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 27th 2025 Honda CBR1000F… Graham and Don pondered and tinkered and pondered over how to get the bike’s four carburetors in their new inlet rubbers.  Every time the right hand carburetor slipped into its inlet rubber the left hand one popped out.  The trick to overcome this was to completely loosen the clamps on all four carburetors and in particular those on the middle two cylinders.  Then push the clamps on the middle two cylinders towards the engine (i.e. away from the carbs.) This allowed the inlet rubber to expand without any restriction.  Another problem on this particular bike was that there was a metal bracket on the frame that was getting in the way of the idle adjuster screw which projected out of the left hand side of the carburetors.  Once the bracket was bent slightly to get it out of the way the carburetors could be properly lined up and finally slipped easily into their respective inlet rubbers.  Then all the clamps w...

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 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...