Volume 28, Number 10 · August/September 2006 · $4.50 Celebrating over 29 years of Vintage Motorcycling

August/September2

From the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Deborah Hill: Lucky Winner of `67 CL160 Raffl e! . . . . . 4CB750 Exhaust Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5Sandcast Spotter’s Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Ebay Watch – CB750 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Tech Tip: Wheel Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Meet Field Rep Hal Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Rare Bird: Suzuki Colleda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Barber Vintage Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14The Pitfalls of Engine Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-16A Real Screamer: Chainsaw-powered Motorcycle . . . . . . 17Mr. Fuji’s Sushi: Incontinent Yamaha XS Petcocks . . . . . . 18Slaying the Dragon in North Carolina . . . . . . . . . 18

Classifi eds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27-30

August-September Contents

p.4p.4 p.5p.5

p.17p.17p.8p.8

This issue’s web password is:

beachEffective: 8/1/2006

PresidentPete Boody(865) 607-8179, vjmcpete@comcast.net

Magazine EditorJason Roberts(562) 777-2565, motoboy@earthlink.net

Classifi ed AdvertisingGary Gadd(817) 284-8195, eulerckt@aol.com

Commercial Advertising DirectorBob Billa(949) 916-7734, ryding@earthlink.net

MembershipBill Granade(813) 961-3737, vjmcna@verizon.net

WebmastersSteve Blake(508) 359-8140, sblake@steveblakedesign.com

Beth Braun(860) 228-4252, bbraun@dreamqueen.com

Cover LayoutJason Bell(972) 245-0634, bellboy17@comcast.net

Magazine LayoutPrint One Inc.(865) 671-1961, printoneinc.net

© 2006 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission. The opinions or views expressed in letters or articles are those of the author and do not necessarily refl ect the policy of the VJMC. The VJMC accepts no liability for any loss, damage or claims occurring as a result of advise given in this publication or for claims made by advertisers of products or services in this publication.

Mission Statement The Purpose of this organization is to promotethe preservation, restoration and enjoyment of Vintage Japanese motorcycles (defi ned as those greater than 25 years old) and to promote the sport of motorcycling and camaraderie of motocyclists everywhere.

Cover Photo: Lyndon Adams’ 1960 Colleda

23

13 CyberBiku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AMA’s First All-Japanese Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Aerobatic Kawasakis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

22Tech Tip: Cleaning Aluminum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fourth Annual VJMC Meet in Minnesota . . . . . . . . . .

August/September 3

by Pete Boody

Earlier this year, I mentioned that I would travel to as many Field Representa-tive events as possible. I am very pleased to pass on the good news about the three events I have attended so far this year.

In early May Venita and I attended the camp-out gathering and ride in North Car-olina, made possible by our South Carolina Field Representative Lloyd Blythe and his wife Debbie. The camping and camarade-rie were the greatest and the evening meals surely would have made anyone who at-tended salivate. An early ride through the foothills of the Smoky Mountains for the breathtaking sites was picture-perfect and included such places of interest as Fontana Dam and Deals Gap. All of this culminated in the return trip over the Cherohala Sky-way, a mile-high riding adventure to please any aspiring photographer. Many thanks to Lloyd and all of his team for making it a terrifi c trip; you all did a super job. I will be there next year. I do believe that a chal-lenge was made to Lloyd’s team to get 20 plus bikes and riders for 2007.

On May 20, Venita and I traveled to Minneapolis, MN to take in the extremely cool event that Chip Miller and his local Chapter held in a local motorcycle deal-ership parking lot. There were hot dogs, brats, and such for the hungry folks. Chip’s Chapter provided a grand bike show that had 24 separate categories for judging. The “trophies” awarded were very large metric wrenches, gleaming with perfect chrome plating and etched with the prize place. Chip asked me if I would help with the judging and I had a great time doing so. Over 200 people attended the event and there were more that 50 VJMs in the bike show. My hat is off to Chip Miller and the great Chapter who made this a really en-joyable event. I will be attending next year if at all possible.

June 3rd was another wonderful mile-stone in VJMC history: the Club sponsored the very fi rst Japanese Saturday at the AMA Hall of Fame Museum in Pickering-ton, Ohio. David Hellard and his excellent team of members brought it off very nicely. Folks were treated to a super lineup of vin-tage Japanese motorcycles from the 1950s

through the 1990s, and everyone who at-tended had a great time. Mark Mederski of the AMA museum was our gracious host and made it all avaiable so that everyone enjoyed a great day. Folks were treated to several hourly seminars on topics ranging from “How To Select A Barn Fresh Bike For Restoration” by Mark Mederski to “How To Lace Spoked Wheels” by Jim Townsend. David and Brenda were very energized and along with the members’ team, made this one of the best events pos-sible.

A parallel event in Boston, MA, lead by Dave Richter and Jack Delaney, is planned for next year. Thanks to Dave and his team for putting this together for our members. I hope to see you there.

From the Editor: There is no such thing...by Jason Roberts

Who was it who said, “There’s no such thing as a free motorcycle”? I’m here to testify to you all that truer words were never spoken. That phrase rang in my head over and over as I struggled to sort out the carbs of a corroded `86 Yama-ha Radian that was donated to a friend by the heartless villain who’d abandoned it to rot outside. Sure, the bike was “free”, but the issues it came with are proving rather costly...and the expenditures required to make it live again have already exceeded the price of decent, running, registered Ra-dians for sale online. Arrrgh.

Last month I too was given a couple of “barn-fresh” project bikes to play with by a friend of mine who is clearing out his stock of 100-plus motorcycles in anticipa-tion of a move overseas.

One, a 1973 Suzuki GT750 “Water Buffalo”, had been buried in his musty Aladdin’s Cave for some eight years, and prior to that was languishing in a cycle-sal-

vage yard for who knows how long. Com-plete and original, the GT was encrusted in an inch of greasy muck and sported a rusty JC Whitney-style rear luggage rack when we extricated it from the Cave; pushing its huge bulk up the ramp into my truck was made even more fun by its two fl at tires. As is the norm with nearly every old bike that enters my life, the tank was a quar-ter full of the foulest spoiled gas you can imagine. The carbs were completely fro-zen, the seat looked like it’d been attacked by the Shropshire Slasher, the right muf-fl er had rusted through in one spot, and the front brake master cylinder was as dry as an 1890 water well in Tombstone AZ.

The second “free” bike is a 1970 Yamaha XS1 650, the very fi rst production four-stroke bike by the Tuning Fork folks and the fi rst model in the 14-year run of the popular vertical twin-powered machine. A rare bike indeed, and a good looker too in green with white racing stripes. If you saw the brand-new XS1 on exhibit in the Yamaha tent last year at the Laguna Seca

MotoGP, you know what I mean. Unfortu-nately, this XS hadn’t been run since 1985 (or so said the latest tag on its license plate), had two fl ats (again), big dents in the tank (but at least no bad gas – woohoo!!), no oil in the engine, crusty muffl ers, and a previ-ous owner had spray-painted the engine a sloppy coat of fl at black.

“No problemo,” thought I, as I’d been coveting these particular bikes for several years and relished the chance to return them to the World of the Running. “I’ll just clean up the carbs, throw in a new bat-tery in and they should fi re right up.” I envisioned writing up a “Budget Classic Rebuild” feature to show just how cheaply they could be made roadworthy. Yeah, right. Famous last words.

So now I’m nearly a grand into the Suzuki and it’s looking like just the start. I’ve decided to fi rst get it running and later concentrate on the cosmetic good-ies, but the seductive sellers on that Evil-Bay often beckon with wallet-sucking but Continued on next page...

From the President:

August/September4

non-essential parts that I just gotta have because you know they’re rare and prolly won’t show up again...(see my rationalization? Brilliant, eh?)

One science you learn pretty quickly when restoring old bikes is what I call “Motorcycle Forensics 101”. It’s just like in the popular TV shows, only YOU are the detective, searching for clues which will reveal your victim’s cause of death. Each stripped crosshead screw, each man-gled wire, each bodged oil seal left by

previous owners (perps?) is discovered, analyzed, then hopefully rectifi ed. But un-like the super sleuths on CSI, each of those painful events in your bike’s past is gonna cost you some bucks. Often a whole lot of bucks.

With that in mind, I’m looking for-ward to the fun of getting these babies back on the road, concentrating on the basics while testing my willpower to resist going overboard like I’ve done with other projects in the past. In any case, I’ve

learned a valuable lesson on the true cost of the so-called “free” motorcycle! Watch this space for more exciting revelations in Motorcycle Forensics....

Do you have a restored motorcycle or project? Technical tips or words of advice? Or just a nice old Japanese bike that you’d like to see in this maga-zine? If so our members are eager to hear about and see it! Send your stories and high-resolution pictures to me at motoboy@earthlink.net. Thanks!

Exhaust Notes

Deborah Hill Wins CL160 in VJMC Raffl eLast July my boyfriend and I were at

Vintage Motorcycle Days at the Mid Ohio Car Course. We own about 25 restored Honda motorcycles and we go to Mid Ohio every year. I was checking out the Honda exhibit and saw a completely restored 1967 CL 160 Scrambler being raffl ed off, so I bought fi ve tickets. Imagine my surprise when in October 2005 I received a call from Scott Timoff, who was at the banquet dinner of VJMC members and project contributors, asking if I had bought raffl e tickets in July. Right then I shouted “DID I WIN??!” I threw the phone down and ran to the kitchen to get my purse where the tickets were safely tucked away since July. On the phone I could hear everyone at the banquet laughing at my excitement. Sure enough the second ticket I read off was the winner! I am so excited to have such a great bike, and I want to thank everyone involved. It was quite a project, so many dedicated and generous people working together to restore a beautiful bike and raise money for a great cause. The raffl e proceeds went to The Leader Dogs for the Blind, located in Rochester, MI. Scott delivered the bike to me on the following Sunday, and what an awesome sight she was! We took pictures as she arrived at her new home. The CL160 Scrambler now has a special place in our hearts and in our col-lection of Hondas that we fondly refer to as “Honda Heaven”. If you ever want to visit her, you are welcome!

Thanks again to all who contributed,Deborah Hill525 N Meilke RdHolland, OH 43528

by Kevin Healey

It was January 1972, in Montreal, Canada. Winter in Montreal brings snow piled sky high with temperatures so low the locals get excited when it’s “only” 10 be-low. I was 16 years old and defi nitely one of those locals. My winter that year was spent sitting in my uncle’s garage on an upside down apple crate, staring at my 1970 Can-dy Apple Red Honda CB175. I had never ridden the bike; the previous owner rode it to my uncle’s garage for winter storage, and I bought it for $475 of my own money earned and saved delivering “The Montre-

al Star.” I stared at that bike for 5 months from November to March, waiting for the snow to recede. Finally, in March I could wait no longer. After about 500 attempts

August/September 5

to start off in fi rst without stalling, I fi nally launched the damn thing straight into the snow bank across the street! My riding im-proved slightly from there – I only fell off about three times a week for three months and eventually learned to ride upright. By June I was ready for a bigger bike (at least I thought so) and the CB175 went away and was replaced by a new, amazing machine – a purple 1972 Honda CB350! Brand new, and purchased for just over $800. What a machine!!! I rode it for the rest of the season, completely happy with it until that one fateful day when a Honda CB750 pulled up beside me at a stop light. My life would NEVER be the same.

The light turned green and the 750 pulled away. The SOUND of the thing was so mesmerizing…so incredibly pow-erful…so rich…so smooth. I stayed with-in sight and sound of that bike for about three blocks. And I KNEW right then and there…I HAD to have one. It was the EX-HAUST NOTE of that bike that hooked me. In January 1973, in the dead of winter, I bought a 1970 dCB750 K0 which I rode home myself! This bike became my main source of transportation, and a part of my daily life from that day forward.

But I digress. The topic for this article is supposed to focus on the differences in the Honda CB750 exhaust systems used on the CB750 “K” models from 1969 to 1978; I just wanted to explain how I be-came so hooked on the incredible exhaust note from that original K0. Here is a quick tutorial for those who might not be aware of the differences in the Honda CB750 exhaust systems, so sit up straight and pay attention for a few moments. You there in the back row, yes you, the guy nodding off,

class is about to begin, so try and at least ACT interested! The goal of this short discussion is to ensure you know ex-actly which pipes are right for which bike.

Way back in 1969, the mighty CB750 Four was introduced. The earliest models had exhaust pipes without any numbers stamped on them at all. These are now referred to as “No Number” pipes – very rare indeed. These “no number” pipes came on the fi rst “sandcast bikes”, so-called due to their pre-mass production sand cast engine cases. As production progressed, the original equipment four into four systems on the CB750 K0 and K1 (some 1969, 1970 and all 1971) had “HM300” stamped on the pipes themselves. Following that the K2, K3, K4, K5 and K6 (1972 to 1976) were stamped “HM341”. Then in 1977 and 1978 the pipes were different all together and were designated “HM405”.

It’s the HM300s that have the best exhaust sound. They are throatier and a lit-tle louder than the 341s. These are correct for 1969, 1970 and 1971 Honda CB750 “K” Models. But by 1972 Honda was well on the way to conforming to sound and emission issues in the USA and dropped the 300s in favor of the quieter 341s. The HM341 system is correct for 1972 to 1976 (K2 to K6.) In other respects, the pipes looked identical from 1969 to 1976, differing only in the type of baffl es fi t-ted. Either type of baffl e will fi t any “K”

model bike from 69-76, but most collectors and restorers will want to in-stall the correct system for their respective model. In 1977 the Honda CB750 began to feel the winds of change. The new pipes were styled completely different and stamped with HM405. The pipes on the 1977 and 1978 model years are the same.

New replace-ment pipes produced more recently by Hon-

da have a paragraph regarding emissions and modifi cations stamped on their backs. CB750 afi cionados call these “paragraph pipes.” The original produc-tion pipes did NOT have this emissions paragraph stamped on the back of the pipe, so if you fi nd a set without the paragraph – you have an older original set. Lucky you! There are a few other minor differences as well. For example, the heat shields or covers on the pipes were a duller silver on the fi rst bikes made, and afterwards they were chromed. And remember – all four pipes in each set are different from each other – so each one has a different part number.

The SOHC motor was used from 69 to 78 in the CB750. In 1979 the engine was redesigned and became a double overhead cam unit. That same motor still powers the modern Honda CB750 Nighthawk to this day.

So as you may have guessed, I’m a seriously addicted CB750 fan. I have collected one of each year from 69 to 76. These are the original years – the years that put Honda on the map as a Super Bike builder! The 69-70 K0 model is the most collectible with the earliest sand-cast bikes bringing the most money. My original CB750 cost $1,300 new. Last week a nice sandcast sold for $15,600 on EBay. Of course – all this means to me is that my kids will inherit valuable bikes – cause mine are NOT for sale!

Well, I’d like to chat more – but my K0 is calling me out to the garage for a nice lunch time ride. Until next time…Ride Smiling!

E-Mail: 011wizard@msn.com

August/September6

August 20Vallejo

August 27Long Beach

September 24Long Beach

October 15Vallejo

by Jason Roberts

The rare “sandcast” models of the early CB750 series are highly prized and sought after for their rarity, as there were only 7,414 made before the factory com-menced more mainstream production of the big 750 Four. In these early models we can see Honda revising and changing a number of parts and features, mostly in order to streamline their production lines and tooling. Contrary to the beliefs of some CB750 afi cionados, many parts considered “sandcast only” actually were common to other Honda models, or were carried over onto the subsequent K0 “di-ecast” model.

I spoke to Vic World in San Francis-co, CA, who owns many sandcast CB750s and is probably the leading authority on the bikes, about the unique attributes of this model. “It’s not all that cut and dried, and it makes sense that it wasn’t,” he explains. “Back then, if Honda pro-duced 15,000 cut front fenders, there was of course NO sense in throwing away the remaining 8,000 fenders just because the engine cases changed to diecast at frame number 7,415...they kept installing those parts until a design change came along, THEN they changed the fender.”

Here’s a partial list of the major fdifferences between the sandcast bikes and the full-scale production K0 model built from later 1969 to 1970:

Sandcast Spotter’s GuideK0 ModelsDiecast heads

Diecast cylinder block

Diecast engine cases

Diecast cable drives

Diecast gauge backs

Diecast cam chain adjuster housing

Diecast sump cover, larger

Ten-hole clutch cover

Finned oil fi lter housing

Subsequent 8000 front fenders cut at

one end, then later rolled at both ends

Subsequent 5000 or so tanks also wrinkled, then smooth

Stamped “HM300”

Short chainguard continued for a few frame numbers, then longer type introduced

Three-hole taillight bracket continued for a few frame numbers, then later type

Two-hole fender continued for a while then changed in 1970

Sandcast ModelsSandcast cylinder heads

Sandcast cylinder block

Sandcast engine cases

Sandcast cable drives

Sandcast gauge backs

Sandcast cam chain adjuster housing

Sandcast sump cover, also smaller

Nine-hole clutch cover

Smooth (unfi nned) oil fi lter housing (pre-frame number 1800)

Front fender “cut” at both ends

Inside of fuel tank “wrinkled” from manufacturing process

Exhaust pipes: unstamped on very early models; stamped “HM300” later

Short 24-inch chainguard

Three-hole taillight bracket

Two-hole rear fender

Thanks for reading the

VJMC magazine! Make

your plans now

for the VJMC

National Rally, August

31-September 2

in Cadillac, MI.

See page 25 for details

August/September8

Watchby Jason Roberts

For the last few months I’ve been watching that durable, timeless classic, the Honda CB750 Four, on eBay and my message to owners and collectors is: hold on to your Honda 750s, or buy one now, because they are appreciating faster than Microsoft stock (without the risk of crash-ing either)! Sold by the tens of thousands and undoubtedly one of the most popular big bikes of the 1970s, the older SOHC models are getting scarce in good original condition. Most collectible of course is the ultra-rare pre-mass production “sandcast” model from early 1969; a sweet “museum quality” example with a claimed 743 miles in Pennsylvania shot through the ceiling with 42 bids, fi nishing at $15,600. Next most valuable CB750 is the K0, produced

in 1969 and 1970. It seems as if the sellers of K0 models are perhaps a bit optimistic of their bikes’ values as two of the three I was watching fi nished without reach-ing their reserve price, the highest being a pristine restored example in Illinois that hit $7200. One very lovely K0 owned by VJMC member Kevin Dodge in New Hampshire reached $5400 without selling, The CB750’s signature four into four pipes were going for big bucks too; an NOS set of HM341-series pipes (see Kevin Healey’s article in this issue for explanation) fi nished at $1195. Mr. Healey himself unloaded a very rare, in-the-box set of HM300 pipes for $1525. Pizza and beers on Kevin!

Other notable fi nishers include:• May 19 – 1976 K6, 5409 miles, “museum condition” – auction pulled but reserve set at $6500

• May 21 - 1972 K2, 9936 miles, all original - $4000• May 21 – 1976 K6, 6439 miles, unre-stored and pristine - $4500• May 26 – 1976 K6, 4932 miles, beauti-ful original condition – reserve not met at $5500• May 28 – 1970 K0, 51014 miles, clean but somewhat fl awed - $3130• June 3 – 1974 K4, 19922 miles, clean and original, reserve not met at $2125• June 11 – 1978 model, very clean and “near mint” condition – reserve not met at $2625 • June 11 – 1977 model, 26772 miles, nice original condition – reserve not met at $1413

Easy Wheel Alignmentby Brian Weir

So you’ve changed the tire or chain on your bike, or are just fussy-anal-retentive and feel the need to align the wheels. Here’s a simple way to do this essential task: get a piece of aluminium, a pipe, or a six-foot or longer straight edge, maybe a piece of wood, as long as it’s straight and will reach from the front tire to the back tire of the bike. Longer is better; it’s easy to tell if the long straight edge is off at an angle when it is sticking out behind the bike frame. I use an old piece of angle iron like those used to make bed frames.

Draw a straight line on the fl oor, one longer than your bike, and park the bike on it before starting. Eyeball the front wheel, aligning it with the bike and keeping the

handlebar perpendicular, and leave it there. You could lift the front end a little and stuff a rag under the tire to hold it in position if you wish.

Loosen any retaining nuts on the back axle so the wheel can just barely move, not too loose. On my little Honda C200 there are two: one for the hub and one for the axle. Back off the chain adjusters, and in-stall the chain if you need to.

Two clamps are required. I use the largest dollar store spring clamps I can fi nd and clamped the straight edge to the back wheel. Clamp it evenly across the back tire as in the picture. No need to defl ate the tire unless you want to try to get the straight edge across the rim too! The idea is to have the straight edge sticking out way beyond the bike.

Now you can adjust the wheel by tap-ping the axle until the straight edge, when sighted from above and behind, is parallel to the bike and to the line on the fl oor if you have drawn it. But wait! Don’t tighten up anything yet. Next you must adjust the chain tension. Ideally, the chain should be pretty limp. If it’s tight then loosen both ad-justers and visually check the straight edge alignment again. Snug up the axle so that a

light effort is needed to adjust the tension with the little adjusters at the axle. Turn each one turn at a time on both sides, until you have the right chain tension and the an-gle iron is still parallel to the bike. Tighten the axle and you are good to go; the front wheel should be fi ne.

The front wheel can be aligned the same way, sighting along the straight edge after ensuring the forks are exactly paral-lel to the bike. If the front is off-alignment, there is a problem with the forks or frame.

August/September 9

Check out the classifi eds section of this issue for dozens of bikes,

parts, andmiscellaneous items wanted and for sale.

Meet Field Rep Hal Johnson of Omaha, Nebraska

by Hal Johnson

I founded what we refer to as the VJMC-IA/NE chapter with the encourage-ment of my brother and a friend in Feb-ruary of 2005. I had been a VJMC mem-ber for about fi ve years, but there was no functioning chapter in my area of Omaha, Nebraska. When I inquired with Bill Granade, membership director at the time, he was extremely supportive. He sent me the contact information for anybody who had registered as a present or past member in the state of Nebraska. I put together a fi rst meeting date and location, then con-tacted the approximately 25 names on the list. I also posted some fl iers around the bike shops in the metro Omaha area. To my glee and amazement, we had 12 people show up at the fi rst meeting. Since then, we have outgrown or changed our meeting locations twice, and are now settled into a great ‘mid-access’ location, meeting the fi rst Sunday of each month at 6pm. My email list has grown to approximately 30 and we continue to grow quickly; at our June meeting we had 12 fi rst-time attend-ees!

So why form a chapter and become involved with the VJMC? Well, I am not very mechanically inclined. I can handle

some simple things like changing the oil, but actually turning a wrench and tak-ing something apart was an adventure for which I had no appetite. So there it sat in my garage for all of my 25 years of mar-riage: the same 1965 Honda S90 that I had fi rst learned to ride when I was 12 years old. I couldn’t sell it; too many memories. My fi rst encounter with the law was on this motorcycle, having something to do with this 12 yr-old kid endlessly riding a motorcycle throughout the campgrounds in Banff National Park. As I grew older, I rode it through high school, college, and even the fi rst couple of years after, but too many years of dormancy had left it in need of TLC. That’s why I started the chapter; I wanted people around me who would motivate and inspire me with a sense of courage. I really wanted to restore this heirloom. And with their constant input, as of today it is almost done.

I had no idea how thrilling and ad-dictive restoration work would be. Aside from the S90, I now own two other vintage bikes, a 1970 Honda CL175 and a 1978 Suzuki GS750E. I’m hooked. The CL was another learning experience, as I rebuilt the carbs, replaced the fork boots, and rebuilt the petcock. Now it runs like new, it looks great, and I ride it all over Omaha getting

nearly 60 mpg! I’ve found these bikes to be so much fun to ride around town that I am now considering greater challenges, like riding the ‘Suzi” across the country!

Our chapter is actively involved in the metro Omaha motorcycle community. We also venture outside the motorcycle arena. We have attended ‘hot rod’ nights (boy do we stop traffi c when we show up), regional swap meets, and we have had two booth displays at area motorcycle rallies in 2006. We are planning our fi rst VJMC camping trip later this summer, and we will be hosting our fi rst motorcycle swap meet with the support of a local dealership in the Spring of 2007. At that swap meet, we plan on raffl ing off a restored motor-cycle and giving the proceeds to a new lo-cal prison transition ministry. I believe that a good chapter must give members and new attendees a reason to come, a reason to come back, and a reason to invite their friends.

My wife, Sheila, and I have two boys: Jeremy, who is college age, and Nate, a high school senior. I am currently a Direc-tor of Volunteers for The Salvation Army. I also operate a website, www.highbeamad-ventures.com. As an accomplished writer and speaker, my mission is to inspire peo-ple to discover their own mission, blend it with their passion, and live by design. Vintage motorcycles have become a new passion for me, and the VJMC has been a great support group for that passion.

August/September10

AMA’s First All-Japanese Dayby David Hellard, VJMC Ohio Field Rep

When I got a call from Pete Boody last February asking me to coordinate the fi rst “All Japanese Day” event at the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame museum, I was a bit apprehensive. Four months of lead time is not much to organize a brand new event. I also know that trying to get folks to commit to a date months in advance can be as much fun as trying to connect those perpetually short Honda CB/CL 350 bat-tery ground cables.

I quickly sent out emails to VJMC members in the surrounding states to an-nounce our intentions. Thankfully, I got quick commitments from Pete, Jim Townsend, and Scott Timoff to conduct seminars. I also secured promises from 13 club members to bring their vintage bikes to the show. Museum Director Mark Med-erski was very pleased with our preplan-ning activities. However, I am very detail oriented, so I still approached event day with more than a little trepidation.

My wife, Brenda, and I were up at 5:00 for our planned 7 a.m. setup at the facility. Unfortunately the weather forecast was a 50/50 chance of rain. The night before, I had started to load fi ve of my bikes “just in case no one showed up.” As we were driv-ing over in the gloomy, overcast morning, I was thinking: please, please, please, don’t litter I-70 with my precious cargo!

The museum is a beautiful facility lo-

cated in a campus setting in the east Co-lumbus suburb of Pickerington, Ohio. We were given a great spot near the main en-trance to the Museum. Shortly after we ar-rived, Chris Lewis arrived with two awe-some sun canopies that we quickly erected. Dave Lucas, who had worked with me from day one to make this event a success, arrived next on his Honda CB 360, then Jim Rose rode in on his 1968 Kawasaki A1 Samurai and was also a big help at the booth. We signed up 11 new members that day and received solid commitments from another 10 people to sign up online.

Thankfully I had underestimated the turnout, and there was no need for me to bring so many of my bikes. The sun emerged from the clouds and by late morning there were dozens of vintage Jap-anese bikes arranged by decade around the Museum’s perimeter. Well over half of the display bikes came from VJMC members. Jerry Boody brought a totally new, never started 1976 GL1000 Limited Edition (LTD) that we used in our tent display. It is absolutely gorgeous and quite a conver-sation piece. The venue provided a won-derful opportunity for visitors not only to see pristine vintage motorcycles up close and personal but also to tour the fantastic displays inside the museum.

The technical seminars were a big hit with the crowd. The Museum provided ex-cellent accommodations including white boards, a sound system, and plenty of

chairs under their outdoor overhang area. Scott Timoff, VJMC Michigan, conducted a twin cylinder tune up session using my 1968 Honda CL 350 KO as a prop. Pete Boody discussed disc brake rebuilding using demonstration parts that he passed among the crowd. The fi nal VJMC semi-nar, on wheel building, was conducted by former VJMC President Jim Townsend.

Director Mark Mederski proclaimed it a great fi rst year effort and asked us to plan for an even larger All-Japanese event next year. So mark your calendar for the fi rst week in June 2007, and plan to help us make this a great national event for the VJMC.

August/September 11

by Lyndon Adams, VJMC Australia Editor

It was in 1983 that I purchased my 250cc Colleda, or to give its correct title, Suzuki 250TA - the TA is for Twin Ace. I had recently bought a 1960 250cc Honda C72 and thought it would be neat to also have its Suzuki contemporary.

I found the bike in a wrecker’s [sal-vage yard] shed and it was very complete, missing only mirrors, brake pedal rubber and choke lever. At the time I had never restored a motorcycle and decided not to restore the Colleda but to just clean it up and get it running. ‘Cleaning it up a bit’ consisted of re-chroming and touching up some of the paintwork.

I was lucky the bike was so complete as I found that parts for these machines are very thin on the ground. Luckily a few bits have turned up, mainly at swap meets, such as NOS blinker lenses and two front fenders – the seller thought they were for a Honda Dream. As for engine parts, most are common to the later T10.

A little model history would be ap-propriate here. The Suzuki 250TA Colleda was produced in 1960-61 and grew from the Colleda TT. The next model was a 250TAA and I do not know of any dif-ferences between this and the TA; they were essentially the same. Later in 1961

came the 250TB and with this model the Colleda name was dropped. This was fol-lowed the 250TC in 1962 and in 1963 came the better-known T10. The TB, TC and T10 are all visually similar with minor model differences and variations depend-ing on registration requirements in the country to which they were exported. To my knowledge the TA was exported to Af-rica New Zealand and Australia although I do know of a TAA in Malta. [Note: none of these bikes made it to the USA; the fi rst Suzuki to reach our shores was the T10. Ed.]

The most noticeable feature of the TA was the standard fi tting of a dual coupled hydraulic braking system. The front and rear brakes were operated simultaneously by the foot brake and proportioned at a ratio of 5:9. The front wheel was also equipped with a conventional cable-operated single leading shoe ‘emergency’ brake, presum-ably in case of hydraulic failure. The front hydraulic was later dropped from the TB; the rear hydraulic continued up to the early T10s then dropped off completely.

This brings me back to my Colleda and the spare parts situation. I was unable to locate any NOS Suzuki hydraulic brake parts so the bike sat in the garage for many years until I decided it was time to get running and registered. A very cooperative

auto brake specialist was able to come up with appropriate size wheel cylinder seals and an early Toyota clutch kit supplied parts for the master cylinder.

My Colleda is now used on occa-sional VJMC and other vintage club runs and is registered in my state (New South Wales) as a ‘Historic Vehicle’. This is a system that allows cars, motorcycles, etc. thirty years and older to be driven on pub-lic roads at a concession registration rate but with some restrictions.

Someday I may get around to fully re-storing this bike but I now have two more 250TAs and have recently commenced their restoration - it will be handy as a ref-erence when it comes time to reassemble the other two.

Rare Bird: Suzuki Colleda

August/September

Acrobatic Kawasakis: The Secret of Their Handling “Quirks” Revealed

by Nick Voge

I intended to never grow old,But once again,

the bells ring in the New Year.--Japanese poem

As anyone who has ridden an early Kawasaki street bike at speed can attest, their reputation for evil handling was well earned. Fearsomely fast in a straight line, those Mach I and Avenger 2-strokes be-come frightening to ride when the straights turned to curves. My most memorable experience with their bad manners was second hand, but it was scary enough to leave a lifelong impression. It took place during the mid-seventies during a pre-race

practice session at Orange County Interna-tional raceway in southern California.

OCIR, as it was known, was a drag-strip racetrack which used the parking lot and access roads to make up one of those hodgepodge circuits which were so char-acteristic of the era. I was riding a TD2, Yamaha’s air-cooled 250 production racer. Peeling off into the track’s one and only real sweeper, an 80 mph left-hander, I came up on my friend Mike Clarke on his Kawa-saki 350 Avenger production bike. I was riding rather slowly, learning the track and warming the tires, yet I was astonished to see that even at this slow pace, my friend’s machine was bucking so badly that he was on the verge of being spit off all the way through the turn. Ever since, whenever

someone uses the phrase “...handles like it has a hinge in the middle,” visions of that tank-slapping Kawasaki twin come clearly to mind.

It wasn’t until the summer of 1997, when I made my fi rst trip to Kawasaki’s factory just south of Kobe, that the reasons for these handling quirks became clear. I was there to learn about the ‘98 ZX-9R and ZX-6R; old rotary-valve two-strokes were the last things on my mind. After receiving clearance at the security offi ce in front of the main gate, Hirai from the ad agency guided me past the long rows of drab shops, some of which date from the pre-war period. In spite of their ob-vious age, though, all were fi lled with

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12

August/September

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state-of-the-art machinery and humming with activity.

As we strolled along, sweating in the summer heat, I asked Hirai about the wide, ruler-straight road which divided the facil-ity neatly in half and which was at least a half-mile long. It seemed far too big for any practical purpose. “Oh,” he said. “Dur-ing the war, this was the runway they used for the warplanes Kawasaki was build-ing. After the war, when Kawasaki started building motorcycles, it was the company test track.”

Instantaneously, the twenty-year-old mystery of those end-swapping Avengers, Samurais and Triples was solved. Kawasa-ki’s fi rst test track had no turns! They sim-ply blasted the bikes up and down the old runway. Of course, tests on public roads

were also made, but in those days there were very few roads in Japan which could put a high-performance machine’s han-dling to the test. This would explain the extraordinary straight-line performance for which Kawasaki’s bikes have always been famous, a reputation which continues to this day.

After the meetings Hirai took me to see the museum. It’s on the second fl oor in one of the time-worn buildings along the runway. I generally try to avoid visit-ing motorcycle museums, too depressing. They remind me too much of zoos. Like imprisoned animals, the bikes sit there, robbed of the life that makes them what they are. Reduced to curiosities, they be-come mere caricatures. Far better that they be given to someone who will take care

of them and ride them as they were meant to be ridden. Ride `em hard and put `em away wet. And if they get thrown down the road from time to time, so be it. They were all there, of course: the GP bikes ridden by Kork Ballington and Toni Mang, Law-son’s Superbike, something exotic looking with Mick Grant’s name on the fairing. Street bikes included a WI (Kawasaki’s copy of BSA’s 650cc A10), an early Z-1 and, over in the corner, a showroom fresh Avenger and Samurai, their wobbling for-ever stilled.

So much history, representing so many dreams and hopes, all refl ecting quietly in the polished wood fl oor of a building that few ever visit, left behind by the remorse-less rush of time.

CyberBikuHonda SOHC Four Owners Club

Site - www.sohc4.us

Own a Honda Single Overhead Cam (SOHC) Four? Want to own one? Have technical, restoration, or maintenance questions about these bikes? The SOHC Four Owners Club site is where you need to go. There’s a section for each of the

four-cylinder models, from the 350, 400, 500/550, 650 and of course 750cc bikes. You’ll fi nd plenty of pictures, too, and a place to trade stories and solve your me-chanical problems.

In their words:

“The SOHC/4 Owners Community is a place where owners of the Honda single

overhead cam fours gather to talk bikes, organize rides, and help with the wrench-ing. We’ve built this website as a portal to our discussion forums and mailing list and as a place where articles, technical documents, photos, and other information on these bikes can be made permanently available.”

13

August/September14

Barber Vintage FestivalBy Tom Kolenko

The VJMC has again been invited by the famous Barber Motorcycle Museum to provide a major display of vintage Japa-nese motorcycles at the Second Annual Barber Vintage Festival based on our out-standing contribution to the vintage eye candy at the 2005 festival. This year’s program has expanded to include a full grid of AHRMA vintage racing including road racing, trials and motocross, a Jerry Woods bike auction, huge swap meet, and vintage demo rides on the track.

LAST YEAR:

Last August we were approached by Brian Slark, the museum’s Technical Con-sultant and invited to become part of this fi rst class event at the Barber Motorsport Park in Leeds, Alabama. You know the place…a golf course with a race track built on it nestled next to the worlds’ largest motorcycle museum. Brian asked if we would provide some vintage Japanese mo-torcycles to display during the inaugural festival weekend. Was this a trick ques-tion? “Of course we will!” I shouted.

With but two months to prepare before show time, I posted a plea for top quality re-stored original vintage bikes with our mem-bers online in chat rooms and our website. To my amazement, the response was over-whelming. Members responded quickly and in force from places like Florida (Troyce Walls), Indiana (Art & Kurt Bensheimer, Steve Passwater), Tennessee (Ed Davis, Bill Gray, Bert Thomas), Kentucky (Steve Pieratt, Bob Curry), the Carolinas (Lloyd Blythe, Keith Averill), Pennsylvania (Bill Shue), Missouri ( Fred Reynolds),Alabama (Mike Baker), and of course Georgia (Bill Brint, Kent Owens, Brad Powell, Ed

Turner). The Barber folks offered two free weekends passes which included camping (an $85 value) to each of the pre-registered members who would bring display bikes.

We were given a gorgeous spot in the fi rst turn after entering the park and proceeded to create a visual celebration of Japanese machinery (see event pho-tos). Everyone entering the park for that weekend’s AHRMA races and swap meet witnessed over 55 fantastic bikes at our display. The racing legend, Jay Springs-teen, came running over while I was set-ting up on Friday, all excited about seeing some of the bikes he started on in his early years. He was disappointed after I told them these weren’t for sale. Clearly, there was excitement in the air.

Although Saturday was the big dis-play day, this laid-back setting was a great chance for everyone to meet fellow mem-bers, wives and kids over the entire Octo-ber weekend. Everyone was relaxed and soaking in the AHRMA vintage road rac-ing, the 75+ vendor swap meet, and visits to the Barber Museum. Who would know that Twizzlers from Indiana would taste so good with hot dogs from Georgia and beers from around the world? Who expected the Blythe’s to provide morning muffi ns and coffee to the weary campers outside their motor home? Laid-back Southern hospi-tality was in the air.

Saturday night was capped by a last-minute barbecue supper engineered by Mike Baker, our VJMC Rep in Alabama. For those not heading home that night, the crisp fall air, the great company, and the roaring fi res made a great ending to a great day. Even some stray visitors from Japan wan-dered over to share the warm of fi re. Mike Baker did further duty by staffi ng our club location on Sunday selling memberships af-ter many of us had to depart for home.

THIS YEAR - 2006 FESTIVAL

Following last year’s amazing success, we are gearing up to make this year event 300% bigger, better, and more fun. With greater prep time and more volunteers, we are seeking 100 vintage Japanese bikes for our 2006 VJMC display. We have been granted the same excellent location and free admission package for those members bring-ing display bikes. Register early and please

honor your commitment to attend since we are trying to present the greatest variety of high quality vintage Japanese machinery. Good clean, original early machines from Bridgestone, Tohatsu, Marusho, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda are sought. We will limit some entries to prevent rows of the same machines (e.g., 1979 CBXs, GB500s, etc.) and seek the unusual and rare. Variety and quality are the goals…and we know this club’s members will rise to the challenge. Japanese tiddlers and race bikes are always well received. So get those bikes out of your attics, living rooms and garages to come share the fun.

The planning committee of Lloyd Blythe, Mike Baker, and I are trying to build on our fi rst year experiences to grow this club event. This year we are planning to have a Friday afternoon/evening ride to a local mo-torcycle campground/resort for a meal. Sat-urday will begin with a pancake breakfast for members, a people’s choice bike show in the afternoon, awards ceremony, and an evening barbecue meal. All VJMC members are wel-come to attend events even if you don’t dis-play a bike in the show. We are also working on some special events to be announced at a later date. Volunteers are always needed to help make this event bigger and better. Many hands make light work.

Event information can be found at www.barbermuseum.org and on our club’s website. Display bikes need to be pre-registered through Tom Kolenko, tkolenko@kennesaw.edu, 770-422-3629 by September 30, 2006 to qualify for the free admission package. Camping is available at the track or make your hotel reservations early since many places will sell out of rooms. This is a beautiful facil-ity and amazing festival that will grow ex-ponentially in the years ahead. Come and be a part of it.

August/September 15

The Pitfalls of Engine RestorationBy Joshua Levy

When I was given an old 1972 CB500 by a friend of a friend, I had visions of cruising down the road on the classic streetbike after a week or two of easy re-pairs. Boy was I wrong.

“It was working before I put her up” was all the previous owner said about the bike, which had been sitting in a parking lot uncovered sans carburetors for two years. When I asked him why he wanted to just give his bike away, he hesitated and said “Well, I’ve got my other bike - and I just don’t need this one.” So, after he handed me the keys and a Clymer manual, I left with a naive smile and pushed the bike back to my house.

My fi rst casual inspection showed me that the carburetors were indeed gone. Everything else seemed to be intact, so I searched around for a good parts shop in my area that would stock a compatible set of carbs. Luckily, there was a great mo-torcycle salvage shop about 10 minutes away with a few carb sets, so I went over to check them out, ignoring the manager’s advice to let him check the bike out fi rst.

The shop had four CB500 carb sets in various states of repair, so I chose one which had actual moving parts. I shelled out $180 for the set, and rushed home to complete my seemingly easy repair. Af-ter a quick rebuild, I mounted the carbs, put on a newly charged battery, fi lled the tank, and turned the key. What assailed my ears was not the sputter of a working en-gine, but the click, click, click of a dud. So I decided to try the kickstarter, but all I succeeded in doing was knocking the bike over since it wouldn’t move. I stared at the fallen Honda in disbelief, my naive illu-sions suddenly shattered.

Thus began my love/hate relationship with the CB500, the parts shop, and mo-torcycle mechanics.

The bike wouldn’t crank at all; it was completely seized. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe leaving a bike with its cylinders open to the atmosphere for two years was not such a good idea. I then de-cided that maybe I should have a look in-side that engine.

So I took out the Clymer manual and my socket set, and got to work on the head

disassembly. I then hit my fi rst big prob-lem: stuck screws and bolts. They seem to be the most frequent problem I’d come across, but with a little ingenuity they were easy enough to deal with. I bought myself an impact wrench and a can of penetrat-ing oil and made short work of the stuck screws. A few of the Phillips-head valve cover screws were ruined, probably by the oh-so-caring previous owner, so I had to get a Dremel-style tool to slot the screw heads so I could apply the impact wrench to them.

With the valve cover off I hit my sec-ond problem: since the engine was seized, I couldn’t remove the cam, which holds the head and block in a sandwich with the cam chain, because I couldn’t turn it to ac-cess the sprocket screws.

So I called the shop that sold me the carbs to ask for advice. I got a slightly rude mechanic who told me that I had just en-rolled in motorcycle mechanics 101 and that I should probably junk the old thing. When he realized I wasn’t smart enough to do that, he told me to try to turn the crankshaft with a breaker bar or wrench in order to move the thing. When I tried this, and ruined my spark advancer assembly in the process, I learned my fi rst lesson when dealing with mechanics: when a mechanic tells you to do something drastic, GET A SECOND OPINION!

When I called back and talked to the parts guy, who used to sell and race Honda SOHC fours when they were new, he told me that the mechanic didn’t have much experience with older bikes, and he could have warned me that I’d break the spark advancer. So I had at least found the right guy to talk to at the shop: the guy that knows the old bikes. He also sold me a great resource for the bike: a microfi che with exploded diagrams of all the parts groups and parts numbers. I went to the library and printed it out, put the pages in clear sheet protectors, and bound it with a ring. Without those diagrams, I wouldn’t have been able to put all the right screws in the right place, and ordering parts was a hell of a lot easier when I could point to the diagram and show the part number.

But I was still left with a stuck engine, so the parts guy recommended that I break the cam chain in order to remove the cam.

So I took out my trusty Dremel tool again and ground off the ends of the pins of one link, and carefully removed the chain from the sprocket. I then secured the cam chain to the frame with a piece of wire so that it wouldn’t fall into the crankcase, which would have given me a very large amount of unpleasant work. I also needed to order a new link for the chain.

After some more impact-wrenching on the head screws, I removed the cylin-der head and got my fi rst look at the valves and pistons. The valves were dirty, but were not particularly rusted. I put the head aside for a good cleaning and rebuild. The pistons, on the other hand, were not so hot. The rings from piston #1 were rusted to the cylinder, which was covered in a thick layer of rust. I guess the intake valve on #1 was open and during the two-year expo-sure moisture had snaked its evil way into the cylinder.

Moving the rusted piston didn’t re-quire genius; it required the brute force of a hammer. So I padded the piston top with a rag and some paper towels and banged away until it started to move. If I didn’t pad the piston I would have certainly ru-ined it with the hammer. The piston fi nally popped out of the bottom of the cylinder with a plop, giving me a good view of the damage. The rings on #1 were rusted to ruin, and the cylinder, aside from the rust at the top, had a bunch of scratch marks from my little forced journey. But I had truly lucked out! No major piston damage from the hammering. When I brought the block to the shop, the owner gave me the prognosis: the cylinders needed work.

Long story short: after 3 months of reboring and piston/ring ordering, I fi nally found a new (read: used) cylinder sleeve on the internet for a cheap price. When it came in the mail I learned my next lesson: don’t buy used parts if you can’t see them fi rst. The parts dealer had sent me an entire block whose sleeves were almost as bad as my ruined sleeve! But one was not sobad, so I tried to remove it. I work in a biology lab and we have freezers that go down to -80 Celsius, and torches (well, Bunsen burners). So I tried to freeze and then heat the block to get the sleeve out, but it didn’t work. So I broke down and

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August/September16

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actually paid the $36 to have the shop switch the cylinders for me. They did it in less than an hour with a press, and honed all four cylinders for me as well. That was the next lesson: sometimes you CAN’T do it yourself. Know when to have someone else do the work. When you don’t have the tools (or a reasonable substitute) and when you could ruin your parts by inexperience, bring it to a competent mechanic. If you already took everything apart, it’ll prob-ably be real cheap.

So yet again I rushed home to reas-semble the engine. I assembled the pistons with new pins, rings and clips, and posi-tioned them for insertion into the block. Well, those rings didn’t want to go in, so I got frustrated and gave it a good shove. I then learned my next lesson: be patient. If you get frustrated, take a break and come back later. I had broken a top ring and it fell INTO THE CRANKCASE! After an hour of fi shing around with a coat hanger and a magnet I fi nally got the damn thing out, but my assembly was done for the week until I could get a new ring. My im-patience had cost me $15 and a week of waiting.

In the meantime, the front brakes had seized, but the repairs were pretty easy. I took apart the caliper and saw that the pis-ton was badly corroded. A mechanic sug-gested that I try fi ne sandpaper followed by steel wool to remove the corrosion, and it worked pretty well. I re-assembled the brake with some lithium grease in the caliper to get it moving again, and after a good bleed, the front break was up and running!

When I got the rings, I fi nally re-as-sembled the engine (being careful to set the timing correctly), installed my new link on the cam chain, installed a new spark ad-vancer, and mounted the carbs. Well, the engine cranked all right, but when I turned the key FLAMES shot out of the airbox! So I took the head off again to check the cam timing, but when I put it back togeth-er, the fl ames re-appeared. So I called the shop back and talked to their resident ex-pert in old bikes, a mechanic named mike. Well, Mike asked a bunch of questions, and suggested that the collar on the spark ad-vancer was mounted wrong, fi ring the cyl-inders on the intake stroke while the valve

was still open. So I turned the collar around and THE ENGINE START-ED!! I was jump-ing for joy! Mike had the incredible ability to trouble-shoot problems over the phone, which is a rare tal-ent indeed.

So I spent the next day get-ting the bike road worthy, and I rode it into school to show it off. I made sure that everybody who had told me to junk the old CB500 saw me carrying my helmet around. Ah, the joys of proving people wrong!

My joy was short lived, however. The bike wouldn’t idle, and two days later, the bike wouldn’t start. I fi nally pinpointed the problem to be carbon-fouled plugs, which pointed to carburetor problems. I removed the carbs and gave them a thorough in-spection. The slow jets were completely clogged, so I cleaned them out with carb cleaner and sodium hydroxide (a strong caustic that’s in Drano). When I reassem-bled the carbs and mounted them, the en-gine still wouldn’t start. I fi gured the carbs were worse off than I had thought. So YET AGAIN, I pulled the carbs and took them apart, only this time I soaked them in some carb dip, which is REALLY NASTY STUFF! When I got a drop on my skin, my girlfriend could smell it for days. The les-son is: when you rebuild carbs, do it right the fi rst time. Don’t be a dweeb like me. Inspect all the jets, and soak everything in carb dip to clean out all the venturis, ports and the like.

While the carbs were soaking, I de-cided to re-assemble the engine with anti-seize on all the screws, nuts and bolts in order to make any future engine work go much quicker. Again, my impatience got the better of me. As I was removing the cam sprocket screws, I dropped them BOTH into the crankcase. Lesson: put a rag over any holes that lead to the crankcase. You’ll save yourself a LOT of work. Believe me this! I couldn’t get those screws out with anything. Not a coat hanger, not a magnet, not even through the oil pan. So I ended

up having to open up the crankcase, which was a lot of work. A LOT of work.

Well, when I fi nally got the screws out, I hit my next problem: the shift forks. Getting them back into the right position was not trivial. I winged it with a couple of coat hangers and re-assembled the engine. After putting together everything, I got the ingenious notion to actually try out the shifting mechanism, which to my surprise, didn’t work. I had re-assembled the shift forks in the wrong place. So YET AGAIN, I had to completely strip the engine and open the crankcase. I almost cried! But this time, I read the Clymer manual and did it right, and I tested the shift mechanism before I tightened all the screws. Lesson learned: read the damn manual fi rst, and make sure the thing shifts before re-as-sembling all the top-end components.

Well, now the bike runs beautifully, but it took a lot of work and rework to get it there. The only jobs left to do are painting the tank and changing the cables. I learned a lot about how my bike works, but more importantly, I learned to be pa-tient and thorough, and I learned to take advice with a grain of salt. If you fi x up an old bike, remember this: The machine won’t forgive you if you make a mistake, so try to do each job right the fi rst time. And fi nd a good old parts place near you, and somebody that you can trust who knows something about your bike. If I can do it, trust me, YOU can do it too!

August/September 17

by Bob Weber

You’ve probably heard a little motor-cycle with an anaemic two stroke engine whiz by and have a friend wisecrack: “Was that a weed eater or a chainsaw?”

Wonder what he’d say if a bike pow-ered by 24 chainsaw engines zoomed by? Believe it or not, there is such a bike.

It started with a comic strip in Ger-many titled “Werner.” Werner is a plumber’s apprentice who ex-periences some zany things, but his passion is to ride, tune and build motorcycles – wild motorcycles. Now, one of Werner’s fantasies has become a reality.

The idea germinated at a barbecue, where the strip’s author, Rutger Feldmann, was invited to tour the Dolmar GmbH plant that manufactures professional-grade chainsaws.

Reluctantly Feldmann went, com-plaining that he didn’t know why he was invited because Werner is neither a for-est ranger nor a lumberjack. Then, the idea struck him that Werner could build a motorcycle using a chainsaw for power. Feldmann discussed a book project he was working on with Dolmar’s director of marketing, and they agreed to try building such a bike, powered by 24 engines from Dolmar’s model PS-7900 chainsaws.

The plans called for coupling the in-dividual engines together with a double-

sided drive belt in sets of three in alternat-ing “V” confi gurations. In other words, a set with one engine above and two be-low alternated with a set of two above and one below. An additional drive belt was arranged between the rows of engines. The original centrifugal clutches of the chainsaws were used, and a two-speed transmission was connected to transmit the power to the rear

wheel. (Centrifu-gal clutches are rather simple. The

clutch engages automatically at a predeter-mined speed. If you’ve used a chainsaw, you probably have noticed the chain does not move when the engine is idling, but starts spinning when you rev the motor. Centrifugal clutches are also found on Go-Karts and gas-powered golf carts). Later, a fi ve-speed Harley-Davidson transmis-sion was substituted.

The bike was christened the Dolmette.In standard trim, each of the high-perfor-mance, air-cooled, 79-cc engines gener-ates about 6.3 horsepower at 9,500 r.p.m. For use in the Dolmette, the engines were tuned and tweaked to deliver about 7.1 h.p. at 10,000 r.p.m. Maximum torque delivery is 4.1 foot-pounds at 7750 r.p.m. When all are combined, the massive 24-cylinder

unit displaces 1.9 liters and churns out 170 h.p. and 95.9 foot-pounds of torque. The fully assembled bike measures more than 12 1/2 feet. It is nearly two feet wide, yet total weight is only a tad more than 660 pounds, less than a full-size Harley.

A ma- chine that goes this fast also needs to stop fast. The

front wheel is fi tted with twin 292-mm disc brakes

with six-piston calipers. The back wheel has a sin-

gle 292-mm disc squeezed by a four-piston caliper.

Gearheads like Feldman measure their mettle by racing. Unfortu-nately, without another chainsaw bike to race against, the builders chose to race an automobile. The EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany, was chosen for a match between Feldmann on the Dolmette and race driver Christina Surer in her Audi AS400.

The start of the race was set for 5 p.m. and Surer was running on a very tight schedule, so there were only 20 minutes in which to pull it off, including the time necessary to get the Dolmette’s engines running.

The excitement and pressure took its toll on the pit crew, who managed to get only 20 of the bike’s 24 engines started. So the team had to make do with “only” 142 h.p.

In practice runs on other tracks, the Dolmette team discovered that the torque from the 24 engines was so great that the rider lost traction off the line, resulting in unintended burnouts in fi rst and second gear, so they decided to start out in third gear. But third was a little too high for only 20 engines, so the launch didn’t quite hook up as planned and Surer, an experi-enced racer, got the jump. Even under full throttle, the Dolmette could not make up much ground, yet still it lost the race by just a hair!

Back to the drawing board, or should we say boards?

Bob Weber is an ASE-certifi ed Mas-ter Automobile Technician, recertifi ed ev-ery fi ve years since 1978. Contact him at write_stuff@verizon.net .

Copyright (c) 2005

Chainsaw-Powered Motorcycle: Real Screamer

August/September18

Mr. Fuji’s Sushi: Incontinent Yamaha XS Petcocksby Roger Palmer

Has your Yamaha XS650 been leav-ing puddles on the garage fl oor due to a pesky leaking vacuum-operated petcock? There is an inexpensive solution to your problem. On XS650 models before 1978, more reliable non-vacuum petcocks were used; one would assume that swapping the early-type petcock onto a later-model tank would be an easy job. However, the

mounting fl ange and bolt pattern of the early-type petcocks is smaller than on the later models. Mike’s XS, a specialist in pattern parts for XS650s, has manufac-tured a replica early-type petcock with the wider fl ange and bolt pattern to fi t the later tanks. Included with the replicas is all the necessary mounting hardware, except the blind plug used to block off the vacuum tube from the inlet manifold. The cost is not much more than the price of a vacuum

petcock repair kit. The petcocks can be purchased on line only at www.mikesxs.com. They may also fi t other Yamaha models using this type of petcock with a 46mm center-to-center bolt pattern. I have used them successfully on my XS650, my XS750, and my SR500 and they may fi t other bikes too.

May your life be fi lled with joy.

by Lloyd Blythe, SC Field Rep

The VJMC is on a roll in South Caro-lina, starting back in early January (when it is too cold to ride here) with a lunch meeting in Columbia, S.C., which is fairly close to the middle of the state. It didn’t take a ton of work on my part; I found a Chili’s near an Interstate exit, called ahead and ensured they could handle a group our size, picked a Saturday off the calen-dar, and then with a list of S.C. members and their email addresses provided by Bill Granade I sent an email to all S.C. mem-

bers with directions to the lunch. As expected not everyone could make

it, however to my surprise those who could brought a friend and next thing I knew we had a crowd – 16 people for a fi rst time meeting. Everyone hit it off immediate-ly...we all had common interests and the discussion quickly turned to scheduling more events and especially rides. This also gained us few more members, as those who were guests joined the Club shortly afterwards.

In April, Gordon East, one of our S.C. members, stepped up and organized a ride.

Gordon is friends with the owner of the local Kawasaki dealership in Seneca, S.C., who was very happy to host us in his parking lot. We met at 9am, admired bikes and told stories for a couple hours. At 11am Gordon lead us off on a great ride through the nearby North Caro-lina Mountains. We rode through some really nice areas, climbing to over 4,000 ft and a 14 degree tem-perature drop to Highlands, North Carolina. After cruising scenic Rt 64 past Bridal Veil Falls and Dry Falls, we reversed direction and headed to Cashiers, N.C. where we stopped for lunch at a great BBQ place, and fi nally returning to Sen-eca about 3:30pm. Every one had a blast, and again we parted with lots of discussion about organizing more events.

For the past four years Deb and I have been organizing a “Blue Ridge Ride” for all area members.

This year, we moved the ride to the Smok-ies, and setup reservations at Iron Horse Motorcycle Resort in Stecoah, N.C. Wow, what a great idea. The resort rolled out the red carpet for us, we ate like kings and slept like babies. For those not familiar with the western North Carolina Moun-tains, this is a wonderful area with great roads, fantastic scenery, and it’s very mo-torcycle friendly. There are so many des-tinations in this area it is hard to choose, but the most famous of all is the diabolical section of twistery known as the Dragon at Deal’s Gap.

Saturday morning 10:30am we left Iron Horse resort, heading towards Fon-tana Dam (built during World War II, larg-est Dam east of the Mississippi, 480 feet tall), where we stopped for a photo op. I tell ya, we all agreed it is “Dam” nice!!!After another 45 minute stop at the Cross Roads Through Time resort for souvenir shopping, and a rendezvous with VJMC President and First Lady Pete and Venita Boody, we all headed off to ride the Drag-on. Eleven miles and 318 corners later, the Dragon was dead. Many of our rider Continued on page 20...

Slaying the Dragon in North Carolina

August/September20

Continued from page 18... had never been though the Dragon before, and therefore they were relieved that they had earned their T shirts without becom-ingDragon Food. I should add for those ex-perienced Dragon slayers: there were no Continued from page 18... vintage parts added to the “Tree Of Shame”. We then circled around through east Tennessee, and stopped at “The Beach” for chili dogs in Telico Plains, TN.

Fully fueled, (plenty of gas...we all had the chili!) we headed onto the Cherohala Skyway. An amazing road, built literally in the middle of nowhere, the Skyway is a 31 mile long parkway which connects Telico Plains, TN, to Robinsville, NC through the Snowbird mountains. This road opened in 1996, costing in excess of $100 million dollars, and was immediately named a Na-tional Scenic Byway, one of only twenty in the U.S. There was very little traffi c along the modern parkway with its sweeping turns, clear fi elds of vision, and peak alti-tude reaching over 5,300 ft above sea level.

Everyone loved it. From Robinsville we returned to the Iron Horse Resort.

Saturday night was a real treat. Iron Horse offered a choice of prime rib or salmon, with a great salad bar for grazing. After this scrumptious feast we all headed for Claude and Dianne Mailoux’s camp site for a campfi re and story telling. The wood was stacked and ready for the fi re, and all we had to do was strike a match. We sat around the fi re and watched the fl ames refl ect on the sides of Claude’s pris-tine 1966 Black Bomber gas tank!! (is that why that chrome is there for?)

Currently we are organizing a family picnic at a centrally-located South Caro-lina state park. We hope to include an informal bike show in the festivities. We also have a few members who are plan-ning to hold cookouts at their homes later in the year. I’m considering at least one fall meet, maybe a ride tosomewhere.

From a Field Rep’s point of view, it is interesting how this is all coming together.

A year ago it seemed like a really large-scale task to organize activities and meets in South Carolina. Now that the ice is bro-ken, we are on a roll. Everyone seems eager to help, and they’re learning these events don’t take a large effort to organize. Good things are happening and we see new inter-est from more members with each passing month, and it all started with that one cold January day and a lunch at Chili’s.

For 2007, we have reserved the Iron Horse Motorcycle Resort for the June 2nd and 3rd weekend. This is a very popular place, and given the facilities and ser-vice, it’s going to be even more popular in the future. We do not book the entire re-sort for that weekend; reservations must be made for all individuals, so make yours soon. Iron Horse offers tent camping, cabins, rooms, and RV parking. All VJMC members are invited. They can be reached at www.ironhorsenc.com or at 828-479-3864

August/September

by Jason Roberts

In my adventures as an amateur motor-cycle restorer, I have learned a few things about the various surfaces of motorcycles and how to clean them. After all, it seems like 80% of restoration work is scrubbing the years of accumulated gunk and oxida-tion away from one part or another.

Aluminum is everywhere on a mo-torcycle, and for good reason. It’s light, strong, and conducts heat well. However, it’s also relatively soft and vulnerable to corrosion, not only from the elements but also from the mere presence of other met-als such as steel.

Steel in contact with aluminum causes the aluminum to corrode by electrolysis. Moisture from the air, condensation, or rain water becomes an electrolyte for the two metals, and like a lead-acid battery, the aluminum sacrifi ces its electrons and destroys itself through oxidation.

True aluminum oxidizes immediately in the presence of oxygen to form alumi-num oxide. This forms a white powdery layer, coating the aluminum, which pre-

vents oxygen from contacting the alumi-num and forms a natural barrier prevent-ing further oxidation. Unfortunately, our atmosphere is not a pure oxygen environ-ment. There are acids in the dust, rain, as well as other impurities that will attack the aluminum oxide and break that down, too. Especially troublesome on old bikes is corrosion that forms beneath the factory-applied clear coat. To polish the alumi-num, this degraded coating must fi rst be removed.

So how to polish off that white oxi-dized layer and keep the aluminum surface looking fresh? First of all, do no further harm to the aluminum by avoiding contact with steel wire brushes, steel wool, etc. Keep steel away from aluminum! Steel wool leaves tiny pieces of steel embedded in the aluminum that will cause problems later.

Your local hardware store sells any number of tools to polish and protect alu-minum surfaces. One is a fi ber abrasive wheel which looks like coarse Scotchbrite. This cuts through old clear coat and heavy oxidation pretty quickly. There are also

wheels made of blue plastic bristles that look pretty aggres-sive but are actually gentler than the fi ber wheels. These seem to reach into nooks and crannies better than the Scotchbrite wheels, as well. Alu-minum oxide sand-paper works well and comes in nearly every grit imaginable, as are emery papers, but you must watch how you apply the sand-paper and pay atten-tion to the grain of the aluminum surface to achieve neat results.

I’ve found, how-ever, that a wad of crumpled-up alu-minum foil dipped in Autosol or Simi-chrome and rubbed

vigorously over the aluminum surface works excellent on surfaces with light oxidation. With a bit of elbow grease the surface will clean up beautifully and you won’t have to worry about the electrolysis effect from contact with steel nor exces-sive scratching as the aluminum foil is very soft. Give it a try!

Protecting That Shine

In order to prevent any further oxida-tion after you’ve rubbed your aluminum clean, you will need to apply a coating. Most coatings need some surface coarse-ness for good adhesion. If you’ve polished the surface to a mirror shine, you’ve got to realize that the coating is going to have a hard time sticking to it once it cures. A satin fi nish gives very good adhesion. Eastwood (www.eastwood.com) sells a variety of aluminum coatings such as Zo-opSeal and Diamond Clear, in both glossy and satin shines, that will replicate a fac-tory clear coat and protect the polished surfaces. Before you clear coat, however, do a fi nal clean of the surface with MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone). Any moisture, con-densation, or humidity immediately starts the electrolysis process in the aluminum. If you apply a protecting coating over this it will slow it down but not stop it. Over time, the coating will be undermined and fail. Allow the MEK to dry and NEVER touch it with anything but the coating – es-pecially your hands – after cleaning it.

Tech Tip: Cleaning Aluminum

22

August/September

Attention all members: If you move, change addresses or change e-mail ad-dresses, please notify the membership chair as soon as possible. Please address any membership questions to Bill Granade or update your information at www.vjmc.org. (see page 2 for contact information.)

Fourth Annual Minnesota VJMC Show a Big Hitby Charles Miller, MN Field Rep

Our 4th Annual VJMC Motorcycle Show, held on May 20th , was our best yet, utilizing past experience gained from our previous events. The fi rst three shows were held at the same motorcycle dealer-ship in Minneapolis, which recently un-derwent a move and management change. The new management team did not appear as enthusiastic and welcoming as the pre-vious team, so our membership decided to take the pictures from our three previous shows and see if we could generate some greater excitement at a different location. The fi rst dealership we visited, Kline Mo-torsports in Maplewood, a Minneapolis suburb, welcomed us with open arms. It was obvious to them from our photos that we were capable of drawing hundreds of people to their business. They offered to cover all of our advertising expenses, pre-viously covered through donations from our members. They also provided free brats, hot dogs, chips, soda, and bottled water to all spectators and participants. Hats off to Chris Diekman and Billy Mill-er of Kline Motorsports, who are true mo-torcycle enthusiasts; their hard work and warm welcome was appreciated by all in attendance. When they were not dealing with the many potential customers we had drawn to their showroom, they were out-side admiring the array of gorgeous origi-nal, restored, and “special” Japanese mo-torcycles. They have already invited our show back next year.

This year we had 78 Japanese mo-torcycles pay the $10 entry fee, fi ve more than entered in our 2005 show. If it had not rained on and off most of the day I am certain even more machines would have en-tered. Luckily for those entered early, Kline provided a giant tent for weather protection. Fortunately the sun came back out and all was dry for the awards presentation.

Our unique awards seem to play

a large part in the success of our annual show. We purchase four sets of six giant combination wrenches (metric of course) from Harbor Freight Tools. They are then turned over to local members Jim Cherewan and his son Joe, who strip the wrenches, polish each to a mirror fi nish, then “show” chrome them. Each wrench is then laser-engraved with the appropriate award category. The gleaming wrenches make an impressive display on the awards table as well as a great looking trophy for the wall of the lucky winner’s home, always bringing positive comments and drawing additional entrants to the show.

We hold a morning “judge’s meeting” on the day of the event, where the judges consider scoring criteria used by other or-ganizations such as the AMCA and Bator International and work together to ham-mer out a judging system comfortable for them as a team. We were fortunate this year in having President Pete Boody agree to judge for us. His easy-going nature and solid knowledge of Japanese motorcycles were a valuable asset to the

fi ve-man judging staff. Over the years we have developed award categories specifi c to age, marque, and condition. We also have many fl exible categories where the judges can reward “special” motorcycles they feel reach outstanding standards of fi t and fi nish. We try and ascertain that there is a place for ALL vintage Japanese motorcycles to participate in our show. Our constantly evolving formula seems to be working pretty well. The 2007 show should be even better. My personal thanks to the judges and all the members of our club who make my involvement such a pleasure.

23

Member’s Bike: David Polett’s 1973 Suzuki T500K

ORDER FORM FOR REGALIA ITEMS

Show your colors. Let other riders know you are a member of the VJMC!

T-shirts - White 100%cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL and XXL, 3XL....................... $15.00 T-shirts - Black 100% cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL................................................ $15.00

Hats - Red all-fabric ball caps, one size fits all, logo screened on front............................................................ $15.00 Nylon Stuff bags (black 14” x 12” zippered w/hand strap & screened-on logo, nice, seen at rally.................. $9.00

Stickers, Large Logo, 3-3/8 x 3-3/4, vinyl ......................................................................................................... $0.75 Stickers, Small Logo, 2-3/8 x 2-3/4, vinyl......................................................................................................... $0.50

2002 VJMC Calendars (nice photos, classic quality)........................................................................................ $5.00

Quantity Description Size Cost Total

____

____

Add Shipping & Handling: All items sent Priority Mailing with delivery confirmation $4.50 first item and $2.00 each additional item (except stickers which are mailed at $0.37) USA only. Canadian orders multiply US mail rate by 1.5

Shipping Charges $ _______________

Enclosed is my check or money order for the total of....................................$________________

Ship to: Send your order to:

Name___________________________________________ Tom Kolenko, Regalia Chmn. 2445 Elmhurst Blvd Address_________________________________________ Kennesaw GA 30152

City____________________________________________ State _____ ZIP_______________

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FOR RENEWALS AND NEW MEMBERSHIPS

ORDER FORM FOR REGALIA ITEMS

Show your colors. Let other riders know you are a member of the VJMC!

T-shirts - White 100%cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL and XXL, 3XL....................... $15.00 T-shirts - Black 100% cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL................................................ $15.00

Hats - Red all-fabric ball caps, one size fits all, logo screened on front............................................................ $15.00 Nylon Stuff bags (black 14” x 12” zippered w/hand strap & screened-on logo, nice, seen at rally.................. $9.00

Stickers, Large Logo, 3-3/8 x 3-3/4, vinyl ......................................................................................................... $0.75 Stickers, Small Logo, 2-3/8 x 2-3/4, vinyl......................................................................................................... $0.50

2002 VJMC Calendars (nice photos, classic quality)........................................................................................ $5.00

Quantity Description Size Cost Total

____

____

Add Shipping & Handling: All items sent Priority Mailing with delivery confirmation $4.50 first item and $2.00 each additional item (except stickers which are mailed at $0.37) USA only. Canadian orders multiply US mail rate by 1.5

Shipping Charges $ _______________

Enclosed is my check or money order for the total of....................................$________________

Ship to: Send your order to:

Name___________________________________________ Tom Kolenko, Regalia Chmn. 2445 Elmhurst Blvd Address_________________________________________ Kennesaw GA 30152

City____________________________________________ State _____ ZIP_______________

August/September 27

Classifi edsRemember that, a ‘Vintage Japanese’

motorcycle is 20 years or older (cut-off for this year is 1986) and, of course, Japa-nese. Please be aware that ads may/will be edited to conserve space. If you have large business ads, please con-sider taking out a commercial ad (Bob Billa, ryding@earthlink.net, 949-588-6840 is our Commer-cial Advertising Director). Don’t feel reluctant to use punctuation and proper case on emailed ads.

Don’t forget the publication deadlines. Ads are due by the 20th of the month in which a newsletter is issued for the NEXT newsletter. For example, ads for the De-cember 2006 Newsletter will be due to the editor by October 20th.

Send all ads to:Gary Gadd3721 Holland St.Ft. Worth, TX., 76180(817) 284-8195 Or e-mail: eulerckt@aol.com

For SaleBridgestone

1967 Bridgestone. I have two (2) Bridgestone motorcycles for sale. One is a 175 Dual Twin, and the other is a 200 Dual Twin. The 200 has been disas-sembled. I believe all the parts are there for it. Neither run and have been stored for years. Sold as-is with no titles. Jon Samsa, (330) 280-2446, Navarre, Ohio, JSamsa45@netscape.com

For 1970 Bridgestone Rockford Taka 100cc, oil tank. $20. James, (231) 546-3392, Gaylord, Michigan, rfout@centurytel.net

1967 Bridgestone Sport 90. Recent restoration. (Frame a & motor # says year around 64/65). 6836 miles. Very good condition. Clear title. Can E-Mail pictures. Any questions, feel free to call. Asking $1800 obo. Tom Walters, (763) 478-6346, Wayzata, Minnesota, Penrap@aol.com

Hodaka

1971 Hodaka 100 B+. Older resto-ration.4326 miles. Very good condition. Always kept inside. Clear title. Can E-

Mail pictures. Any questions, feel free to call. Asking $1500 obo. Tom Walters, (763) 478-6346, Wayzata, Minnesota, Penrap@aol.com

Honda

OLD HONDA PARTS: Rear fender for CB160, $30. Handlebars for CB350, very nice $30. Plastic left side cover for CB200T and CB175, $15. 21” front wheel assy., front brake, speedo drive unit, axle and nut from ‘76 MR250., also air fi lter box for same. EMGO Air Filter #17211-392-000 and 17211-405-000 for CB750 1970-78 NOS, $20. Steve, (218) 879-5889, b_wyman@msn.com

1959 Honda CR93 Replica. This bike has been created as a no expense spared replica of Honda’s famous CR93 and is 90 percent complete. It incorporates many genuine CR93 parts such as the tank, seat, taillight assembly, foot peg mounts and foot pegs, hubs and carb intake runners. The engine is based on a combination of CA95 cases for a 3 main bearing crank and domestic (Japan) 125 top end and trans-mission parts. This gives a 125 with dual carb head, 5 speed transmission and a 3 main bearing crank for high rpm running. I had a special cam and 180 degree crank built to let the replica sound like the CR93 which ran a 180 degree crank. If you’d rather go simple, a CA95 crank and a -240- cam from CMS will let you fi nish the bike quickly. The frame is a custom built frame which replicates the CR93 frame. The running gear is complete save for the rear brake cable and putting on the foot pegs. I’d like to get $2500 for all. Thanks!

Ellis Holman, (317) 691-4242, Car-mel, Indiana, eholman@comcast.net

For 1968 Honda CL160, CL175, CL77, NOS parts. I have a CL160 speed-ometer #37200-223-000 in the box. CL175 speedometer #37200-236-000 in the box. CL175 K3 speedometer only in the box, also a set of CL-77 front fork set rings, #51613-273-000A and #51619-273-000B with no screws. If interested give me a call or e-mail. Jon Hoover, (517) 263-4785, Adrian, Michigan, jhoover@tc3net.com

1969 Honda SS125. Street bike, original owner. Very good condition. $1750. George,

(586) 286-3793, Macomb, Michigan1969 Honda CB750 (SAND CAST).

12,000 miles. Have done the following work to the bike: tune-up (new points, plugs, condensers), new front and rear tires, new rear brake shoes, front brakes gone through, front fork seals replaced, fork gaiters replaced, tank cleaned (POR-15 kit used), carbs cleaned with new seals, petcock rebuilt, new air fi lter, new oil/fi l-ter, etc. The lower left side exhaust pipe has several dents in it towards the back. The pipes themselves are in great shape other than that. All the chrome is in very good shape. Original seat has no rips or tears. BTW- the Honda is Black with Gold pinstripes. (Original Color was Red - fi rst owner redid it) All the work listed will be completed by the middle of July and any deal offered will have to take place around that time frame. I have just a few photos I can send - it is still not back together completely. MORE PHOTOS ARE NOW AVAILABLE... SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY PLEASE !! Frame Number CB7501002473. Engine Number E1002354. As far as I can tell that makes it the 2,354th Honda 750 ever made. Ex-haust Numbers HM300. It has the concave Master Cylinder Cap, wrinkle tank, and right side petcock. $5500. “Denny” Lee Lacy, (270) 885-3754, Western Kentucky, dennylee_1@charter.net

For 1971 Honda CB175 K6, top end gasket set, exhaust gasket, exhaust pipe (no diffuser), signal bulb, engine bolt, chain adjusters, 4-3 main gear, 5th main gear, clutch adjuster retainer, square nut-bottom clutch cable, clutch cable return spring, trans. Fork, CA S122F plugs. Bob Shields, (207) 346-6791, Mechanic Falls, Maine

1971 Honda CL450. The orange Scrambler project. Includes well-main-tained CB500 motor and blown origi-nal 450cc motor. Both motors are out of frame. Bridgestone Trailwing tires. All original stuff, plus one or two extra good-ies like MX bars. Last registered and rid-den in 2001. 18k mi. $200 obo. Photo from 2001: http://motr.cycl.info/honda/CL450/cl450.jpg Paul Bissex, (413) 586-7643, Northampton, Massachusetts, pb@e-scribe.com

August/September28

For 1971/78 Honda CB750 K, I have truck load of parts. 1 complete mo-tor that I did top end on. (no title) Lots of other motor parts! A few rear wheels, fenders, etc. Tell me what you need! I’d take $200 for the pile! Local pick up only but lets talk. I’ll take trades! Mark, (414) 464-4066, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, markgl1000@netscape.com

For 1970/72 Honda SL100/125, I have a lot of parts. I have one green 1970 SL100 model bike. Please call for info and prices. A lot of NOS gasket sets also. Donny Quinn, (770) 780-5043, Newnan, Georgia

1976 Honda CB360T. Very good condition. Runs great, good seat, candy red paint, muffl ers, petcock rebuilt. Gary Gadd, (817) 284-8195, North Richland Hills, Texas, eulerckt@aol.com

1982 Honda FT Ascot. I have 3-500ccsSingle cylinder Ascots for sale. One has 16000 KM on it and is in excellent condition. The other two are complete but not running. Good for parts or to make an-other bike. $3300. Dave McGowan, (604) 941-4724, Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada, ddmcgowan@shaw.ca

Kawasaki

1971 Kawasaki 500. Rebuilt engine with stock pistons, standard tank and side panels, painted black (i.e. not origi-nal but very nice), drum brake front end, correct period body work, instruments, exhaust system very nice, fenders, tires new, stock 1972 pleated seat in great shape. Call for details. Doug Mann (905) 945-3752, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, douglasmann@cogeco.ca

1971 Kawasaki W1SA. Complete, runner/rider when parked, motor kicked over periodically to keep things from sticking. Engine & Trans are still as-sembled and in frame. New exhaust with Overlander headers and repro Dunstall si-lencers. Seat rebuilt correctly by Sargent. Carbs rebuilt, shifter and linkage have been replated bright zinc.

Many NOS parts and upgrades. Needs

paint and fenders replated. No title, $1600 obo. Barry Smith, (509) 455-7601 days, Spokane, Washington, brs@rainmakeris.com

1972 Kawasaki 500. Rebuilt engine with stock pistons, standard tank and side panels, painted blue (not original but good shape), dual disk correct period brake front end, correct period body work, 1973 instruments and ignition system (3 CDI units), exhaust system good, fenders, tires new, seat re-upholstered. Call for details. Doug Mann (905) 945-3752, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, douglasmann@cogeco.ca

Suzuki

1966 Suzuki S32-2 Olympian 150. Two available, cheap. One has a clean title. Please e-mail me for details, pictures and price. Todd @ Recycle-Cycle, Muskegon, Michigan, hotrodtod@webtv.net

1974 Suzuki RL250 Trails. Good con-dition. Comes with extra stock aluminum tank and lighting kit. $875 or will consider an interesting trade for a trail bike. Jerry Cirone, (330) 492-4734, Canton, Ohio, jerrycirone@neo.rr.com

1978 Suzuki GS1000E. 34,000 miles, one owner, original condition (not re-stored). Never down. No dents, no scratch-es, no rust; original exhaust and chain (still good). New tires and maintenance-free battery. No modifi cations except for K&N fi lter. With period accessories: Shoei sport fairing, engine guards, luggage rack/back-rest. Engine leak-down tests at 98%. With factory service manual, valve adjusting tool, extra valve shims, and literature. A nice bike, ready to ride or show. $2000.Irv Reinert, (610) 488-7159, Reading, Penn-sylvania, igrfew@enter.net

Yamaguchi

1962/63 Yamaguchi 50/80cc. 30 year accumulation of Yamaguchi motorcycles. 5 nice bikes, 11 in parts. Plus boxes of parts, tanks, engines, some NOS sales lit. and manuals. Rare poster and signs. Etc. Too much to list, all or nothing sale. se-rious inquiries only. James Rozee, (503) 287-6620, Portland, Oregon

Yamaha

For Yamaha, Carb kits. CS-E, CS2-E, A7, AS 1&2, DS5E, DS6, 1965/69 R3, R5, YDS5, M2, CS3C. Bob Shields, (207) 346-6791, Mechanic Falls, Maine

1968 Yamaha DT1 250cc. Will trade restored and gorgeous DT1 for Yamaha XT500 of similar condition/value. Don Planalp, (816) 752-3631, St. Joseph, Mis-souri, donplanalp@yahoo.com

1969 Yamaha CT1. Will run after carb clean, etc. 1972? AT2MX complete, 99% original no external rust, engine lunched. Call for details or pictures. Joe Rybensky, (704) 843-1126, Waxhaw, North Carolina, ljrybensky@earthlink.net

1970 Yamaha CT1. Sitting for years but should run with carb clean etc. 1972 AT2MX, mostly original, no external rust, needs crank and cylinder. Send or call for pictures or details. $300 for the pair. Joe Rybensky, (704) 843-1126, Waxhaw, North Carolina, lfrybensky@earthlink.net

For Yamaha XS & SR, I have a lot of parts which are common to various late 1970’s to early 1980’s XS400/500/S650/750 AND SR500 models. E-mail me with your parts needed. Jim Platek, (405) 377-7852, Oklahoma, jimjp@cox.net

Miscellaneous Items for Sale

Condenser #360-81625-20 for YamahaRD250-350-400, N.O.S. $20. Plastic side covers from ‘81 Yamaha XS400 Special II, $40 pair. Metal left side cover from ‘73 Honda CB450, $20. EMGO Air Filter #17211-463-000 for Honda GL1100 1980-’83, NOS $20. “Assembly & Preparation Manual” for Kawasaki KZ1000 Classic 1980 G-1, $20. Steve, (218) 879-5889, b_wyman@msn.com

Ex VJMC British member having a loft clear out, so have the following items available, but wish to sell as a job lot, ide-al for autojumbler. Yamaha R5 parts list & service manual both original, £16 the pair. YDS7 parts list original, £8. CS3E photocopy of original workshop manual,

Classifi eds

August/September 29

all there £4. YAS1 owners - riders manual came with the bike, original £6. Yamaha riders manual came with the bike, origi-nal £6. Haynes RD125 owners-workshop manual good condition, £4. Many original Yamaha sales brochures in VGC collected over the years from dealers for Yamaha bike from the R5 to the XV 1100 offered as a lot only @ £25.Buy the Yamaha lot @ £60. Suzuki T125 Stinger photocopy of original workshop manual, all there c/w sales brochure £8. GT380 service manual original, £8. GT380 owners-riders manual as came with the bike, still in plastic wal-let with small riders book original, £10. Haynes workshop manual for all Suzuki 250 - 350 twins, £4. Haynes workshop manual for all GT380 & GT550, £4. 3 x Large dealership posters as issued to dealers for the promotion of the GT125, GT380, GT550 all 3 in vgc, £25 for the 3. Buy the Suzuki lot for £50.

Honda dealers motor cycle catalogue showing bikes from NH80 to the GL1500, £5. Honda dealers motor cycle catalogue showing bikes from PF 50 to the GL1000, £5. Haynes workshop manual for CB100 - CB125, £4. Many original Honda sales brochures showing bikes from the CD175 to CB1000. Buy the Honda lot for £11.

Original Kawasaki dealer sales bro-chures for S1250 triple, KT250, GT750, AR50, £12. Other bikes & cars: Also have original dealer sales brochures for: Gilera, Bimota, Harley Davidson, Triumph, Ma-sarati Spider & Saloon with spec sheet & price list, Ford Granada Scorpio, Skoda, & others, Buy the lot for £25. Also have a large number of the original Glasses’ guides from around 1954 to 1971, which also includes associated Glasses’ books re-lated to the motor trade, very interesting reading. Buy the lot for £50. I want sell the lot in one go as we are on the move. I also have some other odds & sods which will be included, unlisted but will be included. All postage and shipping is to be paid by the buyers, collection is welcome. Jeff, +44870 473713 or 07850 473713, Ports-mouth area U.K.

Keys. I have lots of keys. H and T se-ries and also some new ones with no letter

prefi x. Let me know your code and I will check stock. $8 each shipped to lower 48. Mike Schmeisser, (404) 386-7180, Atlan-ta, Georgia, ridevintagered@hotmail.com

I am having a motorcycle tag sale. I have Honda 350/450/500/550, and 750 bikes. Maybe some 650 bikes too. Also Yamaha Seca 125/350/550/750. Also Su-zuki GTs, and lots of parts for the 380 and 550 models. Kawasaki 400 triples, 350 triples, and a 750 triple basket case. 10:00 to 4:00 on May 6, 2006. Art Tan-ner, (518) 789-0244, Millerton, New York, chains6@hotmail.com

Metric stainless fasteners for your vintage Japanese motorcycle. Many models to choose from, or custom order!(330) 519-4772, www.stainlesscycle.com

Keys for Early 1960’s and up Japa-nese bikes. Thousands of OEM Honda and Suzuki keys. $10 a piece, which in-cludes shipping. Thousands of NOS parts for those old bikes in stock. Just send us what part you need with the bike model and year, or preferably a part number, and we just may be able to help you out. We also make gaskets. Please email or call and let us know which one you need. A part number would be helpful. Over 16000 gaskets in out program. We cannot make head gaskets. Queen City Motorcycle, (931) 648-4355, Clarksville, Tennessee, queencitymotor@aol.com

Keys. We supply hard to fi nd key blanks for classic vehicles! We stock keys for cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles and even some airplanes. Visit our web site to browse our catalog and order on-line, or to request help fi nding the key you need: http://www.key-men.com Key Men - Keys for Classics, Monroe, New York, gpr@key-men.com

For 1958/85 Honda, Kawasaki, Keys. Over 4000 Genuine Honda precut and numbered absolutely genuine original keys exactly as they came with new cy-cles. Send code number which is stamped on the face of your ignition switch or fork lock, later models only had the number on

the key. $5 each plus $1 postage for any quantity, and a T10 additional dollar for credit card payment if desired. I also have 250 old Kawasaki NOS keys and a few Suzuki. I can cut duplicate Suzuki keys for the same price. Barry Sulkin, (310) 398-6406, Culver City, (Los Angeles) Califor-nia, barrysulkn@aol.com

Can Cooler. Great looking Koozies made of black scuba foam with white puff ink logo imprint. Fold up when not in use and fi t easily in beverage holders. Avail-able with Hodaka, Bridgestone, Rupp, Bo-nanza, and other logos. $3.50 each or any fi ve mix or match for $14.99. Any ten for $24.99. Wholesale pricing on 100 or more, great for swap meets or mail order as they are light, compact and not easily damaged. Includes shipping and handling. Mail pay-ment or I take Paypal. Don Olson, (515) 332-3945, 309 8th St S, Humboldt, Iowa, 50548, donolson@goldfi eldaccess.net

Wanted:

Honda

For 1959/63 Honda CB92 125cc, fl y screen stays (windshield brackets), repro or original. Part numbers front (64113-205-010) back (64115-205-000). Windshield holders (aluminum leaning pyramids), repro or original part # left (64112-205-000), right (64111-205-000). Front wheel torque link (right side stabilizer arm), original part # 44635-205-000. Right header pipe, original part # 18210-205-000. Kick starter, original par t# 28302-200-000 for pedal & 28301-205-000 for arm. All cb92 parts considered.Paul Crippes, (707) 894-3174, Northern California, pjcrippes@comcast.net

For 1960’s Honda C111, I recently acquired a C111 Sport 50. (Japanese ver-sion of US spec C110 Sport 50). Looking for any help or information, parts manual, Literature, parts, etc. for a complete res-toration project. Bob J, (610) 965-3260, Pennsylvania, robertkj@ptd.net

For 1965 Honda C65, Looking for blue plastic parts. 1-Front fender: indicates same as the C100. Got a NOS or nice C100

Classifi eds

August/September30

Classifi edsblue front fender? Part 61100-001-000Q. Not aftermarket as they are darker blue than original. 2-Blue plastic headlight sur-round part 61301-040-000Q. 3-Shocks are C1306116-PB-3 as in old part number or shock tops in blue plastic C2306116.1-PB-3 PB-3 and Q are same color. Called ‘May’ blue or ‘Maruem blue’. 4-Touchup paint in PB-3 or Q - ‘May’ blue or ‘Maruem’ blue.Jim Hawkins, jchawkins@telus.net

For 1966 Honda CL160, I’m look-ing for a NOS exhaust system. Alex-ander Maier, 01734557916, Germany, maierweiss@hotmail.com

For 1966 Honda CB77, I am looking for a nice set of muffl ers with or without baffl es to fi t a 305cc Superhawk. Dave Maggard, (334) 347-5678, Enterprise, Ala-bama, superdavert66@yahoo.com

Honda CB77 or CL77. In the North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia area.Ted Horne, (843) 665-7083, Florence, South Carolina, tdhorne@hotmail.com

For 1968 Honda CB450, I need a complete exhaust set. If It needs to be re-chromed that’s ok, however no dents. I have a set with multiple dents.

Stan Davey, (615) 642-0173, Brent-wood, Tennessee, stan.davey@comcast.net

For 1973 Honda CA/CD175, One set of exhaust pipes in good condition. Also two side covers in candy blue color.Rich-ard O’Neill, (650) 697-2012, Millbrae, California, a-neill@sbcglobal.net

For 1974 Honda CB750, hard tail frame or titled frame.Sean, (617) 699-9176, Massachusetts, sfurze76@yahoo.com

Kawasaki

For 1966 Kawasaki (Kenkay) Omega 125cc?, looking for the engine, and side covers for a Kenkay Omega (In Japan Ka-wasaki B-1? or B-2?). Will take whole bike as well.Chris Rosenquist, (612) 207-5532, Minnesota, crosenquist@cariboucoffee.com

1968-1971 Kawasaki W2SS. Looking for a W1SS or W2SS or any old W series bike. Will consider all in any location.

Also looking for a 2001 Kawasaki W650.Craig Bailey, (734) 327-0170, Ann Arbor, Michigan, craigbailey@comcast.net

For 1974 Kawasaki S3 400cc, right and left chrome fork covers (headlight brackets) to fi t. The part numbers are 44034-067 (right) and 44033-067 (left). These same part numbers are also used on the 1975 S3A and 1976 KH400. Email pics if possible.Jim Ragsdale, (317) 856-4133, jhragsd@msn.com

For 1978 Kawasaki Kz1000D/Z1R, need set of carbs and a dash pack (console).Alfred Wingate, (864) 415-8373, 4456 Grissom Rd, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 29301, alfredwingate@bellsouth.net

Suzuki

For 1975 Suzuki T500, expansion chambers, rear sets, fi berglass tank and seat. Dan Rudoy, (808) 428-9256, Hono-lulu, Hawaii, drudoy@hotmail.com

For 1982 Suzuki GS750TZ, need front rim that has two disk brakes could be from a 1983 GS model bike that can be used with my 1982 GS750TZ. Carlos Valenzuela (940) 613-0337, Wichita Falls, Texas, gs750trider@yahoo.com

1986 Suzuki GSX-R 1100. Only want very low miles. No junk.Myers, (602) 390-3375, Morecycles@hotmail.com

Tohatsu

1962/64 Tohatsu Runpet Sport 50cc. I am looking for a Runpet 50 as I had one brand new in 1963. Greg Parsons, (760) 451-0811, San Diego, California, 62409@dslextreme.com

Yamaha

For 1957 to 1959 Yamaha YA-3, front fender and right side cover. Any other parts or any good information is wel-come also.Roger Burns, (303) 660-1268, egor27@netscape.com

1968 Yamaha YAS1c Street scrambler, 125cc twin. Prefer in decent condition. All considered.Fred Klopp, (717) 273-0141, Pennsylvania, fklopp@nbn.net

For 1970’s Yamaha RD350/R5350,

good used chambers for 350cc twins. Axial fan heads? Jeff, (262) 308-4446, Southeast Wisconsin, jeffh27@excite.com

Late 1970’s Yamaha XT500. I would like to trade my restored ‘68 Yamaha DT1 250cc Enduro for a late ‘70s Yamaha XT500 of similar condition and value ($2000).Don Planalp, (816) 752-3631, St Joseph, Mis-souri, donplanalp@yahoo.com

Yamaha Zuma scooter. Looking for older model, 1989 or so for parts. Must have title. Within 150 miles of Chicago.Curt, Chicago, Illinois, Ckrause10@comcast.net

Miscellaneous Items Wanted

1970/78 Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda AT1, RV125, CT70. Looking for an old-er (70s) enduro style trail bike. David, (248) 802-5002, Waterford, Michigan, LKER1234@yahoo.com

I am interested in contacting other members who live in Southern California, who have an interest in getting together for a Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Show and Swap. Lets plan for 2007. Please contact either me, your state rep, or the VJMC, and tell them you what you would like to see, or how you would like to help, for the creation of such an event.

Joe Broussard, (661) 724-1952, 42656 Donner Place, Lake Hughes CA 93532 USA, suzukijo@verizon.net

Looking for any vintage motocross bikes and Honda 70cc and 90cc three-wheelers. Especially interested in early Yamaha YZs and Kawasaki KXs as well as NOS parts for all makes. Visit www.vintagemotortoys.com for more info. Kurt Pfender, (651) 895-5155, Minnesotav

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