Classic Motorcycle Mechanics - February 2020

HONDA SS50 YAMAHA RZZ-R 60s 6

WIN!

Buyer guide

Ridden!

80s

ELSIE LSIE

WEISE SIRIUS GLOVES, BRIDGESTONE TYRES, S-DOC CHAIN KIT!

ELSIE

TOOL OF THE MONTH, WORKSHOP: CLUTCH BASKET SHOCKS 00s: YAMAHA YZF-R1 5VY 90s: BMW R1100S, TRIUMPH CRK CAFÉ RACER, YAMAHA YZR500, HONDA ST1100 PAN EUROPEAN 80s: YAMAHA RZV500R, KAWASAKI Z550F 70s: YAMAHA TX750, KAWASAKI HYBRID, SUZUKI TS400 APACHE. ALSO: ALLEN MILLYARD COLUMN Q&A: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND YOUR BIKES AND MEMORIES!

No.388 February 2020

FIVE DECADES OF MODERN CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS INCLUDING:

UK off-sale date – 19/02/2020

£4.40

Niall Mackenzie’s Mackenzie s mint Yamaha RD350LC ridden!

Pro-Am racing recalled!

LC Club in focus!

Month 2019 Issue 388 Publisher: Tim Hartley, thartley@mortons.co.uk Publishing Director: Dan Savage, asavage@mortons.co.uk Designers: Charlotte Fairman, Jake Sidebotham, Michael Baumber Picture desk: Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield Production Editor: Mike Cowton Divisional Advertising Manager: Zoe Thurling zthurling@mortons.co.uk Tel: 01507 529412 Advertising sales Tel: 01507 529575 Subscription Manager: Paul Deacon Circulation Manager: Steven O’Hara Marketing Manager: Charlotte Park Commercial Director: Nigel Hole Editorial address: CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS MAGAZINE, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR Website: www.classicmechanics.com General enquiries and back issues: Tel: 01507 529529 24 hour answer phone help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk Archivist: Jane Skayman jskayman@mortons.co.uk, 01507 529423 Subscription: Full subscription rates (but see page 42 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £52.80. Export rates are also available – see page 42 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. Customer services: Tel: 01507 529529 Lines are open: Monday-Friday 8.30am-5pm Distribution: Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU. Tel: 0203 787 9001 Subscription agents: CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS MAGAZINE, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR Printed: William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton Published date: CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS MAGAZINE is published on the third Wednesday of every month Next issue: February 19, 2020 Advertising deadline: January 30, 2020 © Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher. ISSN 0959-0900 CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS magazine takes all responsible steps to ensure advice and technical tips are written by experienced and competent people. We also advise readers to seek further professional advice if they are unsure at any time. Anything technical written by the editor is exempt – he’s rubbish with spanners.

CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS (USPS:729-550) is published monthly

by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $60 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Postmaster: Send address changes to CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS, Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com

The cult of Elsie!

You can’t help but notice that we have a certain theme running through parts of this issue.

If you’re of a certain age, ride bikes (we guess you do) and went through puberty in the late 1970s, you’ll recognise our cover star as up there with Debbie Harry in the lust-worthy stakes.

Yamaha’s RD350LC and subsequent models/ family members really did change the face of motorcycling forever. It’s why we’ve got a road test of Niall Mackenzie’s Elsie, a feature on the Pro-Am race series, news on the marketplace for LCs, a refreshed version of our most popular Retro Reboot, part five of Jeff Ware’s RZV500R resto, and the introduction of the most racy ‘LC’ ever – Yamaha’s YZR500 grand prix bike. Yes, Niall’s 1991 racer will be restored to its former glory in these pages and we get to ride it in 2020. He did promise me a ride on it back in 2003 at Donington, but the radiator sprung a

Jeff Ware

Paul Berryman

Scoop is like the love child of a top 1970s porn performer and a factory mechanic: big moustache and a big… ability with the spanners!

Jeff returns once more with tales of restoring the rough Yamaha RZV500R and will soon be with us with the reverse-cylinder 3MA!

PeeBee carries on with his detective work with his 5VY R1: just what has happened inside that motor?

Hard-working Hybrid!

Ralph Ferrand

Independent publisher since 1885

Allen Millyard Pan’s People…

He is indeed… he loves his ST1100 and will be telling us how to keep on top of this V4 touring masterpiece from Honda.

Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine?

Why not Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month?

www.twitter.com/cmmmag

Steve Cooper

Ralph is back with his bikes next month, but this issue he reminds us of the importance of keeping an eye on your brake fluid.

Member

Editor

BSimmonds@Mortons.co.uk

www.facebook.com/ClassicMechanics/

Where’s yer tool?

The Professional Publishers Association

mysterious leak before I got a chance…

Me? I was a couple of years too young for the original heady days of LC hooliganism, but instead fully bought into the YPVS scene: I still wish I had my F2. I sold it about 15 years ago for £450. I’d have to spend four times that amount to get a rougher one…

This issue has reminded me why I need a two-stroke back in my life… more so when my mate in December dropped a bike off he’d bought for his son for Christmas Day. A Yamaha TDR-R; a 125cc machine made by Belgarda Yamaha in Italy. He kicked it over and got it going and we both breathed in the blue smoke.

Magic!

G’day, Jeff!

Niall Mackenzie

The artist formally known as…

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!

Ultimate RD-LC owner?

This isn’t a bit of crawling so I get a ride on the YZR, but Niall kindly lent us his RD350LC this month, contributed to Stu Barker’s Pro-Am feature, and is now restoring his old 1991 YZR500. We think the Yamaha Moto France blue scheme was better even than the Marlboro bike of Wayne Rainey, et al!. Cheers, Spuds!

Stuart Barker Bar Fly boy!

Before bikes for Barker came ‘Bar Fly’ a glam-rock/ metal outfit based in Glasgow. His stage name was Jakki Stevens. He wrote our Pro-Am piece!

John Vassallo Valued CMM reader!

Ok, you all are! John often sends letters to CMM so when he told us of his cheap Z550 we had to get him to write something.

Mark Haycock

Jon Bentman

Lily Schiller

Not happy with giving us some superb Q&A responses, Mark reveals what was in the box with his new TX750 from the USA…

JB goes down memory lane with a ride on Niall’s mint RD350LC this issue. He owned a few himself, it seems!

Our Lil’ is the person to speak to if you want to be seen by hundreds of thousands of CMM readers looking for parts or services!

Q&A Kingpin!

Elsie lover!

Lovely ad lady!

www.classicmechanics.com / 3

56

❙ Q&A

58

❙ KAWASAKI HYBRID

62

❙ YAMAHA YZF-R1

Steve Cooper gets the motor in the frame.

Paul Berryman has a peek inside the knackered motor.

66

❙ ALLEN MILLYARD

70

❙ KAWASAKI Z550

72

❙ YAMAHA TX750

76 78

Allen talks tiny twins once more!

Reader John Vassallo bags a bargain.

Mark Haycock reveals what was in the box!

❙ TOOL OF THE MONTH Ralph on brake fluid.

❙ HONDA ST1100 PAN EUROPEAN

Allen Millyard on this much-loved machine.

82

❙ YAMAHA YZR500

86

❙ HONDA SS50

90

❙ WORKSHOP

94

Contents

Mark Haycock with a page of tips.

Niall Mackenzie with the wildest project bike ever!

Steve Cooper with our buyer’s guide!

Scoop on clutch basket shocks.

❙ SUZUKI TS400 APACHE

06

ARCHIVE

30

YAMAHA RZ250R

08

CMM MARKETPLACE

36

YAMAHA PRO-AM

10 14

CMM STUFF

We love this Yamaha RD350LC special!

What does the Yamaha RD350LC look like in the marketplace?

New kit, tools, tyres and stuff.

NEWS

Events, news and diary dates for Feb 2020!

42 46

Andy Bolas on this forgotten RD-LC family member!

Stuart Barker looks back at this legendary race series.

SUBSCRIBE!

Save cash! Get a T-shirt!

YAMAHA RD350LC

Jon Bentman rides Niall Mackenzie’s mint Elsie!

20

FEEDBACK

54

22

SHOW US YOURS

113 NEXT MONTH

26

CLUB FOCUS

WIN Bridgestone tyres for our Star Letter!

WIN S-DOC chain cleaner!

Win Tamiya kit for ‘The Way We Were!’

The LC Club is 30 years old!

RETRO REBOOT

Check out this re-invention of the LC! Check out what’s in the March 2020 issue.

114 PIP HIGHAM

Pip is on fire this month!

Scoop once more on choosing his steed.

108 ❙ YAMAHA RZV500R Jeff Ware with part five!

www.classicmechanics.com / 5

www.classicmechanics.com / 31

MAIN TEST

EIGHTIES ICON! At the end of the Seventies, Yamaha took the decision to reconnect the link between their successful racing TZs and their RD road bikes. Combining British design talents with Japanese technology, the resultant LC exceeded all expectations, becoming a bike that changed laws and lives forever. Jon Bentman rides Niall Mackenzie’s mint example.

WORDS: JON BENTMAN PICS: GARY D CHAPMAN

I

t’s 1980 and Yamaha’s existing twostroke light-middleweight sports offering is the RD400, by now in its fourth year, as the F model. Good for a steady 106mph, and a fair deal faster once a decent tuner has been at the barrels.

Good enough to be spanking everything in proddie racing, but then what opposition does it have? Suzuki has launched the instantly forgettable GS425 four-stroke twin, Kawasaki is hanging on with the KH400 (once quite a sharp racer, but no more), and Honda had replaced the jewel-like CB400F with the altogether more mundane CB400 Super Dream, no faster than the F, but a lot more dull. So, Yamaha had that lightmiddleweight sports category sewn up in 1980, but far from doing nothing, Yamaha instead pushed the whole game clear into the next century. The history books will tell you that at a time when USA legislators were vilifying the two-stroke, with sales there on the wane, Yamaha took the brave step of tasking their newly-formed European design team to come up with a new two-stroke sports model.

That European team had a lot of British bods in it, not least Paul Butler who was Product Planning Manager at Yamaha Europe. Butler had worked with Kenny Roberts in his early GP years and later would be part of the Marlboro Roberts team set up. Today he’s an IRTA boss and race director for MotoGP.

www.classicmechanics.com / 47

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#48

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