Saturday Workshop Update for November 4th 2023

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Workshop update from Saturday November 4th…


Here are details of some of the things that were achieved by our members during the session.


Ural 650…


Annabelle, Don and Dave teamed up to help complete the bike’s aesthetics.  Once the bike was looking suitably resplendent, Annabelle took the bike for a test ride.  After some tickling and choking of the carburettors the engine fired up at the first kick.  Annabelle returned a short while later and was very happy with the way that the bike ran and handled.  There was just one more hurdle to overcome in the form of the speedometer drive that had done a runner from the gearbox.   Some more work will be needed at the next workshop session in order to install a replacement speedo drive.  Let’s hope it can be slid into the gearbox from outside without the need to strip the gearbox.


Yamaha TY80


Various trials and tribulations in all corners of the workshop today with regard to the Yamaha TY 80.  The forks needed a bit of old fashioned wet 'n dry on them to get the spray paint job off.  The paint hadn't taken and had in fact reacted to particles of old paint that had been left on prior to the new paint job.

The forks had also been wrapped in bubble wrap after the new paint job - which had added unwanted patina!

The engine was lowered onto its side and the frame lowered on top - a much easier way to go about things; saving a hernia lowering a heavy engine into a light frame ;-0

Some of the parts that we currently have for this bike aren't the right ones, but hoping to gain a more accurate appraisal of what parts need to be ordered - does anyone know please?


Kawasaki Z250


New tyres, inner tubes and a chain and sprocket set had been purchased for this bike during the week or before the meeting.  Jack and I (Graham) set about installing the tyres and tubes onto the wheels.  Jack managed to install the front tyre with nothing more than his bare hands and a drop of good old fashioned washing up liquid.  The rear tyre took a little more effort with the two of us working together as the tyre was much stiffer.  Thanks to my mistake we are going to have to do it all over again.  In a momentary loss of concentration I forgot the orientation of the wheel and Stever pointed out that the tyre would be going in the wrong direction.


Jack fitted the new rear sprocket onto its carrier, torqued up its four nuts and knocked over their tab washers.  He then cleaned the sprocket hub bearing and gave it liberal greasing.


Yamaha YP125 ‘Yer Majesty’ 


Andy worked hard to track down the illusive fault that has been depriving it of a spark.  He had found a way that looked like it would access its diagnostic menu on its dashboard.  Unfortunately it required the kill switch to be off.  If it was fitted with a kill switch that wouldn’t have been a problem, but it doesn’t have a kill switch and so the hunt for the cause of the problem continues.


Piaggio Velofax


The bike had stood for some months amongst the tangle of mopeds.  It was moved onto a ramp and the engine separated from the frame.  This allowed access to the crankcase.  The small end bearing was fitted to the conrod and the gudgeon pin fed through the small end and into its hole in the piston.  The gudgeon pin (AKA wrist pin or piston pin) was then secured with a circlip at each end.  A word of advice - never ever re-use a piston circlip as it will inevitably drop out and wreck your cylinder.  Also always make sure that the circlips are properly seated in their grooves.  Some pistons have a notch cut out to allow the end of the circlip to be levered with a screwdriver or similar, make doubly sure that the end of the circlip isn't left in the notch.  Again this could lead to the circlip dropping out.  MY home made cylinder base gasket was then slipped into place.  We then struck another problem.  The piston that had fitted the barrel last time we had tried it, no longer fitted.  This was caused by corrosion and was overcome with the use of emery cloth to remove the corrosion from the bore of the cylinder barrel. Then with help from Annabelle I installed the cylinder barrel over the piston and the cylinder studs.    The head and head gaskets were fitted and it now just remains to find a couple more nuts to secure the cylinder head before we can moved onto other things such as installing the carbon fibre replacement reed valves.


In other news…


Steve and Andy worked hard to make a wooden plinth on which to stand the blasting cabinet to put it at a reasonable height.  Great teamwork saw the blast cabinet looking ready for use.


Achievements at the meeting…


  1. Annabelle and Co. now have a rideable Ural after many long months of work and much head scratching.

  2. Jack demonstrated his prowess as a motorcycle tyre fitter.

  3. Work finally resumed on the Piaggio Velofax.

  4. Phil and Guy successfully used Phil’s homemade swinging arm bearing tool to remove and replace the TY80s pressed in plain swinging arm bushes.

  5. Andy and Steve got the blast cabinet to the point of usability.