Classic Motorcycle Mechanics May 2021

q&a

HONDA C50 Q: I was asked to rebuild a Honda C50 for a friend: long story short, after I put it all together and started the motor I took it for a small test ride and discovered that first gear was clicking; the other two gears were fine. It changed up and down fine (it was a little stiff) but I thought this was down to the bike sitting idle in a shed for more than 10 years. I stripped the motor and split the casings, to discover that the big gear had a tooth broken. I couldn’t find any other damage by looking, so a friend gave me the gear and the shaft it was on from another age-related bike. This went back together fine and all the other gears…

zorsts and leaky seals!

I was conscious that I needed to send four used header pipes off to ACF Howell for chrome plating, but before I could send them I needed to fit the exhaust system to the bike and make the new collector boxes to join the six headers to the four original silencers. I was hoping to finish my Z1B Super Six by the time the current coronavirus lockdown rules were relaxed to allow motorcycles to be ridden for leisure. My friend Neil is getting on well painting the tank, side-panels and rear fin in Z1B dark candy red and they should be ready by the end of March. When I made my first Z1 Super Six I had bought two sets of exhausts from Z1-Parts in California so that I could use two…

in suspense!

G’day! Well it sure has been a while since my last RM80X update, but in that time I have managed to make a lot of progress. I now have all of the parts I need to complete the job, even the correct decals. The fuel tank is painted and that was a challenge, finding the exact RM80XT tank decals for the Australian version, which is different to the USA version, where all of the decals were available. I ended up buying three sets from around the globe and the correct ones were right here in Tazmania from motographix.com.au… My mate Phil Gollan did the paint and repairs; an incredible job for the beer reserves I have left! Last update I sent the fork inner tubes away to be rechromed. They came back…

happy birthday hoc!

2021 sees the Honda Owners Club GB hit the big 6-0, meaning they are actually older than Honda UK themselves by one year. Former president of HOC and one of the founder members, Pete Goodger, says: “I remember it well. It was in the Spring of 1961 and I exchanged my Heinkel 197cc Bubble Car at H and A Motorcycles Ltd. in Croydon. These new-fangled Honda motorcycles had just arrived from Japan and were being shot to pieces by the motorcycle press at the time for having indicators and other things deemed as ‘extras’. The shop only had one C72 so I had to wait a week for the next one. When I rode it away I was amazed at the quietness and comfort of the bike. A week later I…

pre-order your cmm!

In these difficult times, it’s often the case that people of our age may not be outside, shopping or buying our favourite magazines – so we’ve got just the thing for you: pre-order. Simply scan the fuzzy square thing with your smartphone (c’mon, we’ve all got one) and off you pop! Alternatively, if you like what you see coming up in the June issue (see page 97 for more) then go to: www.classicmagazines.co.uk/issue/preorderwhere you can pre-order all of Mortons’ wonderful magazines. Even ones about trains, cars or towpaths……

prize winner

Just want to say that I’m really appreciating the content of the magazine, but would love some offers to grease the wheels, so to speak? Yeah, sure, we all like a few quid off here and there, but I’d love some sort of option where maybe we pay a bit more than an outright financial deal and get something for our loyalty – like tools, DVDs or the like. Any chance? Frank Peters Bertie says: “We’re working on it Frank – in the meantime have yourself a Bridgestone Oxford Products Optimiser 3X charger!”…