YAMAHA TTDR250 YAMAHA YZF-R6 6
80s
Reader’s ride!
Tested & buyer’s guide e
90s
1980s magica al middleweight V4!
December 2016 Issue 350
Big-bore two-strokes updated!
FIVE DECADEES OF MODERN CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS 70s
MORINI RINI 3 3.5 5 SPORT!
00s s: Kawasaki ZX-12R 80s: Ducati 888 Racer resto ❙ Cam-tim ming a DR600 Retro: Stafford report ❙ Katana racer Plus: Pl Wiring W block connectors ❙ Modern ignition alternatives ❙ Q&A – your questions answered and your bikes and memories!
68
❙ Q&A
Contents ARCHIVE
❙ YAMAHA DT175 MX
06
75
❙ WIRING CONNECTORS
08
2000 KAWASAKI ZX-12R
80
❙ SUZUKI DR600
12
NEWS
42
18
CALENDAR
50
READER’S RIDE
20 22
FEEDBACK
56
1986 HONDA VF500 FII
64
RETRO REBOOT SPECIAL!
70
82
86
90
Mark Haycock and Scoop with tons of tips! Ralph Ferrand powder-coats his trail-iron! Ralph once more on electrickery…
Paul Berryman has cam-chain woes! Poor bloke!
❙ DUCATI 888
Mark Forsyth finds the racer coming together.
❙ TWO-STROKE ISSUES
Stan Stephens highlights some issues he’s had!
❙ KAWASAKI ZRX1100
Alan Dowds returns… she’s looking good!
102 ❙ YAMAHA YZF-R6
Scoop gives us the buying lowdown on our main test machine.
114 ❙ YAMAHA RD350
Scoop sorts out the ignition with a cool kit.
119 ❙ MAKE OR BREAK?
Revisited: Five years on Scott Redmond checks prices.
When the humble Super Dream ruled!
Al Fagan rides a coming classic hyperbike. Events, reports and what’s happening in our world. Christmas is a-coming, the goose is getting fat… You keep us honest.
SHOW US YOURS
Now with added nostalgia! Check out ‘The Way We Were!’ Send in yours!
26
SHOW REPORT!
30
MOTO MORINI 3.5 SPORT
How super was this year’s Stafford show?
36 38
SUBSCRIBE!
Subscribe and save cash!
ENDURANCE LEGENDS
Suzuki to build a race Katana for the event!
1999 YAMAHA YZF-R6
Bertie Simmonds on this revvy supersport rascal.
CMM reader Ella Middleton and her Yamaha TDR250.
John Nutting on a jewel V4!
All the big-bore two-stroke reboots repainted!
122 NEXT MONTH
Honda VTR1000 SP-1, Honda CB360, Yamaha RD500LC and much more!
Steve Cooper on the twin.
www.classicmechanics.com / 5
u can d joy in our pages, so yo an ide pr UR YO e se to We want rs. restore with fellow reade share what you ride and .co.uk or mail to bsimmonds@mortons Email your hi-res shots mag. Let us know dress at the front of the in some photos to the ad d after ne it and send before an do e u’v yo w ho d an ne what you’ve do in touch. Bertie. shots if you can. Do get
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.
John Banks’ Yamaha RD400C C Here is my restored Yamaha RD400C, which I purchased from Classic Motorcycles two years ago. Most of the parts were ‘new old stock’, I also had new shocks as the originals had seized solid. I dreamed of owning this bike in the 1970s. My cousin Tony Meeres had one and at the time I went for a Kawasaki KH400 in candy
green but always hankered after the Yamaha. She runs like a dream and I love the smell and burble from the standard pipes. When riding, I get lots of people coming over to admire her and telling stories of when they used to thrash and wheelie away from the lights on this amazing bike. If you fancy a test ride let me know!
KIT WINNER
22 / classic motorcycle mechanics
NOSTALGIA
WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS/JACK HARRISON PHOTOS: GARY D CHAPMAN/BERTIE SIMMONDS
It promised to be one of the biggest weekends of the classic calendar and it didn’t disappoint: welcome to the 23rd Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show!
T
here was another brilliant mix of classic motorcycles, superstar names and brilliant bargains at the 23rd Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show. Even the news that Don Emde and Mert Lawwill were not well and couldn’t attend (get well soon gents) failed dampen the enthusiasm and neither did the rain on Sunday. Thankfully the two On Any Sunday stars David Aldana and Gene Romero staked their claim as the most popular Stafford bike show star guests, with thousands packing the huge annual event to meet their heroes.
26 / classic motorcycle mechanics
The pair proved to be more of a comedy duo, meaning classy compere Steve Plater had his work cut out keeping them on track during on-stage interviews, as they covered a range of subjects including the iconic film itself, their racing experiences and some entertaining stories from their glory years. Visitor Ian McDonald said: “Every year the guests of honour are great, this year they have gone up a gear… fantastic!” Fellow show-goer Kev Hewitt added to the praise calling the pair “brilliant blokes and a great pair of characters”.
NOSTALGIA
Oh yes! Suzuki GB is taking the plunge to build a very special race bike for the CMM-backed 4-Hour Endurance Legends event. WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: SUZUKI GB, CLASSIC BIKE TRACKDAYS
38 / classic motorcycle mechanics
1
2
3
4
1/ Suzuki GB Kat already coming together during the dry build at the Team Classic Suzuki HQ. 2/ Conti tyres are on the bike at the moment. Race bodywork going on too. 3/ Captivating classic Kat stare. 4/ Classic Suzuki legend Colombi sorting the bodywork ready for painting. 5/ Just to give the painter a clue!
5
LEFT: Suzuki GB Kat looks good in pukka colours in our artist’s impression.
S
uzuki GB is pulling out all the stops to make this coming Motorcycle Live event another corker on the classic front. Take a look at this lovely artist’s impression of one very special Katana race bike and drool! Last year Suzuki GB did a full restoration of a 1985 Suzuki GSX-R750F, which was ridden last month by yours truly in this, ’ere magazine, while the year before they put together a TL1000S V-twin from parts to showcase their Vintage Parts Programme, but this year Suzuki GB is really doing the business. On their stand, throughout the duration of the Birmingham NEC-based show, the slightly bulky legend that is Nathan Colombi and Team Classic Suzuki will be putting together their latest race bike on the Suzuki stand which will be taking part in the Classic Bike Trackdays Endurance Legends event over May 6-7, 2017! Before that, November 19-27 will see this amazing machine come together: a Suzuki GSX1100 SD Katana, which will be campaigned by some very famous names at next year’s 4-Hour Endurance event. Backed by Suzuki’s Vintage Parts Programme, the team will field a three-rider line-up that they hope will take them to glory in the 4-Hour race, on-board the hand-built GSX1100 SD-engined machine. Our mate, Suzuki GB’s aftersales co-ordinator Tim Davies says: “This will be the third bike build to take place on our stand at Motorcycle Live; the TL1000S was our first and we celebrated the GSX-R750’s 30th anniversary last year with a restoration of an original F model. Both of those builds highlighted www.classicmechanics.com / 39
READER’S RIDES
52 / classic motorcycle mechanics
That’s my bike – VF500FII owner David Sheppard If you know David Sheppard, who’s a retired trademark search specialist from Hayes, near Bromley in Kent, it will come as no surprise to find he owns a Honda VF500F V4 among his eclectic collection of machines. Born in Devon – he’s now 68 – Dave is a keen Vespa fan. He was given his first bike, a Vespa Clubman which he restored, then bought another Vespa, a top-of-the-range 1965 SS180 and joined the Crystal Palace branch of the Vespa Club of Britain where he met his future wife, Sue, who he married in 1970. He still has two older Vespas, which is why
he’s also a member of the Veteran Vespa Club. His most recent model is a PX150 70th Anniversary while his GTV250 was recently used for an 800-mile rally through Germany, Holland and Belgium with his wife. That’s just part of Dave’s taste in bikes, which have included a Triumph T100SS twin, a BSA Bantam, and a Velocette LE. He also rides his 1996 Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200S which still gets a lot of use. The Honda VF500F came to him purely by chance three years ago after a neighbour’s brother who was into rally cars passed away. The Honda had been
bought second hand in 1987 from the original dealer, Doble Motor Cycles in Coulsden, Surrey, because he liked its engineering. But he hardly used it. “It was a lovely looking bike,” he says. “It came with a lot of paperwork which includes all the MoTs from Frank Dunstall’s since 1989. “With just over 3000 miles it hadn’t been used much. It was running, but roughly with a poor tickover, so I fitted a new battery, cleaned the carbs and it started working okay.” Then disaster: at a recent Brighton Burn Up the Honda was in a row of bikes that was knocked
over. “The damage bill came to £1700 so it was written off by Carole Nash,” says Dave, who bought it back and had the fuel tank, fairing and indicators repaired. “I had Metzeler tyres fitted, along with new exhaust pipes and paint job done and I think I still came out ahead, and it’s still only got 6200 miles showing.” The bike mostly gets used on Thursday nights and weekend runs with the local VJMC, in between fettling his other five bikes. That’s not all David does though, as he also helps out with his four grandchildren, all of whom live very nearby in Kent.
“It came with a lot of paperwork and all MoTs since 1989. I bought it with just over 3000 miles on it, I’ve only put on just under another 3000. It’s a lovely-looking bike!” You’d be this smug with such a low-mile VF in your keeping. Well played, David.
www.classicmechanics.com / 61
www.frost.co.uk
WORDS AND PHOTOS: RALPH FERRAND
01706 658619
Yamaha DT175 MX part 3
Powder being applied to a GS1000 frame.
Powder your nose The DT is coming along nicely, reckons Ralph. Time to powder-coat this trail-iron!
T
he work on the baby dirt bike carries on apace this month. There’s been lots and lots of prep which is less exciting than putting stuff back together, but just as necessary. The bike came with no rear light and I managed to find a slightly doggy example in France. For some reason there seems to be more DT bits in France and Germany than in the UK, even though DTs were pretty popular here. As with all classic bikes there are lots of bits across the pond, but one has to be careful with US DT parts, as there are quite a lot differences between the European bikes and the Yank models. Even buying from Europe can throw in the odd curve ball, as some of the continental bikes have some model disparities. Regardless of where in the world you source your used parts, they will need to be cleaned up and painted or plated. With any form of paint, be it two-pack, 70 / classic motorcycle mechanics
rattle-can or powder-coat you will need a good key for the covering to adhere to. In my experience you can’t get a better key than the finish left by media blasting. I tend to use glass bead as it’s not too vicious on more delicate parts, but still leaves a slightly rough surface as key for the paint. Getting the swingarm out of the frame was a nightmare; after living,
The bracket for the tail-light from France: needs prepping for paint.
unloved, outside for years, the spindle was welded in place with corrosion. The temptation in these situations is to get the biggest hammer you have and build up a manly sweat beating seven bales out of it. This however, is not the recommended solution and will leave irreparable damage to both the frame and the swinger. My solution was to go and guilt-trip my friend, who sold me the bike, to let me use his 40 ton press. I needed huge amounts of pressure, but only in the correct place. That’s not as easy to achieve as it might sound. I had to support the frame, precisely around the outside of the bolt head hole and then, keeping it all square, put a huge force on the end of the bolt. It took well over 10 tons before it even started to move and didn’t suddenly free up either. Once the end of the bolt was level with the top of the hole, the balancing act became even more tricky: with more and more hands required, but it finally bent to my will!
www.frost.co.uk
01706 658619
Making connections part 3
Giving some old 2.8mm mini-connector bodies a swim in the ultrasonic bath.
Block tactics! The Ralph masterclass continues, this time with his take on using those useful block connectors.
L
ast month I explored single wire connectors, but this month I am going to look at multiconductor connectors often referred to as multi-blocks. There are numerous connectors out there, but I shall be concentrating on the most common ones which are readily available. Some period multi-blocks are pretty much unobtainable nowadays, though pattern loom makers seem to be able to get their hands on special multi-blocks, for commonly requested looms such as Kawasaki Z1, where they probably get the connectors specially made. Most of the multi-block connectors for 70s and 80s motorcycles are readily available, though getting the different colours can be expensive. When I made a new loom for my Kawasaki GPZ1100 Uni-Trak, I used my terminal release kit to take the connectors
out of the main plastic body of the multi-blocks, so that I could reuse them. There are two main types of terminal release tool, the wheel type and the individual type in a set. The wheel ones work really well, but the blades you’re not using, in my experience, stab you in the hand; like trying to force a hedgehog into a funnel. The individual sets are much more comfortable to use and are my weapon of choice on a day-to-day basis. I wish I could say that it is always easy releasing the individual connectors, and sometimes it is, but sometimes they are proper fiddly gits and may cause you to swear a lot. Sometimes you will find that a connector has got wet, corroded and will have overheated, partially melting the plastic housing, rendering it a skip job. Whenever a wire has got this hot for whatever reason the whole circuit must be replaced. If this is on a bike where a pattern or better still NOS (New Old Stock)
WORDS AND PHOTOS: RALPH FERRAND
loom is available, get it bought and installed. Once a wire has overheated, you have no idea what other problems it will have caused inside the loom; often the overheated wire will damage the insulation of its neighbouring wires in the loom. If a new loom isn’t available, you must open up the loom and replace the offending wire and also check the condition of all the other wires. If the copper colour of wiring has gone black, this is also an indication of excess heat. Whatever tool you plump for, the appropriate blade is inserted into the relevant orifice in the multi block, to release the latch which holds the connector in place. The most common connectors on 70s and 80s bikes are 2.8mm mini connectors and 6.3mm blade multi connectors. The 2.8mm mini connector is very common on Japanese motorcycles, as it is nice and compact and will carry the required current for most www.classicmechanics.com / 75
www.frost.co.uk
WORDS AND PHOTOS: STEVE COOPER
01706 658619
Updating ignition and generator systems
New sparks for old? Scoop reckons it could be a good idea.
W
hen does common sense take over from authenticity? At what point does practicality out-trump pedantry? What’s more important to you – historical accuracy or usability? Ultimately these questions all revolve around what you want from an old bike. But if the open road is your ultimate aim then surely you give your classic the best you can afford? No-one with an ounce of savvy uses low-rent oil, cheap tubes or tyres etc. So why compromise on key components? Know that our classic machinery is decades old now and marvel that the electrics are still functioning with any degree of reliability. A contemporary British Leyland or Vauxhall car will now have eaten several Lucas or AC Delco alternators and distributors yet your Hitachi, Mitsubishi or Kukosan generator is still hanging on in there, just! 114 / classic motorcycle mechanics
1 1/ With the blue neutral wire removed we’ve cracked open the three stator mounting screws and the lower bottom right one has come out rusted. Not an auspicious start.
BIKE BUYER
Make or Break What’s happened over the last five years to bike prices? Scott Redmon d reprises his role as judge, jury and executione r to a range of bikes he used to ‘m ake or break’. WORDS AND PHOTOS: SCOTT REDM OND
I
t’s funny how things change over the course of just five years. When I started the regular ‘Make or Break’ column, showcasing what I’d bought, why and what I was planning to do with it, it reflected the then-current state of the market. And how it’s changed, or not. It’s interesting now to look back on what I bought, for how much and what these bikes would go for now. Pull up a jerry can, let’s adjust those rose-tinted goggles and chew the motorcycle-buying fat.
The original ‘Make or Break’ feature.
Suzuki GSX-R7/11 Specials and hybrids are among the toughest bikes to sling a value on. This 7/11 from 2011 is a great example of the point that I’m trying to make. I paid £800 for this jamboree of GSX-R parts. I had bought it to break but ended up selling it complete for a small profit to another trader. At the time a Slingshot frame and logbook was worth not a lot (maybe £100 if it was HPI clean and had a V5 with it). Having to pay £25 to obtain a lost V5 was often a factor in pricing those frames that had a number plate, but the logbook had got lost down the back of someone’s filing cabinet. Things have changed a fair bit in GSX-R-land. A decent Slingshot 750 frame is now a £200 item. They’ve always been dearer than any GSX-R1100 frame, mostly because they are the starting point for that hallowed 7/11 hybrid. We are now at the dawn of another era though, with
those who want to restore the very bikes that got slaughtered to create bikes like this. The GSX-R1100 engine is also back in favour. That said it hasn’t ever really gone out of fashion with those after an engine for a project. At this year’s classic TT, an XR-69 lookalike powered by a tuned GSX-R1100 engine managed a 126mph average lap. I’m no expert but that’s probably much faster than a real GS1000 powered XR-69 could’ve got around in… One part that is now out of favour is those upside-down forks. For years people have stuck them on specials and retrofitted them to early GSX-R, GSX and GS models. The classic world has now embraced radial front ends, so if it’s a racy rebuild (or w weirder) the once out of favour conventioonal fork is now very much back in dem mand. Proving it’s a funny old world, I crossed paths with this very bike a few years later, and even d did a little feature for this very mag on it. It had ended up being a ‘run what you brung’ drag bike and its new owner had stripped and rebuilt it. He was getting decent times too with regular low 10s being a mix of Suzuki brute force and his natural flair for fasst reactions away from the lights. I haven’t seen a 7/11 come to market for some time now. Depending on how you go about it, it can still be a cheap-ish way off building a bike when you consid der an engine will set you baack at least £500 for a proven runner. Then after you’ve p parted with a couple of ton n for a frame you are only £100 short of what I paid for this w whole bike less than five years ago.
Under a grand and into the 10s! www.classsicmechanics.com / 119