Saturday November 30th 2024

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 Saturday November 30th 2024…

  1. PW50 Running and ready for Santa’s sack.

During the meeting club mechanic Phil H worked to finish reassembling the little PW50 Yamaha and as you can see from the photos it looked splendid.  After a bit of pumping of the kickstarter the bike fired into life and with some tweaking of the airscrew etc was ticking over very nicely. All in time to ensure one young man would have a fantastic Christmas gift and one that would hopefully see him hooked on motorcycling for the rest of his days. 

Yamaha PW50 - Nearing completion.

Yamaha PW50 - Right side




Yamaha PW50 - Left side


  1. Kawasaki Z250 - Steve bleeding profusely.

Having put the rear brake master cylinder back together Steve filled it with fluid and set about trying to persuade the brake fluid to pump through and into the rear brake caliper.  Assisted by Graham and then Allen Steve adopted the ‘undo the bleed nipple’ ‘pump the pedal’, ‘do the bleed nipple up’ and ‘release the pedal’ approach.  The fluid made its way to the caliper but couldn’t persuaded into it, instead it was drawn back into the pipe when the bleed nipple was undone.  This proved very frustrating.  We would have to wait and see if further pumping at the next session would bring success. We had bought a vacuum bleeder which might have been more successful if it weren’t for its o-ring having swollen causing it to fail to seal, enquiries with its supplier would need to be made!


Steve and the bleedin' nuiscance!



  1. Jialing 125 - Engine looking superb

Andy works his magic with the heat resisting Aluminum paint (Or something similar).  As you can see from the pictures all his hard work preparing the engine paid off and it looked like the bees knees.  Soon it would be time to reassemble the project and ride it.


Let us Spray!



Jialing 125 left side


Jiailing 125 right side

  1. Kawasaki Z550 Con Fusing times.

AJ Jack and John worked on the bike, whilst Graham soldered various bits of the short wiring harness leading to the various bulbs in the tachometer. This was a frustrating and time consuming job with various minor faults in the harness having to be overcome to stop the fuses from blowng instantly whilst ensuring all the lights worked.  Ultimately a faulty bulb holder for the oil pressure light would need to be replaced as the bulb could not be secured properly. The oil pressure light being probably the most important of the warning lights meant this couldn’t be overlooked. The bike’s fine looking King and Queen seat was reattached to the bike having been recovered by local craftsman Stan Leather.  The bikes fuel tank and side panels were away being resprayed and their return was eagerly awaited. 


Inching closer to completion.



  1. Ducati seat soon to be attached to the bike.

The Ducati 250 racer moved a little closer to completion with John and Kieran turning their hands to a spot of wood work to make parts to reinforce the seat out of plywood.  Next it would be time to attach the seat to its mounting but that would have to wait to another session.  Jon told me that he was finding it difficult to track down an electronic ignition system for the engine.  When it had come into his possession it didn’t have an ignition system so the problem couldn’t be overcome by simply reinstallng the contact points system originally fitted to the bike. 




In other news…


One of the club’s newer members bought in his fork legs for a spot of refurbishment.  Working with wet or dry paper, then with buffing wheels in the polisher he demonstrated just how brightly aluminium can be made to shine with a little elbow grease, aluminium polish and time.  Take a look at the results in the photo.




Sadly this was our first meeting after club member (And committee member) Annabelle Hampton, had sadly and unexpectedly passed away. Annabelle had been an enthusiastic member of the club for some time and her bikes had become like part of the furniture. Annabelle would be sadly missed.  Her son Davey attended the meeting towards the end of the morning and was hopefully able to see for himself the strength of the feeling of loss amongst a good turn out of club members. It was Annabelle’s wish to go without a funeral, so something would have to be planned to commemorate her life and her contribution to the club.  Annabelle  however, would not  be leaving us entirely.  Although her Dnepr was pretty much completed and would be stored pending sale, Davey and Mal delivered her MZ  (A 150 I think) to the workshop for repairs to make it fit for sale.  It would become the latest in a long string of Annabelle’s bikes that have been in the workshop.  Getting it into the workshop immediately presented us with a challenge, because although the rear wheel was in roughly the right place, the rear wheel spindle was missing, meaning the bike had to be carried into the workshop!