Classic Motorcycle Mechanics August 2016 preview

FREE SHEENE

BARRY

summer of ‘

em supple

AUGUST 2016 ISSUE 346

Benelli 2C

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CMM rides Suzuki’s S ki’ special i l brew! b !

Knowledge:

Fit your own plug inserts

Project:

£100 Hound Honda VFR750F

Skills:

Vibration suppression

PROJECT BIKES HONDA CB125T ❙ YAMAHA TX500 ❙ YAMAHA FZ600 RACER ❙ DUCATI 888 RACER ❙ CLASSIFIEDS BUYING A CLASSIC

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❙ WORKSHOP NEWS

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❙ Q&A

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❙ BASIC MAINTENANCE

Mark Haycock with more tips.

Andy Bolas on changing fluids, coolant etc.

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❙ YAMAHA TX500

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❙ HONDA C70

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Contents

New bits and pieces out there.

Mark Haycock sorts his fuel caps.

Niall Mackenzie on his latest project in CMM!

❙ YAMAHA TZ250 S

James Whitham on sorting his racer’s motor.

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ARCHIVE

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2001 APRILIA RST1000 FUTURA

NEWS

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What happened when fourstrokes tackled two-strokes.

Mossy mounts a quirky Italian sports-tourer.

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❙ HONDA VFR750 F-R

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❙ DUCATI 888

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CALENDAR

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❙ HONDA CB125T

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FEEDBACK

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Bertie’s £100 Hound comes to a crossroads.

Mark Forsyth on the engine rebuild of his rare racer.

Ralph Ferrand’s part three on this tiddler twin.

❙ PLUG INSERTS

Pip Higham on replacing plug threads, the best way.

110 ❙ KAWASAKI Z900

Scoop on why this could be better than a Z1.

114 ❙ YAMAHA FZ600 RACER

‘Spike’ Edwards on Project Nancy.

127 ❙ CLASSIC CLASS…

What is it about the 900 class that makes it special?

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Why we have it better than the classic car world. Or do we?

Lots happening in the month of August.

Lots of your lovely letters.

SHOW US YOURS

With added nostalgia! Check out ‘The way we were!’

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SUBSCRIBE!

Dear all: we need you to subscribe!

1974 SUZUKI GT750L Steve Cooper on a core classic.

BEAMISH SUZUKI

John Matthews restores a trial iron. Feet ooop!

CRK TRIUMPH CAFÉ RACERS

John Nutting on the beautiful CRK Hinckley kit bikes.

RETRO REBOOT

What if Yamaha built am FZ750 for today?

BENELLI 2C

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YOUNG GUN

130 NEXT MONTH

Steve Cooper rides this beautiful Italian machine.

13-year-old Jack Watts shows our future is in good hands.

SAVE! SAVE! SAVE!

Yes! If you want to save on your subscription come here!

Like old Ducatis or Yamaha’s FJ1100? Then tune in!

www.c assicmechanics.com / 5

& events WEMOTO MONEY RAISER!

Our old friends at Wemoto are at it again. Last year, through the sale of its Festival of Jurby T-shirts, Wemoto raised more than £10,000 for the MGP Supporters’ Club to assist in funding its life-saving helicopter ambulance on the Isle of Man. This year, Wemoto wants to raise more!

The firm’s 2016 T-shirt design sports the Triumph T100GP ridden by Ernie Lyons in his famous 1946 Manx Grand Prix win.

It’s endorsed and signed by John McGuinness and other racing legends, and is available to buy from www. wemoto.com. All profits raised will go to the Manx Grand Prix Supporters’ Club to help fund the vital helicopter ambulance which is used during practice weeks and race days at the Isle of Man. In the event of an incident, it provides an essential rescue service, which is able to access otherwise hard to reach parts of the TT course in a matter of minutes, complete with medical staff and equipment.

The 2016 T-shirts are available now for just £10.

Cars awaiting the crusher from the scrappage scheme.

We’ve never had it so good!

Many of us share a passion for all things retro and classic – be they on two or four wheels – so it’s interesting and sad to hear news from the fourwheeled classic scene.

It seems that there is a shortage of parts for some modern classic cars from the 1980s through to the 1990s and all because manufacturers fail to support the enthusiasts and owners’ clubs. In the modern classic car press we’ve read that owners of such German classics as Volkswagen and Audi (especially the sought-after Quattros) have to use salvage yards No crusher for this.

to keep their machines on the road – something we’ve been doing for years.

But it goes deeper than that, as the manufacturers themselves seem hell-bent on pushing new vehicles (even retro-remakes of old classics) rather than supporting the machinery that made them famous in the first place. Compare that attitude to Suzuki, which has embraced the whole retro parts scene thanks to their Vintage Parts Programme. Yamaha also still sell parts for its classic machines, while a number of specialists such as Yambits and David Silver Spares ensure parts for Yamaha and Hondas.

Now add into the mix the Government-sponsored scrappage scheme. In 2009 the Government spent £300 million to get us into new cars to help stimulate the economy. Old cars were swapped for £1000 against a new car purchase. The result now is that 4000 cars were scrapped but many are still stored on disused airfields, awaiting the crusher and a number are modern classics that could be restored.

Little wonder more than 33,250 (at the time of writing) classic car fans have signed a petition asking the current government to rescind the crushing order on classic status cars. Imagine an airfield with a tenth of that number of classic bikes awaiting the crusher. It doesn’t bear thinking about…

Z1 immortalised. Again.

There’s no getting away from the legendary draw of the

pages with 100 illustrations, Kawasaki Z1 is out now and

www.classicmechanics.com / 13

can joy in our pages, so you pride re with fellow readers. and r mortons.co.uk or mail s sh to bsimmonds@ yo us know he front of the mag. Let ss at th ea ot e and after e done it and send befor u’v yo d an ’v rtie. can. Do get in touch. Be ots if eY

Mick Thomas’ Kawasaki Z900 Hybrid Hi Berti ght I’d send some pics of m 0 Hybrid that I built over the as it’s something a little rent. It started out life as a Z900 that had already been butchered d stood in a shed for 12 years, so I ued it and fitted a 1200 Bandit engine and electrics along the way. h h lss took forever to but they were worth

KIT WINNER

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mechanics

it:: the frame was modified and strengthened by Racefit, then altered fu urther by a mate Jim King to make the en ngine fit. I then had it powder-coated ch hrome and painted candy green over it to give the finish you see here. It then went back to Racefit to have a on ne-off titanium Legend system fitted.

It came together quite well. Thanks to Fastladpictures for these shots!

We’ve teamed up with The Hobby Company www.hobbyco.net which distributes Tamiya plastic motorcycle kits in the UK to give our favourite restoration one of its amazing motorcycles in miniature. So, send in your pictures of your bikes and you could win the chance to indulge in a miniature motorcycle restoration of your own. Remember to send your name and address on each submission so we know where to post the kit.

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mechanics

SPECIAL BREW It may be as 70s as flares but Suzuki’s Kettle is still a stunner.

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WORDS: STEVE COOPER PHOTOS: JOE DICK

t’s a wet and dark March night in 1974 when my obsession begins. Sitting at a road junction trying to get to my night school class the traffic light has frozen on red. Streams of cars crawl over the crossroads for ages.

Normally I’d be tempted to run a red on my RD200. I don’t really want to rush to another tedious liberal studies lecture but I do want to share a coffee in the refectory with fellow student Julie before the 90 minutes of boredom begins. I’ve taken a shine to her. But suddenly Julie is the last thing on my mind; a gold, white and green GT750K pulls up beside me and the rider nods.

Potential date versus a starship? Sorry Julie, it’s no contest. Kettles aren’t exactly common yet and to see one is something special. For perhaps the only time in my riding life to date a red light is a positive result. I’m in love, besotted, smitten, bowled over, dumb struck; the bike is just so much sexier in reality than it is on the grubby newsprint pages of the weekly bike rags. Chrome, candy, alloy, pipes, silencers and then that exhaust note… pure, pure magic. In all honesty if Julie had walked past in knee length boots, hot pants and little else I doubt I’d have even noticed her! Thus began a lifelong love affair with Suzuki’s GT750 and especially the earlier models.

There really is something rather special about those initial models that just gets me every single time, but until now I’ve never had the opportunity to ride a Kettle of any description. So when Suzuki stalwart Gary Cobb contacted me regarding his mate Nick Ray’s exquisite L model it was a done deal.

Gary is a Kettle man through and through so I knew the bike would be bang on the money and being an L model it’s also an intriguing crossover with anomalies galore. As an L model our test bike runs CV carbs, for the first time replacing the previous slide carbs that were said to be responsible for poorer fuel consumption. Both owner Nick Ray and arch mechanic and Kettle guru Gary Cobb tell me our bike in camera has the later barrels with revised

mechanics

WORDS AND PHOTOS: JOHN MATTHEWS

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mechanics

RETRO

WORDS AND IMAGES: KAR LEE

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F

ollowing on from my basic engine service a few months back, this issue we’ll tackle changing your brake fluid, changing your coolant and also the balancing of four-stroke carbs.

Firstly, we will tackle changing brake fluid, which sometimes is neglected, causing problems later on in the bike’s braking system. To change your brake fluid, ideally you will need a brake bleeder similar to the one in the picture, which will cost around £35-£40. It makes the job safe and easy to carry out on your own.

So let’s get stuck in! First of all, remove the lid to the front reservoir/master cylinder, making sure to use a decent screwdriver as these screws are often not the best and be careful with the seal. Make sure you don’t drop any brake fluid on your paint work, as brake fluid loves paint. It’s best to cover any areas of the bike which are exposed with an old sheet or blanket.

Now locate your bleed nipple/nipples (I always make sure they are free before connecting the bleeder; make sure you have a rag handy at this point as some fluid may come out). You now need to make sure you have your brake fluid open and ready to top up the reservoir. So with

part 3

Basic maintenance Serial bike buyer and maintainer Andy Bolas takes us through a basic fluids and coolant change and carb balance. the tube connected to the nipple, slowly release the bleed nipple until fluid starts to come out, pull the trigger on the brake bleeder (this creates a vacuum and sucks the fluid out) making sure you keep the fluid topped up. If you allow the reservoir to run dry this will introduce air into the system. If this does happen don’t panic: carry on bleeding as before until you

Removing the screws from the master cylinder cap.

And the seal under cap.

Removing the cap and seal to show the old-dirty brake fluid.

Connecting the brake bleeder to the bleed nipple.

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Brake bleeder: handy!

have removed all the air from the system (the tubes are clear so you can see the air bubbles).

When you are satisfied the fluid is clean and contains no air, lock off the bleed nipple. Before you refit the seal and cap, top up the fluid until it’s above the lower level mark on the sight glass, then give them a wipe over and check the condition of the seal. If the seal is damaged it is best to replace it, as fluid may leak and damage any surfaces it comes into contact with. You will undertake the same process for the rear although you may need to remove a small amount of bodywork to locate the reservoir as it’s often hidden away out of sight.

The front calipers on this TDR250 bled fine with no issues, however the rear caliper’s lower bleed nipple was blocked and would not allow fluid to pass, so a couple of dabs on the rear brake pedal forced a bit of muck through and then normal service was resumed!

To change your clutch fluid, follow the same procedure as above again being careful not to spill any fluid! Now here’s a handy tip: if you find your lever a little on the spongy side, try tying the lever back to the bar overnight. This will help to expel any trapped air from the system.

So why do we need to change our brake/ clutch fluid? Well, over time the brake fluid will absorb water, which will cause corrosion and in extreme cases can cause brake fade and also lead to sticking/seized pistons. This is due to the fluid being

This for £100. Bargain mate...

Project Honda VFR750 F-R part 2

Hundred pound hound

He umms, he arrrs, but will he actually get anything started on the Hundred Pound Hound? Oh, and the GPz while we’re at it?!

I

fully expect to be admonished, told off and otherwise b*llocked by you, dear readers, but I’ve finally worked out what I’m doing with both this, Project Hundred Pound Hound and the GPz. The thing is, with the GPz900R stripped and me being in a quandary about whether it should be an update or just a straight retro, something made up my mind for me and that was this, the Project Hundred Pound Hound.

First of all I’m going to be honest – and many bike magazine editors/journalists are not. Being lucky, those that write for CMM and other motorcycle magazines get the odd chance of some free bits and pieces.

Now, having been in this game for more than 20 years, more often than not, today’s economic climate means often the best you can do is get a trade deal on some parts because money’s tight and 80 / classic motorcycle mechanics

times are hard. Sometimes we pay full whack. We all understand that. But for some reason the Hundred Pound Hound has caught some of CMM’s advertisers’ (and non-advertisers’) imaginations and many have just sent bits and pieces off-spec, without any prompting from me.

With the bike being so cheap I’ve had a few bits and pieces thrown at the project which has made me realise this can’t be a standard restoration. The lovely people at Performance Parts Ltd sent some LSL levers for the VFR, front suspension springs and chain and sprockets, all unbidden I hasten to add! Throw in a YSS Z-Series rear shock from Wemoto and a superb deal on a sexy GPR end-can and the writing was on the wall: Project Hundred Pound Hound was going to have to be a bit of a special, but how special?

In typical me fashion, at first I thought that I should start throwing wads of cash at the VFR and go for a big-bore kit, with

Forks will be reworked, stoppers were never the best. Upgrade?

SPECIFICATION

DISPLACEMENT

cc

CONFIGURATION

Four-stroke, DOHC, four BORE X STROKE

66mm x 66mm

COMPRESSION RATIO

8.5:1

MAX HP MAX TORQUE

52.8lb-ft @ 7000r m IGNITION

Points & coil CARBURETION

4x 26mm Mikuni VM26SS OVERALL LENGTH OVERALL WIDTH

.

OVERALL HEIGHT

mm

. n

WHEELBASE

1499mm (59in)

USEFUL CONTACTS ■ www.c n .co ■ . . o .

■ www.kawasakiz1.com ■ . . .

■ l i i . o ■ www.z1ownersclub.co.uk ■ . .

■ www.kawasakiownersclub.com

SEAT HEIGHT

813mm (32in) WEIGHT

230kg (507lb) BRAKES

Dual di c

rum rear R

front disc . .

TYRES

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Classic class!

What is it about certain cubic capacities and their penchant for becoming classics?

Bertie Simmonds takes a gander at the 900cc class.

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WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PICS: MORTONS ARCHIVE

umbers make up the vital statistics of motorcycling.

They may indicate the power produced by the engine, its weight, the number of valves opening and closing in the bike’s engine, rake, trail, wheelbase and – most importantly – its cubic capacity.

Sometimes just the mention of a number can send thrills down our spines. Just saying ‘250’ to a certain age group of bikers can mean either halcyon days of learner-legal two-strokes pre-1982 like Suzuki’s X7, Yamaha’s RD250LC, or – later – the bansheehowl of the full-on, fully-faired race-replicas like the Kawasaki KR-1S or Suzuki’s RGV250.

The thought of a ‘500’ always makes me think of two-stroke GP racers (rather than the four-stroke twins I commuted on) while, for many, the thought of a ‘750’ takes us back either to the original superbike, the Honda CB750, or perhaps to the late 1980s and early 1990s where 750cc four-stroke fours were ‘the’ sportsbike class to have. Some may even think of the Kawasaki Z750 twin: but it’s each to their own in this game.

There is another class which has spawned some amazing classic machines and some howlers: the 900cc class. When you actually

think back over the last 40 years or so of the best classic motorcycles, you’ll realise that most of the 900cc machines that popped up along the way have been brilliant.

Think about that first Kawasaki Z1: some bill it as the first real superbike, not the CB750. Then go all European and think about Ducati’s seminal 900SS, a machine which lived on for decades in many, various forms. Then move into the 1980s with Kawasaki’s GPz900R – a sportsbike which rewrote the rules – before hitting the 1990s and watching Triumph being reborn on a staple diet of 900cc triples, some of which are bona fide classics today.

Each time an epochal 900 came out, it was often followed by something of similar capacity but which – perhaps – wasn’t quite so good. In the 1990s the FireBlade was followed by Kawasaki’s ZX-9R B, which was heavier and stodgier. It wasn’t playing the same game. And when you look at the prices of Hinckley’s first Speed Triples rising, it’s strange to realise the same motor was in a number of other models, but they being much frumpier in style, time hasn’t been as kind.

So, what’s our pick of the best of the 900s of the last 40-or-so years? www.classicmechanics.com / 127