Classic Motorcycle Mechanics April 2015

YAMAHA R3.5 KAWASAKI KH400 BUYER’S GUIDE

TWO-STROKE TWO-S

APRIL 2015

ALL THAT’S BEST IN MODERN CLASSIC MOTORCYCLING

Knowledge:

Stan Stephens Spondon RD

Knowledge:

RD125DX stripdown

Skills:

How to match barrels to cases

ISSUE NO.330 APRIL 2015

■ SUZUKI GT750A ■ YAMAHA RD250LC ■ BMW R1150GS

CLASSIC KETTLE

PROJECT BIKES SUZUKI BANDIT 1200, YAMAHA XS650, SUZUKI GSX1100EFE ❙ SKILLS SORTING CB400 FORK LEGS ❙ Q&A ASK THE EXPERTS

April 2015 Issue 330 Publisher: Steve Rose, srose@mortons.co.uk Contributors: Joe Dick, Mark ‘Weeble’ Manning, Martin Lambert.

Art Editor: Justin Blackamore Reprographics: Simon Duncan Senior sub-editor: Dan Sharp Divisional advertising manager: David England, dengland@mortons.co.uk Advertising: Sam Dearie, Lee Buxton sdearie@mortons.co.uk, lbuxton@mortons.co.uk Tel: 01507 524004 Subscription manager: Paul Deacon Circulation manager: Steven O’Hara Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Publishing director: Dan Savage Commercial director: Nigel Hole Associate director: Malc Wheeler 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 32 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £50.40. Export rates are also available – see page 32 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. Distribution: COMAG, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE. Tel: 01895 433600 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: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 Advertising deadline: Friday, March 27, 2015 © 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

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The Real Green Party...

There are quite a few cool Kwaks coming up in the next few issues of CMM. This month we focus on just how Kawasaki chose the Lime Green colour scheme that’s been such a part of its history in motorcycling. I mean, could you imagine Eddie Lawson winning the AMA series in the early 1980s in any other colour? Or Scott Russell taking the 1993 World Superbike title on a Firecracker Red ZXR750?

It’s amazing how the colour is synonymous with the manufacturer. In this issue we have a buyer’s guide on the KH400, a tiddler trailie F6 and also find out where the name ‘Ninja’ came from. We know it from the shadowy Japanese assassins of the same name, but how come it emblazoned the flanks of Kawasaki’s finest? We also look at Rob Muzzy – a man who helped

Lawson to those titles and gave us the Eddie Lawson Replica that features in the next issue of CMM. In fact, this – allied with the poor showing of the Green Party itself in recent weeks (they hate us riding big, old bikes) has prompted me to stand for Parliament!

So, here follows a party political broadcast on behalf of The Real Green Party. Ladies and gentlemen of the voting public fair isle, please read the party manifesto from my key shadow cabinet members, the gentlemen below, and decide on how we can make Britain a better biking place, while riding our favourite Kawasakis. I’m sure we can trust in your vote!

ds Bertie Simmon editor

Bertie Simmonds

Jon Bentman

Chris Moss

bertie@classicmechanics.com Having owned a KMX125 a ZX-6R F2 (in green of course...) and a track-going ZX-7R, who better to lead?

editorial@classicmechanics.com The best roads in Britain will be signposted for bikers in the UK. Car tax will pay for pothole repairs.

editorial@classicmechanics.com We’ve only given Mossy this post so he will have to go there. And stay there.

Quick Spin on p8.

Steve Cooper

Mark Haycock

John Nutting

editorial@classicmechanics.com The party’s deputy is all about oldfashioned values, 1970s tashes and enjoying smaller motorcycles.

editorial@classicmechanics.com PM’s Question Time will be questions on two-stroke or four-stroke but most certainly two-wheeled.

editorial@classicmechanics.com Will be in charge of the policy where all CMM readers get to ride MIRA, or a track of their choice for free.

Stan Stephens

Andy Westlake

Niall Mackenzie

editorial@classicmechanics.com He plans to turn all power stations to two-stroke design within two years.

See p80 and p94 for his manifesto.

editorial@classicmechanics.com As the West’s First Minister, Andy will put a referendum to Devon and Cornwall on devolution.

editorial@classicmechanics.com From his palace south of the Border, he will manage affairs in the North.

Same as it’s always been then.

Don Morley

Paul Berryman

Sam Dearie

editorial@classicmechanics.com Will show the electorate how motorcycles and racers have been a cornerstone of UK history. See p6.

editorial@classicmechanics.com The Party’s ‘deep thinker’. PB will show the electorate how to centre their chi and sort the top end of a DR600.

editorial@classicmechanics.com The 2T tax will see funds going direct to CMM coffers to fund two-stroke R&D for Stan.

The Real Green Party leader

Deputy Party Leader

Energy Secretary

Heritage Secretary

Roads Minister

PM’s Question Timemaster

First Minister for the West.

Spiritual Leader

Minister for the North East.

Minister of MIRA

Scottish Secretary

Chancellor

www.classicmechanics.com / 3

Contents 06

ARCHIVE

08

2000 BMW R1150GS

13

NEWS

Barry Sheene’s mind games with Pat Hennen.

We loved them way before Ewan and Charley did!

You really need to come to Anglesey with CMM.

18 CALENDAR

April means we will be at Gibson’s Exhausts! Come!

20

FEEDBACK

22

SHOW US YOURS

26 30

We think you’re starting to warm to us. Awwww!

Plenty of the marvellous metal in your shed. Love it!

30 YEARS TOGETHER!

Meet a man and GSX-R750 together forever.

THE GREEN PARTY A look at some historical facts about Kawasaki.

69

❙ WORKSHOP NEWS

72

❙ Q&A

76

❙ HONDA SS125

80

❙ STAN STEPHENS

82

❙ REPAIRING INDICATORS

87

❙ YAMAHA XS650

90

❙ SUZUKI BANDIT 1200

MIRA Files on a race and gorgeous learner special.

92

❙ SUZUKI GSX1100E

66 HONDA VTR SP-3

94

❙ SPONDON RD680LC

98

❙ CB400F FORK LEGS

110

❙ KAWASAKI KH400

122

❙ YAMAHA RD125DX

39

NOSTALGIA

44

SUZUKI GT750 KETTLE

How the GT750 became a 100bhp TR750.

Jon Bentman rides a real classic motorcycle.

52 READER’S SPECIAL

Andy Westlake on a Kawasaki F6 trail-iron.

56

READER’S SPECIAL YAMAHA R3.5 One man and his bid to reboot the YPVS F2!

60 YAMAHA RD250LC We don’t want dull V4s Honda, we want a race-rep twin for today!

130

NEXT MONTH

An Eddie Lawson Replica and much more in May.

Lots of new metal bits!

Expanded to cover two pages not one: tell us if this is what you want!

Scoop finds a man on a mission to recreate his first love.

Stan on how to match cylinder barrels to crankcases.

Scoop’s blinkin’ blather part two!

Mark Haycock starts to assess what he’s gone and bought.

Our own Andy Bolas of the VJMC on sorting his sussies.

A CMM reader with a question.

More work from Stan on widening the Spon’s power-spread.

Part two of a strip and rebuild.

Steve Cooper’s buying guide on the thinking man’s triple.

Let’s strip the nipped-up motor!

129 ❙ COMING CLASSICS

The Honda V-twin FireStorm.

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8 / classic motorcycle mechanics

WORDS: CHRIS MOSS PHOTOS: IAN HYNE

2000

BMW T

hink what you will of BMW’s big GS adventure bikes, you certainly can’t ignore them. You see the buggers just about everywhere these days.

This dominance has taken a while mind you, with the first GSs being a bit of a slow burner in the UK. Back in the Nineties, we race-rep lovers weren’t so sure about the German made pseudo off-road beasts.

Eventually though, we cottoned on to their multiple virtues and the GS became the huge success story it is.

Topping the sales charts every year became the norm.

I was one of those early doubters. I just couldn’t get my head round why something looking like it had been designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel could possibly win favour. Then I tried one and, as so many do, became a fan.

The thought of trying one of the 1150 models 15 years later brought quite a few doubts over approval though. The GS has come on a hell of a lot since then, so I reckoned this early one might well feel a bit of a relic. I expected more frowns than smiles from riding the old girl.

My brow was certainly a bit furrowed when I turned up at the owner’s gaff near Slough to give it a go. The bloody thing just sat there on its centrestand, towering so high as to prohibit any chance of swinging my leg over its chunky shaped seat without risking a hernia.

Even when it was lowered down to its side stand and I managed to clamber aboard, the sheer mass and weight of the Bee-Em was a still a significant worry. With traffic quickly building for the evening rush hour I had visions of having to sit patiently within the congestion, adding frustration to the journey as well extending its time a fair old bit. Can’t say I was too keen to get going really.

Sure enough though, just as I remembered back in the day, the ‘unwieldy behemoth’ takes on a completely different feel from the moment you send drive to its rear wheel. In motion, the near perfect balance of the GS gives the impression it’s just benefited from an instant weight loss programme. Instead of fearing the traffic I felt confident to ‘have a go’ and get through it all in double quick time.

My negative view of the German bike was pretty much transformed. Suddenly the GS felt unbelievably manageable, its size and presence actually becoming www.classicmechanics.com / 9

A variation on the Kawasaki Lime Green as worn by Scott Russell on his 1994 ZXR750.

The

GREEN PARTY No, we’re not making a political statement in this General Election year, but we do want to give you the stories behind why Kawasaki went green, where and when the term ‘Ninja’ was coined and why Rob Muzzy is important in classic Kwak circles.

WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS/GO MAGAZINE PHOTOS: DON MORLEY, KAWASAKI UK

30 / classic motorcycle mechanics

Before Lime Green, Kawasaki racers never really stood out.

K

awasaki lime green – it’s just a classic colour scheme and forever linked with the marque – but it wasn’t always so.

For many years Kawasaki used red as a race colour, it was a bright red 125cc B8M that dominated the Hyogo Prefecture MX Championship close to the Kawasaki factory in Akashi. So successful was the B8M that it sparked the ‘Red Furore’ and a reputation for off-road dominance that evolved years later into Team Green. So how did red stop and Kawasaki go to green?

Back in 1968, Kawasaki struggled to create a distinctive image for itself in the rapidly growing US motorcycle market, so the company explored several different options to help set it apart from the many other motorcycle brands in the world’s largest two wheeler market. The A1 Samurai and its derivatives had been introduced, the legendary H1 Mach III was in the wings, and no one knew exactly how much attention it would receive when it was launched. The A1RR, a 250cc two-stroke race bike, had seen success in road racing, but in a sea of reds, blues and yellow competitors, the bike, in its red and cream livery didn’t exactly stand out.

Eddie Lawson and Muzzy Kawk – hard to beat.

George Hamawaki, then president of Kawasaki Motors in the US, gave national sales manager Don Graves, and national marketing manager Paul Collins, the task of coming up with a device to strengthen Kawasaki’s identity; whether it be design, colour, or something else.

Graves, who’d been in the custom car business while in college, contacted a well-known custom car painter, who referred him to a guy by the name of Molly Sanders.

Sanders had a ramshackle shop behind a service station in Brea, California. Graves recalls: “I spent two days drinking with him, and was impressed enough to get the go-ahead from Hamawaki to obtain some new paint ideas.” Sanders was sent 20 tank and ‘fender’ combinations and was told to be as wild and wacky as he wanted. Thirty days later the spray booth owner called to say he was ready and Graves sent the chassis’ over to have the newly painted parts bolted on. Shortly afterwards he and the rest of Kawasaki’s top management went to California for the presentation. Before the big unveil, Sanders said: “You not only have to look at the colours, you have to listen to my reasoning for them as well.”

The samples consisted of shades of blue, red, yellow as well as some other themes on standard colours.

Graves finally asked the question, “Which of these colours is going to set Kawasaki apart from its competitors?” Sanders’ rhetorical response was, “None of them, but I’ll show you the colour that will,” and with that he brought out the first incarnation of the unmistakable green hue. The reaction was something less than enthusiastic; nearly everyone on site was shocked and puzzled by the odd colour. Sanders then proceeded to explain why he recommended this colour; “… it’s unique, it’s distinctive, it stands out any place on a race track, and it’s not likely to be confused with any other colour and most of all it’s new, it’s never been seen before. It creates an exclusive Kawasaki colour that can’t be confused with anything else.”

A meeting was held at Kawasaki’s corporate headquarters the next day, and in spite of some protests, Hamawaki gave Graves and Collins the go-ahead. They immediately went to the clothing and accessories people, and shortly afterwards Kawasaki’s Racing Green was introduced to the world making an impact at events such as Daytona. Initially, the colour was restricted exclusively to competition products. The restriction was broken in 1982 with the Eddie Lawson Replica, after which numerous machines wore the iconic green hue including, most famously, the Ninja line. www.classicmechanics.com / 31

READER’S SPECIAL

KAWASAKI WORDS AND PHOTOS: ANDY WESTLAKE

Andy Westlake encounters a rarity from the other side of the pond.

M

ost of us in the UK associate late Sixties or early Seventies Kawasakis with the Samurai and Avenger twins, or the rip roaring H1A triples but 50 years ago a range of lightweight singles brought the name of the company to the huge US market.

Before making a full scale commitment to the US, Kawasaki had opted for a ‘toe in the water’ approach when it opened its first overseas branch in Los Angeles in 1964 and its first bike was a utilitarian 125cc single cylinder two-stroke carrying the model name of the B8.

The following year saw an additional branch office opened in Chicago and armed with the knowledge of this research, the Kawasaki chiefs soon realised that although the rather mundane B8 and its derivatives might have been popular both at home and the Far East, they didn’t carry the kudos of style and speed required

52 / classic motorcycle mechanics

We’ve harped on about Kawasaki green in this issue – but by goodness this baby looks good in yellow!

And from a rattle-can!

for the USA. A major rethink was required and this came in the form of the J1.

This was an 85cc single and although still a basic machine with no ‘Superlube’ oil injection system, it was the first Kawasaki to feature a rotary inlet valve and one which by the end of the following year had spawned a whole line up of touring, trail and motocross siblings.

The firm’s ability to produce new models around a basic theme of 85, 125, 150 and 175cc two-stroke singles was regarded at the time as staggering and as history records, this would be a stepping stone to a whole new range of bigger capacity dual-purpose strokers which hit the showrooms in 1969. This year saw not only the launch of the 350cc F5 (Big Horn) but also the merger of various parts of the business to form Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The F5 produced 33bhp @ 6500rpm and the new rotary-valve two-stroke was a far superior machine to the short lived F4 250 it replaced.

When fitted with the company’s ‘power pack’ performance kit it could propel the five speed single to a top speed of well over 100mph. This allowed it to be transformed into a more than competent AMA road racer which in the States allowed 350cc singles to be raced against 250cc twins. But it was the burgeoning off-road market to which the new machine was ideally suited and by the beginning of the new decade, the Big Horn had been joined by a trio of 250 (F8 Bison), 175 (F7),

“Despite its modest capacity, the engine was surprisingly tractable and more than capable of holding its own in modern traffic and was fun off-road too! It’s an impressive little bike and a reminder that you don’t need lots of ‘cubes’ to have a sack full of fun on two wheels.”

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Next month

KAWASAKI EDDIE LAWSON REPLICA: Steve Cooper on one of the first real race replicas we wanted…

WINFIELD HONDA RC30: A rare racer restored (yes, we will do it this month, honest!)

FIELD OF DREAMS: It’s time to stop talking and start planning our Retro Rebooted Yamaha RD350LC. QUICK SPIN: Chris Moss rides a much-missed Honda: the Africa Twin.

READER’S SPECIAL: A special Honda collection of tiddlers!

PLUS! WORKSHOP: Stan Stephens continues with the V6 RD500LC build and we finally get to see part two of his ‘How to build a Workshop’ series. Then we have Steve Cooper on the rebuild of the Honda SS125 motor, our decal and graphics Workshop masterclass and tips on tying down your classic when heading to shows.

MAY PROJECT BIKES: Suzuki’s young apprentices should be carrying on their GSX-R1100L restoration, Mark Haycock will be finding more faults with his Yamaha XS650, Alan Dowds finally gets to do something with his Kawasaki ZRX1100 engine rebuild and Scoop is on part six of Project Rickuki, while we also have part two of Café Racer GT500!

AND LOTS MORE DON’T MISS IT!

ON SALE: April 15 130 / classic motorcycle mechanics