Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Classic Bike Guide

BMW OWNS THE ADVENTURE BIKE MARKET. IT HAS A huge presence in the touring market, it’s barged its way into the sportsbike market at its first attempt, and it even has its claws in the small bike market with the G310. BMW likes to win. The figures for cruiser sales around the world are huge, yet BMW has had no invite to this party yet – barring a brief time with the R1200C, a late 1990s boxer-engined cruiser (it was great) that didn’t cut the cloth and was thrown out for being underage. This must be irritating, as the owner of that world, one Harley-Davidson, is not exactly a reactionary, aggressive, forward-thinking company. It makes what it makes, the Americans love it, and as the world’s media overexposes us all…

EXHAUSTED As per just about any Japanese motorcycle from the mid-1980s, the CB350 had an exhaust system that happily returned to its base state as soon as it could, but the 2-into-2 standard system can be replaced by a number of different 2-into-1 aftermarket options. YOU’RE BARRED While the top yoke is conventional, with the usual sort of bar clamps, the standard bars are peculiar z-shaped items that give a clip-on handlebar kind of riding position, with a plastic cover that goes over the top yoke and bar clamps up to the generic clocks. PRACTICALITIES Being manufactured at a time when bikes were built to ever more sporty pretensions, it was often the case that a production bike wasn’t equipped with a centrestand, making chain maintenance and solid parking more…

CBG Workshop THERE IS NO FANFARE, NO celebration when a restoration is finished. After the initial shakedown, the first few rides are tentative, but soon after all that work, all those new parts and adjustments just morph into ‘the bike’. This 1978 BMW R100S had a few tests where many issues were sorted or at least noted, then a test ride to the Peak District for the weekend, and after that went well, it was pressed into service... 2500 miles! There’s a few things still needed. The exhausts need painting/coating/replacing, as they look horrid. Black or chrome, I’m not sure yet. The indicators have never worked properly, so that needs sorting, though some other lighting gremlins were cured with new bulbs (I’m tight and used the ones that came fitted),…

SPIRITED CONVERSATIONS ON SOCIAL media are very often highly entertaining. And sometimes they are genuinely interesting, too. Occasionally they’re both, although not as frequently as I would like, somehow. For a reason which has now entirely faded from my memory, I posted a picture of a bike I’d found offered for sale. Apart from being silver (I have never really liked silver as a motorcycle colour, despite enduring not one but two Norton Commandos in a metalflake edition of that very shade, and being a non-unit construction engine, when my preference is for unit, although that’s only today... my view may have altered by the time you read this), the bike was an almost exact fit for my unexpected urge to replace my 350cc ohv single with electric start for…

CBG Your guide to... STEVE DAVIES HAS ONE OF THE NEATEST UNIT- construction BSA Gold Stars you’ll ever see. Made in December 1971, when there was still some optimism about BSA’s future, this B25SS Gold Star is from the days when staff at Small Heath were proud of what came off the production line. It’s not original, not the paint scheme, or the exhaust, but it is a splendid example of the breed. The roadster-spec B25SS Gold Star was bought by Steve in 1981 and he’s had it ever since. It came with a blue frame, no wiring loom and no back wheel: “I couldn’t believe how many parts had just been thrown away. It belonged to a friend and I paid £100 for it. It had chrome tank and…

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I SCRIBED A FEATURE about Mac MacDonald’s John Player Norton Commando (JPN). You might recall that Mac was a RAF technician before his retirement, responsible for keeping Tornado F3s in the air. At the time, Mac desired an RAF colleague’s boxed and non-running JPN which was up for sale, so his wife bought it as a surprise. Then Mac had to sell his prized Suzuki GS1000S in order to properly restore the JPN. Mac would be the first to confess that he missed his GS, and he had to find another – BUT without parting with his treasured JPN. Mac wanted the rare red and white model because “it’s the only one to have!” Interestingly, the splendid 1979 GS1000S featured hereabouts was found in a similar state…

AREA 51, FOR THE NON-INITIATED, IS THE name for a United States Air Force base located at Groom Lake, which is in fact a dry lake bed in the Nevada Desert, 85 miles north of Las Vegas. Although it is reputed to have opened in 1955, its existence was only officially acknowledged by the CIA in August 2013. The site has been rumoured to host an alien spacecraft and the bodies of its pilots after they crashed at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. US authorities claim there were no aliens, and the crashed craft was a weather balloon. Wikipedia states that some US folks are adamant at having seen UFOs above or near the site, while others claim they have been abducted by aliens, and have even been experimented on…

What are you buying? Look at what you’re getting – is it complete? If it’s a runner, then if you can, get a ride (make sure you have insurance, and most sellers will insist on cash in their hand first). Hopefully, it’s cold first (had they had it running before you came – then why?) Hear it run. Are the tyres legal (1mm tread) or do they have cracks? A quick checklist is: centrestand – does it lift the bike up? Wheels – are they straight? Check the spokes for loose or broken ones, rock the wheels for play in the wheel bearings, look for worn chains – will pull away from the rear of the sprocket, and worn sprockets – teeth like shark’s teeth. Are the fork stanchions pitted?…

PICK SOME JAPANESE ‘STAND OUT’ BIKES FROM the classic period, the editor said, “and make sure they are machines everyone should know about!” Trying to shortlist so-called significant machinery from the Orient is bound to be difficult and doubtless what follows will have left out several – especially as the Suzuki GS1000 has just covered the last few pages! Oh, and without question, someone’s personal favourite will have been omitted. Apologies if that’s the case, but the pages of CBG are a finite entity. Just as well really, as the list could just run and run. Anyway, here are a few from the perspective of a sometime classic test rider and lifetime fan of Japanese bikes. Honda CB450, aka ‘Black Bomber’ 1965-1974: 450cc, four-stroke, air-cooled, twin-cylinder Quite possibly the bike…

CBG your guide to... DRIVE TRAIN The gearbox can be clunky, and the clutch can be heavy. A seven-plate clutch kit and a good nylon-lined cable are inexpensive and excellent upgrades. Adjusting the primary chain on an early Tiger is a pain because of the location of the adjuster hole, and it is often easier to do the adjustment by pulling off the left-hand chain case. Grease the gasket before refitting and you might be able to use it again next time. ELECTRICS The alternator works well and is cheap to replace if it wears out but check a new one fits on the studs before throwing away the packaging, as some recent pattern items don’t fit properly. Electronic ignition is easier to set up than points and provides easier…

CBG WorkshopHints & tips FROM HUTCH'S WORKSHOP IN A LITTLE PRE-CHRISTMAS BURST OF enthusiasm and with some help, the engine and gearbox assembly was lifted out of our Douglas rolling chassis. But when the main stand was lowered, it didn’t lift the bike enough to stand unsupported. A couple of blocks of wood were needed to get the rear wheel off the floor. So, I thought that while the engine and gearbox was out, this was a good time to address the soggy and useless main stand issue. The amount the stand needed to be elevated was obvious from the thickness of the blocks of wood required – about 22mm or 7/8in. The stand stops seemed to be in reasonable condition, so elevation under the feet would be needed. The…

CBG Workshop CARBURETTORS ARE PARADOXICAL devices; each of the components performs more than one task, overlapping with its various ‘partners in crime’ as we ride up and down the rev range. Regardless of make or country of origin, that complex-looking contrivance will have air and fuel passageways, a primary/pilot jet, a main jet, a slide and needle combo, a float assembly, float needle and a series of adjustment apparatus. This merry band of components can variously wear, become blocked, experience chemical attack or degradation, become gummed up and cause poor/non-running and endless headaches. There reaches a point in any bike’s life where some carb TLC is required. What follows is a process that has been tweaked over the years to a point where pretty much any carb that enters the…