Saturday September 13th 2025… Armstrong 500… Heinz bought his ex army Armstrong 500cc single into the workshop with a view to swapping its engine for one that had been stripped and blueprinted.  By the time I first saw the bike which was around 10:45 the engine and been removed and other ancillary items were being removed from the frame so that normally inaccessible places could cleaned up and the rust removed where appropriate.  Heinz and Mal were puzzling over how to remove the air filter box from its space in the frame, which seemed impossible.  At first, no matter which way it was turned, it seemed trapped between the frame rails.  When I returned to look at it later on, Mal had manage to free the air filter box but I don’t think anyone was quite sure how, except that it had been pulled forward into the space vacated by the engine. Armstrong 500 minus engine ready to be fettled and rebuilt Honda 650 Vigor… Mal did more work towards getting the bike ready f...

  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...

  Workshop Session on Saturday August 30th 2025 It was a quiet session so the roundup is relatively brief. Yamaha YP125 Majesty... The Yamaha YP125 Majesty (AKA Yer Majesty) was the centre of attention.  Dave, Peter, Don and Jason set about what should have been a simple job of refilling the coolant in the cooling system ready to give the engine a run.  However as soon as coolant was added to the radiator it appeared on the floor underneath the bike.  So, as is so typical of our projects a quick and simple job turned into something more time consuming.   The radiator had to be removed in order to check why it wasn’t holding water.  As the four bolts that secure it were undone one of them promptly decided to shear off. A temptingly long length of bolt was left projecting out of the aluminium crankcase.  However its tapered sides meant that nothing would grip it.  Taking a chisel and using it to try and punch the bolt round failed to turn it, so it...

  Saturday August 16th 2025… Honda CBR1000FX… Work began today on getting the recently donated Honda running and tidied up. With a little persuasion it started but was clearly not running on all four cylinders, so it was time to remove the carburettors and have a peek inside.  Keiran, Pete, Allan Guy and their team set about removing the fuel tank and removing the carburettors.  At first glance everything inside looked clean although one of the CV slides had to be freed off.  However a stuck slide wouldn’t have prevented it from starting on 4 cylinders (As it only comes into play as the throttles are opened and the vacuum being created by the engine rises enough to draw the slides upwards).  Something else had to be at fault.  Graham suggested that despite how clean the inside of the carburettors looked, all the main jets, pilot jets and emulsion tubes (That's the tubes that the main jets screw into) should be removed and cleaned.  It was then discover...

  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...