Classic Motorcycle Mechanics - November 2014 - Preview

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W O PA A RK GE N S S D H O TR OP F IC T K IP S S

Niall MackeNzie YaMaha FS1-e FReNzY!

kawaSaki GPz750 TuRbo buYeR’S Guide!

ALL THAT’S BEST IN MODERN CLASSIC MOTORCYCLING

Road and race ridden

by Niall Mackenzie

ReadeR’s special:

Suzuki GT750 Kettle!

Game biRd:

Honda special!

■ Honda Gold Wing – fantastic at 40!

■ 1997 Honda VFR750 ■ Rothmans Reboot! NSR500!

■ Honda museum!

Knowledge:

Hornet master cylinder rebuild

Skills:

Oil pump overhaul

ISSUE NO.325 NOVEMBER 2014

Suzuki Goose!

PROJECT BIKES HONDA CB750 RC42 ❙ YAMAHA RD350R ❙ KAWASAKI TOP GUN GPz900R ❙ STAN STEPHENS SUZUKI TS125 KNOWLEDGE HORNET TANK RESPRAY ❙ CLASSIFIEDS BUYING AND SELLING TIPS ❙ Q&A YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

November 2014 Issue 325 Publisher: Steve Rose, srose@mortons.co.uk Group production editor: Tim Hartley Contributors: Mark ‘Weeble’ Manning, Pip Higham, Mark Williams Design: Justin Blackamore Reprographics: Simon Duncan Divisional advertising manager: David England, dengland@mortons.co.uk Advertising: Sam Dearie, Tania Shaw sdearie@mortons.co.uk, tshaw@mortons.co.uk Tel: 01507 524004 Subscription manager: Paul Deacon Circulation manager: Steven O’Hara Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Production manager: Craig Lamb 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 £49.20. 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, November 19, 2014 Advertising deadline: Friday, October 31, 2014 © 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

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Why we need nostalgia...

As I speed away from my forties (well, shuffle) I find myself throwing a backward glance over my shoulder more and more.

Whether it’s hooking up with old mates, chatting over a beer or three, scanning in old pictures so we can see them on our new fangled ‘digital’ picture frame or catching up with long-lost pals on social media, nostalgia plays a big part of my life.

Sitting down with my uncle recently, going through his old pictures really showed me the power of nostalgia. Never normally blessed with a brilliant memory, this 50-something rattled through pictures of his old bikes with startling clarity. He was recalling when and where he’d bought this bike or that bike, why his 1981 Z1000J had been resprayed (knocked

off by a Volvo driver, naturally) and you could see the pleasure it brought him. This month’s issue carries an article by Del Freegard which really sums up a golden era of motorcycling – the 1970s. In it, Del does the same. Through his pictures of his mate Len Ellery, we glimpse a time much-loved and well remembered. Check it out on page 26 and if you’ve got pictures and stories you want to share, contact us at CMM. This month we hope to conjure up waves of nostalgia with bikes from the 70s, 80s and 90s, including a number of special Hondas and a gaggle of Geese. Grumpy sods say nostalgia ain’t what it was, but let’s face it, we all love it.

ds Bertie Simmon editor

Bertie Simmonds

Jon Bentman

Karl Webster

bertie@classicmechanics.com This month... ... yes okay, I get it. But my two-stroke dreams live on!

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Disappeared on a BMW adventure bike somewhere. Please come back JB...

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Aussie Karl found a Kettle in a chicken coop this month!

Steve Cooper

Mark Haycock

John Nutting

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Busy bee Scoop has ridden a Goose and brings us his RC42 again.

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Hornet is sorted with a brake rebuild and a respray!

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Debonair Nutters recalls the sublime Honda Gold Wing.

Stan Stephens

Chris Moss

Niall Mackenzie

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Stan sorts out a Suzuki this month: the TS125/RV125 motor.

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Mossy gets moist over a £900 Honda this month. Is he mad or what?

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Not content with his Fizzy rebuild, Spuds tests a road and race Honda CB500 Four!

Don Morley

Del Freegard

Sam Dearie

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Don brings us many memories of the Gold Wing and CB500.

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

Recalls 70s nostalgia and admits to going to a Peter Andre concert.

editorial@classicmechanics.com This month...

A giant among men - contact this man and sell your soul to us!

A fat fool and his money...

Older/nicer stuff editor

Lord of the Rings

Ledgendary photographer

Missing in Action

The Q&A King

Quick Spin Queen

Wiltshire correspondent!

Down Under editor

Master of Mira

Stand-in road test ed!

Ad sales giraffe

www.classicmechanics.com / 3

Contents 06

ARCHIVE

08

1997 HONDA VFR750F-V

The Battle of Assen recalled...

Chili versus Foggy!

52

1973 SUZUKI GT750 KETTLE

57

READER’S SPECIAL SUZUKI GOOSE

SHOW US YOURS

60

HONDA GL1000 GOLD WING

SUZUKI GOOSE

68

HONDA NSR500R

Cool columnists, nice news and fun things.

20 22 30

David Silver’s amazing Honda museum.

44

Our man Moss on why this bike is all you’ll ever need.

CALENDAR

Remember, remember to ride in November.

FEEDBACK

We’ve actually been praised this month!

From cafe-racing Genesis to a Beezer with bits from the Far East on.

Scoop rides Suzuki’s surprisingly game bird – the Goose!

WIN

A HONDA

CRF450R BLACK EDITION See page 129. Terms and conditions apply

130

❙ WORKSHOP NEWS

74

❙ MASTER CYLINDERS

78

❙ SUZUKI TS125/RV125

82

❙ OIL PUMP REBUILD

87

❙ PAINT PREP

90

❙ YAMAHA RD350R

92

❙ HONDA RC42

94

❙ FIZZY – NIALL

HONDA HOMAGE

HONDA CB500 FOUR ROAD & RACE

13 NEWS 18

40

71

From Clark Kent to a Seventies Superman: Niall Mackenzie rides.

Or ‘water bottle’ Down Under.

One Goose plucked and restored to perfection.

Original Gold Wing models recalled in MIRA Files.

The Rothmans racereplica triple rebooted for modern times.

NEXT MONTH

New metal bits and Pip Higham!

Honda Hornet’s brakes overhauled.

Stan Stephens rebuilds this classic motor.

Scoop saves his bacon with these workshop skills.

Mark Haycock prepares a tank for paint.

Idiot editor takes delivery of boxes of bits.

Steve Cooper learns to love a Honda.

MACKENZIE

The Old Trout is on the home stretch with his FS1-E.

98

❙ PROJECT TOP GUN

110

❙ KAWASAKI

Find out who’s joining the CMM team next month!

We think we’ve found a GPz900R.

GPZ750 TURBO

Steve Cooper’s final buying guide on the turbo Eighties bikes.

124

❙ RECOMMISSION RULES Steve Cooper on how to reboot an old boot.

126 ❙ Q&A

Your questions... our experts answer!

www.classicmechanics.com / 5

Project Top Gun part three

You can’t beat the cistern ciste

Project TOP GUN has so far failed to get off the ground – but we think we’ve bought a bike. Or are about to. What could go wrong?

O

“

oooh, if you buy it I’ll throw in some of the GPz indicators that are in the bog.”

Welcome to the wonderful and weird world of Steve ‘Joey’ Dunlop. A splendid chap from the Stafford area who’s well into his bikes, military memorabilia... and who may well be selling us a GPz900R. I say ‘may well’ as currently I can’t get a word in edgeways, but I have gleaned that he’s downsizing from 25 bikes to something more manageable, and we hope to nab one of two GPz900Rs we have our eye on for what we have called ‘Project Top Gun’.

Those with long memories will recall that we have a mission to recreate the steed of Tom Cruise in the 1986 mega-hit flick Top Gun. The bike was a Kawasaki GPz900R (not the 750) and featured alongside Cruise, some Grumman F-14 Tomcats and oiled men playing volleyball.

Tracking Steve down has been hard. In CMM he advertised a box of bits 98 / classic motorcycle mechanics

masquerading as a GPz some months ago, but he’s a busy man, it seems. He says: “I do lots of weekends away at shows and festivals and the like with my mates with the military memorabilia.” Steve shows me pictures of his great big GMC Second World War truck from 1944 – his latest passion – so some of the bikes have to go as this thing averages seven mpg! “I’ve been into bikes since I was a kid and ran a breaker’s for many years,” says Steve, “but I’ve not gone out on my bikes all this summer as I’ve been so busy.”

Steve’s place is an Aladdin’s cave. There’s a Mobylette stuffed in one side of his garage.

An XS750 Yam and a very tidy X5 Suzuki under wraps opposite: “I only paid £100 for the X5, lovely little bike.” An R80 Beemer and a mighty Honda CBX1000 six on the ramp, which I immediately took to be the original Z model, but wasn’t. Slowly realisation dawned when I didn’t see twinshocks. It’s a Pro-Link in wolf’s clothing.

Steve explains: “The Pro-Link was the better handling bike, but we all prefer the first

Wheels, indicators – just what any restorer’s loo needs!

cmm

Archive WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: MARK WERNHAM COLLECTION

Fiery Fi Frankie!

6 / classic motorcycle mechanics

Pierfrancesco Chili GP and WSB race winner.

The Battle of Assen took place during the 1998 World Superbike season and was pivotal for two reasons.

First, British double champ Carl Fogarty knew that he had to win there to have any hope of the title. Going into the Dutch round he was in third place 19 points behind series leader Troy Corser. With Assen being Foggy’s favourite track, surely he could make up some ground?

For Italian Pierfrancesco Chili, it was about fighting for a job, as he had been told that only the top two Ducati men would have a ride for 1999.

Race one saw Fogarty lead, before Chili slid past to win on the last lap. The British rider was in typical bullish mood: “I’m the only rider who knows how to lead a race around here,” he said after Chili won.

Then came race two. It was identical to the first, but this time on the last lap they were dicing in the fast curves and it looked as if Chili had to back off.

Going into the final chicane Chili crashed, leaving Foggy to take the win. An incensed Chili tried to punch Foggy in parc ferme (despite his Shark helmet still being in place) after the Italian had managed to get back to the pits. Then – at the post race press conference 30 minutes later, in walked Frankie – in a fetching blue towelling bath robe, accusing Foggy of dangerous riding, prompting another stand-off where journalists and team members had to pull both riders apart.

Fogarty went on to win the 1998 title in Japan and Chili made a switch to the Alstare Suzuki team for 1999. Both eventually became friends again. cmm www.classicmechanics.com / 7

so you can joy in our pages, d an e id pr R U YO ers.

We want to see e with fellow read or st re d an e rid u share what yo .co.uk or mail immonds@mortons bs to s ot sh s -re e mag.

Email your hi s at the front of th es dr ad e th to os it and send in some phot how you’ve done d an ne do ve u’ yo t in touch. Bertie Let us know what if you can. Do ge s ot sh r te af d an before

any We’ve teamed up with The Hobby Comp a www.hobbyco.net which distributes Tamiy our give to UK the in kits cycle motor plastic favourite restoration one of its amazing motorcycles in miniature. So, send in your the pictures of your bikes and you could win 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 Bailey’s Yamaha FZR cafe racer and streetfighter I liked the picture of the Yamaha FZR750 in August’s Show Us Yours and thought you might like to see a picture of my two FZR1000 Genesis models. The Streetfighter is a 1988 model which I built three years ago from a scruffy but complete and fully MoT’d bike. The cafe racer is a 1987 model which I finished this year from an even scruffier but still MoT’d bike. Both are now unrecognisable from their original condition or style. The Streetfighter is great fun to ride but the cafe racer draws crowds. I hope the readers like them too.

Darren Carter’s Kawasaki Z650 and BSA A65 Check out my recently restyled BSA A65. It’s not your normal subject matter perhaps, but it is from 1972 and now wears a lot of Japanese stuff.

Can you spot the bits? I love the Retro Reboot and my bikes fit this bill. I loved the recent Z1B Quick Spin and the Z650 main test, so check this out.

I have a tatty Z1000 from 1976 and more importantly a Z650 from 1978 seen here – much modified... or ‘evolved’ as I describe it. As a guide I have used period parts from the late 1980s and early 90s as they were cheap and suited the bike.

They include early GSX-R forks and brakes, GPz600 swingarm, GS500 wheels and loads of one-off parts. I’ve been riding it for three years now and would love for CMM to come and ride it.

22 / classic motorcycle mechanics

Mike Penson’s Honda CB550 Redman Replica This is the Honda CB550 I have finished. I have tried to make it look like a Redman replica, it is built from a bare frame with new wheels, spokes, all-new paint and the engine is now 600cc. The tank, seat and rear-sets came from Davies Motorsport, the four-pot exhausts were made by Dave Swarbrick and, let me tell you, these exhausts are quite loud. I have fitted lights on the bike just in case I am out late at night or stuck in the rain. Hope you like it.

Paul Fox’s Kawasaki Z650 Just thought I’d like to share a picture of my little ongoing project. Towards the end of last year a friend and I were talking about bikes (as you do) and he mentioned he had “this Z650” in his garage. He’d had it about 20 years, it had done four house moves and not been started in all that time. To cut a long story short, he gave me the bike as he wanted it to go to someone who would bring it back to life rather than strip it and sell parts from it... so that’s what I did.

It had been coated in WD40 and covered up, so although being a bit grimy it was all there and pretty solid. It’s not a standard Z650 as it has a later GPZ750 A3 Uni-trac motor and carbs, a deep brace chrome JMC swingarm, Marzocchi rear shocks and a Micron fork brace.

Firstly the carbs were stripped and cleaned and a couple of float valves and pilot jets were needed, then once it was started I discovered the dreaded starter motor was on its way out. After gaining info from the Z650 forum (very helpful place), that was replaced with the motor still in the frame. The rear caliper was stripped and rebuilt with new seals.

Mainly it’s needed lots of time and cleaning, it’s still not perfect, but it’s MoT’d and legal and I enjoy every moment working on it and riding it. It’s never going to win any prizes for being the best restoration and I don’t want it to, I want a good usable classic to have fun on and it makes me smile every time I walk in the garage. Let the good times roll.

Dave Steer’s 1980 Yamaha XS850 This my 1980 Yamaha XS850 shaft drive triple. Back in 1981-82 I owned its predecessor, the XS750, but always thought the XS850 looked a bit nicer – probably because of the slight upsweep in the pipes.

In May last year I came across an advert for this XS850 which turned out to be from a deceased estate. I bought it sight unseen so I didn’t see it running, and as it turned out it was running rough.

A carb overhaul kit was bought and I stripped the carbs down, replaced the bits that came with the kits and reassembled everything. Then I found I had fuel flowing from the air vents at the rear of the carbs.

Research showed that the Hitachi carbs Yamaha fitted to this model could be troublesome and hard to tune – I was starting to wish Yamaha had stuck with Mikuni carbs from the XS750 I owned.

I solved the leaking fuel problem by overhauling and modifying the fuel petcocks and readjusting the floats in two of the carbs.

Now she is purring like a kitten and not trying to set me alight. They are a rare sight in this part of Australia. www.classicmechanics.com / 23 www.classic

Classic Ride

Suzuki Scoop’s at it again; finding more unusual bikes he’d like to buy. Warn his missus!

WORDS: STEVE COOPER PHOTOS: JOE DICK

W

e often hear that hackneyed phrase ‘handles like it’s on rails’, yet few attempt to quantify it . So I’ll give you flavour of what it’s like.

Imagine a motorcycle that straight away feels like an entity. Try to picture a machine that immediately feels confidence inspiring; a bike that instils in its rider an innate rightness of purpose. Encounter a corner and simply pass through it with no apparent conscious effort.

Now take a series of bends at velocities that surprise you and get you grinning. This and more is just a soupçon of how such a motorcycle would feel. Oh, and I’m riding a near perfect example.

The Japanese have the cunning knack of occasionally producing a motorcycle that is greater than the sum of its component parts, but until you ride one they can be damn hard to spot. I am unequivocally an avowed fan of left field motorcycles. Perhaps it’s because I have a perverse streak running through me. I like machines that

30 / classic motorcycle mechanics

buck the trend, skew the norm and generally connive to upset the status quo. Don’t get me wrong, I like conventional stuff as well but I have this thing for underdogs and misfits. Yet when owner Dave Palmer agreed to let me have a crack on his Suzuki Goose initially I was intrigued rather than excited, motivated rather than moved. After all, however you dress it up the bike is (in theory at least) still only a 350 single.

Of course I should have known better, a lot better if I am honest. Within minutes of throwing a leg over the bike I was a total convert to the cause. Excuse the colourful vocabulary but... how the bloody hell did that happen? In all honesty and without any spin this is one seriously impressive motorcycle. If you wanted to know how to build a near perfect middleweight, air-cooled, four-stroke single then you’d have to work hard to beat Suzuki’s Goose. Yes it wasn’t the first Japanese company to do the whole Brit, looking rearward over the shoulder, rose tinted visor, hark back to the Sixties thing, yet good on Suzuki for putting a different twist on the concept.

The styling cues are all contemporary rather than retrospective and for both Dave Palmer and me – the temporary pilot – the Goose is all the better for it.

Suzuki’s SG350 should really be savoured. There’s actually a lot to take in, and the more you look the more you see; undoubtedly the bike’s designers were rightly proud of what they’d crafted here. The capacious tank looks the business, the front end is graced with inverted forks and chunky yokes and on this example at least there’s a remote reservoir Öhlins shock hiding under the rear end somewhere. Glance at the chassis and then do a double take; down from the trellis front end hangs a strange triumvirate of braced tubing. Doubtless it serves a distinct structural purpose but it’s also an overt styling detail your eye cannot miss. Below this a mesh screened oil filter protrudes out into the air stream. Subtly tucked below and initially looking like an integral part of

www.classicmechanics.com / 31

Honda homage!

Opening soon: the Dave Silver Spares Museum of Honda Motorcycles.

John Nutting took a sneaky peek!

A

new venture for spares supremo David Silver will be a remarkable museum of Honda motorcycles that even founder Soichiro Honda himself might have been proud.

While the Honda Collection Hall in Japan contains restored examples of almost every machine the factory produced, Silver’s museum will mostly provide a rare snapshot of many unrestored – but almost unused – machines dating from the late 1960s to the 80s, as well as restored Hondas from the 1950s that have rarely been seen.

The plan is to have the museum completed before the end of the year in a new building adjacent to the offices and warehouse of David Silver Spares at Leiston in Suffolk. Many of the machines originated from a collection in the US once owned by Bob Logue, a Honda dealer in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

It was acquired after a long period of negotiations by Silver’s US spares business run by his brother-in-law David Currie in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and brought to the UK. Dave Silver says: “Over a period of 35 years, Bob would take Hondas in part exchange, many with just a few hundred miles on them, dust them off and put them in his own collection.”

40 / classic motorcycle mechanics

So many of them are almost as if they had come from the showroom floor. One or two are not on the average classic bike fan’s wish list. “My favourite,” says Silver, “is a 1969 CD175A K3 twin with frame number 20000122. It’s so original, and with a number that low must have been made on the first day of production.”

There are several CB750 fours (both ohc and dohc), CB500 fours, CX and CB500 twins, CB72 production racers, CB250 and 350 twins, trail bikes such as the XL250 Motorsport, many lightweights such as the CB100 and even an unmolested mint NT650 Hawk GT – the US version of the sporty vee-twin better known in the UK as the Bros.

These will be augmented by Dave’s own collection of immaculate machines, pride of place going to a number of models from the earliest days of Honda, including a Cub F-type powered bicycle, a 1954 90cc Benly J, a handful of Dream 250cc singles from the mid-1950s and priceless gems such as a 125cc CYB92 twin. Dave Silver’s US business continues to make amazing finds from dealerships that have closed, and after their owners have died and left the premises fixed in time. One such was in Covington, Virginia, which Silver had been aware of for a number of years, but couldn’t persuade the son of the dealer to sell up. Eventually the son relented and the legacy is a mountain of literature, mementoes, manuals, paraphernalia and some 60 to 70 machines that were in various conditions, from a new Z50 Xmas special and a TLR200 Reflex trials bike, C77 twins, several CB550 fours to a Gold Wing 1100.

“I’m taking a big gamble and renting a 50 foot truck for $7000 to ship them one way to the next Bonhams auction in Las Vegas,” says Silver. “I’ve not thought yet what to do if some don’t sell. Perhaps I’ll just leave them.”

The origins of David Silver Spares go back to 1987 when Dave says he started buying up unwanted parts from Honda dealers and selling the bits piece by piece through the weekly bike paper. “Back then it was very much a discount bargain-basement operation,” he says.

“I worked out there were parts distributors in the UK and they had to sit on a huge amount of stock. If you were a Honda dealer then you had to go to a parts

distributor, not Honda direct, so they had to service all their customers and keep huge volumes of stock. Very quickly – when new models came out, seats and tanks that insurers were not prepared to cover with the cost of write offs and things – there were lots of parts that were obsolete. They were still available; everything was back then but at a hell of a price exceeding the value of the bike. So I would just buy all the stock for a few pence on the pound. Then I’d work out what I had, discard all the gears, get all the cycle parts, make up a list and put it in the press. Ironically parts now such as 750K2 tanks are selling at three times whatever a Honda one ever cost.”

Now David Silver Spares has a comprehensive warehouse that is augmented by a sales office with teams responding to calls from customers looking for elusive parts. Only occasionally do they arrive in person.

Another warehouse is dedicated to storing machines that have been acquired for parts – including the lines of CB400 Fours. cmm

■ The David Silver Spares Museum collection is still being added to, so if you have an early Honda that you would like to sell, get in contact with Dave on 01728 833030 or by email: david.silver@ davidsilverspares.co.uk

www.classicmechanics.com / 41

44 / classic motorcycle mechanics

Like a mild-mannered, middle-aged man entering a phone booth and popping out as Superman, Honda’s 40-year-old CB500 Four road bike does a similar trick in the hands of Davies Motorsport to become a balls-out racer. Niall Mackenzie puts his pants on over his tights to sample the goods.

H

onda was on a roll. It had blown away the complacent competition with the seminal CB750 of 1969, a multi-cylinder motorcycle refined for the hi-tech decade of the 1970s, and then went into making the formula work on other capacities of motorcycle.

With the four-cylinder sohc CB750 being the company’s magnum opus, smaller capacities were looked at. Many classics are given the term because they were the biggest and best of the time – the CB750 and Z1 are prime examples – and yet often the next along, often the smaller-capacity machines, are unfairly overlooked as just not being as bold, or as brash. Even if they are better.

A few issues ago Jon Bentman made the case for the Z650 as being a better bike than the Z1, and it could be argued that the CB500 Four was making such a statement even earlier.

MONDS ERTIE SIM TIE SIMMONDS NZIE, B E K C L A R O EY, BER M N, DON M A NIALL M : P S A D WOR ARY CH OS: G PHOT

www.classicmechanics.com / 45

Reader’s Special

What do you do with a Kettle that’s been left in an australian chicken coop for more than 20 years? restore it of course!

Words and pHoTos: Karl Webster and Carl sChubert

Y

ou just gotta love the sound of a screaming two-stroke, yeah? and no, I’m not talking two-stroke lawn-mowers or chainsaws. The sound of a set of nicely set up spannies sends a chill through your spine. there are only a few things in life that when you ride them give you an incredible sensation and indescribable tingle somewhere: a release that just makes you want more and it can be legal – depending where and how you go about it. and motorbikes are up among my top two.

I guess most of us CMM readers started out years ago with a two-stroke. I still love strokers and will get another one soon. this love of twostrokes is shared by many of us – including another Karl, or should I say ‘Carl’... schubert. a few weeks ago I bumped into the local VJMC crew and found I knew quite a few guys already. there were some great bikes of all kinds and built to all different levels and one guy I knew introduced me to Carl, who was riding a very nice Gt550. My positive comments about his 550 were answered with… “you should see his Gt750 water bottle”. so that’s just what I did, and what follows is Carl’s story.

Carl explained: “the Gt750 is known as the ‘water bottle’ here in australia, and just after joining my local branch of the VJMC I got a lead on a dormant 1973

52 / classic motorcycle mechanics

model that really rekindled my association and love of suzuki two-strokes. I’d heard it was stuck in an old chook shed (that’s chicken coop in the Queen’s english – ed) in Central Victoria. Contact was made with the owner and a look at the bike was arranged. “there was a nice story behind the bike. basically, every Friday night the guy would be woken up at about midnight by the howl of a bike as it left the local boozer as it headed back to a nearby town. the owner told me that he walked into that bar one night, asked who owned the blue motorbike out front, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and took the bike home and parked it in the chook shed. noise problem was solved!

“I had to have it, so the relatively complete, but very neglected suzuki, was soon on a trailer for a long overdue birthday.” as is often the case, what commenced as a simple project to refresh the big twostroke soon turned into a complete frame up restoration. having tinkered with bikes all his life but not a mechanic, Carl knew the enormity of the decision to restore rather than refresh. however, the six week timeframe initially set in december 2006 may have been naïve! november 2011 saw the restoration complete with the bike rolling out of the shed looking as close to showroom condition as

www.classicmechanics.com / 53

WORDS: BERTIE SIMMONDS PHOTOS: JACK JOHNSON

a e k … r a T nde a g

…at this Goose. It’s a gorgeous game bird, sizzling with neat touches thanks to a man with a heavyweight eye for detail called Jack Johnson.

E

lsewhere in this issue you’ll see Steve Cooper wax lyrical about what makes the Suzuki Goose such a good bike.

Rumour has it that the Goose (released as the SG350) was ridden around the Isle of Man circuit during development by the project leader who promptly crashed it at the Gooseneck, hence the name. Blessed with a punchy motor, light weight and effective brakes – even Scooperman’s not insignificant load can be carried around in some style. Well, that’s handy then, as Jack Johnson – owner of this stellar special build is around 6ft 5in and 17 stone, which puts our Steve in the shade. Literally.

Jack works at Rapier Paintwork, in Hull – staff there are good pals of CMM – and Jack has been plying www.classicmechanics.com / 57

60 / classic motorcycle mechanics

Stan the Suzuki man...

Last month we featured the RV125 VanVan and Stan the Man gives us this… Yup, Stan strips and fettles a TS125 motor, a powerplant also used in the RV125.

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he pre reed-valve air-cooled TS125 engine was used in many guises, runabout, trail-bike and RV125 VanVan dune bike, pictured above.

There must be loads of CMM readers who have (or had) one so I’m going to run through a strip and rebuild of this little workhorse. It’s a very simple engine to work on, although there are a few things to know that might trip you up.

First of all remove the head and check for any damage, next remove the barrel and check for any bad wear and tear, although if you are stripping it because there is a problem or it’s worn out it would be sensible to have it rebored and a new piston kit anyway. On the engine I am using for the article you can see there is a lot of damage to the base of the barrel caused by someone without spanners who must have tried to chisel it off!

Remove the ignition flywheel and the ignition back-plate. Remove the oil pump and 78 / classic motorcycle mechanics

Remove ignition, sprocket and oil pump and undo cross-head screws.

Let us spray!

Or more accurately, let’s prepare for spraying!

Mark Haycock follows his brake rebuild by sorting out his Hornet’s aesthetics!

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A

fter carrying out a number of mechanical renovations to the Hornet, the final stage was to sort out the post-accident dent in the fuel tank and the damaged seat cowl. The written-off bike was working perfectly but just needed a bit of cosmetic improvement.

The difficulty with the dent was that it was near the tank graphic and lacquer had been applied by Honda over the whole thing (main photo), so reproducing the original finish would not be so simple. Maybe I could take the opportunity to change the colour from the plain black, which I had never been particularly enthralled by?

How would the parts be resprayed? There is a choice here. It is often possible to do a reasonable job with aerosols if you take the time to prepare the job before spraying and to give plenty of attention to rubbing down after to remove any ‘orange peel’ or other defects. The same goes for spraying at home, if you have a compressor and spray gun – which I do not.

The question mark here, though, is how durable would the finish be, particularly the tank, as it is probable that at some point it will have solvent-like fuel spilled on it? Tough modern paints are prepared by mixing the colour with a hardener – rather like preparing epoxy adhesives. This is not practicable at home as extra equipment, such as breathing

apparatus, is needed as the results are poisonous. It seemed best then to get the bits professionally resprayed.

We have seen that I needed to remove the tank and get it into a sprayable condition by draining it and taking out the internal fuel pump and the filler cap assembly. I had stuck the bits of the seat cowl together and filled the joins already (Photo 2), but would my work be good enough for a professional to use?

Tony Roseman of Cycle Sprays in Cranleigh had done some good work for me on a Yamaha VMax, so I went down with the bits to see what he could do and what was involved.

The good news was that the seat cowl was deemed good enough to use. Naturally, if the 2

repair had not been strong enough, the new respray would quickly be made useless.

By the way, on the subject of useless, take a look at Photo 3 where we see the results of a respray by a rival operator. This tank looked perfect at first glance but it had been brought in because the paint was very soft, and it could be easily scraped off. Tony reckoned whoever had mixed the paint had evidently got his recipe mixed up... and the only solution was to get it all off and start again.

One other curiosity which caught my eye was a tank from a Honda Superdream which was evidently set to be turned into a showpiece (no, I didn’t get that either), but the underside of the tank was practically 3

2/ Preparation is everything with painting. If you’re prepping for a pro paint job, take your time as it effects the end result. 3/ A bad paint job – paint can be easily scraped off. www.classicmechanics.com / 87