For those who like old Motorcycles.

[polybear]

39 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 😂   🤣   😅 

I’m hurt…..I really liked that bike….. 😢

[Northmoor]

23 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I suspect that is more to do with the current style of registration number being rather non memorable rather than your memory breaking down. 

I remember the registration number of the old bangers my father owned, (Hillman Minx 9080RE, Vauxhall Viva JJV205F, Hillman Avenger NJF750M, Vauxhall Cavalier YVS692S, but once they started putting letters at the front, I was lost. 

Dad's cars: NWW 191K, TDE 916, HBX 188N, B39 YDE, D157 YFR, D222 PEJ, then UBX 383T (my first car).  The only ones I don't remember are the Mk1 Cortina we bought off the neighbours and only ran for a few months, and the side-valve Minor Dad still has but its re-registered with an A-prefix which I can't commit to memory.  Its original number was OWL 501, which the previous owner sold for more than the car fetched without it.

For some reason the registrations of cars I've owned as an adult don't stick in the mind in the same way.

[polybear]

Harry the Honda's (CB750FD) brakes have "been done" this morning - I'm rather pleased (and some) with the condition of the Pistons in the Brake Calipers (these are 40 years old); all three Calipers were in the same condition:

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

On 16/04/2024 at 09:50, MrWolf said:

an IOM plate, displaying a K registration when the last sold here were on a J.

 

Yes, our suffix or prefix letters have no age relation, they are issued until they run out!  Currently on RMN xxx S  IIRC, another six months and we'll be on to SMN. Cars here get grassed up for UK registrations as they're not paying road fund licence, which neighbours see as unfair!  The police didn't used to care, but the top cop now is from the UK so will expect some tightening of things like that - low hanging fruit.

 

I don't think rank and file UK bobbies have a clue about IoM/Channels reg so turn a blind eye!

[PupCam]

Seen at Jordans Mill and Shuttleworth recently ....

 

 

 

 

The chrome on that beautiful Honda 550 had to be seen to be believed - it looked like the wheels were solid chrome.  Whether it was original or a restoration job I don't know but no matter, it was rather fabulous.

 

 

 I understand @polybear finds the Vincent to be a particularly attractive motorcycle!  🤣

 

 

 

Our departure from Shuttleworth was recorded yesterday.  What an assortment they make or may be a "Motley bunch" might be a better description.   

 

 

 

It will be interesting  to see how long the Black Prince lasts in my mate's ownership.    I give it 3 or 4 weeks.   The Norton of course isn't quite pure Norton with that great big Yamaha V twin lump shoehorned in.  Mind you, it has been done very nicely indeed.     

 

Alan

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22 by PupCam
Attempted to delete duplicate images ... But failed!

[Kickstart]

20 hours ago, polybear said:

Harry the Honda's (CB750FD) brakes have "been done" this morning - I'm rather pleased (and some) with the condition of the Pistons in the Brake Calipers (these are 40 years old); all three Calipers were in the same condition:

 

 

 

 

I am jealous.

I need to rebuild the brakes on the FZ750. At first glance the pistons didn't look bad. Having cleaned them up, every single piston has some pitting - could be used but when I am going to this much effort it seems a shame. But 6 brake pistons double the cost of rebuilding the calipers.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[Kickstart]

As an aside, I have just started doing some work to reassemble the FZ750. Only minor things so far.

I have some parts on order. I have even ordered a tool for putting steering head bearings into the frame (I hate doing steering head bearings, as I NEVER get them them right first time). Also ordered a stock of bolts.

 

The bodywork around the rear light is 3D printed. This is just the first attempt and it needs some tweeks, but pretty close.

I have ordered a replacement battery box. The one on the bike is not bad, but one bolt is very stuck with a nut in it - if the bolt wasn't there the nut would slide out! But drilling it out would be a pain as I would need to avoid it getting too hot (melting the plastic).

The coolant header tank looked awful. It is currently soaking in water with washing powder and this is  doing a very good job of cleaning it up. Just need a suitable bottle brush to dislodge the lumps on the inside (they are no longer that well stuck - just a bit too much to come off from shaking with water inside).

 

I cleaned the clocks up, taking them as far to pieces as I can. There are 3 long self tapping screws that hold the idiot lights and temperature gauge, which are corroded and quite obvious. No longer available from Yamaha. And looks like while there are standards for self tapping screws, it appears there is also a Japanese standard for self tapping screws which I suspect these are. I have ordered some normal self tappers which look like a close match, but if not then I will have to try and clean up the old ones and replate them.

 

Just gentle work so far. I made a major screw up on the CBR250RR a fortnight ago and I still beating myself about it. So need to recover some self confidence again.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[MrWolf]

When you are next confronted by that old know-all who says:

 

"Those old British bikes were unreliable, rattled themselves to bits and leaked like the Amoco Cadiz..."

 

You can respond with: "Because people like you did things like this to them..." (Yet they still ran!)

 

 

 

[rockershovel]

7 hours ago, MrWolf said:

When you are next confronted by that old know-all who says:

 

"Those old British bikes were unreliable, rattled themselves to bits and leaked like the Amoco Cadiz..."

 

You can respond with: "Because people like you did things like this to them..." (Yet they still ran!)

 

 

 

I remember BMW advertising that you could stand a 50p piece on edge on the tank when the engine was running, the bike was so smooth. I tried it on my 1974(?) R60/6 and it was true.

 

Most British bikes, you couldn't lay it flat and expect it to remain 

 

The smoothest British bike I ever owned, by a considerable margin was a BSA A10 which just seemed to be "just right" all round

 

Another bike which was a really very pleasant all-round touring bike, although very slow, the Harley 45" WL. Easy to start, handled better than you'd expect and lacking the vibration of the bigger bikes ... indifferent brakes but that's a general comment on bikes of that era. 

Edited May 12 by rockershovel

[57xx]

On 06/10/2023 at 11:10, Kickstart said:

The ULEZ limit is just on NOx, which is fairly easy to reduce. You will get a 1980s sports 2 stroke through the NOx test, and I doubt many would claim that they are clean (even if the smoke smells nice)

 

 

I was just catching up on this thread before head out to cut the hedges at the front of the house.  Last time I had the trimmer out, I went to mix up some more fuel, but instead of the usual Silkolene, I had a ferret through my old race spares box and sure enough there was a bottle of A747 still there. Not sure if it would be much good in a high stressed motor now after all the years but boy does it make the hedge trimmer smell good!

 

And as for the ULEZ, my trimmer isn't going to get caught by the cameras that sprang up around me the other year.

Edited May 12 by 57xx

[MrWolf]

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I remember BMW advertising that you could stand a 50p piece on edge on the tank when the engine was running, the bike was so smooth. I tried it on my 1974(?) R60/6 and it was true.

 

Most British bikes, you couldn't lay it flat and expect it to remain 

 

The smoothest British bike I ever owned, by a considerable margin was a BSA A10 which just seemed to be "just right" all round

 

Another bike which was a really very pleasant all-round touring bike, although very slow, the Harley 45" WL. Easy to start, handled better than you'd expect and lacking the vibration of the bigger bikes ... indifferent brakes but that's a general comment on bikes of that era. 

 

Definitely not, it's enough balancing yourself on most old British bikes at tickover...

 

Anything with drum brakes isn't going to stop rapidly, some disc brakes too are useless. 

 

The A10 I'd agree is the best all rounder, except between '56 and '58 when they used those awful Ariel hub brakes.

I've always been a fan of BMW bikes, although I have only owned one, if an aircraft engine maker can't make a smooth engine for a motorcycle, we all might as well go home.

Although even they didn't get everything right. I remember them having to recall certain models in the '70s because the newfangled alloy wheels broke up. That said, they were one of, if not the first to mass market alloys on bikes.

 

Just like every other manufacturer though, they couldn't control the type of chisel wielding baboon that ended up working on them!

 

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

Definitely not, it's enough balancing yourself on most old British bikes at tickover...

 

Anything with drum brakes isn't going to stop rapidly, some disc brakes too are useless. 

 

The A10 I'd agree is the best all rounder, except between '56 and '58 when they used those awful Ariel hub brakes.

I've always been a fan of BMW bikes, although I have only owned one, if an aircraft engine maker can't make a smooth engine for a motorcycle, we all might as well go home.

Although even they didn't get everything right. I remember them having to recall certain models in the '70s because the newfangled alloy wheels broke up. That said, they were one of, if not the first to mass market alloys on bikes.

 

Just like every other manufacturer though, they couldn't control the type of chisel wielding baboon that ended up working on them!

 

Not at tickover! The boxer engine configuration meant the bike lurched from side to side at tickover. Above about 1500rpm it was smooth as glass, though.

 

The /6 was the last BMW with drum brakes and they were actually pretty good. 

 

The A7 and A10, for my money were much better than the A50 and A65 "power egg" that succeeded them. BSA sold the tooling and design to Kawasaki who produced the "Commander", the best bike BSA never made....

 

[rockershovel]

18 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Definitely not, it's enough balancing yourself on most old British bikes at tickover...

 

Anything with drum brakes isn't going to stop rapidly, some disc brakes too are useless. 

 

The A10 I'd agree is the best all rounder, except between '56 and '58 when they used those awful Ariel hub brakes.

I've always been a fan of BMW bikes, although I have only owned one, if an aircraft engine maker can't make a smooth engine for a motorcycle, we all might as well go home.

Although even they didn't get everything right. I remember them having to recall certain models in the '70s because the newfangled alloy wheels broke up. That said, they were one of, if not the first to mass market alloys on bikes.

 

Just like every other manufacturer though, they couldn't control the type of chisel wielding baboon that ended up working on them!

 

The chrome plated discs favoured by Japanese manufacturers in the 1970s were bad in the rain, needed at least a full revolution to wipe the surface dry...

 

The cast iron discs on Ducatis sprayed the bike with red snot.

 

Harley went all-disc in 1971 or so for the Big Twins (the "banana caliper") and they weren't bad by the standards of the time. The twin discs on the Sportster XLCH used the same master cylinder and weren't up to much. 

 

Harley really got it sussed with the general upgrade to all-welded frames and the 39mm and 41mm Showa forks in the mid-80s. The 11.5" discs and revised calipers and cylinders solved a lot of historic problems, a general comment around that time.  

[57xx]

10 hours ago, rockershovel said:

The chrome plated discs favoured by Japanese manufacturers in the 1970s

 

Chrome plated discs? Which bikes had them on? I don't think I recall ever seeing a disc that has chrome plating.

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, 57xx said:

 

Chrome plated discs? Which bikes had them on? I don't think I recall ever seeing a disc that has chrome plating.

Doing some research, I stand corrected to a certain extent. Comments here and elsewhere about the unsuitability of stainless steel, which is relatively soft and polishes under pressure 

 

 

However;

 

 

and; 

 

 

in the "chopper boom" of the 1970s, a lot of builders experimented with the small disc brake units made for kart racing - mostly by Airheart. Looks as though there is still certain amount of that sort of thinking around....

 

Edited May 13 by rockershovel

[57xx]

I nearly added to my last post - " apart from on some trailer queens at a bike show" - which your last screengrab shows.

 

I'm not sure if they were stainless or not e.g. ones I have come across were not soft although they were fairly corrosion resistant (not totally immune to rust though). The problem, I think, is more that they were incredibly hard. I had an RD front disk with close to 100k miles on and hardly showing any wear. The single piston calipers were also part of the reason for poor performance. A common mod to later E/F model RDs was to retro fit an earlier twin pot caliper from the A-D models which worked immeasurably better. 

[MrWolf]

Are we possibly confusing "chrome plating" with "chrome iron".

Old brake discs are generally separated out from the rest of the scrap because of the quality of the metal.

They can also be cut and ground into some cracking knife blades.

[rockershovel]

Putting all that together, the first screen grab specifically mentions Honda using a very durable alloy noted for hard wear rather than braking ability. 

 

The second, chrome plating of disc rotors as an anti-corrosion technique in aerospace engineering 

 

At the time, high performance disc brakes would have been cast iron discs and sintered pads 

 

Improvements in caliper and master cylinder design came later. 

[Kickstart]

Blasted clean the footrest hangers for the FZ. Then polished up the raised sections. Still some pitting but not aiming for concours so I will live with that.

I will mask off the polished areas and cerakote the rest. Then give them a final polish and probably clear coat the lot to hopefully stop the polished areas corroding.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[MrWolf]

They look good, I like the idea of Ceracoting, it preserves what you have whilst keeping the original look.

 

Over here I've had time to reassemble the 1953 BSA C11 and find a petrol tank for it, it's the best way to check over the parts and see what needs doing.

 

 

 

The 1951 is still in kit form, but I have bought a good number of new parts for it as well as sending off to the owner's club for a date certificate for both bikes which will get them registered.

 

 

 

[PatB]

I seem to remember quite a few Japanese discs that neither lasted or stopped particularly well.

 

Mind you, the Girling(?) on the front of MrsB's Norton Commando was also utterly useless, so no nationality is immune. Though I'm fairly sure that was largely down to fossilised pads and a twin disc master cylinder on a single disc bike. Was a tad hair-raising though, given that both pistons and camshaft were rather lumpier than standard, making the thing somewhat quicker than might be expected.

[Kickstart]

16 hours ago, MrWolf said:

They look good, I like the idea of Ceracoting, it preserves what you have whilst keeping the original look.

 

Over here I've had time to reassemble the 1953 BSA C11 and find a petrol tank for it, it's the best way to check over the parts and see what needs doing.

 

 

 

The 1951 is still in kit form, but I have bought a good number of new parts for it as well as sending off to the owner's club for a date certificate for both bikes which will get them registered.

 

 

 

 

Cerakote is a very thin finish. Works best (at least for me) on alloy. I mainly bought it to use on brake calipers (as brake fluid wasn't going to wreck the finish). Down side is the heat to cure  it (the footrest hangers have rubber mounting bushes in place so I will have to be careful - the bushes are not available as a seperate part)

Finding a fuel tank is going to be fun. You have my sympathy!

 

At least the 1951 bike in kit form, you have taken the bits off the sprues 😉

 

9 hours ago, PatB said:

I seem to remember quite a few Japanese discs that neither lasted or stopped particularly well.

 

Mind you, the Girling(?) on the front of MrsB's Norton Commando was also utterly useless, so no nationality is immune. Though I'm fairly sure that was largely down to fossilised pads and a twin disc master cylinder on a single disc bike. Was a tad hair-raising though, given that both pistons and camshaft were rather lumpier than standard, making the thing somewhat quicker than might be expected.

 

Large master cylinder and a single disk does not appeal! Very dead feeling brakes. The Bimota used Brembo calipers but with the Yamaha FZR1000 master cylinder and the brakes were horribly dead feeling (I swapped for a 2nd hand Brembo master cylinder and the brakes were transformed) - mind you that has cast iron disks and some pads just don't work with them (tried EBC HH pads - marginally more bite in the dry - but in the wet, pull the lever, count to 5 slowly, and then they worked)

 

All the best

 

Katy

[big jim]

Smallwood vintage rally today 

 

 

 

 

[Kickstart]

Hiya

 

A friend popped round on Saturday to give me a hand to get the bike on 2 wheels.

 

The wheels are the originals which have not been powder coated, but have some tyres on them (although from 2002 - so probably about as much grip is a rotten banana). The speedo drive is stripped down so I can cerakote it, and the front wheel had too much movement - short term bodge is 2 old wheel bearings on the front wheel spindle to act as a spacer!

Few minor extra bits I need to order. Undecided what to do with the rear shock. It is a rather nice Ohlins shock but has a crack on one end. I can probably source a replacement part, but likely it will need a full strip and rebuild to fit it.

 

Centre stand bounces around a bit, but think that is because the normal stop for it is on the exhaust. Hence it is currently sitting 1~2" higher than it should.

 

The frame cradles are only on finger tight for now

 

All the best

 

Katy

 

 

[PupCam]

I went to the local VMCC evening meeting a couple of weeks ago on the '39 Beeza.       The kick start spring decided to "let go" during the starting ritual to come home.    Thank goodness for cable ties 🤣  I also noticed that the dynamo seems to have gone on strike.  I hadn't really noticed before but putting the lights on (it was dusk, I don't do dark on a bike these days) and the ammeter showed current flow was all one way and it wasn't into the battery!   Anyway, I made it back OK.  

 

I had a bit of a struggle to get the side casing off which was annoying as the following weekend I was going to Kempton Park and I wanted to take the remains so that I could try and find a suitable replacement.   I found a stand flogging assorted springs at £2 a go so I thought I'd risk a tenner.   Anyone want to buy 5 assorted NOS, slightly rusty kickstart springs?   No, thought not.  

 

Once I did finally get the cover off ......

 

 

On disassembly various thrust washers dropped out along with a bit of old spring. 

 

 

Fortunately the thrust washers were all different sizes so could only go back on the correct shafts when it was time to do so, so that was lucky then.     

 

Cleaning the grease out of the side cover revealed its part number.     Reference to the parts book for 1939 revealed the answer to an on-going mystery;   I've always been of the opinion that the hand-change gearbox fitted was actually from an earlier model.  I assumed it had been fitted with what looks like a Blue Star (circa 1935), external positive stop mechanism to restore its foot change facility.  As the bike is a B21 deluxe (if it had been built a year earlier it would actually have been a B22, Baby Empire Star)  it should have had a foot change gearbox but with the positive stop mechanism in the box.   Anyway, checking the parts book revealed that the gear box is in fact a standard B21, hand change box.   Further reference to the Parts Book also revealed the correct part number for the kick start spring.       A quick search on the net for the spring part number revealed a number of suppliers on EbAy.   A suitable spring was ordered (£12), quickly dispatched by the supplier and then received by me.     Fitting was rather more exciting as you have to get 1/2 turn of preload on it whilst not disturbing the selector positions and coaxing the main and layshaft ends into their respective bearings.    Turned out to be a two man job so assistance was sought from my mate (he of the Norton Yamaha in a previous post).     With a lot of faffing, a cobbled together tool, Mole Grips and a high risk of trapped or pinched little pinkies we made it.      What's more all four gears and one neutral can be found by suitable waggling of the selector shaft.

 

Just got to finish screwing it together and add the ancillaries i.e. the positive stop mechanism, gear lever & push rod

 

 

plus the clutch operating lever and then slap some semi fluid grease into it.   

 

Shame I didn't see any of that on sale at Kempton Park - Doh! 

 

Anyway, here's a comparison of the 1938 B21 and the B22 (Empire Star).   In '39 they ditched the B22 and the rather famous Empire Star name and produced the B21 deluxe version with the foot change box, chrome tank etc.   I'm quite attached to my quirky, hotch-potch assortment of Beeza bits.   It's a shame a previous owner dented the nice chrome tank and had to fill it and then paint it silver.  I'm guessing that was very many years ago as the paint has aged rather nicely.  I think they call it patina!

 

 

 

 

 

Alan