Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2025 i Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

Overweight, not fast enough, not very agile, but well-built and a bit quirky. No, I’m not describing me, but perhaps some of these words and phrases fit our cover star and main test this month? You see, the Yamaha GTS1000A was a much-maligned creature which never got much love back in the day. Which was a shame. Way back in the 1990s I was at the weekly biking paper and – when I started out – was at the bottom of the food chain for everything. We all started out getting the crumbs, be they the kit no one else wanted to wear, to the bikes no one else wanted to ride. In 1995 one of these was (strangely) Yamaha’s rangetopping GTS1000A. I have to admit that I had a…

Motorcycle designer Mick Ofield passed away at his home in Tennessee in February, aged 75. Mick was born in Leicester and spent a lifetime in motorcycling, not only as a designer but a racer, too. His artistic talent was spotted at school and Mick did a degree in product design at Leicester Polytechnic before joining Norton Villiers Triumph in the early 1970s. He would work on a number of machines, including the Norton Commando 850, and later work with Bob Trigg on the Yamaha RD250 and 350LCs. It was when sent on a fact-findingfinding tour of the USA for NVT that he fell in love with that country and would eventually move over and stay. He would later work for Bates Leathers, designing a great number of products. Much of…

We want to see YOUR pride and joy in our pages, so you can share what you ride and what you restore/build with fellow readers. Email your hi-res shots to bsimmonds@mortons.co.uk or mail in some photos at the address at the front of the mag. Let us know what you’ve done, how you’ve done it and send before and after shots if you can. Do get in touch – because the best of the month gets a free T-shirt! WAYNE HART’S 2001 KAWASAKI ZX-12R NINJA This is my 2001 ZX12R A2. It’s a bike I have always admired and wanted, and purchased this example two years ago. It only has 4800 miles and is in as-new condition. It does have a full titanium Akrapovic exhaust currently fitted, but I do…

It’s 1975 and a callow version of muggins here is at the Racing & Sporting Show in central London. I’m standing slack-jawed, gawping at Ossa’s all-new 500 twin. I’m currently riding an RD200 and the Spanish bike has a touch of similarity via satin black engine cases and fin’s edges are polished alloy similar to Yamaha’s twins of the period. Elegantly-styled exhaust pipes curve tightly around the motor to join a pair of rakishly upswept silencers. A large, but elegantly-styled tank sweeps down to a sleek, minimalist saddle that fails to cover much of the rear guard. Disc brakes were fitted to both wheels, although the front end looks suspiciously Suzuki-esque… and it’s love at first sight! The unattended stand eventually is staffed by a bored-looking chap who frankly isn’t…

Our very own wizened sages, Messrs Mark Haycock and Steve Cooper, are here to answer all of your woes, be they mechanical or spiritual. Every month we will be giving advice, as well as some general tips. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, too. 1985 YAMAHA FJ1100 Q: I own a 1985 Yamaha FJ1100 which I have done a bit of light restoration to over the winter. Part of the work done was the replacement of the original exhaust system for a Rebus four-into-one which sounds fantastic. However, the idle speed now hunts between 1200 and 1500,whereas previously it was perfectly steady. It seems like an air leak but I can’t find one. Any ideas? Mick Smallman A: Did you mean Remus? If so, Remus exhausts ‘…are extensively…

I made the mistake of mentioning to our esteemed editor recently that I had a potential project which might be of interest and he responded to this by letting the cat out of the bag and promising it for the future in the magazine. So, it looks like I am going to have to get on with it! Why the reticence? Well, let us take a look at what I have (Photo 1). It looks quite promising, doesn’t it? In quite good condition throughout, complete and in working order. The exhausts look reasonable and with any luck might respond well to simply being polished (Photo 2), and just look at that upgraded polished alloy points cover with extra cooling fins – wow! From the other side (Photo 3) things look a bit…

With a heap of cutting and trimming underway I’m hoping to make a start with the welding on the cases, but I’m not in a rush, as there are issues that I need to consider before the argon starts flowing. Suzuki’s lubrication system is an oft misunderstood masterpiece. How so? Well, in the bad old days two-stroke owners had to slop up to half a pint of oil into every gallon of fuel put in the tank. Apart from the rather anti-social aspect of riding around with a pall of foulness in your wake, oil in these quantities does other stuff, too: it blocks exhausts in no time flat and also lowers the effective octane rating of the fuel in the tank. And bizarrely, it polluted as it lubricated! Things got…

No other motorcycle race-track is quite like the Isle of Man TT and therefore it stands to reason that the course has inspired some unique features of its own. Even before the current 37.73-mile course was fully established, the need for a different breed of ‘marshal’ around the course was recognised. Therefore, in 1935, the organisers of the Isle of Man TT races established the ‘Travelling Marshals’. This was a time when the lap record stood at around 86mph – today Peter Hickman holds the record at 136.358mph… Back in 1935 there were only two Travelling Marshals, one based at the start, the other in Ramsey. While the telephone had been on the island since 1889, this was still some time before efficient two-way radio communication was commonplace. Instead the…

OPTIMATE 3X4 BANK CHARGER As well as various bikes, I have a fleet of shagged out – sorry, ‘Classic’ – cars, a quad, a tractor and a couple of ride-on mowers, so there’s always a battery or six that need charging. Years ago, I got a five-way Accumate Pro (basically five Optimates in one case) so I could keep them all happy. Fastforward to the storms a few months back and my leaky old barn got even leakier, resulting in the Accumate letting the water in and the smoke out – only two channels were still working. I sent it back to Tecmate in Belgium for assessment and repair but the verdict was it was too far gone and it’d be cheaper to buy a new one. They made me…

The last bike ridden by Dave Myers of ‘The Hairy Bikers’ has raised £15,800 for charity. The 2023 BSA Gold Star went under the hammer at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull on Wednesday, March 26, with H&H Classics conducting the auction. Proceeds from its sale will go to CancerCare North Lancashire & South Cumbria, NSPCC Childline and The Institute of Cancer Research. The Hairy Bikers TV shows ran for the best part of two decades, making Dave – and mate Si King – culinary and motorcycling TV stars. The pair appeared in the final series riding a brace of new retro BSA Gold Stars. The touching final series ‘The Hairy Bikers Go West’ was shown just prior to Dave’s passing from cancer in February last year. Ahead of the…

The humble centre lathe is at the heart of all engineering. The earliest, if slightly tenuous, evidence of a lathe was in ancient Egypt, 1300 years before the supposed birth of the baby Jesus. There was clear evidence in an Etruscan tomb in northern Italy in the 6th Century BC of turned wooden bowls. The ancient Chinese were using lathes in the manufacture of weapons with which to maim or kill their fellow humans; and the word humanity is used to describe nice, caring behaviour? Why is it that so many human inventions and innovations were, and still are, created for various acts of violence against other members of our own species? Precision metal turning lathes, however, did not appear until the 18th Century and were pivotal to the success…

Go on, design and build a 500 four-stroke single as a mainstream road bike and see how that goes – what could possibly go wrong? Well, if you were planning to sell it in America or Britain in the 1980s, quite a lot actually. The two target markets where logic said the concept should work best were actually the pair where it fared badly. Over in Europe and Australia sales of Yamaha’s SR500 went well enough so Honda, a little late to the party, took stock and offered the XBR500. Once again, in Blighty at least, the market response was lukewarm at best but not because the bike was a lemon – far from it. Unlike the beautiful, yet flawed, FT500, the XBR was a much better attempt at the…

This little Honda pocket rocket has not turned a wheel in six years and therefore the tyres aren’t in the best shape. Every vehicle tyre sold in the UK has, by law, to have a DOT number on it which states when the tyre was made. For the purposes of this article, I have done some digging using my friend the MOT tester, VOSA, and a wholesale tyres supplier. The law concerning tyre age is only concerned with great big lorries, but when it comes to bikes, providing there is tread and the carcass isn’t cracked, you can do what you want. The wholesalers advise big shops that they shouldn’t have tyres ‘in stock’ for more than two years, five at the outside. Oddly, considering that the Government does not…

Inever fully understood what my folks had against my Ariel 250, I think perhaps the physical size of it worried my Ma. So it came to pass that brother Bill, dad and I adjourned to King’s on Stretford Road a couple of days after my 16th birthday. There was a row of Ducati Elites with peeling chrome lined up (Hailwood’s dad was a major player in the King’s dynasty back then; Ducatis represented a great revenue stream for him, hence the supply of very special Desmo 125s for young Mike). There were also a few Hondas and it wasn’t long before the lure of all that meticulous Honda-ness swayed my choice to a black n’ chrome CB160. We took it home and dad promptly handed me the payments book: “Don’t…

ROADSKIN SUMMER GLOVES Roadskin’s EN13594-certified Summer Gloves are crafted with premium materials and cuttingedge design. Engineered for comfort and durability, they are made from high-quality goat leather, renowned for its superior abrasion resistance and supple feel. The gloves feature a meticulously perforated design to maximise airflow, keeping hands cool and comfortable even on the hottest summer rides. Integrated knuckle and scaphoid protection ensure robust safety while maintaining flexibility and comfort. These gloves are also touchscreen compatible. Available in sizes XS to 4XL in classic black and vintage brown. https://roadskin.co.uk/ BRIDGESTONE BATTLAX BT-46 TYRES Lots of people in our hobby are loving the BT-46 tyres. Released in 2020 as a replacement for the BT-45 (which were around from 1998), they’ve really been the tyre of choice for modern classic motorcycles. The…

Here’s a new ‘retro’ BMW based on a legendary model: the BMW R12 G/S apes the daddy of the GS range, the 1980 R80 G/S. We like a lot! The bike uses an 1170cc boxer twin, just like the rest of the R12 family, including the saucy R12 S, which copies the 1974 R90 S. Strangely, that model is a salty £18,460 while this doubly sexy G/S starts at around £14,420. Now, don’t be confused with the older Rnine T Urban G/S from 2017-on that was a mere look-alikey, with a road-biased tilt being based on the nine T Scrambler. This is (at least from some of the action promo shots) a machine which can be taken off-oad, so also don’t let the road tyres on these shots fool you.…

If you’re a fan of either the Suzuki Katana or the latest Hayabusa (and we are) then check out Suzuki’s updated 0% finance offer. This runs from April to June 30 and is available over three years with a minimum £500 deposit. You can therefore get a new bike in the garage before summer. Lots of models are available, including the gorgeous Katana and the blisteringly quick 25th Anniversary Busa. CMM is testing the original in the next issue… Other bikes in the deal include other four-cylinder models: the GSX-S1000, GSX-S1000GT, and the GSX-S1000GX. The GSX-S1000GT+ and GSX-S1000GX+, which come with a pair of 36-litre panniers as standard, also feature. More can be found out about Suzuki’s range of offers and finance quotes can be generated online at https://bikes.suzuki.co.uk/offers-and-finance/…

We’re going back to 1989 when Yamaha’s desire was to create something both unique and futuristic: the Morpho concept motorcycle. The Morpho was Yamaha’s machine for the future which was supposed to feature technology way ahead of its time. It was to be a refreshing look at motorcycling and their interface with human riders. As well as a fresh new look, the various ergonomics would be variable, hopefully giving riders of all shapes and sizes the ‘best fit’ for their build. The Morpho became the Morpho II in 1991. By now the powerplant was a ‘traditional’ 1000 (or so) cc inline four, four-stroke of around 115bhp – think EXUP. The main and most striking design cue was what the Morpho had always boasted: the lack of the conventional front forks…

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Before Steve gets on with business, it’s editor Bertie here. Now, the last time Steve’s project was in the mag was November 2023 and his strange way of naming things has muddied the waters somewhat. Why? Well, it was supposed to be a Bultaco, then it wasn’t – but then it was a Ducati. And a few bits from a Suzuki. And he insists calling it ‘Singular Obsession’ which, patently, tells none of us what the bloomin’ thing is, which is apparently (now) a Ducati and a Suzuki motor. So, let’s read on, eh? Over to Scoop! Well, who would have thought it? Not only does the Suzuki Apache motor fit the Ducati GTV350 chassis, it also looks like it’s supposed to be there! As Sean Allen, who is wielding the…

*and FB Marketplace, and Gumtree, and anywhere else we spot something we like… 1956 IZh 56 outfit Asking: £1000 Regular readers may have noticed I have a soft spot for strange Eastern Bloc bikes (my wife is of the opinion that the soft spot is the whole area between my ears…). I put it down to early influences, specifically having part shares in a couple of field bikes when I was about 13 – a CZ175 twin and a Cossack 650 outfit. My mates and I immediately ripped the chair off the Cossack, but that was because we were young and foolish, and hadn’t realised that leaving it attached would provide endless scope for terrorising our other mates by offering them rides in it. So, it was the sidecar in the…

The very first thing I noticed about the KDX when I got it was that the rear shock had no damping. And when I say no damping, I mean absolutely none at all. It was basically just a spring. I suspected the rubber bladder in the reservoir, which separates the shock oil from the pressurised nitrogen which in turn provides the initial resistance to shock movement, had failed – very common. I could also see a bit of corrosion on the chrome damper-rod itself, which may or may not be a problem. A while back I bought another used shock cheap, so hopefully between the two I can make one decent unit. First thing is to strip them both down. Springs off first. Undo the two screw collars all the…