Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i Classic Bike

July 1971, Sachsenring, East German 500cc Grand Prix In 1971 two-strokes were starting to make their presence felt in the 500cc class, but all the winning was still being done by Giacomo Agostini and the four-stroke MV Agusta. At the 5.35-mile Sachsenring circuit in what was East Germany at the time, Ago’s MV (1) is on pole, with John Dodds’s König (23), Keith Turner’s Suzuki twin (17) and Eric Offenstadt’s Kawasaki (16) making up the front row. At the finish of the 21-lap race, only Turner was on the same lap as Ago and there were only nine finishers. By contrast the 250 race was an epic, with West German Dieter Braun winning from Rod Gould and Phil Read, and all the top eight being on Yamahas. But maybe the…

Have you just bought a new project? Or have you finished a project, taken part in an event or just been for a ride? Do you have pictures of you or your friends from your biking past? Or can you identify the riders or a face in the crowd from the Startline image on page four? Please write and tell us Startline How many riders from the 1971 Sachsenring startline can you identify? Your classics Just acquired a new project, completed a restoration or been for a great ride? Letters Want to start a conversation about bike values or commend good service? The Way We Were Have you got pictures and a story from your biking past? Let us know. Contact us at… letters@classicbike.co.uk Enjoying the new-look Classic Bike? Then…

£3000-5000 1982 Honda CX500 Turbo A bike that says ‘Turbo’ on the side will always appeal. This unrestored machine is apparently in good running order with an MoT. The CX500T was made for one year before being replaced by a 650 version. November auction: iconicauctioneers.com £3250 1971 Yamaha DT-1 Forerunner of the modern trail bike, this DT-1 (it’s a 250cc two-stroke single) looks like a great example. Top end rebuild by a marque specialist and it appears to be in remarkably original condition. Dealer sale: classicsuperbikes.co.uk £17,500 1987 Yamaha RD350 YPVS Totally original one-owner Power Valve that has covered a verified 3483 miles. As you would expect, it is in very good condition, has a current MoT and is fitted with brand new tyres. Worth £17,500? You decide. Private sale:…

’How much?’ Gez Kane on classic values Now looks like a good time to be buying a trail bike. Prices for premium stuff – Yamaha XT500s, TT500s and Honda XL250 Motorsports that have been part of the classic scene for years have cooled off, so they are looking like better value. A mint XT can still make £7000, but I don’t think you need to pay over £3000 for the Honda. Of the less desirable but really good fun stuff, there appears to be some real value in the £1500-2000 price bracket, though it might need a little work. That’s partly because there have been so many bikes imported from America, where they sold tons of them. I’d be very wary about projects that need a lot of work, though. The…

Kawasaki has revealed the new W230, a 233cc single aimed at stealing sales from the hugely popular Enfield Meteor 350. Styled as a little brother to Kawasaki’s venerable W800 parallel twin, the 230 is powered by a version of the KLX230 motor with a single overhead cam, two-valve head, heavy flywheel and balance shaft. A cunningly hidden catalyser gets it through the latest emission regulations and obviously it’s got an electric start. Kawasaki haven’t revealed the W230’s power, but the KLX230 makes 20bhp, so it’s likely to be similar. That matches the Enfield Meteor’s output. However, with a minimalist steel double-cradle frame keeping the Kawasaki’s weight down to 142kg (325lb), it should feel nippier than the 190kg Meteor. If the W230 appeals as a handy second bike, there’s one problem.…

REVIVED Navy man’s Captain Over the years, while serving in the Navy, I’d return home to north-east Scotland on a variety of motorcycles and hear my father’s tales of his biking days in the ’50s on his trusty James motorcycle. So, for his 65th birthday, I bought him one. He used it until he began to struggle to kick it over. It was then parked until his death in 2013, after which it was unused until I began a restoration in 2019. With the exception of the paintwork (by Bike Paints of Cuper), all work was carried out by myself, with thanks to my colleagues: Eric Brown for advice on lacing the wheels, and Geoff Imrie for the tricky welding tasks. It was an enjoyable project and is a nice…

The passing of passionate Vincent specialist Patrick Godet in November 2018 created a hiatus in new Egli production. In 1970s England, Slater Brothers had frames made by Cheney under licence from Egli and in more recent years John Mossey Restorations bult replicas – but it was Patrick Godet in France who received Fritz Egli’s blessing to take over manufacture of the ‘Egli Vincent’ he created. Godet further developed the concept with new 1330cc engines of improved build quality and performance. Godet’s company survives him, but in the years since his loss, the classic world has gone through big changes. “I don’t think anyone is making new frames at present,” says Steve at Vincent specialists Conway Motors. “But there are still plenty around. We can build Eglis for customers, but I…

1. Beware mythology ‘My BSA Gold Star was a learning curve. At 26 I had a frame, hubs and a carb from my uncle; five years later I had a bike – and a nose for errors and half-truths from books and experts, like: ‘Goldies had domed oil tanks’. I bought one, not realising that only applied to late models, not my ’56. I learned to listen to all, but work stuff out for myself, taking the blame if I’m wrong.’ 2. Be brave and persevere ‘The Martinsyde project was my first major gamble. All that was left of this historic bike was the forks, hubs and front frame; my five-figure stake relied on me negotiating for the rest and getting it back together. I managed it – surprisingly cheaply…

‘A morning in the workshop has shortened the VFR £750 to-do list, but unfortunately there’s still a bit more to do before we can actually start riding it regularly.’ In September’s CB, our low-budget VFR scraped through an MoT and, apart from needing a caliper overhaul, we were looking forward to riding it. Things didn’t work out like that. Before braking issues could be sorted, the bike boiled its battery. Regulator/rectifier failure is common on these Hondas, but diode checks suggested that the rectifying part of the component was OK, though the plug on the wiring loom was definitely crispy. We fitted a new plug and battery, then re-tested the system with the engine running. With the voltage reading heading past 16 volts the regulating part of the component was…

Mark’s a rider, not a trained mechanic, so although his old Moto Guzzi gets taken to far-flung places, friends and specialists help him to keep the bike rolling. Electrics have been the Achilles’ heel of my Moto Guzzi California for the 10 years I’ve owned it. After many bodge-ups and ad hoc repairs, the wiring is a horrible mess. Recently, the intermittent starting problem that has affected the bike for years reared its ugly head again. It fails to start 50% of the time, forcing me to bump-start the 240kg beast. It’s also impossible to turn the lights off, except for the tail-light, which doesn’t work at all. I want to get the whole electrical system sorted, but laying out for a full rewire is out of my financial reach.…

Buzz man’s holiday This is a photo of myself and my 1968 Honda CD175, taken at Great Yarmouth in 1974. My mate Paul Ornsby and I travelled two-up from Grimsby, complete with all the camping equipment – when I sit on the bike now, I think: ‘How?’ The bike did not miss a beat, even on the long, final slog against a headwind, where it would not pull fourth gear. A peculiarly of the bike, named ‘Buzz’ by my girlfriend, was that it would slowly creep up from 60 to 65mph, but no higher. However, a work colleague told me he was doing 70 in his car when I passed him on the way to work. I still have the bike (not currently roadworthy) and the hair (although it’s now…

When motorbikes really were motor bicycles, they didn’t come much faster than the Indian Daytona. The only machine quicker than this raw 61cu (990cc) 42º side-valve V-twin was Indian’s own overhead-valve eight-poppet version. In April 1920 Gene Walker hit 105.7mph at Daytona Beach, Florida, USA on an Indian PowerPlus tuned by Indian’s Irish Chief Design Engineer Charles Franklin (the eight-valver was 10mph faster). This obliterated Harley-Davidson’s recent records and cemented Indian’s reputation as the machine to have for Flapper-era speed freaks of the 1920s. The record-breaking motor bicycle was dubbed the Daytona. It was not a street bike. Most pushbikes had brakes by 1880, but the Daytona had nothing of the sort – save for a flip rear hub with a different sprocket on each flange for gearing changes. It…

In 1999 Suzuki pulled the covers off one of the most extraordinary motorcycles of the era – the GSX1300R Hayabusa. It wasn’t just the 175bhp peak power and 190mph top speed that frazzled everyone’s brains, but the almighty torque available lower down the rev range. Even today, an original bike will pull harder and more effortlessly than almost any modern machine. To celebrate the Busa’s 25th birthday, Suzuki will have a special display area at next month’s NEC Show (aka Motorcycle Live) on November 16-24. All generations of the bike will be on show, alongside a selection of barmy drag and top speed machines. There will also be a feature wall displaying photos of hundreds of UK riders’ Hayabusas – if you want your Busa included, go to hayabusa-anniversary.suzuki.co.uk. Besides…

One of Britain’s most celebrated and historic motorcycling roads is threatened with closure due to a dispute over who should pay for repairs. The Snake Pass, which weaves across the Derbyshire Peak District between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir, needs significant construction work due to landslides caused by recent heavy rain. Derbyshire County Council says using its road budget to fix the Pass would divert too much cash from other routes. It wants a £4m “landslip fund” from the Government to cover the reconstruction costs. The council highways director says a full closure is possible if the road cannot be made safe, and: “If there was a major landslip it would be beyond what we can do”. It will be temporarily closed from October 14-25 for further assessment.…

It’s dark and pouring down with rain as I pull up outside the Hotel Santemar in Santander. But I don’t care. I’ve finished the 5000 Curvas – and I have a commemorative glass mug and a ticket to fill it with a free beer to celebrate my achievement. It will be one of the most satisfying beers I have ever tasted. The 5000 Curvas is the highlight of MC Piston’s annual Piston Rally, held in northern Spain – a one-day endurance test taking in 500km (310 miles) of twists and turns around the Picos de Europa mountains and the coast of Cantabria. Having set off at 8.30 am and arrived at the finish outside the hotel to the cheers of assembled fellow rally-goers at 8.30pm, I’m exhausted but elated and…

you’d think restoring an LC – a fairly simple bike – would be easy,” says Lee Marris of the Yamaha twin he’s transformed from a lash-up into a lusciously fresh ’80s time capsule. “But it isn’t.” It’s taken Lee, an electrical engineer by trade, seven years to strip and lovingly rebuild his RD – not because he spanners at a glacial pace or has blown hot and cold with the project. “Finding parts is the issue,” he asserts. “It’s getting harder to find decent LC bits. At times it’s like hunting for a needle in a haystack. That’s why this rebuild took so long.” Lee didn’t buy this LC simply to restore, however. He’s owned it for 26 years, having chanced upon it at a nearby dealers back in 1998.…

RIDING EARLY With a father and older brother into racing, Freddie was riding bikes as soon as he could walk. This is his first, powered by a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine. He soon moved on to junior dirt track racing. OFF THE DIRT By the age of 13, Freddie was winning everything in junior dirt track, so gave road racing a try. Here he’s on a Yamaha 125 TA (though still wearing his Bultaco dirt track leathers). He was soon cleaning up on tarmac, too. TURNING PRO At 16 Freddie won four national road racing classes and at 17 (in 1978) he turned pro and took the 250cc US National Novice Championship for first year professionals. Note the glasses; he later wore contact lenses. ON A DUCATI Before his…

‘Undeterred, and cheered on by 25,000 fans in the baking heat, Laurence pushed his stricken KX500 to the line’ Were you there? If you witnessed any of the races we've featured here, do let us know: letters@classicbike.co.uk…

Soft jaws/mallets/punches Cost: Varies Where? Jumbles and shops ‘A soft touch is often important when you need to be firm. Prevent damage with vice soft jaws – fibre or cut from aluminium angle. Copper and nylon hammers, brass, copper, aluminium or nylon punches can be made, bought new from tool suppliers or picked up cheaply at boot fairs.’ Knipex parallel jaw grips Cost: £49.99 Where? Tool shops ‘I inherited these German grips from a late friend – and think of him when I use them. The parallel jaws give them a strong and safe grip on hexagons and squares, making them very useful for releasing things like tight rocker inspection caps without chewing up the surface.’ Hot plate Cost: Varies Where? Boot fairs ‘It’s not so much about this hot…

Check the wiring There’s no mistaking an issue with the scorched terminals on the reg/rec plug on Hugo’s VFR. This plug will require replacement and the loom, reg/rec and alternator checked out. Use a multimeter to test the resistance of the positive and negative cables through the loom to the battery. Also check the battery connection to earth. Anything more than an ohm or so and there’s trouble in the wiring. A common fix is to run new wires from the reg/rec positive and negative outputs direct to the battery. Check the resistance between each alternator phase (across the yellow wires in turn, in pairs) and compare with the figures in your manual. If it all checks out so far, with a new plug and good battery fitted and the…

The toolbox You need these tools and connectors, all widely available from various sources. Left: wire cutters. Middle: MP71 crimp tool. Right: wire strippers. The yellow pot is eBay silicone grease – or Carlube do it in tubes for a couple of quid. Fittings Vehicle Wiring Products supply the main terminals on old bikes: bullets (single and 2-1) to join wires and components; 6.3mm spade connectors for horns and coils; 6.3mm flag terminals (ditto); and ring terminals for batteries and earths. 1. Strip the strands Let’s assume you have bought 16.5 amp thinwall cable, aka 1mm sq. This is the usual cable for most of a bike (main feeds and earths can be 25 amp). Strip enough insulation to make just over double the length of the crimp tabs. 2.…

#1 With reference to Rick Parkington’s road test on the Kawasaki Z1 in October’s Classic Bike, I’m afraid the reason he didn’t find it powerful was he wasn’t revving it enough. I owned one for three years – once you hit 6000 revs they really take off and you have to grip the handlebars! Eventually, due to family growth, I fitted a sidecar (I know – sacrilege) and even then, when pulling away quickly, it would lift the bike’s front wheel off the ground. This isn’t nice on an outfit, as it makes them turn left. Eventually, I replaced it with an XS1100 Yamaha, to which fitting a chair was the kindest thing you could do! Rick Blease, email #2 Rick Parkington found the Kawasaki Z1 a bit bland, and this touches on…

£9500 1962 BSA DBD34 Gold Star This Goldie needs recommissioning, but has been in the same family ownership for 35 years and comes with all the nice bits. Correct numbers, Dunlop rims, RRT2 gearbox and aftermarket alloy tank. mathewsons.co.uk £1500 1978 Honda CB550K Sold as a project, this clean-looking bike was up and running, though needing a little more work to finish. The carbs need rebuilding/tuning (the rubbers were split), but looks the basis of a nice machine for not a lot of cash. eBay.co.uk £10,000 1978 Kawasaki Z1-R Kawasaki’s factory café racer has been creeping up in price – though it’s still affordable compared to the early Z1s. This restored Dutch-market model looks in good original condition and has an mph speedo. hjpugh.com £2100 1981 Honda CB250NB Low mileage…

BSAs to Belgium If you fancy taking your BSA for a foreign excursion, the dates for 2025’s John Bull Rally in Belgium have just been announced. It’s on May 2-4 and takes place near Passendale (90 minutes ride from Calais). More info from sandra_rigo@hotmail.com 400 Four Four hits 50 Over 500 fans of the 400 Four descended on David Silver’s museum in Suffolk to celebrate 50 years of the legendary Honda. On display were 45 400 Fours, ranging from completely original bikes to racers and customs. Another ten 400s turned up on the day, making it the UK’s biggest ever gathering of the model. Our favourite was TT racer Philip Odlin’s 1979 F2 TT race bike which won Best Customised 400F Four. Top work. Bou gets ridiculous If you thought…

Nigel Glover, Tricati 750 As Nigel is known as ‘Tigger’ to his fellow NHCA members, it’s entirely appropriate that his special is painted yellow and black. “It’s originally a 650 Triumph Trophy motor, now a 750 because it’s got Morgo barrels, in a 450 Ducati Street Scrambler frame from the late ’60s/early ’70s. It was originally made by a friend of mine – it was an absolute bodge job. He owed me some money and I got it because it was there. That was 30 odd years ago.” Nigel’s done a lot to it since: “There’s basically nothing of the original bike left, the engine’s been completely rebuilt: lighter timing gear, lighter valves, all sorts of things. It’s very different to what it was.” Hartland Quay is a popular track on…

Get geared up It looks lovely in the photographs – but up in the Picos de Europa it gets bloody cold. You need to pile on the layers to keep warm on those high mountain passes. I wore two pairs of thick socks, long johns and three layers up top, along with a neck buff. All topped off by my excellent Bering waterproofs and Falco waterproof boots. And my extremities still felt a bit cold on the higher passes. Navigation The detailed route of the 5000 Curvas is only handed out the day before, in the form of a ‘tulip map’. This year that ran to five A4 sheets. Some people tape them together and feed them into roller devices fixed to their handlebars (as Orlando did), others input waypoints…

FRESHLY OVERHAULED WORKSHOP SECTION You can have too much space ‘At my last house I had a 20ft x 10ft workshop, this one is 23ft x 13ft, which gives 50% more floor space, but I had to keep it low so as not to annoy the neighbours. I have machine tools down one wall, my fixed bench on the other, with a door at one end and three bike lifts. I keep one lift free for short in/out service-type jobs; the other two are for long-term projects. Long and thin is definitely the best layout and having the main bench in the walkway is quite a good thing. Obviously you'll park a bike in that walkway overnight, so I have a really simple, small lean-to just outside the workshop door,…

‘I‘ve pushed plenty of bikes home with duff magnetos, so I thought it worth finding out how they work and what goes wrong. This is some of what I learnt.’ The magneto wasn’t the first popular ignition system. By the 1900s, battery and coil had taken over from earlier crazy ideas, but bike-size batteries only offered a short travel range, while fragile construction made them vulnerable to road shocks. The magneto was the answer; a compact, tough and completely self-contained ignition system, it required no fiddly switches or wiring – apart from the spark plug lead. A big exposed horseshoe magnet defines older magnetos. Magnets were later cast integrally into an aluminium housing, but the working principle remained the same until the cost of production and other factors – including…

‘I’d been determined not to buy any more bikes, but somethig rare with a vintage Blackburne engine can always tempt me – especially when its a good deal.’ I didn’t need another bike; I didn’t even want another bike; space is all I need. So it’s ironic that I was roofing yet another storage lean-to when I got the call from my friend Simon Miles. “Rick, remember that 1924 Henley? It’s still available… cheaper, too. I think you should buy it.” When we dragged the Henley out of a very damp garage, mouldering and seized, the cold light of day revealed some nasty bodges that definitely needed sorting out. But the price was right and, more importantly, it had the long, low, whippet lines of a mid-’20s sports bike and…

Simon Miles is becoming my evil fairy-godfather. He sent a rough photo of the Henley a year ago – but while it claimed to be 1924 and said ‘Henley’ on the tank, I wasn’t convinced. Its long saddle tank and frame looked nothing like a 1924 flat tank Henley or the later 1926-on saddle tank ‘New Henley.’ The Doe Street, Birmingham company was among many small 1920s manufacturers, all using similar proprietary engines, gearboxes, wheels and forks. With limited resources for advertising, racing or even brochures, few original images exist to aid definite identification – so when I first saw that rough photo, I resisted. But curiosity made me research further. In the VMCC Library, I checked the bound volumes of The Motor Cycle and Motor Cycling. You have to…