WHAT’S INSIDE - VJMC · The Tiddler Invasion: Small Motorcycles of the SixtiesLong-Distance ........

DESTINATIONEUSTIS

Volume 35 / Number 3JUNE/JULY 2014 • $5

official publicatioN of the ViNtage japaNese motorcycle club of North america, iNc.

WHAT’S INSIDE:

The NationalMotorcycle Museum

Death Valley Ride

Honda Gauge Lube

IN THIS ISSUE

ViNtagE JapaNEsE MotorcYcLE MagaziNE 3

PRESIDENT’S LETTER: ride Every Day this summer .............................................................5BACK IN THE DAY:the Black Bomber ............................................................................17REVIEW: The Tiddler Invasion: Small Motorcycles of the Sixties .............57TECH HELP: tech tip #2: Where can i Find parts? ..........................................59ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHTrick’s Motorsport Electrics, inc. ...................................................63EVENTS CORNER .......................................................................65CLASSIFIEDS ................................................................................66

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

oN the coVer VJMC member bikes lined up at “Beads and Bikes,” in downtown Eustis, on the evening before the show

DESTINATIONEUSTIS

Volume 35 / Number 3JUNE/JULY 2014 • $5

official publicatioN of the ViNtage japaNese motorcycle club of North america, iNc.

WHAT’S INSIDE:

The NationalMotorcycle Museum

Death Valley Ride

Honda Gauge Lube

cover photo:Michael Fitterling

riDes:Fantasy ride

6eVeNts:The International Motorcycle show

12project biKe:super cubhow a little honda introduced me to the joy of two-wheeled motoring

19maiNteNaNce & restoratioN:Honda gauge Lube23collectioNs:The National Motorcycle Museum25 years of celebrating motorcycling history26eVeNts:2014 Vintage Motorcycle Festival at LeMay38riDes:Death Valley 2014

42eVeNts:Bikes on the Beach

46riDiNg safety:Long-Distance riding in Hot Weather

51

DESTINATION EUSTIS

32

coVer story


PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Official Publication of the VJMCJUNE/JULY 2014

Volume 35, Number 3Current VJMC Enrollment: 3779

presiDeNttom Kolenko

[email protected]

eDitorMichael Fitterling

[email protected]

DesigN DirectorNadine g. [email protected] aDs

gary gadd817-284-8195

[email protected] aD Director

guido cardillo404-587-0190

[email protected] sales represeNtatiVe

art [email protected]

membership DirectorBill granade

[email protected]

chaNge of aDDressplease direct these requests to Bill granade: [email protected]

aDDitioNal copiesin order to minimize unnecessary expenses to the club, VJMc prints a limited number of each issue of Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Magazine. However, we would be glad to accommodate any requests for additional copies from members. These requests must be submitted before the 15th of the month preceding each issue. For example: for the Feb/Mar issue requests must be received by January 15.

missioN statemeNt:The purpose of this organization is to promote the preservation, restoration, and enjoyment of vintage Japanese motorcycles (defined here as those 20 years old or older). The VJMC also will promote the sport of motorcycling and cameraderie of motorcyclists everywhere.© 2014 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle club of North america, an irs-approved Not-for-prof-it 501(c)(7) corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted without permission. All articles copyright by their respective authors.Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Magazine is published six times per year, in February, april, June, august, october, and December. The views and opinions expressed in letters or other content are those of the author and do not necessarily represent VJMc policy. the VJMc accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or claims occuring as a result of advice given in this publication or for claims made by ad-vertisers of products or services in this pub-lication.

sometimes you just have to set some tough personal goals. I have committed to riding my two wheel motorized critters every day

this summer. After the winter from hell, even here in Georgia, the need to ride dominates my fun center. I hope you will join me in exercising the Japanese bikes in our garages because that’s what it’s all about—the ride. When people ask me what I ride, I reply with the usual, “Whatever runs.” It may be a Honda minitrail, CB160, RD60, or my favorite CB400F, and none are show bikes, but all bring a smile to this 62 year old face. Keep the ride alive.

The VJMC has a full slate of vintage events for the membership in 2014. Event Coordina-tor, Pete Slatcoff, has posted a great lineup on the website and in this magazine. Members often ask me why we don’t do something in their state or area. It all begins with one com-mitted, selfless volunteer who jump starts the process. Ideally, they have several friends or family who also commit to the task. This model seems to work everywhere those individu-als exist: Idaho, Scottsdale, Kansas City, Kentucky, South Carolina, Ohio, and other locales. Sometimes it starts with area field representatives, but more often from fresh blood who just want to make things happen. The VJMC Board is committed to helping these member volunteers get started in establishing successful annual events in their areas.

As this club has grown, we have been increasingly asked to partner with other motorcycle organizations and participate at existing events. We evaluate these offers on a case-by-case basis, evaluating the likelihood that our membership will benefit directly or that the event can recruit new members. The VJMC has built a solid reputation on its volunteers and the quality of their contributions to events. If we don’t have a committed group of VJMC boots on the ground for an event, it makes little sense to proceed.

Feel free to bring your ideas or event proposals to any of our board members. The Na-tional Rally in Spring Mill, Indiana, will also host our required annual Board of Directors meeting. This provides another great opportunity to share your ideas and recommenda-tions with the leadership of this club. It should be our largest rally ever, with the inn already sold out of rooms.

It is my pleasure to announce the addition of Guido Carrillo to the VJMC Board of Di-rectors. He has served as Advertising Director for the past four months and brings years of motorcycling industry experience to the job. While trained as a mechanical engineer, he has been a flat track racer, partner in an upstate New York dealership, sales and marketing director for Unisys, and remains a passionate motorcyclist. Advertising is a very important VJMC revenue generator, which keeps the cost to produce this magazine reasonable. Wel-come aboard Guido!

One of our strongest supporters, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, has also been officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest motorcycle muse-um. Our congratulations to George Barber and his whole team for creating the world’s best motorcycle museum, where visitors are treated to great Southern hospitality and amazing motorcycle eye candy. This year will mark the tenth anniversary of the Barber Vintage Festival, and over 65,000 guests are anticipated. This explosive growth has necessitated a new, larger location on-site for the VJMC at this October event. Make plans now to attend this premier event.

This club depends and runs on dedicated volunteers. They are generous with their time and talents, which keeps this club growing. If a club is not growing, it’s dying. Our twelve board members meet monthly via conference calls to keep this club on course. It is a great team of which I am proud to be a member. Equally gratifying is meeting so many new members energized by the same love of classic Japanese motorcycles. Sharing rides, resto-rations, and memories with others keeps everyone engaged and young. You can share your motorcycle wisdom in person at rallies or through the pages of this magazine.

Ride safe and often this summer!

Tom KolenkoVJMC President

Ride Every Day This Summer

RideFantasy

6 JUNE/JULY 2014


A 1928 New Standard D-25 five-seat aircraft

was designed for both agricultural use

and for joyriding

RIDES

8 JUNE/JULY 2014

Our bikes lined up for the afternoon ride

led by my cherry 1972 Honda CB500


if you ride in central Florida, you may have seen Fantasy of Flight in Polk City—an amazing collection of dozens of vintage aircraft from WWI and WWII right off of

I-4. They have a wide array of aircraft on display including: WWI Sopwith Camel and Fokker Triplane; WWII P-51, B-25, B-26, Corsair, Hellcat, PBY Catalina; a V-1 “Buzz Bomb” and Viper rocket plane; Constellation and Sunderland Flying Boat passenger planes.

They also have a great variety of historic engines, from early four-cylinders and ra-dials of the WWI era, double radials and V-12s that roared during WWII, and even a V-24 and H-24 that tried to keep up with early jets. Sadly, Fantasy of Flight’s proximity to Disney World doomed them to being only a “second rate” attraction, and, on Sun-day, April 6, they closed their doors to the public.

The Florida VJMC chapter scheduled its spring ride there on that day to see these treasures one last time, enjoy lunch at their Compass Rose diner, and take a ride through the sweet-smelling orange groves nearby. About twenty bikers showed up to tour the planes and enjoy the eighty-mile ride on two-lane blacktops without a single traffic light! The photos and captions tell the rest of the story. Thanks to all who cared enough about these vintage flying machines to take their vintage two-wheeled ma-chines to see them! l

by Vince Ciotti / [email protected]

aboVe right:a tri-motor with float plane behind

top:a prop commercial airliner sits outside the north hangar

left:a Wright Flyer hangs above WWi and WWii aircraft in the main hangar

10 JUNE/JULY 2014

Overview of the 20+ bikes that showed up

Mitsubishi A6M “Zero”being restored

VJMC’s Bill Granade rode all the way from Tampa on I-4 – about as dangerous as Lindburgh crossing the Atlantic!

10 JUNE/JULY 2014

appreciation for the vintage bike hung thick in the air all weekend. The Minnesota Chapter of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club made an ex-

ceptionally strong showing at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Twenty-four rather pristine vintage Japanese mo-torcycles stole the show the weekend of January 17-19th.

Crowds gathered all weekend to gaze at all varieties of vintage bikes. Some were stock and in ridiculously good shape for their forty-plus years on earth. Others had been lovingly subjected to frame up restorations. Beautiful and pristine, these slick bikes sported new paint and NOS parts and reflected a lot of the love that had been put into them. Three custom creations of the VJMC membership were given front and center attention. In an interesting take on the display, the stock models were parked next to custom bikes of the same genetics.

A bike selection committee chose which bikes made the trip to the show. Todd Tagatz, longtime member of the VJMC, took the lead on coordinating the booth for 2014—we’re talking detailed floor plans, careful bike placement, and coordinating the volunteers. Mike Wencil was his right hand man and kept things going smoothly during the three-day IMS event. Many members came down and volunteered at the booth. Talking to thousands of people about their favorite bikes was a real sacrifice for them, but they did it with smiles on their faces. This VJMC chapter currently has a membership of about sixty-five. Chip Miller is the Minnesota field rep, and the group meets every second Monday of the month.

Tagatz grinned as he pointed out his red GPZ 550. Evidently they bonded during the six month frame-up restoration he completed last winter. The 550 is an identical twin to his very first motorcycle. When he brought it home, it was, “It was quite the parts chase. I was going after only NOS parts. I searched eBay and Craigslist, bugged a lot of Kawasaki dealers, and found another GPZ for a parts bike. The side covers, tail housing, and front fender are NOS. The tank is original, but stripped and repainted; the rear wheel is from another bike,

MotorcycleInternational

Show

The

by Kelli Bones

12 JUNE/JULY 2014

EVENTS


and the front wheel is original. With the parts hunt included, the whole project took a total of a year,” says Tagatz.

Paul Davidson is a member of the VJMC, as well as the Viking Chapter of the AMCA. Davidson is a past president of the Viking Club. The two vintage clubs were neighbors at the IMS show. Davidson believes the vintage bikes are a big reason the Minnesota IMS show is one of the most successful on the circuit.

“It’s the old bikes that bring the peo-ple out. They say things like, ‘I had one of those, or my neighbor had one.’ It’s the nostalgia. We like remembering our youth. I love hearing people say, ‘That was the first bike I ever rode’ or ‘I always wanted that bike when I was a kid.’ Now we see a nice one and we appreciate it,” says Davidson.

Interestingly enough, the state of Min-nesota is near the top of the list for over-all bike sales and number of riders in the United States. The statistic shines true in the VJMC. Quite a well of talent resides in the club. Excellent machinists, top riders, and true craftsmen come to-gether to celebrate the vintage Japanese bike. Connections with potential mem-bers are often made at events like the IMS show.

A few minutes of talking to Mark Tomlinson, aka the “650 Yamaha Man,” enlightened this writer to the many benefits of the 650 Yamaha. Tomlinson had English bikes for many years, but, according to him, he spent more time working on them than riding them. He found the 650 Yamahas very similar to English bikes, except they didn’t break.“People restore them, and they are pop-ular worldwide. I have sent them to Canada, Argentina, Norway, Switzer-land, France, and all around the US. Sometimes they send me the bike to re-store. Other times I sell them the bike and do the restoration. It’s a fun hobby that’s turned into a business,” said Tom-linson.

A fun story was shared by VJMC member Wayne Sinkie who said, “I am sending you a short story about something that happened while I was working the VJMC booth at the recent IMS cycle show. I had on display a 1976

Honda Gold Wing that I had purchased new from Shadco Honda Sales in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A copy of the orig-inal sales receipt, which by the way, was $2,345, sat next to the bike. I noticed someone looking very closely at the re-ceipt, so I started talking to him. He told me his dad owned Shadco at the time. I told him that meant I purchased my bike from his father.”

Tagatz, Davidson, and the rest of the VJMC Minnesota members agree; there is something very special about owning a unique bike. Each takes pride in own-ing a bike that is forty years old and in pristine condition. Plus, they actually ride them. It’s clear the VJMC members do what they do for the love of the bikes.

Fun Cut Line: Quick quip from VJMC member and local blogger, “Coopdway,” says, “A wide RE5 on the stand and a wide, turbo’d KZ1300 in the distance. It took four men and a boy to get the Suzu-ki up on this pedestal stand…16 ounces in every one of these pounds.” l

14 JUNE/JULY 2014

opposite:Motorcycles on display in

the VJMc booth

far right:Mike Wencil

engaging with an attendee


1965 Yamaha Big Bear Scrambler1966 Honda CB450 Cafe Custom1966 Honda CB4501966 Honda Cub 901966 Suzuki X6 Hustler1966 yamaha yl 11967 yamaha yl 21969 Honda CB7501971 Suzuki T125 Stinger1972 Honda CL4501973 Yamaha DT3 250 Enduro1973 Suzuki T-5001974 Kawasaki S3 4001975 Yamaha XS6501975 suzuki re51976 Honda CB750 Cafe Custom1976 Honda Gold Wing1977 Honda Gold Wing Supercharged Custom1977 Honda CT70 Trail1979 Honda CBX1981 Kawasaki KZ 1300 Turbo Custom1982 Kawasaki GPz5501984 Kawasaki Ninja 9001985 Kawasaki 750 Turbo

Vjmc ims biKe list

BACK IN THE DAY

the picture of the 1966 Honda “Black Bomb-

er” was taken at my parents’ home, in the spring of 1969. I had just gotten my driver’s license. Note the lack of safe-ty equipment. I still own this bike! Now, in 2014, I am 61 and here, all shined up and ready, is the same “Black Bomber,” and the same guy! l

The Black Bomberby Rod Manning


by Tim Bender


t his is the tale of my journey with my Monza Red 1982 Honda C70 Pass-

port. I could never stand the US market “Passport” name used for the ’81-’83 C70, because it always reminds me of Honda’s badge-engineered Isuzu SUV of the mid-1990s, so I usually refer to the bike by its domestic market name, “Super Cub.” My little Honda and I have spent seven years and traveled over 25,000 miles to-gether. It rolled out of Honda’s Suzuka plant in September of 1981 and was sold at Keeslar’s Auto in McPherson, Kansas.

It’s actually amazing that the story of my little Honda even happened in the first place. I was not a motorcycle person at all in the beginning. In fact, I was into big, old American cars and was driving a ,66 Oldsmobile 98 practically every day. The diminutive Honda Super Cub was about as far as you could get from my vehicular tastes while still having an engine.

A few years later, I was going to college in McPherson, Kansas, when a friend bought a battered derelict of a silver ,83 C70 for fifty dollars. A new spark plug later, and he had it up and running. My first impression was that it had to be the stupidest thing I had ever seen. For the following few days, I always gave him a hard time about that ridiculous little “moped.” However, I could not help but notice that he, and anyone else who rode it, always seemed to have a blast on it.

He kept nagging me to try riding the Honda, and I eventually agreed. After a quick explanation of the shifting and brake (only the rear brake still func-tioned), I set off down the street for the first time on a motorcycle. The bike had no foot pegs, so you had to put your left foot on the stator cover and your right foot on the clutch cover, which made for an awkward riding position. After about a block of getting a feel for the

bike, I cranked the throttle all the way open and was hooked. The combination of the wail from the muffler-less engine and the wind in my face made it feel like I was going so fast, even though I was probably only hitting about 35 mph. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time I rode it. I had to have one.

The next school year, in October of 2005, I was back in Kansas without a car and was riding my bicycle across town when I spotted a familiar shape out of the corner of my eye. There in a front yard sat a sad looking, filthy, red 1982 C70 with a crude cardboard “FOR SALE” sign zip-tied to the front basket. I stopped and talked to the owner about it. With 3,200 miles, the Honda ran, al-though very poorly, but was practically complete, lacking only a proper battery box and side cover, and it had no title. The owner had been riding it around town by spraying starting fluid into the air box with one hand, while controlling it with the other. $250 later, I became the Honda’s new owner. After a good car-buretor cleaning to unplug the clogged jets, the C70 ran pretty well, although,

without the title, I couldn’t register it. During Christmas break, I got a bond-ed title for it in my home state of Texas, which about doubled my investment in the bike.

With the C70 now legally mine, I gave the old bike some new tires and brake shoes. It had been resting for about fif-teen years in a back yard and looked the part. At some point, a can of brown paint must have been spilled near it and splashed drops across the back of the bike. With a lot of cleaning and pol-ishing of the dull, faded red paint and

SuperCubPROjECT BIKE

How a Little Honda Introduced Me to the Joy of Two-Wheeled Motoring

BELOW:this photo was taken on the trip that involved dragging the bike out of axle-deep mud in the field i tried to cross to avoid a washed out road

20 JUNE/JULY 2014

chrome, the Honda started to look respectable again. I made a crude vinyl seat cover to replace the trash bag that was taped over the deteriorated foam and rusted seat pan. Eventually, I found a seat in much better shape, added a nice reproduction seat cover, and replaced the whole cruddy unit. I also found a proper battery, battery box, and side cover after much search-ing. The ’82-’83 C70 battery side covers are very hard to locate, and the people who have them don’t like to part with them. I ended up settling on a later C90 side cover that I found on eBay in England. I grabbed it, even though its shape is slightly more angular than the original.

After this, I rode the Honda around quite a bit, but some shifting woes and an occasional popping out of gear prevent-ed my full enjoyment and soon led to a complete engine and transmission teardown. Shortly into the disassembly, I dis-covered that the poor thing must have been run while low on oil at some point. The piston skirt and cylinder wall were scored and gouged. The piston pin and connecting rod small end were in similar shape, as well. One of the four screws that were supposed to be holding the clutch assembly together was, instead, sitting in the bottom of the clutch cover, and two more were coming loose. The shift drum stopper arm was cracked, allowing the drum to rotate on its own and pop the bike out of gear. I cleaned everything, installed a new crank-shaft and rod assembly, new piston, cylinder, clutch plates, the needed shifter parts, and new gaskets.

Now with a proper functioning engine and transmission, at just over 4,000 miles on the odometer, the bike was put into service as a daily rider, as well as for recreational fun. I rode it through the remaining one and a half years of college in sun, rain, and snow. The C70 continued to be a main source of transportation after college, too, while I was working at an antique automobile restoration shop in McPherson, Kansas. Practically every weekend I would ride out of town onto the dirt roads and trails to explore the area around central Kan-sas. I took it camping a few times at Kanopolis Lake and rode it thousands of miles down almost every back country road in the area. One time I sunk the little Honda to the axles in mud while trying to cross a field and had to drag it out by hand, losing my shoes to the muck in the process. Another time a horse-shoe nail punctured a hole in the rear tire miles outside of town, and I ended up having to ride it all the way back at about 15 mph down a rocky gravel road on a flat tire. The rear rim has a few slight bumps and dings in it to this day from that adventure. After about two and a half years, I loaded the Honda into the back of my van, and moved back to Texas.

It was at this time that I seriously considered selling my little Honda, which had now traveled over 12,000 miles. The traf-fic in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex is obnoxious and al-most too fast paced for the acceleration of the engine’s 72ccs. I hadn’t ridden it in several months and had not even washed the old Kansas dirt from it. I made up my mind to either ride the Honda again or sell it, as the C70 deserved better than to just collect dust sitting in the garage. I cleaned it up, changed the oil, and went for a ride. It was very rejuvenating to have


the wind in my face while riding on the little bike again. Soon I was riding the Honda nearly exclusively, though I had to map out some creative routes to get places while avoiding high speed roads.

One evening while making a left turn at an intersection, I was hit at about 25mph by a Lincoln Town Car, send-ing me and the bike spinning onto the median. The Lincoln hit the Honda right at the back, totally missing me. I walked away without a scratch. The Honda didn’t fair quite so well, but it wasn’t too bad. I was able to keep it up-right in the collision, and the engine was even still running after the hit. However, the rear fender was mashed tight against the wheel, with two sharp creases half way up the right side. The exhaust was pushed into the rear brake arm, jamming it tight, and the tail light/turn signal bracket was bent ninety de-grees, and it had a broken turn lens. I was able to bend the fender back off the wheel and pull the exhaust off the brake arm enough to ride the wounded Hon-

da home. With my few years of metal working experience, the damage to the bike was a relatively easy fix, and a little bending and hammering of the fender brought it back into shape. I bent the tail light bracket back straight and re-weld-ed some torn spots on it and its mount-ing point on the rear fender. The only things I had to purchase were a new turn signal lens and a can of Krylon Banner Red spray paint, which matches the C70’s faded Monza Red very well. Now it’s hardly noticeable that the wreck ever happened, save for the slight remains of the two creases in the rear fender and its barely different shade of red.

I brought my C70 to the VJMC 35th Anniversary Rally in Indiana and had a blast. I spent a couple hours after work for about a week cleaning and polishing. After I was done it definitely looked the best it ever has in the time I have owned it. At the rally, I rode it on as many of the group rides as I could, as well as a few rides by myself, racking up nearly three hundred miles during the event. I

pushed the little engine hard to keep up with the much bigger bikes I was usu-ally with, and it performed flawlessly. It always seems that the harder I ride the little machine the more it likes it. On Saturday, I dusted the Honda off and entered it in the show, where it received a lot of positive comments. Then, all too soon, it was back to Texas to resume more monotonous commuting to and from work.

My Honda C70 receives a variety of reactions from other motorists. They range from getting cut off and honked at by people angered by its slow accel-eration, to people wanting to tell me all about the one they used to have, while waiting at a red light. The most mem-orable was getting a thumbs up from the driver of a brand new Ferrari. My Honda will probably never be a re-stored showpiece, but with over 28,000 miles behind it, the bike continues to do what it was built for, providing me with cheap, reliable, and, most importantly, fun transportation. l


hello all. Any time you get a group of us together, either at a show or on a

forum, the subject of slow or noisy gauge performance comes up. For years I have told people to just drill a small hole in the gauge stem and squirt some oil in it, and then, if you’re so disposed, you can put some heat shrink tubing over the stem to cover the hole. I have said, when asked, to drill the hole just over the top of the threads, and that should be good, and in most cases it should be.

Last year my friend, Ed Malfroid, and I had some discussion over rebuilding gauges, and the topic of lubing them was brought up. Ed had a stem assem-bly from a bad gauge, and we discussed it again later at the CWC home coming in September while examining the dis-sected stem assembly. It was agreed that just drilling a hole above the threads and squirting some oil in wasn’t the best answer, and a more in-depth article was in order, so here we are. Hopefully, this will help.

Looking at the exploded view in Photo 1, you can see the lower bronze bushing but cannot see the upper bronze bushing that is in the top of the sleeve below the stem/magnet assembly. You can see that simply drilling the hole above the thread will only lube the lower bushing and not the upper part of the assembly. Normally I would just drill it deep enough to break through the outer aluminum part of the stem but not through the inner steel part, so the actual stem would see no lube.

This was highlighted for me earlier last year when the speedo on my ,76 Wing would squeal loudly when the outside temps were below 40F. You could stop and restart, and the squeal would go away for a while but then come back. I had lubed it many times and could not get it to quit squealing in the colder temps.

Out of desperation, I ground the tip of

MAINTENANCE & RESTORATION

an aerosol can of Slick 50 to a point and inserted it in the stem’s drilled hole and sprayed it profusely. This actually fixed the problem because it probably forced the lube up to the top of the stem into the gauge lower housing and lubed the top bushing and stem. Luckily, it did not get into the gauge face and spoil it. After ex-amining the exploded stem assembly in Photo 1, I now understand why it wasn’t working so well.

To do this correctly, short of disas-sembling the gauge itself, you need to remove the cable by unscrewing it from the stem and drill completely through the aluminum housing and the outer steel stem and bushing assembly with-out actually damaging the stem itself. Photo 2: You also, ideally, should put the hole through where the undercut on the stem is. To hit that area you need to drill about three-quarters of an inch from the bottom of the stem, and, in Photo 3, you can see that is much higher than just over the threads.

You will need to drill to a depth of about .200 inch, if you are drilling straight in. I believe that on some gauges that you will have to drill into the edge of the step at an angle, due to the back cover being low enough not to give you access to the up-per part of the stem. Just go slowly and back out frequently to clear the chips. I usually coat the drill with grease so that the chips stick to the drill; you just have to clean it frequently. In Photo 4, you can see where the three-quarter inch height will hit on the outer stem steel guide and bushing.

Something to note here is that, once you get the hole drilled and push oil in it, that it will probably still only oil the low-er half of the stem and the lower bearing. I recommend that you use an aerosol lube, something like the Slick50 with Teflon that I used or something with silicone or graphite. The aerosol should

by Stephan Passwater

3

4

2

1

HondaGauge Lube


core is starting to fray. If you find this, replace the cable; this may be your real problem. Lube the core as you reinstall it into the sheath. It’s simple and easy to do and should keep your tach/speedo cable healthy for a longer time.

Another method of lubing your gauge that I have heard of but not done is to submerge the gauge stem into a con-tainer of lube. You just need to keep the gauge face upright so that the lube doesn’t drain back into the face or lens. It should work, but I believe that the lube should be thin and will take a while to migrate up the stem. Due to the very tight clearances in the stem that may not happen, but it might be worth a try for the purist that doesn’t want a hole in his or her gauge stem. Also the Nippon Seiki gauges used here are from a GL1000 and a CB750; what you have may be different.

One other word of caution I would add is that if you decide to rebuild your gaug-es and you want to take the gauge stem out, do not use a hammer to beat or tap it out. You must either press or pry it out.

Beating on it will kill the magnetism in the head; I know! I hope this helps you keep your old bike on the road. As they say, “Ride it don’t hide it.” l

5push the lube up the stem and into the upper bearing. You just need to be very careful here not to overdo this so as not to push oil up into the gauge and foul the gauge face or the inside glass with the lube.

In Photos 5 and 6, you can see that the optimum drill location is difficult to ac-cess, due the rear cover extending below the shoulder that you want to drill into, but this is where you would have to angle the drill upward to hit the recess on the stem.

A couple of things to add here: the low-er bushing actually rotates inside the aluminum stem and is driven by the cable, whereas the upper bushing is the stem bearing and does not rotate but has the stem rotate inside of it.

While you’re into all of this, I would suggest that you pull the cable (speedo/tach) core out and use some WD40 to wash the core and cable sheath inner surface to clean it. Also look closely to make sure that it is smooth and does not have any burrs hanging where the cable

6

26 JUNE/JULY 2014

Early board track racers on display at the museum


COLLECTIONS

NationalMotorcycle

Museum

The

Gear, bikes, and memorabilia tell

the story of motorcycle racing

Shobert RS750 Honda dirt tracker

A vintage Shell gas station forms the backdrop for these bikes

Hondas lined up in the Japanese section of the museum

28 JUNE/JULY 2014


since you are reading this magazine, you are no doubt among those motorcyclists who are stimulated by looking at old motorcycles. Whether it’s at meets, spend-

ing time working on them in your garage and riding them, or even viewing them in a museum, the sight of a candy red X6 Hustler or a black Honda S90 calls up our personal experiences with each. And so, museums play an vital role in warming us to our memories.

What sets the National Motorcycle Museum apart from many others in America is that it’s about all brands—Ariel to Zundapp—and it contains thousands of pieces of artwork, motorcycle toys, pieces of motorcycle riding gear, even great pedal cars and bicycles. It also tells motorcycling’s stories through its displays. The motorcycles are supported and put in context with all this memorabilia.

The National Motorcycle Museum was founded in 1989. It was one of the first mo-torcycle museums in America, remains among the finest and largest, and celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. When you walk into its spacious lobby you are greeted by a life-size Jeff Decker bronze sculpture of Joe Petralli on the Harley Streamliner that he set the motorcycle land speed record with in 1937. The bronze is flanked by a range of bikes including one from the collection, still carrying its ribbon, that won Pebble Beach in 2011. Paying admission in the Museum Store, then entering the museum exhibit area, you enter the celebrity motorcycle section. It includes lots of Evel Knievel material, bikes from Easy Rider, a great scruffy Indian Chief chopper Steve McQueen used to ride, and a Bud Ekins/Von Dutch Triumph, resplendent in its transparent blue and green scallop paint job. Each of these bikes is surrounded by photos, posters, paintings, and other “artifacts” that bring us the story of these motorcycling men.

The museum holds over four hundred bikes, and while it has all kinds of bikes, there is a strong focus on American motorcycles. The Harley-Davidson section is powerful, with everything from the earliest police Harley known from 1909, plus a 1908 “strap tank,” all the way up to a recently donated 2003 100th Anniversary CVO Road King. A great display offers a bit of a turn-of-the-century motorcycle shop: old oak and glass showcases filled with NOS HD parts in their original boxes from way back. Countless neon signs, race posters, and photos serve as backdrop to about sev-enty-five antique and vintage Harleys.

Passing through the thematic areas of the museum, there’s a good section relating women’s contributions to motorcycling. It offers a monitor (one out of about four-teen in the museum) playing wonderful old films which, again, put the motorcycles in their original place and time.

Starting about 1910, board race tracks were built in up to twenty cities across Amer-ica. Though used primarily for auto racing, they also featured motorcycle racing. This was an era when the big American manufacturers hand-built factory specials of 1000ccs and fought for brand recognition on wide, high banked board tracks, some up to two miles in length. The museum offers a remarkable fifty foot long segment

25 Years of Celebrating Motorcycling History

by Mark Mederski

top:Bronze sculpture of

Joe petralli on his Harley streamliner

bottom:pre-twenties bikes

on display

of track and about ten board track race bikes poised as they might have been when raced in anger. The board track videos help to explain just what took place at speed and the risks these riders faced. Next, there are circular displays of Europe’s best—BMWs, Vincents, Brough Superiors, NSUs, Moto-Guzzis, Sunbeams…even a Pannonia. Continu-ing the tour, is a section of a restored and fully outfitted 1920s steel modular Shell Motor Oil gasoline station; porcelain signs, gravity pumps, oil cans from long

30 JUNE/JULY 2014

aboVe:american motorcycle icons Evel Knievel and

steve McQueen are prominently displayed

defunct petroleum refiners, and much more are on display, plus a big interpre-tive timeline about gasoline sales.

In the next area, the visitor is greeted by a fully restored Honda ATC 90. This is just the tip of the iceberg in this sec-tion of the museum, which holds over fifty Japanese bikes from all the major makers. There are four Hondas from the 1950s, the J and JA machines and even

an ME that has just recently been added to the museum displays. Museum sup-porters have generously donated several great Kawasakis from the 1970s to this section. A “Water Buffalo,” a GT550, and a Titan represent just a portion of


the excellent Suzukis on display. John Parham is the president of the museum and Founder of J&P Cycles. His first bike was a Honda S65, and he has loaned a fine example of that model for display. Maybe we can help the museum locate some early films related to Japanese bikes, ads, manufacturing, etc, to run on a monitor, as that is about all that’s missing. More than half the bikes on display in the museum are on loan, so, if you own a machine they don’t have, contact them to put it on display.

Even with room for over four hundred bikes in 35,000 square feet, space for all the motorcycling stories is limited, so the museum rotates exhibits. They are working to expand the In-dian story to about forty bikes and are running a very good, temporary dirt track racing exhibit with thirty racers, but just for another year. There are several Japanese dirt trackers in that display, including a Shobert RS750 Honda and a hand built CX500-based machine as well.

I could go on about how much fun this place is. Besides the bikes, there’s so much great art and memorabilia to take in. Since it’s also right in the middle of America, about three hours west of Chicago, this is a great stop to add to your list of places to see. The website is www.nationalmcmuseum.org or just give them a call at 319-462-3925. The National Motorcycle Museum is located in picturesque Anamosa, Iowa, near Cedar Rapids, and is open every day, year round, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. It is a standout among places to get your mind stim-ulated, maybe even overloaded, with motorcycling history. l

32 JUNE/JULY 2014


COVER STORY

DestinationEustis

34 JUNE/JULY 2014

right:the middle of the Japanese section

right:this Harley-Davidson

is still ridden by the original owner

far right:VJMc member roger Hyde checks out the

Harley-Davidson sprint on display

BELOW:Best of show Winner,

1936 Harley-Davidson VL

left:Harley-Davidson flat tracker racing machine

BELOW:caféd Honda gL650


march 7 is supposed to be spring in Florida, so I mounted my CB350 in antici-pation of a mild ride to Eustis, just seventy-four miles to the north of my home

town. I jumped over to US 27 and headed north, getting off in one of my favorite riding areas onto County Road 561 through Astatula and the Sugarloaf Mountain area, merged onto US 19 and made my way to the Lake County Fairgrounds, where the Vintage Motorcycle Alliance had set up their swapmeet and VJMC was hosting a bike show featuring all makes of vintage bikes.

It turned out I should have worn something other than my perforated gloves, and I arrived with little feeling in my fingers. The anticipated warm up didn’t materialize on the ride, but now, off the bike, the weather was perfect and a much better alter-native to the usual hot sun of central Florida at this time of year.

Our club had the entire 15,000 square foot exhibit hall for hosting the bike show. I entered and found VJMC volunteers hard at work checking in bikes. As the day progressed it quickly filled up with all makes and models of vintage motorcycles. Outside, the vendors were coming in and setting up their wares of old motorcycles and vintage bike parts. Conveniently just outside the exhibition hall were food ven-dors, and, still with a chill in the air, their hot coffee was welcome. Setup continued throughout the day and by late afternoon most of the show bikes were in place in neatly laid rows.

Once the fairgrounds were closed, a dozen of us, who had bikes destined for the show, disturbed the lines of bikes, rolled our rides outside, and mounted up to at-tend Eustis Downtown’s Mardi Gras themed block party, “Beads and Bikes.” The now cool temperatures and gray skies kept attendance down, but music was still playing on the streets, and visitors strolled around seeing what downtown Eustis had to offer. The VJMC members set off in search of dinner. Luckily, Peter Slatcoff had done his homework earlier and herded us toward a fantastic little pizza joint, The Great Pizza Company. After a meal of some of the best pizza I’ve had, we head-ed back to the exhibit hall to realign our bikes with the rest and hit the hay for an early start in the morning.

The night was chilly, but the morning came with a clear sky overhead and the promise of warmer temperatures. Coffee in hand, I wandered into the exhibit hall to chat with fellow members. More people brought in bikes to be registered for the show while I wandered the floor taking photos of the entrants and watching the number of motorcycles swell.

The Japanese bikes were by far the largest segment in the show, but all sorts of other bikes made appearances, with Zundapps, Indians, Triumphs, BSAs, and Har-ley-Davidsons competing for floor space with the Suzukis, Kawasakis, Yamahas, and Hondas. There were UJMs, cruisers, custom choppers, tiddlers, and race bikes on the floor. Carson Classic Motors Vintage Racing Team was also set up next to the VJMC tables and added their Cannonball bikes to the competition.

While attendees wandered among the show bikes, I took a walk back outside in the now warm sunshine and wandered the rows of vendors. From complete bikes to piles of parts, the vendors offered a little of everything. I’ve attended the swap meet a couple times before, and one thing I noticed this year were much more Jap-anese and British parts for sale, alongside many parts for American bikes. There

story and photos by Michael Fitterling / [email protected]

top:the bike show floor from above

ceNter:a 1952 zundapp sidecar rig

bottom:sunday’s VJMc ride found us once again enjoying lunch at Yalaha Bakery

36 JUNE/JULY 2014

also were a larger number of vendors on hand this year. As word gets out, I can’t help but believe we will see even more at this event in the future.

Back at the exhibit hall, after one o’clock and the end of registration, ev-eryone was filling out their vote cards. By five, the votes had to be counted, and the VJMC team took up the daunting task. With over a hundred bikes in the show and close to 700 ballots to count, the task was considerable. This was the biggest show with the most ballots cast of any VJMC show I have attended. Fi-nally, the team announced the winners, and the lucky victors walked forward to cheers as they picked up their trophies.

The crowd wandered off for their homes while the VJMC volunteers joined the crew of the Vintage Motorcy-cle Alliance for a dinner provided by the Get Ghost Boyzz, who had done such an outstanding job providing for us at the last Florida State Rally.

Sunday morning was bright and clear again while we gathered around in an-ticipation of another fun VJMC ride. About a half dozen of us rolled out after our coffee for some great riding in the area around Eustis, one of the best rid-ing areas in Florida and one that makes liars out of those who claim Florida rid-ing is all flat and straight. A highlight of the ride, after romping through the Sug-arloaf Mountain area, was a lunch stop at Yalaha Bakery, a popular stop for deli food and bakery goodies between Lees-burg and Tavares. Live music played in the courtyard as we munched on fan-tastic sandwiches and mouthwatering desserts.

After our break, we all headed back to Eustis, where we loaded up banners, tables, and chairs and then headed our separate ways.

This event is poised to become the preeminent classic bike show in cen-tral Florida. The turnout was fantastic this first year, and expectations are for even more entries next year, especially if we do a good job of getting the word out to non-Japanese collectors. Japanese entries outnumbered other makes by a four to one ratio, but, of course, getting information out within our own world

DESTINATION EuSTIS BIKE SHOW WINNERS

BEST IN SHOW AWARD WIllIAM Reese 1936 HARley-DAvIDsoN vl

SHOW SPONSOR AWARD MUrraY MiLNE 1980 YaMaHa xs850

SHOW HOST AWARD JeRRy lyoNs 1937 HARley-DAvIDsoN vl

AMERICANamericaN aNtique, pre 1946 FIRsT PlAce WIllIAM Reese 1936 HARley-DAvIDsoN vlMeRIT AWARD JeRRy lyoNs 1937 HARley-DAvIDsoN vl

AMERICAN VINTAGE, 1946‐1967 First pLacE gorDoN Bass 1947 iNDiaN cHiEFMeRIT AWARD Rus AlDRIDge 1952 HARley-DAvIDsoN MoDel 125

AMERICAN CLASSIC, 1968‐1985 FIRsT PlAce JeFFRey eMeRy 1973 HARley-DAvIDsoN sPRINTMErit aWarD roBErt MarcUM 1981 HarVEY

BRITISHBRITISH ANTIquE PRE 1950 First pLacE MiKE carsoN 1915 BsaMErit aWarD MiKE carsoN 1911 triUMpH

BRITISH VINTAGE, 1950‐1963 First pLacE stEVE gaUDiNg 1951 Bsa B33MErit aWarD N/a N/a

BRITISH CLASSIC, 1974‐1985 First pLacE UNKNoWN NortoN coMMaNDoMErit aWarD N/a N/a

EUROPEANEuROPEAN VINTAGE, 1950‐1969 First pLacE MicHaEL MitcHELL 1952 zUNDappMErit aWarD N/a N/a

EuROPEAN CLASSIC, 1970‐1984 First pLacE DaVE DEFFEs 1973 BMWMErit aWarD N/a N/a

JAPANESEJAPANESE VINTAGE, 1946‐1968 First pLacE gorDoN Bass 1965 HoNDa 305 DrEaMMErit aWarD roDNEY trEDo 1967 cL 90

JAPANESE CLASSIC, 1969‐1980 FIRsT PlAce NoRToN MuzzoNe 1970 yAMAHA Xs-1MeRIT AWARD HARvy MARRIsoN 1975 suzukI Re-5 RoTARy

JAPANESE MODERN, 1981+ First pLacE JErrY LUNgriDaN 1984 HoNDa NigHt HaWK sMErit aWarD roBErt MarcUM 1985 YaMaHa VMax

japaNese special FIRsT PlAce PeTeR THoMPsoN 1980 cB-650 cAFé RAceRMErit aWarD LoUis MiNtroNi 1979 cBx


of Japanese bike collectors was easy, so the challenge as the event progresses is to get the message out to owners of American, British, and European vin-tage bikes to let them know they are wel-come to participate. The other challenge presented by such a big show is counting ballots, and planning next year’s event will require us to think about more ef-ficient ways to get this done quickly, which I am sure will be accomplished by the time this next show rolls around.

During Daytona Bike Week there are so many things going on, but this was the show that people all over will be talking about and be planning to attend next year. It is thanks to the participation of the vintage bike owners and the ded-ication of the hardworking VJMC vol-unteers that made it all possible. Thanks to Peter Slatcoff, Event Coordinator, and the Event Team of Norton and Laurie Muzzone, Steve Gauding, Gordon Bass, Tom Slatcoff, Julie Slatcoff, Bryan Bent-ley, Larry Rossi, Jim and Liz Atchison, John Chaves, and Peter Thompson for stepping up and making this another great VJMC event. l

SPECIAlTyamericaN special FIRsT PlAce DAN DReXel 1954 HARley-DAvIDsoN kHMeRIT AWARD sTeve sIMPsoN 1928 HARley-DAvIDsoN

british special First pLacE JEFFErY EMErY 1973 triUMpHMErit aWarD MiKE carsoN 1940 Bsa MiLitarY M20

europeaN special First pLacE raY DrEscH 1929 DrEscHMErit aWarD JoHN LEWis 1988 DUcati

all custom motorcycles First pLacE JoHN WaLDMaN 1986 toMasMeRIT AWARD DAN DReXel 2006 HARley-DAvIDsoN vRscR

AMERICAN SCOOTER, 1951+First pLacE BrYaN BENtLEY 1957 cUsHMaN MoDEL 54MErit aWarD N/a N/a

competitioN ViNtageFirst pLacE roBErt rEaM 1965 HoNDa cB 160MErit aWarD cHip rEaM 1966 HoNDa cB 160

DESTINATION EuSTIS BIKE SHOW WINNERS

38 JUNE/JULY 2014


by Burt Richmond /[email protected]

b ack in the late 1960s through the 1970s, many of us lusted after the new, bright-ly colored Japanese motorcycles that were showing up in neighborhood stores.

Now that we have matured and have successful jobs and careers, we can afford to indulge ourselves in those bikes that may have eluded us. Obviously, they have maintained their appeal to so many of us, as seldom do we own only one. A great place to see and show fine examples of these great bikes is at the Vintage Motorcycle Festival at LeMay—America’s Car Museum, in Tacoma, Washington.

At the first Vintage Motorcycle Festival in 2012, awards were given for first, sec-ond, and third place in twelve classes, including the Classic Japanese Class. The arithmetic meant that there were thirty-six trophies, plus Best of Show and three Judges’ Choice, for a total of forty trophies. Japanese motorcycles took home four-teen trophies as Honda, Hodaka, Kawasaki, Marusho, Suzuki, and Yamaha were also entered in the Café Class, Competition Class, Custom Class, and Rat Bike Class.

At the 2013 show, last August 24th, the field of show bikes grew from the 206 at the 2012 show to 316 for 2013, with nine of the trophies going to Japanese brands including Honda, Hodaka, Meguro, Pointer, and Yamaha. With BMW being the featured marque in celebration of their 90th Anniversary, it was no surprise to see so many BMWs, including one of the first year of production—a 1925 R37. Of those 316 motorcycles on the show field, there were four major categories that were almost equally represented: BMW, British, Italian, and Japanese. The organizers learned from the 2012 event that British bikes were the majority, so they divided that group into brands: BSA, Norton, Triumph, and Others.

The good news for the upcoming 2014 Vintage Motorcycle Festival is that it will

2014

MotorcycleFestival

Vintage@LeMay

left:overview of the showfield from the 2013 festival

opposite:a Honda ratbike

EVENTS


COuNTERCLOCKWISE:scenes from the 2013 show include a row of Japanese bikes, a Honda Dream, and a sunday ride at the plaza

have two newsworthy elements. First, there will not be any additional fees for multiple motorcycle entries. In fact, even the first bike is free. However, there is a standard $20 General Admission charge for everyone who attends the show, ei-ther as a participant or an observer. Number two, the Planning Committee has decided to expand the Vintage Japa-nese category into Vintage Honda, Vin-tage Kawasaki, Vintage Suzuki, Vintage Yamaha, and Vintage Japanese.

Other classes that Japanese brands may enter are Competition, Café Rac-er, Custom, Off Road, Scooter, or Mo-torized Bike. This will give many more owners an opportunity to go home with a trophy. The organizers are encour-aging early registration, which is now available online at www.vintagemo-torcyclefestival.com. Early registration eliminates long check-in lines on Au-gust 23rd. The website has photos, de-tails, lists of all classes, the schedule, list of judges, and complete information about the weekend, including a seven-ty-two mile Sunday scenic ride on rural back roads ending at the museum for a cookout lunch. l

42 JUNE/JULY 2014

BELOW:Brendan and Barry trailer

racing

Barry enjoying

his second breakfast

Enjoying the Panoramic view of Panamint Valley

Rest stop on the way to Trona

Heading down into Death Valley

suzuki rotaries rule!


RIDES

by Brendan Durrett / photos by Twila Knight

DeathValley 2014

t wenty years ago, Vintage Japanese Los Angeles rode to Death Valley

from Lancaster, taking the path of 1950s Death Valley motorcycle rallies and of a 1960s magazine article about riding Jap-anese tiddlers to Death Valley. Our first trip was great fun and created many sto-ries we all bore our friends with to this day.

This March, a perfect sunny day greet-ed us as we gathered in Lancaster for our twentieth annual trip to Death Valley. Sadly, an earthquake earlier that morn-ing caused a bit of damage, and a few of our riders did not make the ride. How typical for SoCal.

Crazy Otto’s Diner served up their usual bodacious portions of diner food. After everyone signed in and got their t-shirts, we were on our way.

The weather forecast was for a nice sunny weekend with a chance of wind Saturday night in Death Valley.

We had an even more assorted group than usual—a vintage Honda CB750 chopper, two Harleys, two Vespa scoot-ers(!), a Suzuki rotary, Kawasaki H1 and 250 race bikes, a Yamaha RD350LC, my RD400, and several more vintage Jap-anese bikes. Everyone that either owns or appreciates vintage Japanese bikes is welcome on VJLA rides.

Within a few miles we had our first incident. A pretty Triumph Scrambler went down on some gravel in a corner on our way into Mojave. David carried on, though, after removing the remains of his rear brake pedal and enduring an embarrassing first aid session with my wife, Denise. Your Mom was right—al-ways wear clean underwear.

On the way to Randsburg, Larry’s Honda Superhawk seized twice but kept running. He retarded the timing a bit and limped back to Mojave to catch a ride home. It later turned out that his ignition advance had worn to where his

bike was running way, way too advanced at high RPMs.

We stopped for a long break at the his-toric desert mining town of Randsburg, which is now populated more by dirt bik-ers than prospectors. The General Store offers a unique selection of merchandise, and their soda fountain makes terrific shakes. Once upon a time, I bought a chicken in a can there as a souvenir for a friend. A whole chicken. In a can.

We rode onward toward Trona. Nor-mally a pretty much abandoned des-ert chemical mining town, Trona was bursting with people this year. We had wandered into their 100th birthday par-ty! Who knew so many folks would re-turn to not-so-scenic Trona to celebrate? There was a car show, every church and club had an open house, and even the gas station got in the act with an old couple cooking fresh carne asada tacos. Yum.

After Trona, we rode north across the Panamint Valley. As the road crests over the hills north of Trona, there is a view of the Panamint Valley that must be seen. The desert floor extends to the horizon, bounded by rough mountains on either side, as the road snakes down the hillside. One can feel the hot desert air rising up from the valley floor.

As we rode up the valley we were sur-prised to find several miles of pavement missing from Panamint Valley Road. So much for my promise to everyone that our route would be paved. Apparently, a repaving operation is in progress, and the crews began by hauling the pave-ment away. Desert dust quickly envel-oped us and our carefully detailed bikes while we rode along the now gravel road. Donnie had an adventure on his chop-per, with its two-inch ground clearance and hard tail frame, but he looked awe-some.

Our usual route from Panamint Valley up through Wildrose Canyon was closed

due to damage from a flash flood, but a couple of our riders ventured around the barricades. The two rogue riders ar-rived in Stovepipe Wells unscathed. The rest of us rode over Towne Pass without incident. My RD400 seemed a bit slow, but I thought it was because of the al-titude.

After a gas stop at Stovepipe Wells, a few of us broke off to head up to stay in Beatty, Nevada. The rest of us rode down through Death Valley toward our destination of Furnace Creek.

Once in Death Valley we encountered the forecasted wind. Unfortunately, while I was riding through the blow-ing wind and sand my RD400 became a RD200. Later examination revealed aluminum bits on the right spark plug. Bummer. Onto the truck went my RD.

Meanwhile, Barry was having issues with his Kawasaki ZL-600 overheating. He eased it into Furnace Creek, and we hoped that on Sunday his bike would run cooler.

Saturday night many of us dined at the Furnace Creek coffee shop. The prices there are a bit high, but the food is pretty decent. Afterwards, many tall tales and bad jokes were told back at our campsite. Unfortunately, the local ranger did not appreciate our enthusiasm and asked us to quiet down a bit.

We quieted down, but the wind didn’t.

Our motley crew on the road

44 JUNE/JULY 2014


Bikes fell over, our gear flew about, and our tents blew flat in the rising wind-storm. Denise and I retreated into our truck’s bed and marveled at how fe-rocious the wind was. None of us got much sleep. I woke up covered in sand, but, mercifully, the wind had died down by sunrise. It was an authentic desert night, although those of us that stayed in motels claimed they were not jealous of the camping experience.

Sunday morning we saddled up to ride to Panamint Springs for breakfast. On the way back across Death Valley, I no-ticed heavy clouds up towards Beatty. I felt a few rare drops of Death Valley rain, but our intrepid Vespa riders ran into a hail storm on the way from Beatty down to the Valley. I always warn peo-ple that our Death Valley rides are a true adventure, and this year was a great one.

Sadly, Barry’s Kawasaki continued to overheat, so he decided to put it on the truck before any serious engine damage could occur. We were up to three casu-alties now; it was a tough year for bikes.

Panamint Springs Resort has a small campground, vintage motel, and restau-rant at the Panamint Falls desert oasis. After enjoying a breakfast buffet on the resort’s broad porch overlooking Pana-mint Valley, we rode back towards Tro-na, through Randsburg, and back to Lancaster.

On our way back my thoughts turned to our first Death Valley ride. Back then, we all rode 1960s bikes. My 305 Dream blew an engine oil seal, so we picked a new one up on our way to Death Valley and fixed my bike at the campground that night. Craig rode the infamous Easy Rider Honda Superhawk chopper, resplendent in gold metal flake spray paint with extended forks, beer can covered ignition coils, rusty Maltese Cross mirrors, and ape hanger handle-bars. The Easy Rider got a flat tire in Randsburg. We fixed it right there in front of the General Store. A local fellow stopped by to help. Later we realized he was a famous 1960s desert racer, as he showed us his cabin full of trophies and

his prized Triumph desert sleds. Good times.

This year, Death Valley gave us a little more adventure than usual, and we all had fun. See you in 2015. l

46 JUNE/JULY 2014


Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and, of course, Florida; that in itself represents a huge success! Please see the side bar for a list of show winners.

An interesting highlight of the event was that the club was well represent-ed by three board members attending:

bikes on the Beach was the first VJMC event to take place in the Florida

Panhandle. It was specifically scheduled for May 3, 2014, to coincide with Thun-der Beach, a major east coast motorcycle event. Thunder Beach attracts in excess of 100,000 motorcycle enthusiasts of varying interests; one of which is an in-terest in vintage motorcycles.

The show took place at Panama City Cycles, Panama City, Florida. Panama City Cycles is a local motorcycle dealer for Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha. The biggest obstacle we faced was the pos-sibility of rain, but the sales manager, Peter Vitulli, and shop owner, Dean Crane, assured us the backup plan would be moving the bike display into their showroom. In spite of the nearly 26 inches of rain during the week preced-ing the show, it was a pleasant surprise waking up the morning of the show to a cloudless sky and perfect balmy tem-peratures. By 8:00 am the first entries rolled in, and by 11:30 am we had over 30 bikes on display. Some people would say it wasn’t a very big show; however when you consider that we had entries from Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Louisiana,

biKes oN the beach WINNERS

HONDA PRE‐1974 1st pLacE MiKE FittErLiNg2ND pLacE gorDoN Bass

hoNDa 1974 plus1st pLacE JacK BriErE2ND pLacE JiM sNooK

yamaha1st pLacE siMoN griNDroD2ND pLacE gorDoN BELLaMY

KAWASAKI1st pLacE stEVE gaUDiNg2ND pLacE JaMEs MooN

SuZuKI1st pLacE gorDoN Bass2ND pLacE DaViD parpYzEK

café racer1st pLacE BiLL orazio2ND pLacE N/a

ENDuRO ‐ OFFROAD1st pLacE MiKE HitcHcocK2ND pLacE JoHN MiNciE

CuSTOM ‐ SPECIAL1st pLacE BiLL orazio2ND pLacE trEY caNtWELL

photos by Michael Fitterling / [email protected] Peter Slatcoff / [email protected]

Bikes Beachon the

EVENTS

top:From left to right, VJMc Board of Director members John Herke, Michael Fitterling, and peter slatcoff

John Herke, Mike Fitterling, and myself. Another, and by far the most exciting, highlight of this event was the use of a hybrid prototype automated show bal-lot tallying process. A paper ballot was used by voters to cast their ballot. In turn, Steve Gauding entered the ballots into an online data base as he received them. Within a matter of minutes from voting closure all votes were tallied and winners identified. This process went well and is planned to be used at

future events. Steve has been involved in counting ballots at previous events, most notably Eustis (where we had near-ly 700 ballots to count), and stated that this was a much easier process. The en-trants of the bike show were ecstatic that the show results were made available so quickly.

This was a seed effort to test the via-bility of a vintage Japanese event in con-junction with a predominately Amer-ican iron activity in a region where

VJMC has very little presence and no previous event history. All in all every-one had a good time. Plans are to repeat the event next year. We did, however, increase local presence by 125%—mem-bership increased from four to nine…woo hoo!

A big VJMC thank you to Panama City Cycles for providing a great venue and their gracious donation of all the show trophies. Dean, we look forward to next year and a bigger, better show. l


50 JUNE/JULY 2014

because we become overheated from within when the heat generated by our metabolism has no place to go.

To avoid becoming over-heated by our metabolic heat release, we need to be in contact with or surrounded by some-thing cooler than our core temperature.That’s why the maximum comfortable room temperature is typically 80°F or lower. In still air, we get uncomfortably warm and experience an increased rate of perspiration when the temperature ishigher.

Human bodies exchange heat with their surroundings through convection, conduction, radiation, and evaporation.

Conduction involves the transport of energy by means of direct physical con-tact in the absence of relative motion. Conductive heat transfer can be very significant for a body immersed in wa-ter, but air is such a poor conductor, thatconduction plays a fairly minor role.

Convection involves the transport of energy by the means of the motion of air surrounding the body. Heat transfer oc-curs when air at one temperature comes into contact with the skin at a different temperature. Convection allows the heat transfer to continue by bringing a fresh supply of air to the skin surface. At zero wind speed, there is a minor amount of convective heat transfer associated with the motion caused by the temperature differential between the skin and the air. At non-zero wind speeds, convection be-comes significant if the air is at a differ-ent temperature than the skin.

Radiation is the form of heat transfer that does not depend on direct physical contact with the surroundings, only on the temperature differential. Heat radi-ates from a hotter surface to the colder surroundings. In still air, radiation is the primary cooling mechanism for the human body when the air temperature

is significantly lower than the skin tem-perature.

Evaporation is the cooling mechanism associated with perspiration (which is about 99% water). It is an insignificant factor when the air temperature is sig-nificantly lower than the skin tempera-ture, but it becomes the dominant cool-ing mechanism as air temperature rises. More importantly, it becomes the only cooling mechanism when the air tem-perature exceeds the skin temperature. Achieving effective evaporative cooling is therefore critical to surviving when the temperature is 93°F or higher.

How Evaporative Cooling WorksConduction, convection, and radiation

are easier to understand than evapo-rative cooling because they involve the flow of heat from a surface that is warmto a surrounding medium that is colder.Evaporation is more complicated.

Evaporation of water occurs wheneverthe air in contact with the water isn’t al-ready saturated with water vapor. When the air is dry, it causes water to evaporate until the air becomes saturated; at that point, evaporation stops. The “relative humidity” of the air is then at 100%, meaning that it can’t hold any more wa-ter. At 86°F, each cubic meter (35 cubic feet) of air can hold 30 gramsof water vapor, which is about one ounce. That may not sound like a lot, but when the air temperature is 86°F or higher, the air seldom becomes saturated, even when there is a nearby ocean. (As warm air rises and cools, water is eventually re-moved by cloud formation and rain.)

Evaporative cooling works because ofsomething called the latent heat of va-porization. “Latent heat” is the quantity of heat absorbed or released when sub-stance undergoes a change of state, e.g., from a liquid to a vapor. As water vapor-


hot weather becomes a significant risk to long-distance motorcycle rid-

ers when the temperature climbs above the typical human skin temperature of about 93°F. Three of the four mech-anisms by which riders normally stay cool while riding no longer work when the air temperature exceeds human skin temperature. The danger of heat exhaus-tion and/or heat stroke skyrockets.

It is possible to ride safely, and even comfortably, in triple digit tempera-tures, but you have to be aware of how things change when the air temperature exceeds your skin temperature. Con-ventional wisdom is that mesh riding suits are best suited for such conditions because they maximize airflow over the skin. However, for the reasons explained below, maximum air flow is not what you need under these conditions.

To understand what gear works best in hot weather, it helps to know how thermal regulation of the human body works.

Temperature Regulation of the Human Body

Being warm-blooded, humans must maintain a core temperature within a few degrees of our 97-99°F normal tem-perature. If we get just 5° hotter or cold-er, we are seriously impaired; 10° hotter or colder, we die.

With the right gear, we can ride safe-ly and comfortably at temperatures be-low freezing. With adequate insulation and wind protection, the heat our basic metabolism is creating (about 100 watts when we are sitting at rest and 140 watts with light activity) is sufficient to main-tain our core temperature. However, it is much more difficult to maintain a safe and comfortable temperature when the ambient temperature exceeds our skin temperature. Insulation doesn’t work

RIDING SAFETY

Long-Distance Riding Hotin Weather

by Tom Austin / reprinted with the permission of Iron Butt Magazine

humans that are heavily perspiring cansurvive desert conditions. There is notenough perspiration to bring the skintemperature to the wet bulb thermome-ter reading, but a normal 93° skin tem-perature can be achieved.

Direct radiation from the sun can also be a factor, but when we are shaded from the sun or wearing reflective clothing, something in between the wet bulb and dry bulb temperature is the best indication of how hot it will feel at or above 93°F. It will obviously feel cooler in Death Valley than in Houston at the same air temperature.

Examples of Heat Flow to and from the Body

With “light” activity, such as riding a motorcycle on paved roads, our basic metabolism produces about 140 watts of heat that has to be removed. To avoid a rise in core temperature, 140 watts must flow from the body to its surroundings.

Using published literature, primarily on the work of Dr. Rod Nave of Georgia State University and Zhang, et al. from De Montfort University in the UK, I’ve compiled a series of models and related heat transfer coefficients that produce reasonable estimates of the temperature levels at which people are comfortable. The models indicate that, without no-ticeably perspiring, the combination of conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporative cooling will allow us to re-main comfortable in an indoor envi-

izes, it absorbs heat from the surround-ing environment, which cools anything the vaporizing water is in contact with. Each gram (about 1 milliliter) of vapor-izing water draws approximately 580 “calories” of heat from the surroundings. (A calorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of wa-ter by 1°C.)

The effectiveness of evaporative cool-ing depends on the humidity level. Sweat evaporates faster in dry, desert-like con-ditions. The effect of humidity on evap-oration can be measured with a “wet bulb” thermometer, which is a ther-mometer with the bulb end covered by a wick soaked with water. Water evapo-rating from the wick causes the tempera-ture to be reduced, just like a wet T-shirt against your skin makes you cooler as water evaporates from the shirt.

The cooling effect of evaporation can be dramatic with low, desert-like hu-midity. For example, at noon on July 26, 2009, the air temperature in Death Val-ley, California was 100°F with a relative humidity of 13%. The wet bulb tempera-ture was only 66°F. Under these condi-tions, a wet shirt against your skin feels downright cold. In contrast, on the same day it also 100°F in Houston, Texas, but the relative humidity was 42%. The wet bulb temperature was 80°F. Under these conditions, a wet shirt still has a cooling effect, but not nearly as great as under desert-like conditions.

The evaporative cooling effect is why

ronment at an air temperature of 80°F if we are wearing only very light clothing. The heat balance is illustrated in Figure 1. Most of the cooling is provided by radiation. It takes less than 1 ounce of perspiration per hour to provide the re-quired 14 watts of evaporative cooling.

Figure 2 illustrates what happens when the room temperature rises to 93°F. Heat flow from conduction, convection, and radiation stops because there is no difference between skin temperature and the air temperature. Evaporative cooling is the only available pathway and we must perspire enough to achieve 140 watts of cooling from the evapo-ration of sweat. To achieve 140 watts of evaporative cooling, about 7 ounces of water must evaporate from our skin every hour. To the extent that some of the sweat drips off before evaporating, the required level of sweat production increases correspondingly. Considering that other bodily needs for water are about 3 ounces per hour, we would need to drink a minimum of 10 ounces of wa-ter every hour to avoid dehydration.

Above 93°F, the required perspiration level increases because the air tempera-ture is then transferring heat into the body. Figure 3 shows what happens at 103°F. In addition to the 140 watts being generated by our metabolism, 99 watts of heat are transferred into the body by the combined effects of conduction, radiation, and convection. To supply the required 239 watts of evaporative cooling, the amount of sweat we have to evaporate increases to 12 ounces per hour.

Now consider what happens when we move from indoors to a motorcy-cle. Assume that we are riding a mo-torcycle with no fairing and wearing light clothing or a mesh riding suit that doesn’t block the wind, the front surface of our body (about one square meter) is exposed to the full effect of the wind. Because convective heat transfer is a function of the velocity of the air over the surface of the skin, the heat trans-ferred into the body increases signifi-cantly. At 103°F air temperature, the convective heat transfer increases from just 22 watts under calm conditions to ViNtagE JapaNEsE MotorcYcLE MagaziNE 53

METABOLISM140 watts

AIR80˚F

SKIN 93˚F

CONVECTION-29 watts

EVAPORATION-14 watts

RADIATION-90 watts

CONDUCTION-7 watts

Heat balance in calm air 80˚F air temperaturerequireD eVaporatioN: < 1oz/hour

1

METABOLISM140 watts

AIR93˚F

SKIN 93˚F

CONVECTION0 watts


RADIATION0 watts

CONDUCTION0 watts

Heat balance in calm air 93˚F air temperaturerequireD eVaporatioN: 7oz/hour

2

skin is exposed to high wind speeds at 103°F increases the required level of evaporative cooling to 767 watts. That requires 39 ounces of perspiration per hour. Riding four hours between fuel stops under these conditions causes more than 1.2 gallons of water loss in

the form of perspiration. This is close to the maximum sustainable perspiration rate for the average adult.

At 113°F, the minimum required evap-oration rate increases to 70 ounces per hour when your body is exposed to a strong wind. Unless you are acclimated

550 watts at freeway speeds. This is the opposite of “wind chill;” a light breeze can still enhance evaporative cooling but above 93°F a strong wind is heating the body.

As illustrated in Figure 4, the increase in convective heat transfer when the

54 JUNE/JULY 2014

METABOLISM140 watts

AIR103˚F

SKIN 93˚F

CONVECTION+22 watts


RADIATION+72 watts

CONDUCTION+5 watts

Heat balance in calm air 103˚F air temperaturerequireD eVaporatioN: 12oz/hour

3

METABOLISM140 watts

AIR103˚F

SKIN 93˚F

CONVECTION+550 watts


RADIATION+72 watts

CONDUCTION+5 watts

Heat balance exposed to high wind 103˚F air temperaturerequireD eVaporatioN: 39oz/hour

4

METABOLISM140 watts

AIR103˚F

SKIN 93˚F

CONVECTION+165 watts


RADIATION+72 watts

CONDUCTION+5 watts

Heat balance wearing vented wind-proof suit, 103˚F air temperaturerequireD eVaporatioN: 19oz/hour

5

to working in tropical environments, you can’t sweat that much, regardless of how much water you are drinking. Keep riding under these conditions and you will faint from heat stroke.

The secret to avoiding heat stroke when riding in extremely hot weather is to cut down the convective heat transfer by blocking most of the wind. This can be accomplished by using a fairing and windscreen and/or by wearing a helmet and riding suit that blocks the wind and has vents to allow a lower velocity of air to pass over your skin. By knocking the air velocity down to about 10 mph, the convective heat transfer is reduced by 70% and there is still plenty of air flow for efficient evaporative cooling.

The effect of reducing the wind speed to 10 mph at an ambient temperature of 103°F is illustrated in Figure 5. Com-pared to the heat balance with the skin exposed to high wind speed, convective heating is reduced from 550 watts to 165 watts and the evaporative cooling re-quired drops from 767 watts to a more manageable 382 watts. The required perspiration rate drops by about 50% to a more manageable 19 ounces per hour. At 113°F the required perspiration rate drops from 70 ounces per hour to 32 ounces per hour.

Minimum Water RequirementsReplacing a quart of water loss per

hour under extreme desert conditions (e.g., 113°F) is manageable, but only if you are carrying about a gallon of water on-board your motorcycle and drinking frequently between fuel stops. You can’t wait to drink during a fuel stop, espe-cially if you are only stopping every four hours. As shown in Figure 6, a drinking tube with a “bite valve” connected to an insulated jug or cooler is the ideal setup. table 1 summarizes water requirements for a range of temperature conditions.

Although perspiration is about 99% water, there are also trace amounts of sodium chloride and other electrolytes that are lost through perspiration. Not-withstanding the marketing hype used to sell “sports drinks,” typical diets are sufficient to replace the electrolytes lost through perspiration without the need

for sodium chloride or glucose supple-ments. According to the American Col-lege of Sports Medicine, “There is little physiological basis for the presence of so-dium in an oral rehydration solution for enhancing intestinal water absorption as long as sodium is sufficiently avail-able from the previous meal.” However, the available sports medicine literature does suggest that sodium chloride sup-plements are beneficial when conditions result in high rates of perspiration for more than 4-5 hours. For such extreme conditions, sports drinks like Gatorade are a better alternative than pure water unless the salt loss is being replaced with the consumption of salty snack foods. The glucose content of sports drinks is less important for long-distance motor-cycle riding because a high level of work is not being done.

Wicking undergarmentsThe calculated amounts of water for evaporative cooling described above are based on the assumption that no perspiration is dripping from the body or being blown off of the body before it evaporates. To minimize the loss of any perspiration before it evaporates, it is necessary to wear undergarments that stay in contact with your skin and serve as a wick, just like the wick on a wet bulb thermometer. Garments made by LD Comfort (www. ldcomfort.com) and UnderArmour (available at sporting good retailers) are ideal for this purpose.

Figure 7 shows the LD Comfort helmet liner and turtleneck shirt. The helmet liner is especially important because of the relatively high surface area of the head and the large about of perspiration from the head that can be wasted if it is not captured by a wicking material.


Riding shorts or tights made of the same wicking material are also critical for minimizing the dreaded “monkey butt” caused by hours in the saddle sitting on damp, non-wicking material.

Other Sources of HeatSome motorcycles are better suited for

riding in hot weather than others. The need for water described above assumes the motorcycle itself isn’t contributing to the thermal load on the rider. Un-fortunately, that’s a bad assumption for some models.

If engine heat is noticeable at tempera-

table 1: MINIMuM WATER CONSuMPTION WITH LOW WIND SPEED OVER SKIN

TEMPERATuRE REquIRED FOR TOTAL WATER WATER REquIRED eVaporatiVe cooliNg requireD eVery 4 hours 80˚F <1 oz./hour 3 oz./hour 12 ounces 93˚F 7 oz./hour 10 oz./hour 40 oz. (1.3qts) 103˚F 19 oz./hour 22 oz./hour 88 oz. (2.8qts) 113˚F 32 oz./hour 35 oz./hour 140 oz. (1.1gal)

NOTE: The values shown reflect ideal conditions with no heat being absorbed from the motorcycle.

6

One gallon insulated cooler with drinking tube

7

Wicking undergarmnets like LD Comfort for more efficient evaporative cooling

56 JUNE/JULY 2014

tures below 93°F, it is likely to be a sig-nificant problem at higher ambient tem-peratures. Water-cooled engines won’t necessarily run hotter in hot weather because a thermostat controls the tem-perature of the coolant. But waste heat absorbed by the coolant has to be trans-ferred to the air passing through the radiator. The higher the temperature of the air entering the radiator, the higher the temperature of the air leaving the ra-diator will be.

At 93°F, the radiator air discharge might be 140°F and perhaps be reduced to 110°F before it contacts your leg. It feels very warm, but it won’t burn you. If the ambient temperature is 10°F high-er, your leg might be exposed to 120°F. That’s hot enough to actually burn you in a few minutes if your leg isn’t insulat-ed from the radiator discharge.

According to data from the National Burn Center, the combination of tem-perature and time to cause a second de-gree burn is 113°F for 1.7 hours, 122°F for 2 minutes; 131°F for 11 seconds, and

140°F for 2 seconds. (The only thing protecting you from being burned when your bare skin is exposed to ambient temperature of 113°F or higher is evapo-rative cooling and the cooling of the skin surface by blood flow.) To be protected from radiator discharge temperatures in excess of 113°F, you need insulation be-tween your skin and the hot air stream. Your riding suit may not be sufficient. LD Comfort tights will help.

Other Sources of CoolingEvaporative and “phase change” cool-

ing vests are two options for supple-menting the evaporative cooling avail-able from perspiration. They work, but not for very long. Although manufac-turers often claim such vests keep you cool for “up to 3 hours” or even longer, two hours of noticeable benefit is more typical. That’s less than the time be-tween fuel stops for a typical long dis-tance rider. For a short term break from the heat without the hassle of a separate cooling vest, you can pour some water

on an LD Comfort top during a gas stop —or even while riding—and experience increased evaporative cooling until it dries out.

Evaporative cooling vests can be “re-charged” fairly quickly by just soaking them in water, but the phase change vests require 20 minutes in ice water (or longer in a refrigerator) to recharge. Few long distance riders are going to be will-ing to take the time required.

As I write this, a company named “EntroSys” is advertising an actual air conditioning system that supposedly will provide cool air to a special vest. Al-though you can’t buy the system yet, the company is offering 20% discounts from an undisclosed price for the first 500 in-dividuals to “pre-order” the system.

In theory, this could work without consuming an unreasonable amount of power, but it’s hard to believe many riders will be interested in carrying the hardware required for the limited amount of time the system would actu-ally be used. l


section stands on its own.The author starts with an introduction

to the era of small bike dominance, then gives background on the small bikes leading up to the invasion over a couple chapters. From there, the book moves from obscure makes to more familiar ones and then features a chapter each on the big four (Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yama-ha, and Honda), starting with the least to the most ubiquitous makes. To round out the book, the author then offers a chapter on the Honda Scramblers and, finally, the modern tiddlers now or re-cently available.

Throughout the book are charts to help the reader identify model and year of almost any small bike you can imag-ine, with notes about what made each

this book is part reminiscing, part history, and part technical informa-

tion. While the subtitle implies the book is about the tiddlers of the sixties, it also covers the pre-history and early history leading up to the real invasion, started by the Honda Cub in 1959 and predomi-nated by Japanese makes ever since. Orr covers this class of bikes to the end of their heyday in the mid-1970s and even throws in a bit about the current offer-ings of small bikes still available in the predominantly big bike world of today.

The Tiddler Invasion repeats itself from time to time, but in this case that’s not a bad thing. You can read a section on your particular favorite make or model without missing important information from other parts of the book, so each

REVIEW

year unique. You’ll also find scattered throughout the book nos-talgic looks at growing

by Michael Fitterling / [email protected]

The Tiddler Invasion:Small Motorcycles of the Sixties Floyd M. Orr

ISBN 9780615741670$28.95 paperback$22.95 Kindle Available on Amazon.com

up on motorcycles back in this time of small bike predominance.

This is a hefty book—its 594 pages make it almost an inch and a half thick, and it measures seven by ten inches. If you have a question about any small bikes from this period I would be sur-prised if you could not find the answer between the covers of this book. If you have a love of these small bikes and want to know more about them, this book be-longs in your hands and on your shelf. l


TECH HELP

jim: Ellis, I had a guy call me the other day asking if I had parts for his Suzuki. I have a GS850, but no parts for any Su-zuki. What can I tell him? We never had a Suzuki dealer around here, so I rarely even see one.

Ellis: That’s a common question when restoring a vintage bike. The answer is, “It depends.” What I mean by that is, if the bike in question is one of the big four (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, or Ya-maha), and the bike was imported into the country by the distributor, then the first stop would be the dealer of the mo-torcycle.

I am constantly amazed by the amount of parts that are still in the pipeline for the Hondas I typically restore. Just be-

cause you’re dealing with a bike that was built in, say, the ‘70s doesn’t mean the dealer can’t get parts. I was working on a SL175 and needed the packing where the head pipes join the muffler. I went to the local Honda dealer, and, wonder of won-ders, they had two of them on hand. A lot of this depends on the dealer, too. Many dealers don’t want to go to the trouble of looking up parts for older bikes.

There’s also eBay, but much like the flea market or autojumble it is “buyer beware.” Many people will advertise on eBay that a part fits a particular bike, and they may have no idea if it does. Be-ware especially of parts that are not in their factory packing. Another trend is that Asian markets are starting to no-tice the interest in older bikes and have

begun to tool up making replacement parts. Again, these may or may not fit the bike you have. If you aren’t sure, ask lots of questions of the seller before lay-ing your money down; you’ll be much happier if you do.

There are also specialty companies that concentrate on NOS (New Old Stock) parts. NOS parts are just that,

by Jim Townsend and Ellis Holman

Tech Tip #2:Where Can I Find Parts?

I am constantly amazed by the amount of parts that are still in the pipeline for the Hondas I restore

60 JUNE/JULY 2014

parts that have been in a dealer’s inven-tory and, while new, are also old. Use caution with these as well. Rubber parts may deteriorate if not stored properly. Metal parts that have not been stored in their wrap will grow rust. CMS in the Netherlands, David Silver Spares, Western Hills Honda, Speed and Sport, and Z1Enterprises are just a few of those companies specializing in NOS parts. Remember though, when dealing with companies overseas there are curren-cy differences between the US Dollar and Euros (currently about $1.36 US to 1 Euro) and British Pounds (current-ly about $1.64 to 1 British Pound), plus shipping costs. Keep that in mind when you’re looking at parts from “across the pond.”

Don’t forget that for things like oil seals and bearings, a local bearing house can supply you with those parts, and often they are better quality and lower cost than OEM, if you don’t mind that it isn’t original. The same goes for things like tires and tubes. A quick flip through J. C. Whitney’s motorcycle catalog will show you a lot of common parts for older machines. Rubber parts are the things that perish quickly on older bikes. A tatty rubber carb mount can cause no amount of misery for a two stroke. JBM Industries, in Kent Ohio, offers many reproduction rubber parts for our vintage bikes carburetion sys-tems. (We should ask JBM to advertise in the magazine.)

jim: Sure thing, Ellis. I’ll go along with that. I’m constantly surprised that deal-ers can get what they can, but when you

stand back and analyze it, that is partly what they are in business for. I will say, though, that Honda parts are far easier to find than parts for other makes. Of course, that depends on the model you are restoring. I once bought a new en-gine in a crate for a 1973 Honda CB350F from a dealer. It also surprises me that some restorers just insist on a NOS part where a used part will do, or where the old part can be restored. My local Hon-da/Kawasaki dealer has online parts fiches for bikes back to about 1960. I am sure others do, too. (http://www.lakecit-yhonda.com)

One warning about some parts from non-motorcycle sources, though. Roll-er chain can be had very cheaply from tractor supply places, but it is made very cheaply, too. It is made to much lower standards and is not at all suitable for anything other than emergency use. Some ball bearings are made to different standards, as well. Some have too much tolerance for such uses as main bearings or wheel bearings. Be sure you get the tightest tolerance bearings, but I have to agree with Ellis. Try to find a good lo-cal bearing house for seals and ball and roller bearings. Bearings and seals are standard around the world and often are made in metric sizes. The prices are a fraction of what dealers charge.

It should be obvious to VJMC mem-bers that another place to look for parts is with advertisers in our magazine. Not only do they have the stuff we need, but their advertising supports the magazine. I know some would like to do away with ads, but then we would have to go back to the black-and-white twenty-four page

newsletter we had twelve years ago. We need to support our advertisers because they support us, and in more than one way. Gordon East and Guido Cardillo have signed up a pretty good bunch of dealers to advertise in our magazine, too.

I’ve had some pretty good luck buy-ing parts from Thailand for some early bikes like ,60s Honda Dreams and Ben-lys. It takes a couple weeks, but if it is a small part it can be sent via air mail and not be too costly.

Ellis, I’m sure you have had some of the same luck I have had just knowing a lot of guys. I go to a bike night every couple weeks, and sometimes we get to talking, and I find someone who has some parts I need and I may have some parts they need. That old buzz word networking re-ally pays off.

Ellis: Yeah, Jim, networking sure does pay off. That is one of the benefits of belonging to the club. Some folks have parts that they hold for “trade goods.” I sometimes pick up parts for just that reason. You can find some pretty amaz-ing stuff just by asking around within the club.

There you have it guys. Try your local dealer, look up dealers in Vintage Jap-anese Motorcycle Magazine, eBay, and network with other club members and go to swap meets and you will pretty much fill your parts bins. If you need help, email or call us.

Have a problem? Contact Ellis Holman, 317-691-4242, [email protected], or Jim Townsend, 574-551-2255, [email protected]. We prefer email. l

ADVERTISERS APPEARING IN THIS ISSUE:Arizona Motorcycle Parts Inc. ......................... 50

B & L Machine .................................................. 31

Barbers Vintage Museum ................................ 52

Berkshire Cycles ............................................... 20

Bob Chantland ................................................. 40

Brown’s Plating ................................................ 37

Buchanan’s Spoke and Rim ............................. 10

CMSNL .............................................................. 72

David Silver Spares........................................... 71

Diamond Gusset Company. ............................. 56

Dime City Cycles ............................................... 16

Frank’s Maintenance and Engineering, Inc. .... 60

Gasolina Boots ................................................. 54

Georgia Cycle Depot ........................................ 60

Hagon Shocks .................................................. 31

HondaRestoration.com ................................... 31

HVC Cycle ......................................................... 17

JDV Products/Vessel ........................................ 45

Jess Bikes .......................................................... 50

Johnny’s Vintage Motorcycles.com ................. 61

Kenda Tires ......................................................... 4

Marbles Motors ............................................... 57

Metro Racing Inc. .............................................. 2

MikeXS ............................................................. 44

Moto-Services .................................................. 25

Motorcycle Yamiya 750 ................................... 58

Motorsport Publications .................................. 61

National Motorcycle Museum ......................... 30

Orazio Cycles .................................................... 49

Ottoco .............................................................. 20

Paul Miller Motorcycles ................................... 57

Precision Motorcycle Painting ......................... 21

Randy’s Cycle Service ....................................... 50

Retro Bikes, Inc. ............................................... 49

Rick’s Motorsport Electrics, Inc. ...................... 50

Roadrace Bikes Exposed .................................. 56

RRR Tool Solutions ........................................... 18

Speed and Sport Yamaha ................................ 62

Sullivan Auctioneers, LLC. ................................ 44

Vapor Honing Technologies ............................. 54

Vintage Motorcycle Festival ............................ 11

Vintage Smoke ................................................. 45

Vintage Suspension (Race Tech) ...................... 17

Western Hills Honda ........................................ 59

Wheels Through Time Museum ...................... 48

Workshop Hero ................................................ 22

Yamaha Powersports Division ......................... 24

Z1 Enterprises ................................................... 59

ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHT

beginning with this issue of Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Magazine, we are adding this “advertiser’s spotlight” section. in here we will introduce you to our adver-

tisers on an individual basis; telling you what products and services they offer, about their history, about special projects they may have completed. it is also where we will show you new products and services they are offering, tell you about any special events (swap meets, etc.) that may be occurring at their location, and inform you of anything that may be of interest to a vintage Japanese motorcycle owner.

this is not intended to be, nor should it be interpreted as an endorsement of any particular vendor, product, or service.

if you have any material for publication in this section, please contact the Display advertising Director at [email protected].

What began as a small motorcycle salvage business in the late 1970s

has grown to a well recognized, highly reputed brand name in the motorsport world.

Rick’s Motorsport Electrics offers a full parts line of motorsport charging and starting systems and electrical ig-nition components for Asian and Eu-ropean street bikes, ATV/off road, snow mobiles, and watercraft.

They provide a high quality, cost ef-fective alternative to an OE piece. Rick’s provides direct plug-in, bolt-on pieces whenever possible. Rick’s Motorsports also knows the value of the occasional universal part to fit an obscure motor vehicle machine.

Rick’s Motorsport Electrics also offers a one year part replacement warranty on all motorsport parts, excluding CDI boxes.

They strive to stay on top of industry trends and are con-stantly adding new products to their line. Much of their success

comes from their knowledge and ex-pertise in the motorsport industry–they develop parts that are in high demand by motorsport enthusiasts.

Resurrect your vintage 80s Virago 700 with a new CDI box from Rick’s Motor-sport Electrics! This ignitor unit is dis-continued from Yamaha and not avail-

Rick’s Motorsport Electrics, Inc.

able anywhere else. Without it, your bike will not run, so Rick’s has come to the rescue.

“There are so many of these Viragos still out there on the road,” says presi-dent Rick Shaw. “So we knew we had to come up with a solution to keep more classic bikes alive.”

The new CDI box will fit 1984-86 XV700, 1983 XV750, 1988-90 VX750 & 1983 XV920. It retails for $180 and will replace Yamaha OEM part 42X-82305-20-00. The Rick’s box also comes com-plete with the required mounting plate.

Rick’s Motorsport Electrics will continue to offer high quality, cus-tomer-driven aftermarket parts for charging, starting, and ignition systems in the motorsport industry. For addi-tional information, please visit: www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com or stay connected on their Facebook page. l

by Guido Cardillo / [email protected]

amanda Laidlawrick’s Motorsport Electrics, inc.30 owens court #2Hampstead, NH 03841 (800) [email protected]

coNtact iNfo


all in the family: amanda, Michael, owner rick shaw, and his wife Donna

64 JUNE/JULY 2014

for more info, email:[email protected]

[email protected]

hosted by:

RAFFLE DRAWING1978 Suzuki GS70E

6th ANNuAL VJMC COLuMBuS SHOW

classic parts swap meet • seminars door prizes • oldies music

Saturday, June 21, 201410am-3pm RAIN or SHINE

awards for:• 1906s/prior• 1970s• 1980s• 1990s• Oldest Japanese motorcycle• Classes for both original and restored, so bring them out!


by Peter Slatcoff, VJMC Events Coordinator [email protected]

JuNE 14‐152nd Annual

Vintage Motorcycle Ride & Show Yanke Motor Museum

Boise, idaho

juNe 216th Annual Vintage Japanese

Motorcycle Show & Swap Meetiron pony Motorsports, inc,

Westerville, ohio

JuNE 26‐28VJMC National Rally 2014

spring Mill state parkMitchell, indiana

JuLY 11‐13AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days

Mid-ohio sports car courseLexington, ohio

july 133rd Annual KCVJMC

All Japanese Motorcycle Showoverland park, Kansas

august 92nd Annual KCVJMC

Midwest Regional Rally & ShowNew century, Kansas

AuGuST 15‐17Helen, Georgia Membership

Vintage RideHelen, georgia

SEPTEMBER 5‐7VJMC West Coast Rally

Flagstaff, arizona

SEPTEMBER 20Florida Fall Ride

tBD

OCTOBER 10‐1210th Annual

Barber Vintage FestivalBarber Motorsports park

Leeds, alabama

OCTOBER 16‐19AIMExpo

orange county convention centerorlando, Florida

NOVEMBER 1‐2 3rd Annual VJMC Florida State Rally

silver springs state parkocala, Florida

upcomiNg eVeNts

once again, it’s time to start packing for the VJMC main event—the 2014 Na-tional Rally. This year’s rally will take place June 26th-28th at Spring Mill State

Park in Mitchell, Indiana. With well over one hundred guests already pre-regis-tered, we still expect more than two hundred to pre-register and join us.

In addition to the regular activities of riding, bike show, and socials; this year we are expanding our venue to include activities specific to “tiddlers.” Similar to the rage of café racers, “tiddlers,” or small displacement motorcycles, are beginning to take the country by storm. We asked several groups, “Why such an interest in these small displacement bikes?” Although the responses varied, the most common were, “This was my first bike” or “I had one of these while going to college.” My belief is, now that we are getting older, the smaller, lighter weight bikes are easier to handle.

Following Friday night’s dinner, another highlight will be a presentation by the VJMC Kansas City Chapter. The Kansas City Chapter is considered one of the most active and productive chapters of our club. Their presentation will provide insight on their organization and execution of events in the Midwest. We would also like to thank Chapter President Mark Bayer and his team for their successful kick-off of our first Midwest Rally, which took place in Kansas City, and we wish them well with the continuation of that event this year.

Since 2012, overall the VJMC event program has experienced tremendous growth, and 2014 will be the most active year in the history of the club. However, this growth is limited to a relatively few geographic locations; such as Arizona, Kansas City, In-diana, Florida, and, more recently, the Cincinnati area. I, for one, would like to see that change and expand to include many of the other areas that have concentrations of our members.

Time after time we receive email and telephone calls from members with basically the same questions—“Why are there no events in my area?” or “How do I meet members near where I live?” In the past that was fairly simple; you pulled out your member directory and browsed the names near your location. That has gone by the wayside due to privacy and other issues we will not discuss here. But there is a way ahead.

The Event Team, in coordination with the Membership Chairman and the IT staff, is working on an online application to rectify this. The application will allow you to send an email with your contact information and a short message to those members within a certain radius of your zip code. (This radius is yet to be determined). We hope that this application will help stimulate more interaction and development of local member groups. These local groups have proven to be the primary catalyst for developing and promoting events in their areas. The Member Contact Application is expected to be available before year end. In the meantime, if you would like to reach out to members in your area, please send your contact information along with a short note, and we will forward for it for you. Another good option is to post your message on the VJMC Facebook page, “VJMC North America Inc,” or the club fo-rum. Also, please remember, if your message pertains to an event, you will have to continue to use the event request form (found on the club website www.vjmc.org) to advertise events. l

Events CornerEVENTS

66 JUNE/JULY 2014

CLASSIFIEDSplease Note: ads will be run for oNE issUE oNLY. please resubmit via www.vjmc.org or contact our classifieds Editor gary gadd by email: [email protected] if you wish an ad to run longer. also please contact gary if your post has been fulfilled. this will help keep our classified ads as current as possible.

a vintage Japanese motorcycle for the VJMc is 20 years old or older and, of course, Japanese. please be aware that ads may/will be edited to conserve space. 12 lines will be free. Please be aware of publication deadlines. For an upcoming issue, ads are due by the 20th of the month of the preceeding issue’s release. For ex-ample, ads for the august/september issue are due by June 20.

if you have business related ads, please consider taking out a commercial display ad. contact Display ad Director guido cardillo at 404-587-0190 or [email protected] for details and rate information.

We can now offer color photos to accompany your ads. cost is a min-imal $10 per photo per issue. payment via paypal is available on the VJMc website. For payment by personal check, please address payment to “VJMc” and send to the address below. photo ads will appear in the magazine issue following payment.

garY gaDD • 3721 HoLLaND st. • Fort WortH, tx • 76180 / 817.284.8195

for sale

briDgestoNe1970 Bridgestone 350 GTO. De-cent chrome and paint. some fading on top of gas tank. New seat cover. grab bar option. comes with original tool box and tools. Engine turns with good compression. titled, $4900. Jim Welch, 847-417-2698, illinois, [email protected]

hoNDa

1964 Honda 305 Dream Tour-ing. professionally restored. tD Bash black seat with over-all black stock color. Needs nothing, has repro www tires. $5995. email for pics. Lee stewart, 903-797-3465 (leave message), gilmer, texas, [email protected]

For Honda CA/CB/CL77 and cl72, have some parts. Email with needs. also have ca78 frame and a cB77. Jeremy, Min-nesota, [email protected]

1964/66 Honda Superrhawk. 1964 has a title, needs work and a seat, has rare matching serial numbers. $800. the 1966 has no title, is in mint condition

show bike with new factory seat and exhaust system. $5000. gary osterlund, 602-390-3040, Harrisburg, pennsylvania

For 1964/69 Honda CA/CB/CL160 and S65, parts. New and used parts for Honda 160s, s65 and vT500. Affordable prices. Restorations are done and parts need to go. call or email. paul Enz, 321-268-5461, titusville, Florida, [email protected]

1967 Honda 305 Scrambler. red and silver, 4 times rarer than the black and silver bikes i saw when they were new decades ago. $6000 invested, $4000 firm. Will give $500 worth of used parts with the bike. about 93 points out of 100 show wise. Needs minor clutch work. Larry Mitchell, 435-644-8379, Utah, [email protected]

1968 Honda SL160. it is a poor Florida bike that needs tlc for sure. complete with frame, wheels, side pipes, carbs. No seat but has a clean tank and some other parts. call or email if this may be what you want. Doc, 850-257-4336, panama city, Florida, [email protected]

1968 Honda CB160. origi-nal, un-restored condition. 10k+ miles, starts right up and runs good. titled and registered. ready to ride. $2000. rich, Middletown, Maryland, [email protected]

For 1970s Honda CB750, en-gines. 3 750K engines for parts or restoration. 2 are together. 1 apart. $300 for all three. Jim reed, 772-468-2144, Fort pierce, Florida,

[email protected]

Classic Honda and other Jap-anese motorcycles. restored, prices vary. sold separately. cB100, cB125, cB175, cB200, cB77, cB350, VB450, cB550, cB750, cL100, cL125, cL175, cL77, ca78, ca77, ca95, cL450, sL125 twin and more. over 70 vintage mostly Honda motorcy-cles, will buy, sell and trade old motorcycles. steve Burns, 302-449-2582, Middletown, Dela-ware, [email protected]

1973 Honda CB350 Four. Baby Four ‘barn find’. Am parting out or will sell as is. send me a note and i will send pics. Best parts are side covers, 3 of the 4 exhaust pipes, tail light, spee-do and tach. i need to pick up the seat and have not seen it. Engine is seized, it has been sit-ting for 32 years. Tim sommers, 630-235-7617, chicago, illinois, [email protected]

1975 Honda CB400F. 3 bikes. 2 are complete with titles. 1 parts bike. all need work. $2500 for all three. gary osterlund, 602-390-3040, Harrisburg, pennsyl-vania

For 1981/83 Honda CB650/ 750/1000/1100 and CBX, pet-cock rebuild Kits. Kit consists of viton o-ring for filter screen, Bu-na-N o-ring for on-off-res lever,

4-hole rubber seal, Viton o-ring for petcock bowl. kits fit: pet-cock number 16950-461-751 1982 cB650 standard, cB650c custom and Nighthawks, cB750c custom, 1982-83 cB-750sc Nighthawk, 1982 cB900c custom, 1983 cB1000 c custom and 1983 cB1100F super sport. Pictures at http://www.cb1100f.net/modules.php?name=Fo-rums&file=viewtopic&t=73943. $20 and free first class shipping within the continental united states up to 13 ounces. $8 for first class international post-age with tracking number for a total of $28 for international customers. payment via pay-Pal to [email protected]. conrad Ledig, 225-610-2233, Baton rouge, Louisiana, [email protected]

1981 Honda CBX. New Nos ex-haust system, 11200 miles, new paint, new tires. Also cBX sad-dle bags. Bags need paint; ei-ther silver for 1981 cBx or white for 1982 cBx/ paul, 701-886-7758, Northeast North Dakota, [email protected]

1982 Honda CM450A automat-ic. My riding bike but getting to old to ride. garaged always. i am 2nd owner. 8700 orig. miles and orig. candy root beer paint and mufflers in good shape. New front and back tires. Runs perfect. Never abused. $995 firm. located 10 miles from rhinebeck NY super meet site. Ken Krauer, 845-266-3363, [email protected]

join or renew @www.vjmc.org


1982 Honda GL500 Silverwing. café racer. custom paint job done in Fall of 2013. 8400 orig-inal miles, runs great, sounds great. i take it out on the week-ends and it is a blast to ride. Asking $4750. scott erhardt, 727-224-1659, tampa, Florida, [email protected]

1982 Honda GL1100 Gold Wing. converted full dresser into café cruiser. 24k original miles, new belts, fuel pump, custom rear seat cowl, front fender, bikini fairing with 8” headlight, new bars, controls and switches. Fantastic paint job done last summer. paid $1800 just for the paint work. invested over $6500 not including my labor. Asking $5400. scott erhardt, 727-224-1659, tampa, Florida, [email protected]

1982 Honda GL1100. i have a partially cannibalized gold Wing for sale. i have frame with New york title, motor, transmission and much more. robert Funk, 717-371-9074, Lancaster, penn-sylvania, [email protected]

1984 Honda GL1200 Gold Wing. Bought from original 30 year owner. Kept covered in-doors. 14800 original miles, ser-viced regularly. letting it go due to lack of space. Just ridden for

about 20 miles and it is sweet. it has been serviced and is ready to go. i have all books, manuals, tools and the original seat. it has a corbin seat installed currently. $4500. Dave sell, 814-285-6404, [email protected]

1990 Honda Hawk 647. zero miles. Found it in the original crate at a closed out Honda deal-er. completely serviced, new tires and a few pieces replaced here and there. i have all the original pieces, battery, tools, etc and photos of everything to verify your purchase and to see how i bought the bike. clean Pennsylvania title. I have all receipts and documentation. Bike is like new and pretty much is. this bike won’t disappoint. $6000. contact me with ques-tions. Dave sell, 814-285-6404, [email protected]

KAWASAKI1972 Kawasaki 100cc Enduro. this motorcycle is all there, it’s just in boxes. $100. John Yuhn, 248-820-8935, Holly, Michigan, [email protected]

1972 Kawasaki H2 750. Mostly original early H2. 10105 miles, original exhaust, clear title. con-tact me for pictures and more details. pete Hanson, 717-926-9360, palmyra, pennsylvania, [email protected]

1975 Kawasaki H2 750. purple/purple. Engine has been totally gone through from bead blast-ing the inner parts of engine and outside cylinder heads to new seals, pistons, etc. origi-nal pipes. Just had all 3 carbs synched, as well as a new Bar-nett clutch installed. New tires front and back. paint is excel-lent with extra clear coats. seat cover is Nos. runs like a raped ape. asking $9000 obo.

call or email for pictures. ti-tled in alaska with current tags. shawn c Dochtermann, 425-367-8777, atascadero, califor-nia, [email protected]

1978 Kawasaki KL250. 3825 miles. great shape mechanical-ly and cosmetically. All original and all there less turn signals. in a very good way. it’s never been rebuilt, no unknown parts or hands inside engine. i bought it from the original owner in the early 90’s. includes owners and service manuals, title and some extra maintenance parts. ask-ing $1495. todd. gray, 734-672-8772. [email protected]

1982 Kawasaki 175cc Enduro. this motorcycle is 99.9% com-plete. great for parts or res-toration. $100. John yuhn, 248-820-8935, Holly, Michigan, [email protected]

1982 Kawasaki GPz750. Beau-tiful red bike with 56000 km on it. runs perfect and looks perfect as a regularly driven ’82 should look. Needs nothing and is ready to go. $3800 ca-nadian. patrick, 905-466-4053, oakville, ontario, canada, [email protected]

1982 Kawasaki Kz750R1 GPz. original gpz750. all stock ex-cept for 4-into-1 header and jetting. under 13k miles. Not perfect but very nice. too many Nos parts to list, including brand new petro tank. photos upon request. ride her away with your tag. No trades, serious buyers only. John revilla, 703-509-1796, south riding, Virginia

(just outside of Washington Dc), [email protected]

1985 Kawasaki Gpz900R. the original superbike, rare stock blue/silver color. Mint condition with new premium tires and corbin dual seat with match-ing blue piping. complete doc-umentation with MoT safety certification. 66000km. $3500 cash or certified check. Dave Dotchin, 905-685-0637, st catharines, ontario, canada, [email protected]

marushoFor 1960 Marusho, NOS tank badge. Rare to find. al, 561-271-5855, Florida, [email protected]

SuZuKI1960’s Suzuki GT380 engine. For parts or restoration, en-gine is free with compression and has carbs. Missing cylinder head shroud, otherwise com-plete. $100. Jim reed, 772-468-2144, Fort pierce, Florida, [email protected]

1964 Suzuki T10 Crusader. First of the 250 suzukis imported to the Us and forerunner of the x6 Hustler. Professional restoration with correct period suzuki blue. Very showy bike with lots of chrome. Extremely rare. ask-ing $4995, appraised at $5300. Buyer arranges shipping. con-tact me for details and photos. Lee stewart, gilmer, texas, 903-797-3465, [email protected]

CLASSIFIEDS

1965 Suzuki M31 50cc. Very nice example of the ‘suzy suzu-ki’. New seat cover and Nos leg shields. Engine turns with good compression. titled, $1000. Jim Welch, 847-417-2698, illinois, [email protected]

1966 Suzuki A-100. For parts or restoration. No title, will sell with Bill of sale. $100. Jim reed, 772-468-2144, Fort pierce, Flor-ida, [email protected]

1972 suzuki ts125. Barn find, in my own barn. 2263 miles, in storage last 15+ years. runs, all original, owned since 1978. see video at http://you-tu.be/Mgafe0fyjK8. asking $925. t. gray, 734-672-8772. [email protected]

1973 Suzuki GT250K. 5k miles or so, all original with the excep-tion of Nos suzuki parts – rub-ber hoses etc. the gauges were professionally refurbished and are calibrated. New tires last year. i have some spares that go with the bike. steering bearings need replaced and the front caliper could be rebuilt. For the most part, an original bike that runs and rides. $2000 obo. allan Howard, 937-245-1764, Dayton, ohio, [email protected]

1976 Suzuki GT250A. 8k miles, all original. Front brake caliper needs rebuilt. it runs and rides but it needs some tLc. i have a ‘rough as a cob’ spare parts bike that goes with it but it has no title. $1500 obo. Allan Howard, 937-245-1764, Dayton, ohio, [email protected]

1976 Suzuki GT550. For parts or restoration. Roller with engine, tanks, side covers and instru-ments. No title, will sell with Bill of sale. $300. Jim reed, 772-468-2144, Fort pierce, Florida, [email protected]

yamaha1960 Yamaha YDS1 250cc. one of only a handful known to ex-ist. this bike is very original and untouched. the seat cover has been replaced at some point in the past, all else is factory. chrome and paint are quite re-spectable. Has original air pump and rare factory wind screen. Matching numbers. Engine turns with good compression. titled, $14900. Jim Welch, 847-417-2698, illinois, [email protected]

1961 Yamaha YD3 250cc. Nice example of this rare and ear-ly motorcycle from Yamaha. Has rare aluminum carb cover. great chrome on mufflers. Turn signals, engine turns with good compression. titled, $2500. Jim Welch, 847-417-2698, illinois, [email protected]

1963 Yamaha TG1-T Trail 80cc. Very nice very clean bike from colorado. Early non oil injec-tion. Runs, needs new gas tank. $675. Jim Welch, 847-417-2698, illinois, [email protected]

1967 Yamaha YR1 350cc. 7500 miles, original, unre-stored. starts first kick. cly-mer and shop manual. Da-vid Dowty, 302-653-2195, [email protected]

1970 Yamaha G6S 80cc. rare barn find with only 2200 miles. i freshened up the paint, put in new crank seals, external seals, new battery, chain, etc. so it runs as good as it looks. Not a concourse level restoration, but is a clean, rideable, unique sporty little bike. WiFour speed transmission, it will do an hon-est 50mph and is great for buzz-ing around town. starts easily. Everything works as it should and is a piece of retro art that will serve you well for years to come. contact me for photos and info. victor Montijo, 858-722-8748, san Diego, califor-nia, [email protected]

1970 Yamaha RT1 360. Nice condition, last started summer of 2013. Have too many Mcs and too many projects so time to make someone happy. i’d like

$2500 obo. pictures available.shawn c Dochtermann, 425-367-8777, atascadero, califor-nia, [email protected]

1971 Yamaha R5B 350. i have two r5Bs for sale. one ran last in 2008, the other was nev-er started. i will sell separate or together. they are both in nice condition and would be great to restore. i want $1500 each or both for $2500. Both are titled in Alaska. shawn c Dochtermann, 425-367-8777, atascadero, california, [email protected]

1971 yamaha R5. Barn find, complete with an extra motor. project or parts, not running, decent shape. $900. Dave Lille-gaard, 815-621-7293, rockford, illinois, [email protected]

1976 Yamaha TT500 Custom. it has a 650 front end on it with longer custom aluminum swing arm and aluminum exhaust pipe. set up for flat tracking. custom paint job. please contact me by phone or email. $3000 obo. shawn Dochtermann, 425-367-8777, atascadero, california, [email protected]

1980 Yamaha XS650 Special II. rolling basket. Engine has great oil pressure, clear georgia title, original owners manuals. some new carb parts. 7991 miles on the clock. $1600. call anytime for details. robert White, 864-457-2293, campobello, south carolina

misc. for saleVintage Parts Business For Sale: six figure retail sales. The sale includes: > $2M in Nos Hodaka parts, over $120,000 in retail product, 1,700’ of shelving, 7’ x 16’ trailer. Non-disclosure form required before information is exchanged. this business needs 900sq feet of floor space assum-ing a 10’ ceiling. a reasonably priced business that that can be easily transferred and would be immediately profitable. locat-ed near st louis. Motivation is retirement. Bill cook, 636-281-1975, www.Hodaka-Parts.com

For Japanese Bikes, 1960s/ 1990s. thousands of Nos parts from old dealer inven-tories. thousands more used parts. call or email with re-quests. Badger cycles, 920-682-2127, Manitowoc, Wiscon-sin, [email protected]

Vintage Japanese Motorcycles. Kawasaki, suzuki, Yamaha. pric-es vary. sold separately. over 60 antique motorcycles. cB100, cB125, cB160, cB175, cB200, cB350, cB450, cB400, cB550, cB750, cB400F, cB77, cL200, cL77, cL350, cL450, cL70, cL90, s90, cB350, cL360. rD60, g7, 1969 cL2 200. Kz650, Kz400. Buy and sell old vintage motor-cycles. steve Burns, 302-449-2582, Middletown, Delaware, [email protected]

Parts for Japanese bikes. i have about 7000 individual parts. Email for a pDF list of the parts. Lists are broken down into Honda, Kawasaki, suzuki and Yamaha. please request only one list per day due to my time constraints. Mark Ak-samit, 928-202-8654, arizona, [email protected]

Back, issues of Vintage Japa-nese Motorcycle Magazine be-ginning with issue #2 and end-ing with the current issue. Not an entirely complete run, but more than 150 interesting and informative issues. $185. Bill trible, 703-759-5912, Vienna, Virginia, [email protected]

Manuals. i have decided to thin out my 30+ year collection of early vintage Japanese service literature and parts manuals. i have manuals on most every-thing and will be listing them on eBay over the next several weeks under the seller name hirev. if you need a manual that is not listed, contact me through eBay email. i probably have one. also have an exten-sive collection of owners manu-als and dealer brochures that i plan on listing in the future. Jim smith, 270-273-3382, Kentucky, [email protected]

Honda Manuals. over 100 orig-inal Honda service manuals for many various models, cBx, MB5, cB750, etc. Email for spe-

68 JUNE/JULY 2014

CLASSIFIEDS

cific needs. Prices on request. Bob Brandner, 561-776-6212, North palm Beach, Florida, [email protected]

Japanese Bikes. Retiring, selling my 4000+ lines of Kawasaki, su-zuki, and some Honda Nos vin-tage parts. Listed at my site, Vir-tuallyJunk.com. asking $10k for it all, including rights to my site and contents. Bruce Mangels, 520-457-3035, tombstone, ari-zona, [email protected]

1968/81 Hondas. Parting out 50 Japanese bikes, mostly Hon-da. $75 each or will part out. includes Yamaha and Hon-da Mopeds, lots of seats and side covers. 4 cB750 4 cyl gas tanks, $60 and up. Bridgestone 100/150 seat, very nice, $100. 1978 gold Wing engine, $100. 1965 Honda 150 Dream en-gine, $100. Dream and super Hawk frames with attached fenders, electrics, wheels, etc.; ask for prices. Located near rhinebeck, NY, aMc super meet site. Ken Krauer, 845-266-3363, salt point, New York, [email protected]

1959/79 Honda collection. 49-1047 cc. selling 50 year collec-tion. From junkyard to museum pieces. paul crippes, 707-894-3174, cloverdale, california, [email protected]

Japanese bike parts supply. tens of thousands of parts, new and used. reasonable price in order to make a speedy deal. gene crump, 662-369-4542, aberdeen, Mississippi, [email protected]

WANTED

briDgestoNeFor 1970’s Bridgestone, need parts. can be more specific when contacted. Walt Branham, 517-788-3442, Jackson, Michigan, [email protected]

hoDaKa1970/75 Hodaka 100cc. i am looking for an early 70s super rat, Dirt squirt or super com-

bat for aHrMa cross-country. i live close to Barber’s track in Birmingham. $500-$1000 price range. Marty thom-as, 205-678-3247, alabama, [email protected]

hoNDa

For 1956 Honda Mr250, parts. Need muffler, winker lights, horn. Would consider buying a parts bike. al, 561-271-5855, Florida, [email protected]

For 1956 Honda JC56, parts. Need tail light lens and lens hold down bezel, this is the small round style. also front wheel, reverse style handlebar controls, glass style fuel filter. Would consider parts bike in any condition or other parts. Al, 561-271-5855, Florida, [email protected]

For 1959 Honda CE71 250cc, seat. Need to buy or borrow so i can fabricate one. also need condenser. al, 561-271-5855, Florida, [email protected]

For 1963 Honda C77, early Dream. Need the part where the lever goes into. called a ‘perch’ for the clutch side. For early steel stamped bars. can send pic of it. Jeremy, Minneso-ta, [email protected]

For 1968 Honda CL125A, need seat trim, stainless or chrome that fits around the edge of the seat. seat has been recovered but is lacking the trim. tom price, 731-616-8818, pinson, tennes-see, [email protected]

1972 Honda Z50 K3. Looking for excellent original bike in candy gold color. Would like to find an original paint bike. sean Mor-phew, 562-698-7484, Whittier, california, [email protected]

For 1990 Honda CB450 DX, looking for side panels. Any condition for bike res-toration. John skinner, 44 259215338, scotland, UK, [email protected]

KAWASAKIFor 1976 Kawasaki KE175 B1, need Bill Wirges expansion chamber. that’s the only guy that made them for this par-ticular bike as far as I know. If you know of any other brands or have any for sale, let me know. Kenny, 530-400-8191, san Francisco, california, [email protected]

For 1980 Kawasaki KZ440 Ltd, need 3-point crash bars. also, if anyone knows of a skid plate that would work on this bike. tim sommers, 630-235-7617, chicago, illinois, [email protected]

marushoFor 1965/66 Marusho ST500 Magnum, need parts. May buy whole bike. Trying to fin-ish up a long term project bike. please let me know if you have anything available. Ed Wilcox, 248-388-1342, Michigan, [email protected]

SuZuKIFor 1980/84 Suzuki GS1100, would like any info on gs1100 engines complete of for sale or trade. i would also be looking for gs1150 en-gines as well. Doc, 850-257-4336, panama city, Florida, [email protected]

For 1983 Suzuki GR650, need a manual. Hard copy or scan. Will pay for manual. australian VJMc member. carl Leiner, aus-tralia, [email protected]

yamahaFor 1950s Yamaha YA1/YA2/YA3/YC1, need parts, tank badges. Please call with any parts you may have for these models. al, 561-271-5855, Florida, [email protected]

1950’s Yamaha YA1 or YD1. Looking for project any condi-tion or any parts or manuals for these models. al, 561-271-

5855, Florida, [email protected]

1959 yamaha yDs1. project wanted in any condition. Al, 561-271-5855, Florida, [email protected]

Yamaha Big Bear scrambler. any year 250 or 305cc, YDs3, yM2, or yM2c. Any condition but prefer restored. paul Legris, 561-373-9987, Jupiter, Florida, [email protected]

MISC. WANTED Honda CBX 1000cc 6 cyl mem-orabilia for Museum and the ‘cBx Book’ i am presently writ-ing. any brochures, adverts, posters, owner’s manual, work-shop manual, set-up manu-al, toys/models, old photos, etc. related to the 1979-1972 cBX. Also period aftermar-ket fairings/bodywork. Let me know what you have and how much you need! thanks. ian, 626-444-9358, california, [email protected]

Motorcycle trailer. Looking for 2 or 3 rail trailer capable of carrying 1200 lbs. Wheels and suspension should be good enough to get us from georgia to california and back. Electric brakes are a plus. gui-do cardillo, 404-587-0190, [email protected]

Japanese NOS mopeds and motorcycles from the 60s and 70s for our showroom. if you have anything to offer please contact me. Mike Buttinger, [email protected]

Dealer memorabilia. collector seeks 1950s-1980s Japanese dealership items including banners, signs, ashtrays, light-ers, hats, clocks, promos, etc. rare, weird and old is good. tom Kolenko 770-427-4820 atlanta, georgia, [email protected] l


WHAT’S INSIDE - VJMC · The Tiddler Invasion: Small Motorcycles of the SixtiesLong-Distance ........

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