Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2021 i Classic Bike Guide

Well, hello all our oily-finger- nailed friends! Hope the shed heater is on, the postie has bought you some parts and that horrible world outside seems a long way away. Hopefully soon it’ll all feel like a bad dream. There’s been little lockdown blues here at Classic Bike Guide towers (Maria was an early instigator of ‘elevenses’, a most welcome addition to the schedule as we’re both working from home), we’re just using it as an excuse for an unheard-of amount of workshop time, along with a new game – how many layers can you get under your boilersuit and still be able to move (our shed roof looks like an observatory so no point heating it)? Maria’s new project, a little-known Eighties Honda called a Bros, is getting much…

NORTON RETURNS CLOSE TO MIDLANDS ROOTS NORTON MOTORCYCLES HAS a new home... and has returned very close to its roots. The company has moved to a new headquarters in Solihull, less than 10 miles from the 122-year-old motorcycle brand’s original home in Bradford Street, Birmingham. The change follows a multimillion pound investment by its Indian parent company, TVS Motor Company. (The Norton Motorcycle Co Ltd was acquired by TVS in April 2020.) The premises will be home to design, engineering, purchasing, sales, marketing, and support teams as well as the production team that is resuming manufacture of motorcycles. Some of the specialist tooling and equipment previously used by Norton has been moved to Solihull, but the site is benefiting from substantial new investment. 50 new jobs have been created with…

ENGINE: DOHC parallel twin DISPLACEMENT: 444cc BORE x STROKE: 70x57.8mm COMPRESSION RATIO: 9:1 POWER: 45 BHP FUEL SYSTEM: Twin Keihin Seiki CV CLUTCH: seven plate GEARBOX: 5-speed LUBRICATION: Wet sump FRAME: Single downtube cradle FRONT SUSPENSION: Telescopic forks REAR SUSPENSION: twin oil damped shocks WHEELBASE: 54ins (1371mm) GROUND CLEARANCE: 5.5 ins (140mm) SEAT HEIGHT: 31ins (787mm) DRY WEIGHT: 415lb(188kg) FUEL CAPACITY: 3 gallons (13.6litres) TYRES: 3.25x19 front and 3.50x18 rear BRAKES: 11 inch (280mm) single disc front, rear 7 inch (177mm) drum ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 12volt TOP SPEED: 103mph.…

LET’S TAKE A look at one of the more basic British motorcycles, one of the few stylish four-strokes that fit our £3000 criteria, the BSA 250cc Starfire unit single. The Starfire was initially called the C25 Barracuda. This had a good frame and a big-fin engine producing a claimed 25bhp. This, it was claimed, revved to 9000rpm with a 10:1 compression ratio and was fitted with a ‘super sports’ camshaft. Doing so regularly was a recipe for metallurgical meltdown. There was a smart glass-fibre petrol tank, big, sculpted glass-fibre side panels and a humped seat. The front forks were BSA’s own items and similar to those fitted to the company’s A series twins, combined with a single sided drum brake. There was a big chrome Lucas headlight and an optimistic…

Avery pretty A65 arrived at the workshop just before Christmas with the request to make it start and run, hopefully as well as it looked. After some discussions with the owner, it was decided that some carb fettling and the fitting of electronic ignition was in order along with a new sump filter and ally sump plate. The new sump plate and filter set up was a nice, straight-forward affair, so once that was fitted my attention turned to the electronic ignition. I decided to also replace the traditional rectifier and Zenor diode with a solid state regulator/rectifier. I really don’t like fitting electronic ignition without also fitting a reg/rec, this stems from an instrumentation engineer at work (whilst testing a handful of Zenor diodes for me) once telling me…

Paris-Dakar ace Hubert Auriol has died of heart disease at the age of 68. The Frenchman, often referred to as ‘The African’ died in January. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and over a long career not only helped to raise the profile of the rally, but in doing so, cemented the reputation of the BMW GS model. Auriol, already an accomplished enduro and motocross racer, competed in the first Paris-Dakar rally in 1979, a 5900 mile race on mainly dirt roads and once into the Sahara sand dunes. That inaugural race was won by Cyril Neveu on a Yamaha XT500, while Auriol didn’t manage to finish. But the seed was sown and in 1980, Auriol teamed up with BMW France on their newly developed R80G/S, albeit heavily modified…

I’ve used Kärcher pressure washers on tractors and equipment before, but never a motorbike – and especially an old bike. This Kärcher is new, so what better excuse for a little off-roading? One filthy BSA later and it was time to see what all the fuss is about. The K5, just one of the many in the range, is powerful at a max of 20 bar, though after hearing horror stories of lifting paint and steam in the electrics, I started off at less. After getting the mud off, parts were still dirty with grease and oil, so I sprayed on an R and G degreaser and left for a few minutes while I plugged the washer into the mains and the outside tap. This model has a simple on…

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES are something of a cash cow for motorcycle manufacturers, especially those heavily invested in the retro business. They are frequently marked by taking an existing model, often one that is approaching the end of its shelf life. Give it a fresh paint scheme, possibly a numbered brass plaque or a certificate, and mark the price up a little. Take a bow the struggling Meriden Triumph in 1977 for coming up with the idea and creating the Silver Jubilee Bonneville. Not many manufacturers would revamp most of their range with new engines, frames and technology to go with the new paint schemes and additional fripperies. Moto Guzzi, who really do have something to celebrate, have done just this. They have marked a century of their existence with a…

ONE AUTUMN EVENING I had been out for a ride on the Honda when I was pulled over by a motorcycle policeman on a Norton Commando, as I’d been doing rather more than 30mph in a 30mph zone. The conversation with the guardian of Law and Order went as follows: Officer: “Do you know how fast you were going, sonny?” Me: “A bit over the limit?” Officer: “Why were you going ‘a bit over the limit?’ In a hurry to get somewhere, were we?” Me: “Well, the thing is, my lights don’t work properly, cos my generator isn’t working, so I was trying to get home before it got dark.” There was a pause. The copper stopped preparing to fill out the HORT1 form requiring me to present my documents.…

The YR1 engine has a far more modern feel to it than my YM1; a lovely gearbox and a more willing engine. There is a noticeable power band from 5000rpm, and the bike feels strong from 4000rpm. Like the YM1, there is still a large gap between 4th and 5th gears, which seems to be the case on all Yamahas of this era. The induction roar of the YM1 has gone, a new airbox has almost silenced the induction noise. However the looks can’t be described as its strong point. The petrol tank is just plain ugly from certain angles. Yamaha must have realised their mistake with the styling, as after a year the YR2 was introduced, with a restyled petrol tank and seat. Also, the indicator switch (on the…

ENGINE: Dry sump 249cc Single ohv COMPRESSION RATIO: 10:1 BORE AND STROKE: 67 x 70 POWER: 25bhp@8000rpm CARB: 28mm Amal Concentric PRIMARY DRIVE: Chain/wet multiplate clutch, four-speed gearbox IGNITION: 12v coil and points WHEELS/TYRES: Front 3.25x18; Rear 3.50x18 BRAKES: Front 7in full width 2LS; Rear 7in half width QD FUEL TANK: 3.25gallon/14.75litre Steel OIL CAPACITY: 4 pint/2.3 litre SEAT HEIGHT: 31in / 787mm Length 82in / 2083mm WHEELBASE: 52in / 1321mm GROUND CLEARANCE: 7in / 180mm DRY WEIGHT: 302lb / 137kg.…

IN 1965, HONDA introduced to the world a ground-breaking motorcycle. Their biggest road machine to date, it was a world away from anything the then dominant British motorcycle industry had on offer. The CB450 Black Bomber was a twin, like its British rivals. But that was as close as the similarities went. It had two overhead camshafts, rather than none in the case of BSA, Triumph et al. It had an electric starter. It didn’t vibrate your fillings out. It was fast. It didn’t leak oil in vast quantities. Rather than using a balancer shaft, Honda had stopped it vibrating at speed by using a 180-degree crank, supported on four huge main bearings. The engine had an extremely short stroke. At lower revs, the engine did produce a buzz, but…

‘F or sale – Vincent 500 Comet – £28’ says the Comerford’s advertisement on the back of my October 1963 ‘Motorcycle Sport’. Just above the Vincent, amongst an intriguing list of second-hand bikes, is a BSA D7 for, wait for it – £55 – yes, back then, in this month’s advertisement, a Bantam would cost you twice the price of a Vincent single. Feeling flush? How about a Francis-Barnett 150cc for £79? Now obviously prices were a lot less in 1963 (average annual salary in the UK was around £800) but here’s a fascinating comparison; in the same advertisement there are two second-hand BSA 500 Gold Stars, one for £198 and the other a whopping £258, making the BSA singles one of the most desirable and expensive bikes on the…

ELECTRICS The positive earth electrical system is pretty basic in both 6v and 12 volt forms and does its job as well as any Lucas set up. Popping in LED bulbs (£26 headlight, £14 tail) is worth considering as they demand less current from the dynamo and some discrete indicators wouldn’t go amiss. Just for safety’s sake (£42 complete) upgrade the 6v to 12v if you need to. New looms are available (£67.20). You could replace Lucas points set-up with an electronic system (£100-170) if you use the bike a lot. However, if this goes wrong, it’s going to be pricey to repair, unlike fitting a new set of points and a condenser. It’s going to need to be 12 volt and the battery may need to be in tip-top…

Money, time, patience. It takes all three and more to learn how to paint bikes successfully at home. But if it does work out for you, not only could you save time and money, you will also be able to look back at your bike every time you ride it and think: ‘I painted that’. And you never tire of that. Bodywork, like many other parts of restoring a bike, takes patience. The more you practice, the more you learn. This takes time and money, so the first question is: should I even start? If you’re restoring one bike and the painting is limited to a tank and two side panels, then no. It is cheaper to get a professional to do it, you will be happier and you can…

In my box of bits I loosely call an ES2 there is one labelled ‘lectric’. In there is a magneto, the regulator in its tin box that sends shivers down the spine of any non-electrically minded biker, and the dynamo, which looks like it has been mauled by a lion. I don’t know that much about electrics, but I fear it shouldn’t have its guts hanging out like an extra in Jaws. So, as my ‘The vintage motorcyclists’ workshop’ book by Radco (Frank Farrinton) says the dynamo is the easiest part of the system, let’s start with that. Before we go any further this is in no way a ‘how to’ guide. This was me learning about the Norton charging system the way I’ve learned most things in life: by…