Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2015 i Motorcycle Classics

My first motorcycle was a 1971 Kawasaki Bushmaster enduro, purchased with 721 miles on it from a retired teacher who kept it lashed to the front of his Winnebago. A 100cc 2-stroke single, that little Kawi was the perfect first bike. Light and underpowered, it was easy to handle, easy to work on and close to indestructible. I say “close” because in the end I did manage to dispatch it to that great salvage yard in the sky, but only after two years of ruthlessly thrashing it on the trails that surrounded the old limestone quarries outside of town. I forgot all about the Bushmaster when I got my first “big” 4-stroke, an almost brand new 1978 Yamaha XS500E. Ignore what you think you know about Yamaha’s complicated little twin:…

2015 Las Vegas Classic Bike Auctions  Mecum Auctions (mecum.com) returns to Las Vegas Jan. 8-10, 2015, hosting the MidAmerica 24th Annual Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction. Also returning is Bonhams (bonhams.com), holding its 5th Annual Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction for one day only on Jan. 8. Mecum is a relative newcomer to the annual Vegas vintage motorcycle auctions, hosting the 2014 Vegas sale following its acquisition of Mid America Auctions in December 2013. That acquisition gave Mecum immediate dominance over the Vegas auctions, which were established by MidAmerica back in 1992 and have grown steadily since. MidAmerica founder Ron Christensen was retained as president of Mecum’s motorcycle division and once again heads up Mecum’s Vegas efforts. The 2014 auctions were good for both auction houses, with Mecum reporting total sales of…

The 1920s was a period of optimism in America. There was a feeling that prosperity would never end, that any business could make a profit, and that anything that could be built could be sold. When a consortium revived the Ace motorcycle and started production in Detroit in 1925, they had no problem finding investors. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last. This Detroit-based group was the third company to produce the Ace, a creation of William Henderson, arguably one of the best motorcycle designers the U.S. has ever produced. Henderson was the son of a vice president of the Winton Motor Car Company, on ea vice president of the Winton turers in the U.S. He studied engineering, and by 1910 was York. William liked motorcyles, and in his spare time he turned…

When Triumph announced that its alloy-engined Grand Prix production racer would no longer be in their lineup after 1949, fans of British bikes were praying that it wouldn’t be the end of the road for go-faster twins from Meriden. The 500cc GP was based on the bike that Irish farmer Ernie Lyons had raced to victory in the 1946 Isle of Man Manx GP — hence the name of the production version. Lyon’s Triumph used a modified Tiger 100 sprung hub chassis, while the engine was basically a T100 bottom end with a lighter, sandcast alloy cylinder barrel and head in place of the cast iron Tiger components. The alloy castings were made for a wartime generator, which was why both inletand exhaust ports were parallel to each other. With…

The authentic vintage appeal of the Ural has always been the bike’s calling card. Nobody, not even the motorcycle ignorant, mistakes a Ural for a “new” motorcycle. Even a new Harley, nostalgia in motion with its thumping V-twin, looks modern next to a Ural. It turns out that more than a few motorcyclists want the look of a classic bike without the hassle of actually owning one. Vintage Brit bikes are derided for leaky engines, dodgy electrics and suspect build quality, while Italian machines get dogged for being more fun to look at than actually ride and expensive to own. Enter the retro classic, a category that’s seen significant growth in the past few years thanks to bikes like the Russian-built Ural T. Yet much like their vintage brethren, early…

Energy transfer conversion Q: I would like to convert my BSA C15S with the energy transfer system to a 12-volt battery/coil system, but I have no idea how to accomplish the task. Can you help me? Bruce Riecke/via email A: To begin, you will need a 12-volt stator. It also wouldn’t hurt to buy a new rotor, as they lose magnetism over time and won’t create as much current. You’ll also need to replace every bulb on your bike with a 12-volt equivalent. You’ll need to replace the energy transfer (ET) coils with conventional 12-volt units. If your ET coils are original equipment and in good shape, keep them someplace safe, as they are worth their weight in gold. You will need a 12-volt battery and a 12-volt rectifier, or…

Honda Ascot Help 1982-1983 Honda FT500 Ascot owners needing a replacement CDI ignition box — Honda discontinued the part long ago — finally have a solution thanks to the new Hot Shot CDI box from vintage electronics specialists Rick’s Motorsport Electrics. Made with heavy duty components, Rick’s says the Ascot CDI was developed with help from Ascot owners to work best from the rider’s perspective. A selectable rev limiter switch lets the owner choose the stock 6,800rpm setting or a 7,500rpm rev limit. $120. More info: ricksmotorsportelectrics.com Better Chain Lube Connecticut-based Spectro Oils has been making specialty oil and lubrication products for motorcycles since its beginning in 1966, helping riders keep their bikes on the road. Spectro says its Z Clean Chain Lube utilizes a special zinc formulation to provide…

Remembering the Kawasaki B8 I was very interested to see the article (November/December 2014) on the Kawasaki B8. These bikes have long been fascinating to me, as they represent Kawasaki’s first tentative toehold in the North American market, and a B8 was the first Kawasaki I ever laid eyes on, before I’d ever even heard of the brand. I still remember my fascination at seeing this machine, and being impressed with the obvious build quality despite those mysterious Kawasaki Aircraft badges. Imagine the nerve it took to put those badges on a Japanese machine a mere 20 years after World War II! According to a cohort of mine who is attempting to restore a couple of B8s, some were badged “Omega” to deal with exactly that issue, though the engine…

In 2013 the Barber Vintage Festival became the largest vintage motorcycle gathering in the U.S., with almost 62,000 attendees, a 10-fold increase from the first festival, held in 2005. It didn’t stop there, as the 10th Annual Barber Vintage Festival, held Oct. 10-12, 2014, hit a new high, breaking the 65,000 barrier. A major draw among many was the astounding gathering of HRD Vincent motorcycles, made possible thanks to well known Vincent specialist Somer Hooker and the Hillbilly Vincent Owners, who hosted a Vincent rally in North Carolina prior to the Barber event, with many owners riding their Vincents to Alabama. On hand among the estimated 55 Vincents was Gunga Din, test bed for the Black Shadow and Black Lightning, along with surprises like Bev Bowen’s 1950 Black Shadow, “Felix.”…

Nothing’s ever perfect, even though it sure might look cool. At least, that’s how Mike Vandertie feels about his 1976 Rickman Kawasaki CR. Depending on what you read, the CR denotes either Competition Replica or Café Racer. Although most famous for their offroad Metisse scrambler, English duo Derek and Don Rickman of Rickman Bros. Ltd. also built special road-going frames for a series of engines, beginning with powerplants from Triumph and Royal Enfield. As the motorcycle market shifted to embrace inline 4-cylinder Japanese machines, the Rickmans turned to creating frames for Honda’s wildly successful CB750 and Kawasaki’s even bigger Z1 900. Their goal, ostensibly, was to improve the handling of a select few machines of the mid-1970s. There is no question the Rickmans were successful in their bid to improve…

Cameron Jones would not be the first Ducati 900SS owner to acknowledge both the timeless beauty of the bevel-drive desmo bike and the cosmetic detail shortcomings that mar its splendor. Think Scarlett Johansson with acne … Nor would Jones, of Langley, British Columbia, Canada, be the first owner to bring the feted Bologna bike up to scratch — something the manufacturer would have done, no doubt, but for the indifference of its then bureaucratic government owners and the budget constraints they imposed. Jones imposed no such constraints, and what he has achieved elevates his classic 900SS from a flawed masterpiece to something approaching perfection. The process took more than five years and what seemed like every waking minute outside Jones’ day job, supervising the installation of hydro-electric generation sets: Jones…

The very first race on the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course was run June 30, 1911, four years after the first Isle of Man TT. The Mountain Course would later become recognized as the world’s greatest road racing circuit, but for Birmingham, U.K., motorcycle dealer Percy J. Evans, it was just another race. Percy won that first-ever Junior TT, covering the 149.6-mile race distance on his 2-3/4 horsepower Humber V-twin at an average speed of 41.45mph, in spite of having to stop to refuel no less than three times in the four-lap race thanks to his Humber’s small 1-gallon fuel tank. Percy won by nine minutes and 13 seconds over second place finisher Harry Collier on his Matchless single, with third-place finisher H.J. Cox a further nine minutes behind…

Off track, Larry Poons is famous for his paintings. Poons gained prominence in the early 1960s as a leading figure in abstract expressionism and his work drew international acclaim: Mentioning his name in the “right” crowd today draws knowing, appreciative nods. Yet in AHRMA circles, Poons isn’t known for his paintings; he’s the guy riding the no. 21X bikes — a Ducati 250 Mark 3 single he pilots in 250 GP and a Seeley 500 Condor he rides in 500 Premier. The concept of artist as racer sounds a bit abstract itself until you learn Poons is as much racer as artist, and that riding came before painting. “I’ve been riding all my life,” Poons says, “starting at 16.” His first bike was a BMW 250 single, followed by a…

I’ve crossed the country on modern motorcycles more times than I can remember. I ride my /2 BMW almost every day, and I have a small collection of prewar motorcycles that I ride around the neighborhood on sunny Sunday mornings. But it never occurred to me to ride a 1928 motorcycle across the country, diagonally nonetheless, until I heard about the Motorcycle Cannonball. The ride carried a certain mystique. Who are these riders? Why do they put themselves and their ancient machinery to this grueling test? Can they really be as crazy about old motorcycles as I am? Can my machine and body go the 16-day, 4,000-mile distance? I sent the check, made the hotel reservations and spent a few weeks going over my trusty 1928 BMW R62, which I…

The present-day fad for adventure touring motorcycles has, like most fashions, a precedent in a previous generation. But it wasn’t Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s parents who sparked the European craze for dual sports in the 1980s: It was BMW’s success in the Paris-Dakar race, which they won four times (1981 and again from 1983-1985). Seeing a “me too” sales opportunity, several Italian manufacturers followed suit with adventure bikes in the 1980s: Morini had the 500 Camel, Moto Guzzi the V65NTX, Laverda the 600 Atlas, and Cagiva the 650cc Elefant. From launching its first street bikes in 1978, Cagiva was by the early 1980s the biggest motorcycle manufacturer in Europe by number of units produced — mostly small 2-strokes. In order to break into the bigger-bike market, Cagiva reached a…

When Moto Guzzi introduced its first production motorcycle in 1921 it was powered by a horizontally mounted, 498cc overhead valve single cylinder. It was a format that defined Moto Guzzi engines for decades to come, but in 1966 the Italian company announced a new 700cc V-twin, introducing a new format that continues to define Moto Guzzi today. The Ambassador story goes back to the early 1960s, when Moto Guzzi first started to work out a V-twin for the Italian police. When brothers Joe and Mike Berliner of Berliner Motor Corporation in New Jersey (the importers for Ducati and Moto Guzzi, among other European brands) got wind of the new V-twin they immediately pushed Moto Guzzi to put it into production. The first model, the 704cc V7, went into production in…

A typical motorcycle tour goes from A to B, and in between is the territory you cover, whizzing past you then quickly receding in your rearview mirror. It’s a familiar recipe, but it doesn’t leave much opportunity to be a tourist, to really get familiar with an area, which is exactly why Eligio Arturi put together the Benelli Vintage Tour. A native Italian, Arturi ran sailing trips in the Mediterranean and Land Rover expeditions across North Africa before BMW hired him to lead adventure motorcycle tours in the early 1990s. The BMW linkup inspired Arturi, an avid motorcyclist, to focus on motorcycle tours, and since forming MotoTouring (Mototouring.com) in 1994 he’s led rides across South Africa, Morocco, New Zealand, South America, Japan, Singapore and more. A vintage bike fan, Arturi…

Using the same 37.73 miles of narrow public roads on which motorcycles have raced for more than 100 years, the Isle of Man “Classic TT” has become the world’s premiere vintage motorcycle race. The event honors the island’s history, featuring current stars, past TT winners and seriously-fast privateers, all wringing the throttles on stunning vintage machines. It’s fast; this year saw new lap records in two of the classes. It’s brutal on bikes; cracked frames, broken spokes, engines seized so badly they’ll be hung above workbenches and talked about for years. It’s scary; crutches and casts populate the pits in increasing numbers throughout the week. As Portland, Oregon’s Jon Munns found out, “Everything they say about this place is true.” Munns, a two-time AHRMA National Champion for 200GP, had dreamed…

Carburetor synchronizing is something many owners prefer to avoid. Chalk it up to a fear of undue complexity or just plain getting it wrong, it’s a job otherwise capable weekend mechanics typically decide to turn over to more experienced hands. That’s certainly a wise move if you’re mechanically challenged. But if you can confidently tune your bike — adjusting the valves and setting points and timing — then you can probably handle a carb synch. The point of synchronizing is to make sure each carburetor is pulling exactly the same amount of air, so that each cylinder is filling the same. Importantly, tuning your bike is the first step in a carb synch, because if the valves aren’t set correctly and the ignition timing is off, trying to synchronize carburetors…

San Diego is a gem of a city. Located near California’s southernmost tip, it offers a temperate climate, incredible restaurants, a magnificent downtown area, arguably the best zoo on the planet, great shopping and world-class museums. Of these, my favorite is the USS Midway Museum. This isn’t just a museum: It’s the actual USS Midway, an immense aircraft carrier, the longest serving ship in U.S. Navy history and a visible symbol of U.S. power. Docked at the southern end of San Diego’s Embarcadero area (a run of restaurants, shops and sights on San Diego’s harbor), a USS Midway visit should be on your bucket list. You should plan on spending a good half day at the USS Midway Museum, because there’s a lot to see. The USS Midway includes more…