Pretty quiet session this week in the miserable weather, but lots of things going on. Armstrong 500 Heinz has been touching up paint on the frame to military standard of the day "slap some paint on it" - not to airbrush quality. More paint required. Honda NS125 Ioan busy with wet and dry on the main faring. Kawasaki Z250 Andy-Rattle-Can has been trying to get a nice sheen on a side panel. Yamaha 535 Virago Steve's been shining up the engine block all day. Yamaha TX500 Armed with a full set of cylinder head nuts, Dave W & Phil R got the head on the engine. Later they were seen with various other, scratching their heads - the replacement cam chain doesn't seem to be any longer than the old one.  Honda FX 650 Vigor Mal is still fiddling with the front mudguard bracket - this is about the last thing to do to finish the project.

  Saturday October 11th 2025 The blog this week has a very different feel to it as it comprised of short videos instead of a typed blog.  I would like to thank Don for bringing in his Camcorder allowing me capture the videos you below. Yamaha TX500 (Circa 1978) Kawasaki KZ550LTD (Circa 1980) Suzuki GSF1200 Bandit (Cica 1999) Honda 650 Vigor Jiailing 125 Trails bike project Armstong MT500 Ducati 250cc Single Honda CBR1000F Yamaha 125 Majesty (Yer Majesty)

  Saturday October 4th 2025… I was not able to attend this session owing to feeling unwell.  However I was able to compose this blog entry with the aid of a huge amount of info and pictures sent to me during the session by our club chairman Phil McAthey and using images and info posted by our members on our Facebook pages. Yamaha Majesty… Work was done by the team to prep and spray the panel that had been repaired with Gareth's amazing superglue and Baking Powder mixture and staples from our new plastic repair kit. The panel would be fitted beneath the running boards, bringing the whole thing another step closer to looking ready to ride. Peter helping Andy as he works to prep the Majesty panel for spray painting. Kawasaki Z250 Scorpion… AJ and Peter Davies worked to flat down the bike’s tail piece and side panels in preparation for them to be resprayed.  Honda CBR1000F… Not a lot was done with the bike today but a new club member mucked in and worked to smarten up th...

Saturday September 20th 2025 I was not personally present at the session, so we owe the following summary of what took place to club Chair person Phil McAthey... CBR100F:  Chris/Gareth/Don replaced the inlet rubbers after first removing the metal restrictor plates that were inside them. They were removed after comparing them with the old rubbers which didn't have them. Unfortunately new insulator band screws (like Jubilee clips) needed to be ordered to complete the job so we could put the carbs back on.. YAMAHA MAJESTY:  Chris and Harry worked on Yer Majesty.. The screen was located in the container and fitted at the workshop. The bike was then started and it ran well. Minor repairs to the plastics were all that it now needed. KAWASAKI Z550:   AJ, Dave Wooley and Ioan worked on the wiring and sorted out the indicator problem. Essentially the bike is finished. The starter button was also replaced. KAWASAKI Z250:  New member Dan removed the unw...

  Saturday September 6th 2025. Mash Dirtstar 400 Scrambler… The end of an era. There were just to many issues to overcome.  Graham spent further time grinding away at the right hand exhaust rocker until the automatic decompressor mechanism no longer engaged with it.  Then guided by Graham Jo and Don then spent time reassembling the top end of the engine.  A battery was connected along with a starter pack.  In fact three different starter/chargers were tried. In most instances he engine wouldn’t turn fast enough for there to be a hope of it starting.  However on just one occasion it span up fast enough to fire. Not only that but it started and ran continuously for a whole 5 to 10 seconds.  Long enough to be confident that it could run properly and that the failure to run wasn’t due to an internal problem with the engine. Oddly though, the starter continued spinning the engine when it stopped firing.  In fact it only stopped spinning the engine when...

  Saturday August 9th 2025… Suzuki GSF 1200 Bandit. Work was done to improve the appearance of the bike by addressing some of the wear and tear and corrosion.   Guy tackled the aluminium foot rest and exhaust hangers  restoring them to a bright silver painted finish.  Andy worked on the rusty area of the frame behind the front forks.  He cleaned it and  removed the loose corrosion before applying a coat of basecoat, kindly supplied by the bike’s previous owner.  Next session it would be time to apply the cherry red metallic top coat. Excellent use of old cardboard for masking purposes.  The left-hand footrest plate looking resplendent in a fresh coat of silver paint. The team hard at work refurbishing the Bandit The resprayed bracketry on the right looking very smart in a fresh coat of silver paint.  Z250 Scorpion… The correct speedo cable had arrived, but Keiran wanted to know if the speedo actually worked.  After a bit of thought, Grah...

  Saturday July 12th 2025 Suzuki GSF 1200 Bandit… Ioin prepared and sprayed the rocker cover, restoring it to its original finish.  Graham, Heinz and new member Richard then set out about re-fitting it using the brand new rocker cover bolts that had been supplied with the bike.  Once the rocker had been carefully fiddled back into place so as not to disturb the rubber seal that runs around its outside edge. They went to fit the new bolts.  Four of the eight bolts fitted, the other four could not be persuaded to screw in.  It was then that it became apparent that someone had fitted some sort of thread repair kit to four of the bolt holes and at the same time reduced the thread size from 8mm to 6mm.  An attempt was made to cut a 6mm thread onto one of the new 8mm bolts, but the difference in diameter was too great.  So it would be a case of getting the silver spray out to tidy up the modified bolts used by the previous owner.  They had been ingeniou...