couple…