2013 - VJMCsan antonio, TX 78209 [email protected] membership Director Bill granade 813-961-3737 [email protected] missioN statemeNt: The purpose of this organization is to promote the

2013 SANTA FE MOTORADO BIKE SHOW

Volume 34 / Number 5 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013 • $5

official publicatioN of the ViNtage japaNese motorcycle club of North america, iNc.

WHAT’S INSIDE:eXcalibur:somethiNg special

hoNDa gl1000hyDraulic clutchcoNVersioN

hoNDa’s miD-siZeD fours

iN this issue

ViNTagE JapaNEsE MOTORCyClE MagaziNE 3

presiDeNt’s letter: looking Forward and getting Engaged ............................................4tech help: suzuki savage Head plug leak Fix .....................................................8Dealing with spilled Brake Fluid ......................................................15Honda gl1000 Hydraulic Clutch Conversion ................................34Winterize your Engine Too .............................................................. 44safety first: Do the Right Thing ........................................................................... 29from the eDitor: a primer on Creating Magazine articles .......................................49club busiNess: Call for VJMC Board Nominations ..................................................52eVeNts corNer .................................................................................55aDVertisers spotlight ...................................................................57classifieDs .........................................................................................58

DepartmeNts

features

eVeNt:The american (Honda) Dream

6history:Excalibur:something very special13project biKe:Wes Cooley Transformer

17eVeNt:Kansas City VJMC:3rd annual spring show & swap meet19history:Balancing in the ‘70s:honda’s mid-sized fours22eVeNt:Vintage Days at Mid-Ohio

36history:2013: the 30th anniversary of vjmc australia39eVeNt:Kansas City VJMC:1st regional vintage japanese show45

oN the coVer Honda “Step” bikes, from small to large.

cover photo:Vince Ciotti

26

2013 SANTA FE MOTORADO BIKE SHOW

coVer story

4 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013

Looking Forward and Getting Engaged

Official Publication of the VJMCOctober/November 2013

Volume 34, Number 5

presiDeNtTom Kolenko

[email protected]

eDitorMichael Fitterling

[email protected]

DesigN DirectorNadine g. Messier

classifieD aDsgary gadd

[email protected]

Display aD Director/Vpgordon East

[email protected]

aD sales repart snow

144 W. Oakview placesan antonio, TX 78209

[email protected]

membership DirectorBill granade

[email protected]

missioN statemeNt:The purpose of this organization is to promote the preservation, restoration, and enjoyment of vintage Japanese motorcycles (defined here as those 20 years old or older). The VJMC also will promote the sport of motorcycling and cameraderie of motorcyclists everywhere.

© 2013 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club of North america, an iRs-approved Not-for-prof-it 501(c)(7) corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted without permission. All articles copyright by their respective authors.

The VJMC Magazine is published six times per year, in February, april, June, august, October, and December. The views and opinions ex-pressed in letters or other content are those of the author and do not necessarily repre-sent VJMC policy. The VJMC accepts no liabili-ty for any loss, damage, or claims occuring as a result of advice given in this publication or for claims made by advertisers of products or services in this publication.

presiDeNt ’s letter

the VJMC shapes its own future through the quality and commitment of its volunteers. When folks ask me what my strategy is for growing the VJMC, I have to pause and re-member what works for us. Rather than a complex planning model and big budgets, we rely on those VJMC volunteers who know that fun is multiplied when shared. Our growth is really fueled by volunteers that build fun motorcycling events for others.

Some believe the club’s primary membership appeal is lim-ited to the Midwest. Real data challenges that hypothesis. We are strong where forward thinking and execution takes place. Jack Stein and Bob Leonard put Ari-zona on our map and grew the chapter there to more than eighty members. John Fiorino in Idaho has a merry band of VJMCers who staged their first state rally this year. Mark Bayer’s team in Kansas City filled the year with fun events in the Heartland. Peter Slatcoff continues to grow Florida like a franchise, with the help of its committed Field Reps, with new venues and events. All it takes is one VJMC volunteer who wants to make a difference for others who also has a passion for old Japanese motorcycles. If you feel you have what it takes and would like to become a Field Representative contact me directly at [email protected].

As you read this issue covering our events in Big Bear, CA, and Leeds, AL, rec-ognize that hard work and fun make this club work. As a niche club, we can grow through partnerships with others. The International Motorcycle Shows are a case in point. This year’s shows have expanded all vintage bike coverage and participa-tion to over ten cities during the winter months. The VJMC will be at most of the venues with amazing displays of members’ bikes. If you can attend, be sure and thank those club members representing us so well. These shows help motorcy-clists survive until the spring thaw.

Perhaps the most engaged group of volunteers includes the VJMC Board of Di-rectors (BOD). This board provides the governance talent and leadership neces-sary for our club’s growth and survival. Our club’s by-laws require elections for directors to be held every two years, and we are now accepting nominations from the Field Representative ranks.

This is a working board in every sense. Being a director is not an honorary or ceremonial position. Each director agrees to hold one or more specific jobs (e.g., Events Coordinator, Regalia, etc.) during their two year term of office. Participa-tion in monthly conference calls and submission of written activity reports keeps everyone informed and focused on the future.

We try to operate this club as we would a business, with budget accountability, transparency, and integrity. We seek experienced club volunteers from our Field Representative ranks who have demonstrated a willingness to contribute to our growth and mission. Please see the call for nominations in this issue to help staff this important team.

After the wettest summer in Georgia history, I look forward to drying out and catching up on riding this fall. Maybe I’ll see you on the road, with that big grin that only comes from riding the toys of our youth. These time machines never fail to take me into the fun zone. Kick start the fun and enjoy the ride before that long winter ahead.

Ride safe, Tom Kolenko, VJMC President

eVeNt


TOp: parade route in perry park.aBOVE lEFT: Dreams on display after the parade.aBOVE RigHT: Not a Honda.lEFT: Byron, Barbara, and steve on the parade route.BOTTOM: local firetruck shows its patriotism.

if you reside in Colorado you already know how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful place. Colorado conjures images of high mountain passes, deep river can-yons, and spectacular motorcycle riding. A special place in Colorado is Perry Park, a small golf community nestled against the Pike National Forest in Douglas County, south of Denver. The area boasts of scenic red rock formations that thread through the pine trees, vast open valleys, and rolling foothills dotted with farm houses and barns set near small streams and ponds.

Every year the Perry Park community hosts a Fourth of July parade. This year, three vintage Japanese bikes helped celebrate our nation’s independence. VJMC member Byron Blend, a resident of the Perry Park community, brought his red, white, and blue Honda Dreams to the festivities. The Dreams were ridden by Byron, Barbara Bess, and Mike Hurley. The onlookers loved the bikes, and they garnered a great deal of attention as they wound their way along the parade route.

Nothing is more American than red, white, and blue vintage Japanese motorcycles in a Fourth of July parade! Who says the American Dream is dead? l

The American (Honda) Dreamby Robert Kelly

OppOsiTE: getting ready! Byron with Barbara in the background.

i had just finished repairs on my ,68 CB350, when I turned my attention to my ,86 Suzuki Savage (LS650), known lately as “Old Smoky.” The Savage has final-ly attained “vintage” status with 1986 being the first year for this four-speed, sin-gle-cylinder, cruiser. The Savage, however, lives on today as the Boulevard S40, and since 1993 sports five gears. That’s a long run for this basic and simple one-lunged, still-carburetored (Mikuni CV), belt-driven machine. The Savage is a lot of fun to ride with its typical thumper low-end torque and light weight (about the same as my CB350). I would still be riding mine if it wasn’t ergonomically a little too small for my medium-sized frame.

This bike, like most others, has its little eccentricities. Pre-1995s were not equipped with a torque-limiting gear between the starter and the crankshaft, which can result

suzuki savage head plug leak fixby Mike Fitterling


The motor from the other side. The troublesome, leaking plug is circled.

looking from the outside, the plug is in this recess above the header to exhaust port connection.

Cylinder with head cover removed, left side.

in broken parts if the motor kicks back at shut down. There is also an issue with the cam chain tensioner not having enough throw, which can eventually cause prob-lems. These problems are easily addressed, however. A forum dedicated to just this bike (http://suzukisavage.com) has information on all the fixes and mods, if you are interested in learning more. Here I am addressing one particular issue and some of the typical kinds of unexpected things that arise when working on old bikes.

Savages have a bad habit of leaking oil from the cam case. Apparently, no one told the Suzuki assemblers to use sealant when they installed one particular plug, and from there the problem stems. Above left are photos of Old Smoky’s cylinder with the head cover removed. I was able to do this without removing the engine, but my manual says that is not always the case. After removing the bolts, it took a kind of tilting and twisting motion forward and to the right, while cussing and holding my tongue just so, while saying three Hail Marys, to pull mine away and out of the frame. You can see in the photo some oil-staining along the edge of the top fin also indicating a leak on that mating surface as well.

The plug is there because directly below the hole that it fills is one of the cylinder bolt heads. To torque this bolt, a socket on an extension has to go through the hole, then the hole gets plugged before installing the head cover. The problem with this is that any oil making its way past this plug drips directly onto the header, creating a nice smoke screen when I was stopped. I live in Florida so there is an upside to this, as it helps with mosquito control when riding at twilight, but, really, the bike is better off without it. Often the leak makes things look much worse than they are and causes all sorts of panic among riders thinking the head, or worse, is leaking. The hole is well hidden, and when you ride, the oil tends to blow all over the cylinders and back, usually more so on the left side, as the oil obeys gravity and finds its way to that side when the bike is on its stand, which can lead you astray looking for the cause of the


tech help

gram at approximately full size and tape it to a box; poke holes where the bolts go with a screwdriver; then stick the bolts in their place as you remove them. Some of the bolts require special gaskets that are a kind of metal/rubber composition. Of course, mine had none. Luckily the local dealer had them in stock.

(The bolts I was not using because I was not attaching the trim are L65, C20, and the two C25s. The bolts I was miss-ing are the two L25s, in the valve cover openings.)

Whoever had worked on my bike be-fore was, well, probably not a very expe-rienced mechanic. If you look carefully

at the bolts in the photo fourth from left, top row, you might notice that two are missing (other than those trim cover bolts) that go just inside the valve cov-ers. I guess the previous mechanic didn’t think they were necessary. I went to my local Suzuki dealer and ordered those

two bolts. The same wrencher appar-ently didn’t have the proper rubber tear-drop-shaped gasket for the head cover, either, or was too cheap to buy one. He filled the area with silicone instead. I or-dered a new proper gasket. The photo (top row, fifth from left) shows the sili-cone “gasket” I pulled out.

The head cover had been installed with what looked like household silicone caulk, which oozed out everywhere. The photo (top row, far right) shows some of the stringy mess I scrubbed off the area.

I took the cover and stuck it in some diesel for cleaning. The top side is shown below. (left, middle row) Right of that

photo, the bottom side is shown. Circled is the area where the teardrop-shaped gasket goes.

Next I cleaned up all the mating sur-faces. Here (far right, middle row) I was cleaning and flattening the head cover on a piece of wet and dry 400 grit on a

leak, unless you know about this plug.The top row photo, third from left,

shows the location of the plug with the bolt head below it from the outside. There, back in that cavern next to the pipe. You must be careful keeping track of all the head cover bolts. They are all different and must go back exactly from where they came.

Note—My Savage is a “rat bike.” (I had picked up the bike in pieces, not all in-cluded and many in bad shape, but the price was right, as in ‘”free.’”) I did not put on the head cover trim, so four bolts were not needed for my install, but if you are reinstalling the trim on yours, a cou-

ple of their retaining bolts go in from the bottom of the cover. Don’t forget them before putting on the cover, or you will be grumbling and disassembling the head cover again to do it right!

Here’s a neat trick from the Savage fo-rum: Print out the microfiche cover dia-

The head cover, sealed and in place.installing a new plug cover. Keeping track of the bolts.

soaking the cover in some diesel. The teardrop-shaped gasket goes here. Cleaning the head cover mating surface.

The teardrop-shaped silicone “gasket.” The stringy mess inside.a few missing bolts.

granite slab—a sink cutout I got free from a countertop place; very useful for this work and sharpening my woodworking tools. This did a good job of removing any remnants of the old silicone and smoothed the surface. I tied up the rocker arms so they would not get ground down as I pushed this back and forth over the paper. Next I cleaned the mating surfaces on the motor and installed a new plug with high temp red silicone.

Next, I got ready to put the cover back on. First, I stuck the new bolts that were missing into their places on the cardboard so as not to lose track of “what one is which one and which one is where” (Thank you, Dr. Seuss.), then put the special washers (rubber in the middle of the steel washer) on their respective bolts. Wait a minute, I also had forgotten that one bolt came out with a nut used for a spacer under its head (Yeah, I know, what were they ‘thinkin’?), so obviously that was the wrong bolt. I couldn’t cut it shorter be-cause it was supposed to be shouldered. I had to order the correct one for that spot (L55) along with a couple more special washers that I had been shorted in the previous order.

You can see the new bolts in L25 positions, just inside the tappet covers, (preceeding page, middle, bottom row). I was missing special washers under S30 (This one was still on the cover.) and L70. L55 is the bolt with the nut “washer/spacer” someone had put under its head. Once I had picked up all the remaining bits, I moved on to the final installation of the head cover. Shown (previous page, right, bottom row) is the cover, all sealed and back on the motor.

No leaks or drips…from the cam case. Of course, the motor was still leaking like crazy all over the cylinder—but no cam case or plug leak! It was going to take more futzing to completely stop the oil. That came later and required the motor coming out. Until then I rode the bike and cleaned up the mess from time to time.

The thing with these old bikes is that the work is never done. As the motto of the Mo-torcycle Kickstart Classic ride goes: “Wrench, Ride, Repeat.” I hope this small descrip-tion helps someone else with that darn dripping plug, anyway. l


My “rat bike” suzuki savage. good as new, kinda.


history

following the excellent response from members to my previous article on the Setright CBX, I now would like to tell you about another amazing CBX special from back in 1979. Thank you to those of you who took the trouble to contact me; it is very gratifying.

Many years ago I had heard about a very special CBX called “Excalibur,” named after the sword from the ancient legend of King Arthur, and set out to locate it or at least get some detailed information about it for other enthusiasts to enjoy. Did it really exist? Yes, it did! I eventually tracked it down to find it is owned by a buddy of mine from Scotland, Rod Cormie, who owns a large number of CBXs and other Hondas. Rod was one of the early members of The US ICOA UK group and joined a month or so after me, so I have got to know him well over the last twenty years.

Some weeks ago, another CBX buddy, Hugh Williams, who lives down the road from me in Holyhead, North Wales, UK called to see me. He wanted to look through my Moto-Martin brochure and road test archive as he had a frame on or-der from Georges Martin, who had started limited production again. (If you want more details on the frame kits, email Hugh at [email protected]. He will be happy to help with details. He is also looking for any Moto-Martin bits you may have lying around.) Hugh is also big into CBX Spondons (frames by Spondon Engineering Limited). Many years ago, Hugh met the first owner of Excalibur–millionaire car dealer, the late Dennis Prosser, who had asked well-known UK racing Triumph Trident specialist Alastair (Floss) Lawrie in 1979 to build him the CBX special to, at that time, top all other CBX specials. The result was Excalibur. As it says below, the chassis was built by renowned chassis builder Tony Foale, with Lawrie putting everything together and fettling the engine.

Hugh gave me the spec sheet produced by Dennis before he passed away. I will list below everything that was done to the bike at the time. I believe the cost at 1979 prices was over $40,000! Dennis did race the machine in a number of un-limited races, and I understand his best result was second, behind a full race-spec RG500 at Knockhill. He also raced at other Scottish circuits such as East Fortune with limited success. I think the weight of the machine and the small size of the circuits was the problem. On the following page, I will now quote exactly from Dennis’s spec-sheet in his own words so there is no doubt what has been done to the machine, and you can see the extreme thought and detail that went into this amazing CBX.

excalibur: something very specialby Mel Watkins, VJMC USA, CBX Specialist, VJMC (UK) retired chairman (14 years), CBX Riders Club (UK), ICOA USA


I hope you found this of interest. Thanks to Hugh Williams for supply-ing me with copies of Dennis Prosser’s spec-sheets and one photograph for my archive and for this article. Apologies for the quality of one of the pictures, but the machine is partly dismantled at the moment, so I felt thirty plus years old pictures from my archive would at

eXcalibur specs1979

chassis:a one off construction by Tony Foale made to my specification. (see frame specs below.)

froNt forKs: are “Earles” type leading link units, utiliz-ing De-Carbon gas filled suspension units, adjustable for damping and spring rate. The leading link design incorporates fully floating girling brake calipers suspended by adjust-able drag links, which offer variable settings for progressive mechanical anti-dive braking. The front fork’s swinging arms are especially cast as a one off in magnesium for this bike.

rear suspeNsioN:is by De-Carbon gas rear unit, and the swing-ing arm assembly is bolted directly to the rear of the engine gearbox by half inch dual alloy plates. The rear suspension is adjust-able for damping and spring preload.

braKes: Calipers are by a.p.lockheed with goodrich hoses. Front Discs are 340mm spondon units and are of the fully floating type. Rear Disc 280mm spondon-slotted disc.

frame: The frame consists of five parts. i) There is a triangulated steering head assembly, which is bolted by four bolts to the cylinder head, thus utilizing the motor itself as a stressed member. ii) a rear sub assembly runs in a tri-angular fashion from the rear of the cylinder head to the gearbox. This assembly holds the De-Carbon suspension unit, the petrol tank, and the seat. iii) There are two half inch thick alloy plates bolted to the gearbox to take the swinging arm. iv) The swinging arm assembly itself is the final frame member and is heavy duty steel box section tube. v) Wheels: Dymag 18 inch by 115mm rear, 18 inch by 70mm front.

The frame consists of short straight 5/16” diameter Reynolds tubing and features a design free from bent tubes and is attached directly to the motor for rigidity.

boDyworK: Front fairing is a Moto-Martin unit incorpo-rating four halogen headlights, electronic tacho, smiths speedo, oil pressure gauge, oil temp gauge, and ammeter.

seat: This unit was handmade as a one off and incorporates a built in molded rear light unit and large aerofoil.

gas taNK: a six gallon alloy tank, baffled internally to prevent fuel surge. Twin fuel fillers are fitted.

electrics: Most of the standard CBX switches and elec-trics have been utilized, although a custom made loom has been used for neatness. a Boyer Bransden electronic rev limiter is used on the ignition system to halve the voltage to the coils in event of over revving. The battery is mounted behind the gearbox, below the swinging arm assembly, keeping a low center of gravity.

the first eNgiNe:(see note below referencing current engine) 1978 UK standard 1000z engine modified as follows:

coN roDs Heavy forged steel rods by M.T.C. (Usa). The rods are safe up to 14,000 rpm and are used stateside for drag racing. CB1100R big-end and main bearing shells. Extra capacity high flow oil pump with modi-fied pressure relief valve.

pistoN Kit 1305cc Venolia forged pistons. 10.5-1 comp ratio with solid copper head gasket.

cyliNDer heaD inlet side is ported to 34mm and gas flowed utilizing 1mm over-size inlet valves. The exhaust valves were left standard as they are considered ample size. all this work handled by alastair (Floss) lawrie. The camshafts are Russ Collins items, and designed to boost torque as well as BHp. gear Box and Clutch. Both modified to handle extra power. (No details given to Mel)

carburettors Modified CBX items and internally polished and equipped with power jets to increase throttle response. ledar Ram-Jets and air corrector kits used.

eXhaust Russ Colins design which can be used with or without detachable baffles.

least give an idea what this awesome machine looked like in full racing trim. Also, thanks to Rod Cormie for supplying the racing information and filling me in with other data. Rod tells me the engine in the machine now is a Russ Collins 1240 cc big bore, and if anyone is interested, due to ill health, Rod might be interested in selling the

machine subject to sensible offers for a great big slice of CBX history. [email protected] (Scotland)

Further pictures of the machine can be seen on page 238 of club member Ian Foster’s The CBX Book. Thanks to Angus Anderson for supplying the pic-ture of Dennis Prosser on the bike be-fore it was rebuilt as Excalibur. l


when bleeding brake cylinders, it is common to leave off the mas-ter cylinder cap so you can refill it. Doing this makes it easy to refill the master cylinder, but also makes it real-ly easy to spill brake fluid on your bike. This can ruin a good paint job on your gas tank or front wheel or any other paint on your motorcycle. Pete Boody told us how to take care of this.

A few years ago, I attended a Jap-anese motorcycle show at the AMA headquarters in Ohio. Some of our members put on short seminars about various subjects. Pete Boody, from Tennessee, put on a seminar about re-building front disk brakes and in the course of his talk covered this subject. Pete reminded us that DOT 3 brake fluid was hydroscopic, meaning that it would absorb water from the atmo-

Dealing with Spilled Brake Fluidby Jim Townsend

sphere. That is why there is always a warning on bottles of brake fluid to al-ways use brake fluid from a “new, un-opened bottle.” If there is water in the brake fluid, it will turn to steam when really hot, and possibly make your brake drag.

However, this can also work to your advantage. If you are bleeding your brake and squeeze the brake lever, you may cause your brake fluid in the mas-ter cylinder to erupt like a small geyser and spill on your painted gas tank and other parts. Pete suggested keeping a spray bottle filled with water close at hand in order to spray water on any spilled brake fluid. Since brake fluid is hydroscopic, it will absorb the water, minimizing the damage to your paint or eliminating it entirely.

So, the next time you bleed your

brakes, have that spray bottle of water at your side. If you spray water on the spilled brake fluid and wipe it off im-mediately, you will most likely have no damage. l

tech help

Since brake fluid is hydroscopic, it will absorb the water, minimizing the damage to your paint or eliminating it entirely.


Wes Cooley Transformerby Bob Mayer

project biKe

jeff Castine, of Orange, Massachu-setts, has been in the motorcycle tun-ing/repair business since he was fifteen years old. He’s owned his own business, All-Sport Cycle Service, for eighteen of those thirty-eight years. It is said in this region that he is the maestro of carburetor tuning. I believe that if all carburetors were tuned with his skill, fuel injection would never have been invented!

Jeff is a longtime admirer of Wes Cooley, AMA superbike champion in 1979 and 1980. Cooley’s iconic blue and white #34 Yoshimura Suzuki has become legend. Perhaps that is one reason for Jeff ’s lifelong affection for Suzuki GSs. And who can blame him? The original GS750 was an awesome four-stroke motorcycle from a compa-

ny known for great two-strokes. It was attractive, well-balanced, and fast.

So it was a natural step for Jeff to start his bike project with a 1979 Suzu-ki GS1000. Jeff wanted this bike to be unique and demonstrate his respect for the champion. Top performance was crucial, but it was also important to re-tain the old school classic look. (There are lots of us “old school” guys around. My wife refers to it as “living in the past!” So be it.)

The engine used in this bike is a 1990 GSXR1100. Jeff rebuilt the engine with an 81 mm bore. Displacement is now 1216cc. Four 39mm CRF Keihin carbs were installed. The compression ratio is 13 to 1. He originally used Yoshimu-ra cams and a full race exhaust to get 160hp. To make it more streetable, he

went back to the original cams and stock headpipes. Now it’s only 151hp. Not bad for a 461lb bike!

An ’05 Suzuki Bandit donated the front end, complete with six piston brake calipers. The finished bike also uses Bandit wheels, swingarm, and rear suspension. An RK-GB520 GXW chain is used, as well as these cool Italian Ri-zoma mirrors. Jeff did all the work in-cluding the classic blue and white paint scheme.

The result is a GSF1200ST—a “Wes Cooley Transformer.” l


eVeNt

motorcycle clubs to attend the event and be represented. The Santa Fe Trails Motorcycle Club, which is the Kansas City chapter of the AMCA (Antique Motorcycle Club of America) was present. One of the largest Kansas City enthusiast-based motorcycle clubs, HoAME (Heart of America Motorcycle Enthusiasts), attended, and the VCME (Vintage and Custom Motorcycle En-thusiasts) Club was also represented. KCVJMC has worked hard to collab-orate with other vintage motorcycle groups in the Kansas City area to help create a friendly atmosphere between the different clubs. We all just like old bikes!

It took nearly seventy-five people and

ty of room, but we will have room for future growth. Several vendors brought complete bikes and others just parts. One vendor brought over a dozen com-plete vintage Japanese motorcycles. Our desire is to see this part of the meet grow substantially in the future.

This event was a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, so we also had some help from their or-ganization. We also had a great deal of support from Schembri Flooring and Design, who offered us the use of their land and facilities. We had a total of seven sponsor groups involved includ-ing MDA, Schembri, and KCVJMC. Martech, a local advertising company, printed several thousand color fliers

as well as designed and printed some great collectible posters. Elscott Studios created a special design for our T-shirts and Union Shop Apparel gave all of our show staff free T-shirts, all embossed with the Elscott design. Clymer Manu-als also donated a number of motorcy-cle service manuals to be given out as gifts. The support was great, and all of the funds which were generated went to support MDA. One of our KCVJMC members, Joe Galetti, was the person behind the marshaling of so much of the support for this great cause. Darrell Smith, the MDA representative told me personally that the event had been a success for MDA.

We also invited several other local

the Kansas City Chapter of VJMC had its 3rd Annual Spring Show & Swap Meet on Saturday, May 11th. This event was at a new location because we had outgrown our previous one.

As is usual in the Midwest. weather is almost always an issue, and the week prior to the show many of us followed the weather closely. It turned out to be a great day, a little chilly early in the morning, but was around 60 degrees by ten. I think the event ended in the mid 60s.

Our club has continued to grow, and we had a great club membership turn-out. We had at least 150 motorcycles in the show, with many bikes being cus-tomized. Japanese café racers are catch-

Kansas City VJMC: 3rd annual spring show & swap meetby Mark Bayer, KCVJMC President, Missouri Representative VJMC

also exhibited numerous beautiful café racer versions of our favorite vintage bikes. The Yamaha XS650s seem to be a popular bike to customize, and there were at least three which had been beau-tifully built. Along with several Kawa-saki triples (an H1 and an H2), several pre-1966 Honda Dreams, and a mixed array of vintage Japanese scooters and mini bikes. There were also many early Japanese dirt bikes being shown.

This event also included a swap meet. The main reason for making a change of location was the fact that we were so packed last year that there was no more room for additional growth at all. The new location included several acres of open field, so not only was there plen-

ing on in this area. One man brought a beautifully restored stock Honda S90 with a cafe racer version of an S90, as well. Both were in exceptional condi-tion. We had an almost complete set of early Honda CB fours. The fours included several CB350 fours, sever-al CB400Fs, two CB500s, a CB550, several CB650s, numerous pre-1979 CB750s, and a CB900. A local deal-er also brought the new 2013 CB1100 four, which will certainly become a classic in the future. A partially restored 1967 CL90 was shown, as well as two CL175s. One of the CL175s was a stock model in good original condition; the other one is raced in AHRMA.

Many bikes were stock, but the event


seven organizations to pull this event off. Everyone in-volved felt that the event was fun, well attended, very posi-tive, and lively. Relationships between vintage bike enthusi-asts were made, and many were introduced to the VJMC. I spoke to well over sixty people about VJMC and KCVJMC. One of our goals is to promote VJMC in the Midwest and, of course, to build interest in our own Kansas City VJMC chapter. I spoke to several who stated that they had recently joined the national club, and I also handed out numerous membership applications for VJMC membership to new people. It was lots of work but was so much fun. Our own vice-president, Frank Sereno, spent countless hours plan-ning and attending meetings. His work was a big part of the event’s success.

We have seen definite growth in our club and events since last year. Our 2012 Show & Swap was featured in the VJMC magazine in the August 2012 issue (Volume #33). In the ar-ticle from last year, we reported that around seventy-eight bikes were shown. Having this number nearly double in this event is significant. We can say, without a doubt, that we are having the largest vintage Japanese motorcycle shows in our area. Weather permitting, 2014 will even be better! Follow our activities at www.kcvjmc.org l


Balancing in the ‘70s: honda’s mid-sized foursby Vince Tidwell

balance—It’s the word you hear jour-nalists writing time and again about why the Porsche was chosen over the faster Corvette, or the more expensive BMW RT, over a less expensive but worthy competitor. You might not be-lieve it now but there was a time when getting off a Triumph 650 twin and onto a massively wide four-cylinder Honda 750 was intimidating. Dismounting from today’s Gold Wing onto that same 750 now might even make you feel in-secure.

So two years after Honda beat Kawa-saki to the market with its 1969 four cylinder 750, it knew it had to take its deserved technological marketing advantage momentum back into the (then) middle displacement range to balance its line with the second part of a one-two punch—the 1971 CB 500. At this point Honda had manufactured its fifteen millionth motorcycle and was flush with creative research and de-velopment dollars. The US got its first look-see in April 1971, while the UK had to wait almost a year later until Jan-uary 1972.

Honda’s venerable double overhead cam CB 450 would remain available and then be replaced with the unlamented CB 500 T as a less expensive alternative. Clearly, Honda was attempting to gain as much of the proverbial shelf space of the motorcycle market as it could get.

Tipping the scales at 80 pounds light-er, at near 450, and with a slighter high-er power-to-weight ratio than the 750, the 50 horsepower 500 made more sense than the more expensive 750. The 500 was better looking too, most agreed. The 750 was still handsome, in a sort of exotic Japanese kind of way, while the 500 looked more familiar to British bike lovers. Without squinting you could see quite a bit of Triumph in it, with its bottom-truncated tear-drop-shaped fuel tank, proportionately matched side covers, and vertical cylin-

ders. I think the 500 had a better sound too; perhaps a psychological effect of the four handsome, slightly upturned trumpet exhausts.

The 500 boasted an honest 100 mph at full tilt and even won the 1973 Isle of Mann 500 cc TT production race, albeit by a slim margin of 8.2 seconds, over a lighter, two-stroke Suzuki 500 Titan. On the scale of the TT, that’s more than intimate.

Honda implemented a quiet Morse Hy-Vol chain in the engine and revert-ed back to keeping all the oil in the case rather than a wet sump as on the 750. Quieter and with fewer pumps and parts, it made for an even more com-pact design and lower center of gravity.

history

BElOW: a young Bo Derek on the cover of Cycle in June 1971.

a 1971 Honda CB-500

OppOsiTE: a 550 glamorized in this early 70s poster.

pretty close. If you find a perfectly clean one now, know that the old stock shocks likely won’t dampen, you won’t have the cornering clearance of the newer bikes, and with modern tires you will feel the frame flex, especially the swing arm if it has the original bushings.

Beginning in 1971 and for two years, you could choose brown gold or green, the latter truly indicative of the ,70s. In ’73 the brown changed shade, gold went to orange, and green was available as a “Candy Bucchus,” a word even Google doesn’t recognize.

The 500 grew ten percent, to a 550 in ,74, with the colors changing shade once again. The price rose from $1,345 to $1,600 with welcomed upgrades to the insufficient clutch, gearbox, and front forks. The 550 didn’t boast more horsepower, but did offer more mid-range torque, knocking off a half-sec-ond in the quarter mile and a confi-dent push past the century mark at full speed. I have a strong suspicion that when Honda increased their 350 four

In fact, the engine was such a good de-sign that you needn’t scrutinize for very long to see its influence in the Benelli Sei—their 750cc six cylinder. You do the math.

I owned a brown 1971 500 for a couple of years and can say, even when con-sidering its much lower frame rigidity and chassis flex compared to today’s bikes, that its handling was inspiring, but not spectacular. As with any dis-cussion of dynamics, weight is the en-emy of all things except stability. Such was the case of the 500 compared to its bigger sibling. I remember a bit of an unnerving wobble on the interstate in bends at speeds exceeding 85 mph. Seventy miles per hour for the 500 was the sweet spot compared to my current ’73 CL-350’s 45-60 mph on small back roads, the perfect road difference prob-ably being a painted line down the mid-dle of it.

Going from a CB 175 to the 500 in 1972 was not unlike reaching puber-ty. Come to think of it, my timing was


budget DOHC Z650. Honda’s CB 650 is all but unknown but could be per-ceived as an even better balanced bike than the 500/550, with its near 750-like power, 550-like weight, transistor igni-tion, Comstar wheels, disk brake, and shaft drive. It wasn’t very aesthetically appealing, however.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what happened thereafter in the Unit-ed Kingdom. The 500/550 remained on sale, eventually adding things like DOHC, air-assisted TRAC anti-dive forks, four valves per cylinder, and fi-nally earning the CBX moniker and fairing. It also had an inboard front disk brake to compensate for what was already solved with newer brake pad materials, poor wet performance. The enclosed brake would get too hot and was not something you wanted to take the time to replace. All this technology came with a price, however. Honda lost a significant amount of its reputation for reliability and was only able to make it through tough times with their auto-motive profits.

So if you’re looking for a good used classic mid-sized Honda four, here’s what you can expect outside of the usu-al restoration: The clutch in the 500s aren’t up to too many hard starts, the rear drum brakes have been known to crack, and the exhaust pipes are likely to have rust holes in the bottom from cold combustion byproduct water, left over when the large exhaust areas weren’t heated enough from short trips.

The 500 has received a lot of inadver-tent PR over the years, from Bo Der-ek sitting on it as a model to a recent insurance commercial of an old guy riding around a track exclaiming, “I’ve been riding hard all my life.” Many have been caféd and modded, earning the respect of artists and admirers but los-ing its identity in the process. For me, I’d like to break my purist mindset by combining a 1976 550K with the tank and sidecovers from a 1973 500. Better still, I think Honda should replicate this size and style as much as possible with current-day technology and offer it at a handsome price. Make mine ’73 “Max-im Brown” or “Candy Bucchus Olive.”l

to a 400, they knew the 500 had to in-crease as well to keep from scavenging their mid-range sales. Both bikes were changed at the same time.

1975 and ’76 brought on a different fuel tank paint scheme and instrumen-tation changes. For 1977 and ’78 the distinctive megaphone exhaust pipes were replaced with non-seamed coni-cal ones, and the ’78 yet another change was that of a Harley-inspired (Thanks, Kawasaki!) dual contoured seat.

All the aforementioned bikes were named the K series. With the 550K, Honda began offering an F series, also know as Super Sport, in 1975, with the main distinction being a four-into-one exhaust. Interesting to note, in the US the four-into-four K was offered 1974 through 1978, while the four-into-one F lasted only from 1975 through 1977. The 550s had new warning light pan-els and an ignition key with fork lock between the instruments—no more reaching under the tank. They also in-cluded a gear interlock for the starter.

Have you ever thought that you would ViNTagE JapaNEsE MOTORCyClE MagaziNE 25

have been more successful had you been born at another time? Certainly that’s the case for the 550’s one-year wonder successor, the CB650. In 1979 the mo-torcycle industry was slowing down, so

Honda replaced their 550 with a 650 in order to compete with some serious competition, in particular Kawasaki’s

Have you ever thought that you would have been more successful had you been born at another time? Certainly that’s the case for the 550’s one-year wonder successor, the CB650.


on Sunday, June 16th, Santa Fe hosted the 2nd Annual “Motorado” Bike Show with over 100 entrants from collectors throughout the Southwest. Around 2,000 spectators enjoyed this stunning display of vintage motorcycles, hundreds coming on a wide array of motorcycles themselves. Highlights of the show are given in the captions of the accompanying photos:

1. Best Japanese Road: Steve Brown’s extremely rare 1961 Honda “Benly” stole the Japanese section of the show and easily won top prize for road bikes. Every nut and bolt was perfect, so the judges had an easy decision.

2. Three Sixes: Just as they did last year, three local bikers brought their pristine examples of these rare six-cylinders:

• Steve Steenrod drove his immaculate 1979 Honda CBX up from Albuquerque, which won last year’s top Japanese road bike award.• Vince Ciotti’s 1976 Benelli 750 “Sei” not only looks good, but is a “driver” he drove from his home at somewhat over the speed limit.• Stuart Bloom drove his 1979 Kawasaki KZ1300 from his home in Los Alamos—a “barn find” he discovered in Dixon, NM, a few years ago.

3 & 4. ladies rule: These bikes had an amazing “six-appeal” to lady spectators, as the ’79 CBX and Benelli demonstrate.

5. 1962 honda cb72: Steve Brown pulled a double coup, also bringing his 1962 Honda CB72 which placed first in the Japanese road racing class.

6. 1975 Norton Commando: The judges had to wear sunglasses to score this ’75 Norton from Bob Keen. Ev-erything was chromed except the chassis, which was powder coated in a bright aluminum finish.

7. Honda Four “Steps”: Three bike collectors teamed up for this exhibit of six increasingly sized Honda four cylinder street bikes, every one of which was a contender for best of show. Such a line-up of near-perfect Honda four-cylinders might have thrilled Mr. Hon-da himself, and is a sight that may never be seen again as these classic machines age (just like their owners!).

• Wes Anderson drove 500 miles from Texas to show three of his all-original four-cylinder Hondas—the red CB350 Four & blue CB400F in the fore- ground, plus the red & white CB1100F bringing up the rear.

• I brought my restored 1972 Honda CB500 Four and original 1969 CB750 “Sandcast,” VIN #374—a pristine specimen of this epic machine that Motorcyclist magazine recently named “Bike of the Century.”

• Roberto Machado from Santa Fe brought his near-perfect CB900F in black and orange colors. All we three guys were missing was a CB1000 and we’d have had Honda’s entire four-cylinder vintage line-up!

2013 Santa Fe 2nd Annual Motorado Bike Showby Vince Ciotti


coVer story

1

2

3

4

5

6

7


8. Four Cylinder Specifications:This table lists the specifications of these four-cylinder Hondas that dom-inated the industry from 1969 to 1983. We doubt if the Barber Museum in Ala-bama or Honda’s own museum in Japan has such a line-up of pristine “steps” on display, as Honda punched out its four-cylinder machines year-by-year to keep up with the ever-increasing com-petition.

1973 1975 1972 1969 1982 1972 cb350 cb400f cb500 cb750 cb900f cb1100f

34 37 50 67 95 108

352 407 420 481 510 586

55 50 45 35 32 30

6.5 6.3 6 5.2 4.5 4

15 14.7 14.1 13.3 11.8 11.1 80 89 92 105 118

5 spEED 6 spEED 5 spEED 5 spEED 5 spEED 5 spEED

98 106 110 125 130 138

$1100 $1200 $1270 $1495 $3495 $3698

$3000 $3500 $3000 Up TO $5000 $5000 $35000

HONDA FOUR CYLINDER “STEPS”

9. Top to Bottom: (right)Another angle of the collection of Hon-da four-cylinder “steps,” this time from Wes’s CB1100 on down to his CB350F. Enjoy the sight; we may never spend so much time shining up these bikes again!

10. panorama: (above)An overview of the show which was held in the La Tienda shopping center just south of Santa Fe. If you plan to be anywhere near this popular tourist des-tination next summer, be sure to check out the date and come and see what treasures 2014’s “Motorado” will hold! l

9

10

hp

weight

mpg

0-60 SEC.

1/4 mile sec.speeD

traNs.

top speeD

price New

toDay

safety firstDo the Right Thingby Jim Barnett

ers never consider when approaching intersections. We tend to ride towards and through them just as if we were in our 3,500 pound metal cage, called the family car.

Think like a motorcyclist when ap-proaching hazardous areas and make a plan. Look at the situation and evaluate the hazards. Play, “What if...,” and plan ahead.

The first option that I would use is to brake hard to avoid a vehicle that just entered my path, provided that I have the room to stop. That makes sense, right? But how do we know if we have the room to stop our motorcycle in our given distance? Practice!

Practice quick-stops often. I have not had to do an emergency stop to avoid a collision with a car for many years, yet I practice emergency stopping ev-

when I ask these questions of experi-enced riders in class.

Scenario: A car just made that “left turn” in front of us. At this point in time we have to take some evasive ac-tion. We can brake, or we can swerve to avoid the hazard. These are the two preferred methods for avoiding a colli-sion. (There is a third option that I will discuss later, to use only if a collision is imminent and unavoidable.)

So, which option is the right one to use, and when should we use it? This depends on many factors. Have we checked the traffic behind us as we ap-proached the intersection? If we have to stop our motorcycle quickly, will the large pick-up behind us have the room to stop? Have we made sure that we have room beside us to swerve if nec-essary? These are factors that many rid-

o ur safety tip in the last is-sue was to make ourselves seen by other highway users. We greatly reduce our risk of being in a colli-sion by doing this,

but that is still no guarantee that other road users will not turn into our right-of-way. So, what do we do then?

Before we proceed, think about your mind-set when you ride, and that of your friends. What do you or they think about while riding, particularly in con-gested areas? Where is the focus? Also, think about your skills on a motorcycle. Do you, or any of your riding buddies, ever practice evasive maneuvers skills? I usually get a very thoughtful silence



must not brake, nor accelerate, during the swerve, as it can upset our traction and cause a fall. We must also keep our head and eyes up, looking at our escape path and not at the vehicle or obstacle in front of us. Finally, we want to swerve behind the vehicle that cuts us off.

Why behind, you may ask? When the person that cut you off finally sees you, their first response is to hit the brakes. They will then usually hit the accelera-tor to get out of your way. If you swerve around the front side of the vehicle you have just turned into their path. It takes much more time for them to shift to re-

ery time I get on my motorcycle. I will practice an emergency stop while out riding in the countryside. I just make sure that there are no other vehicles around when I do it. If I am out rid-ing and it starts to rain, I’ll find an area without traffic and practice a couple of emergency stops on wet pavement. I practice because I never know when that next car might pull in front of me.

Many of us have heard someone ex-plain why they had to “lay their bike down” to avoid a more serious danger such as an automobile, guard rail, or bank. At the risk of offending someone, suggesting this option is absolutely the worst advice you could ever give some-one. Any first year physics student can tell you that the drag coefficient of two tire patches far exceeds that of a motor-cycle on its side. Stay on the bike and in control. They may have missed hit-ting the cars, but they still crashed, and it still hurt. So, how did they “lay their bike down”? Chances are they can’t tell you; they just did it, and it sounded good. They crashed because they pan-icked and grabbed the front brake.

Our front brake has seventy percent or more of the braking capability of our motorcycle. This comes from weight transferring to the front wheel as we apply the brakes. The more front brake we apply, the more weight transfers, and the more brake we can apply. The weight transfers as we “squeeze” the front brake. If we “grab” the front brake we do not allow the time necessary for the weight to transfer to the front tire. This causes the front wheel to lock and skid, sending us immediately to the pavement. We just joined the “lay my bike down” choir.

To avoid the front wheel lock-up, practice emergency stops on a regular and frequent basis. The more that you practice these skills, the more they be-come habit. Habit becomes instinct. In-stinct becomes survival.

Our second option to avoid a collision is the swerve. This is comprised of two consecutive countersteers. Counter-steering is how we get the motorcycle to lean while going around turns at speed. Press on the left handle-bar grip to go

left; press on the right grip to go right. The swerve is just two of these press-es, one in each direction, done in rapid succession.

I love the swerve! It is the reason that my wife did not become the much-sought-after, good-looking, wealthy, young widow back in 1988. I learned how to swerve in 1986, after only six-teen years of continuous riding. We can always learn something, no matter how long we have been riding.

Swerving to avoid an obstacle in front of us is an easy skill to learn and prac-tice, but it must be done correctly! We

verse and back out of your way, and by then you are already around the back. However, you also want to make sure that you are not swerving into the path of another vehicle behind them.

Practice your swerving and quick-stops regularly! I pass five man-hole covers in my neighborhood on my way to one of the main streets. This pro-vides the perfect opportunity to prac-tice my swerves, as long as there are no other road users around. I ride right up

to them at twenty-five mph and then swerve around them; one to the left, one to the right.

If you have never received formal training in the art of swerving and stop-ping quickly, I highly suggest you sign up for a Motorcycle Safety Foundation Rider Course based on your skill level. There is a lot of information involved with correct technique to each maneu-ver, and space here is limited.

Now…for that final option if a colli-

sion is imminent. I learned this from my first instructor, Ted Summerfield, back in 1986. When Ted taught us this, he made it very clear that this is not something taught, nor endorsed, by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. It was his recommendation after having been a motorcycle officer with thirty years in the California Highway Patrol.

If you cannot stop, and there is no room to swerve, and you are going to crash into another vehicle, brake as



much as possible and, at moment of im-pact, jump as high as you possibly can!

This piece of information saved the life of a friend, Big Al, who worked at one of the local motorcycle shops that I used to frequent. Ted gave Al’s class the same advice. A few weeks after he took his class, Al had a van turn left in front of him. He tried braking as much as possible and then jumped. His ap-proximate speed at impact was thirty to thirty-five mph. His motorcycle was in the van, through the side door. The officer on the scene said that Al would have been killed had he stayed on the bike. His only injury was a broken right ankle, which had hit the rain gutter on the top of the van as he went over. Also note that stuntmen on bikes go over the cars on impact, not through them.

We riders of vintage Japanese bikes need to practice our braking and swerv-ing as well, but we also need to make sure that we have more time and space separation than modern motorcycles. We may have old drum brakes instead of

disc brakes, cables instead of hydraulics, and inferior suspensions compared to new bikes. But our skills need to be just as sharp.

Again, my best suggestion to help us all stay safe on a motorcycle is to take a Mo-torcycle Safety Foundation Rider Course based on our skill and experience level. Check out their web-site at www.msf-usa.org for more information.

If you, or someone you know, have just started riding street bikes, or have returned after years of non-rid-ing, you may also be interested in the author’s new book, The Realm of the Cheetah—Helpful Survival Hints for the Beginning Street Motorcyclists. It is filled with hints gleaned from the author’s over ten years as a MSF Rider Coach. It explains, in a slightly humor-ous way, why we have the problems riding motorcycles that we do. Look for it on Amazon.com.

Send your safety questions or con-cerns to VJMC Safety Director Roger Smith—[email protected]. l

If you cannot stop, and there is no room to swerve, and you are going to crash into another vehicle, brake as much as possible and, at moment of impact, JUMP as high as you possibly can!

Diagram from a 1984 gold Wing parts manual.


a modification that I implemented on my GL1000 restore was a hy-draulic clutch conversion. A hydrau-lic clutch uses a master cylinder and actuator rod. Through the connection of high-pressure tubing, this system operates similarly to a hydraulic brake system. When the rider pulls the clutch lever, a plunger is pressed into the cyl-inder. This results in fluid being forced out of the cylinder and into the slave cylinder. From there, the pressure of the fluid engages the push rod into the throw-out bearing. This series of ac-tions disengages the clutch. Removing pressure from the clutch lever reverses the effects.

The most important benefit of a hy-draulic clutch is the ease of use. Gen-erally speaking, the force required to actuate the hydraulic clutch remains constant. In contrast, a mechanical clutch using a cable, as does the stock GL1000, the lever effort increases over time. Rust, grit, and other contami-nants enter the cable and further in-crease effort. Over time the cable will fray, and most often the cable will part at the barrel end where it enters the le-ver or through the adjuster where the drag is highest. A hydraulic clutch has none of these issues, but introduces a few of its own. A further consideration is that Honda has discontinued the clutch cable for the GL1000 and these are becoming harder to find.

Honda first fitted a hydraulic clutch to the Gold Wing in 1984. The GL1200 was the first Gold Wing to drift away from the common Honda “parts bin” approach, and most of the parts fitted to a GL1200 were unique to that ma-chine and not fitted to any other Honda motorcycle. For those who want to put a hydraulic clutch on an earlier Gold Wing, the good news is that Honda did carry over the shape of the clutch housing. That means it is possible to fit a hydraulic clutch to the 1975 through

1978 series of GL1000s. The first task, of course, is to obtain the needed bits.

Shown above is a copy of the 1984 Gold Wing parts manual shows the re-lationship of all the parts. To fit this to an earlier Gold Wing, such as my 1975 model, you’ll need to have the engine out of the frame. This was no problem for me because I was in the middle of a restoration. If doing the conversion on a budget, you can get used parts off eBay or from many different used parts sources. If you choose to go with a used slave cylinder you should probably get a rebuild kit. The kit contains the re-quired seals and springs needed to re-build the slave cylinder. The rebuild kit should look like that on the right.

I was a little lazy and, because I want-ed to be sure nothing would go wrong once the engine was back in the frame, I went with a new slave cylinder from Honda. It turns out they aren’t too pricey, all things being relative. You should also replace the oil seal in the clutch cover. In my case, I had a seal sitting on my shelf from a CL175 res-toration that was a perfect fit. The same 8x25x8 seal that fits the clutch pushrod on the CL175 is the same seal used in the GL1200 clutch cover. Hon-da’s part number for the seal is 91204-

MB0-003. Small things like replacing the oil seals keep you from having to remove the engine to service a leaking seal or living with a pool of dino juice on the garage floor.

Depending on the condition of the cover you may want to refinish it, too. The one I got was pretty ratty, but at five dollars I wasn’t complain-ing. I cleaned up the cover and used a combination of 800 and 1200 grit wet-and-dry paper and #0000 steel wool to smooth the cover. I finished by spraying it with the same Industrial Epoxies and Sealers (IES) Silver Tone #4201 paint that I used for the rest of the engine. This paint is a very close match to the original Honda paint. It is durable and is not affected by oil or fuel when properly applied.

The GL1200 cover has the same shape as the GL1000 cover so, either the GL1200 or the GL1000 cover gas-ket can be used. NOTE: ONLY the 1984 cover has the same shape as the ’75 through ’78 clutch. Other years will not fit. Prep the gasket surfaces by re-moving the old gasket and then install the cover.

Now comes the only really tricky part of the conversion. The GL1200 used a different clutch assembly than

Honda GL1000 Hydraulic Clutch Conversionby Ellis Holman

ClOCKWisE FROM aBOVE:

slave cylinder rebuild kit.

stock 1984 gl1200 part for the hydraulic plumbing.

Honda VTR1000 super Hawk clutch master cylinder


tech help

did the GL1000. Because of this the operating rod is different. To use the hydraulic clutch you can either mod-ify the GL1200 by shortening the rod or make an entirely new pushrod. I choose to make up a new one. Amaz-ingly enough, I found a 24 inch length of 304 stainless steel on Amazon.com for a reasonable $7.12 plus shipping. To make a new pushrod, start with 5/16” diameter 304 stainless steel round rod. Cut the rod to 42mm, then round and polish both ends. I used a lathe to shape the ends to a nice hemispherical shape. The same thing can be accomplished with a bench grinder and a pair of vise grips to gently hold the pushrod. After shaping, deburr and smooth the push-rod to ensure the oil seal isn’t damaged.

Next up is the required plumbing to get the hydraulic fluid from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder. There are many ways to do this. Once again I turned to Honda and used the stock

1984 GL1200 part.I did have to do some re-bending of

the piping to get it to go where I want-ed and to tuck in around the rest of the running gear. Fortunately the GL1000 is a large enough motorcycle so it isn’t too hard to hide the plumbing.

The last bit needed is a master cyl-inder. This decision caused quite a bit of pondering on my part. I was look-ing for a master cylinder that wouldn’t look out of place, but yet would do the job. There are a lot of master cylinders I could have used. The most obvi-ous choice would have been the 1984 GL1200 master cylinder. Unfortunate-ly, that master cylinder is rectangular and the GL1000 brake master cylinder is round. I finally settled on the Honda VTR1000 Super Hawk clutch master cylinder.

This has a round shape and is some-what similar in appearance to the GL1000 brake master cylinder. Like the

slave cylinder, these can be had from eBay and other used parts sources. If you purchase a used master cylinder, also plan on picking up a rebuild kit. I took the easy way out and got a brand new one from Honda. With the engine ready to be put into the frame, I con-nected up all the plumbing and filled the reservoir with DOT 5. Since this is a completely from-scratch installation, there were no problems with mixing of the various brake fluid types. I opened the bleeder valve at the slave cylinder, ran a bit of flexible hose to a can and poured in brake fluid covering the end of the tube. Letting the fluid run through chased out the bubbles of air. When the fluid was running through the tube and had fully filled the system. I closed the bleeder, pumped the clutch lever a few times and was rewarded with a nice firm lever.

This conversion will result in an easier clutch, both to operate and maintain. l


Vintage Days at Mid-Ohioby Ellis Holman

teeth left. The Gold Wing’s cams were re-timed with the new belt, everything was bolted down, and the engine start-ed and ran happily on only the second attempt.

Around 11am Saturday morning, the bike show was scheduled to start. The hard rain had slackened, and the bikes were starting to arrive at the show field, photo 6.

Despite threatening weather condi-tions, fifty bikes showed up for the bike show. Judges, including yours truly, were hard put to decide between the very nice examples on display. Among the fine bikes in the show was this first year Suzuki RE5, which was judged Best in Show, seen in photo 7.

A category that is always difficult to judge is the Custom category. This year was no exception as there were many fine examples that showed ingenuity in the creation of these individualized

The member-provided bikes on dis-play ran the spectrum from the ’60s like the CL90 Honda and the CA95 Honda, to ’70s bikes like the Honda CB350F and Kawasaki 500 triples. Jim is shown on one in photo 3.

The road racing events brought out many years and styles of machines. Here is but just one example of the very nicely detailed and tricked out ma-chines that could be seen on the track, as seen in photo 4.

Saturday dawned overcast and with intermittent showers. The showers quickly turned into a downpour that resulted in standing water under the pavilion, though not much was coming in directly overhead.

One of the club members had ridden in on a 1978 Honda Gold Wing; un-fortunately it had stopped running just before reaching Mid-Ohio. The cause was diagnosed as a slipped timing belt. Fortunately, it was the left belt which shut the engine down by causing the ig-nition timing to be way off. The owner was advised to go to an auto parts store and purchase a timing belt. With noth-ing much going on due to the rain, the “Wing” was rolled into the pavilion and the VJMC crew set to work, shown in photo 5.

In conditions that might have ap-palled Soichiro Honda, the belt covers were removed so that the belts could be replaced. Inspecting the damaged belt it was found that it had almost no

j uly means Vintage Days for many people into classic motorcycles. For three days each year in July, the Mid-Ohio race course becomes the center of the vintage motorcycle scene. Peo-ple travel from all around the world to attend this event, and this year was no exception. For those who’ve not yet attended the event, Mid-Ohio has just about everything any motorcycle person could want. People who come for the racing can see road racing, dirt track racing, motocross, and trials all in one place. The swap meet has forty acres of potential vendors and covers just about everything, from engine to body parts, that a restorer might need. New motorcycle sellers bring samples of their motorcycles so that people can give them a try. In addition to parts, many motorcycles were on offer at the various vendors in the swap meet field. As usual, the VJMC had its presence in the swap meet field. Thursday is the day that vendors use for setting up their stalls. VJMC’s crew arrived and set up their pavilion. This year the pavilion included an area where members could stop by and discuss bike related issues and renew friendships.

Photo 1 shows an overview of the area. The areas at the far right end and the extreme left end of the pavilion were used to display members’ bikes. In the center is the members’ “lounge” area and our table where we could sign up new members, shown in photo 2.

During our stay at Mid-Ohio, twenty new members joined the ranks of the VJMC. Thanks to Jim Townsend, Gary Rhodes, Ed Bennett, and others who engaged the many people who had an interest in vintage Japanese motorcy-cles and had come by the VJMC pa-vilion; the value of membership in our club was aptly demonstrated. Some of the international VJMC members from Canada and Norway stopped by to say hello and to renew friendships.

1. Overall view of VJMC pavilion area.

2. layout of VJMC membership sign-up area.

bikes. Photo 8 shows the First Place winner for Japanese Custom.

The sun came back out around 2:30pm. Along with the sun, the crowds returned, also. The bike show was heav-ily attended. After a busy day of watch-ing races, attending bike shows, and looking for parts, a nice shady spot to relax a bit and sit down was much appreciated by VJMC members who stopped by the pavilion, in photo 9. The sun had continued to shine and the af-ternoon had become warm.

Sunday came and with its arrival the weather turned sunny and warm. The previous day’s rain had made the lanes in the swap meet field rather muddy, but that did not deter those out look-ing to take home a deal. People were combing the swap meet field for those last minute deals. Those who had long distances to travel were beginning the process of packing up. We managed to

3. Jim Townsend on one of the display bikes.


eVeNt

5. preparing to replace gold Wing cam belts.

6. Bike show crowds.

9. Relaxing at the VJMC pavilion..

7. Japanese Best of show.

8. First place Japanese Custom.

sign up a few last minute members and grab a few more needed parts. Finally, at 2:00 pm our pavilion came down, the last stories were swapped, and hands were shook, while the trucks and trail-ers were loaded and the curtain came down on Vintage Days 2013. We will be back again in July 2014 to Vintage Days at Mid-Ohio. For those who haven’t made it there yet, I encourage you to attend, and for all those who have been there before, make sure you make plans and are ready for July 2014. l

4. Honda CR93 replica ready to be raced.


history2013: the 30th anniversary of vjmc australia Compiled by Geoffrey Ellis from information supplied by Mick Godfrey, Mick Bulman, Janet Wild, Bart Taylor and Mike Ridley. Information verified using VJMC (AR) newsletters.

i n 2012, the Vintage Japanese Motor-cycle Club North America celebrated their 35th anniversary, and the VJMC United Kingdom celebrated their 30th anniversary. Now in 2013, VJMC Aus-tralia celebrates their 30th anniversary. How fitting that the 2013 VJMC Aus-tralia Rally was held in South Aus-tralia where the VJMC Australia was launched on 6th March 1983. Are all these anniversaries coincidental? No. A common founder, North American, Bart Taylor, launched the VJMC to the world in 1977, and as it grew worldwide divided it into regions creating three large VJMC clubs.

In the early 1970s, riders whose first motorcycle was a Honda or a Yamaha in the late 1950s began collecting these motorcycles. Although most Japanese bikes were less than fifteen years old, a

growing number of enthusiasts could see that a Honda Dream or Yamaha YDS1 would become significant, gen-uine classics because of the technology they employed.

By the early 1980s, joining a club of collectors/restorers usually meant join-ing a classic motorcycle club whose majority of members tended to believe that Japanese motorcycles could nev-er attain the status of “collectible.” At the time, British and American bikes were extremely desirable, a fact high-lighted in the 1987 VJMC (Australian Register) newsletter, when the editor was astonished that a BSA Bantam had sold for $2,500 but a pristine example of an early GT750 Suzuki only fetched $950. Replacement parts for Japanese machines became a common problem world-wide. When the first Japanese

bikes were sold, many importers held only very basic spare parts, and with Japanese manufacturers introducing a proliferation of changes and modifi-cations, locating parts or old bikes be-came extremely difficult. Remember, the Internet had not yet been conceived and home computers were Vic 20s. Bikes and bits were sourced by fossick-ing [searching] them out, from word-of-mouth and newspaper advertise-ments, with prospective buyers often traveling long distances only to find the items had been sold. Out of necessity, Japanese motorcycle restorers desper-ately needed a network and a forum.

This situation was the same the world over. In North America, 1959 Honda C75 Dream owner Bart Taylor recog-nized the necessity of a club dedicat-ed to early Japanese motorcycles and

founded the Vintage Japanese Motor-cycle Club in 1977. Many ask why the word Vintage was used. Bart explained, “My final choices were Vintage or An-tique, and Antique sounded too old.” The cut-off date was set at pre-1970. To keep members informed Bart devel-oped, compiled, and mailed a regular newsletter. Bart’s rationale for starting the club proved correct with the club expanding rapidly. Word of its exis-tence started to spread world-wide and

membership spread to the UK, Aus-tralia, and other countries. Australian collectors heard of the original VJMC and joined, with devout Honda Dream owner Clive Brooks, from New South Wales, being the coordinator for Aus-tralian members.

Bart had not expected such a large, world-wide following and could see that the original VJMC was becoming unmanageable and costly.

In 1982, the VJMC UK was formed. As

Mike Ridley (UK) explained, “Around this time, the UK had nearly as many members as North America, and it was requiring a huge effort by Bart to keep the organization going and to produce newsletters.” Mike proposed the pos-sibility of the UK becoming separate from North America. Bart was already contemplating change and explained, “As the mailings became too heavy I proposed that we split off Australia and England in order to create Asian,



European, and North American VJMC clubs.”

South Australian Mick Godfrey was an active member of the classic scene, owning a Velocette and Panther, but had grown-up riding Japanese bikes, having a few in his garage. Attending a rally in 1981, Mick noticed Clive and his Honda Dream and was informed of the existence of the original VJMC and the Australian members. Mick could see the advantages and quickly joined. Around the same time, Mick Bulman (whose bikes have featured in OBA) also joined the original VJMC, which then consisted of twelve Austra-lian members spread over most states. Subscription dollars went back to the US, for which members received Bart’s VJMC magazine and a list of Australian members.

This arrangement continued until mid-1982 when Clive informed all Aus-tralian members that he would no lon-ger be able to continue as coordinator, and a replacement was sought. There

were not any volunteers. Mick Godfrey was not happy to see this group of Jap-anese motorcycle owners fade into the background of “classic” club life. Gen-eral conversation between Mick God-frey, Mick Bulman, and other Japanese motorcycle owners quickly developed the concept of a VJMC Australia Regis-ter as an independent organization, but affiliated with VJMC North America (NA). As Mick Godfrey explained, “We decided that because there were mem-bers in most states, we should initially set it up as a “Register” to keep the or-ganization loose and not ground it in any one state, thus alienating members in other states. This also had the added bonus of not requiring a large commit-tee or having meetings other than an Annual General Meeting, a necessity as most were busy with other interests or work.”

The two Micks commenced liaising with Bart, who was already assisting Mike Ridley to establish the VJMC UK, thus complementing Bart’s plan for

three VJMC groups. During 1982 and early 1983, the two Micks initiated all the necessary documentation and the requirement for Japanese motorcycles to be fifteen years old or out-of-pro-duction brands.

At a large MRA motorcycle show on

Bart Taylor and daughter Tara on his Honda, 1974.

6th March 1983 held in Adelaide’s main shopping strip, Rundle Mall, the VJMC Australian Register (AR) was launched. Although there was very strong competition from other tradi-tional classic and vintage bikes, Mick Bulman was awarded the “Best Re-stored Motorcycle in the Show” for his RE5 Suzuki rotary. This created some controversy but made all aware of the existence of the VJMC (AR).

The first committee was, in fact, the first National Committee and consist-ed of Len Collins as Chairman (mem-ber 1); Mick Bulman as Treasurer, Regalia Officer, and Social Secretary (member 2); and Mick Godfrey as Membership Secretary and News-letter Editor (member 3). Australian members of the original VJMC be-came the first VJMC (AR) members.

The first months were devoted to raising community awareness of the club. Mick Godfrey, assisted by his wife Faye (member 300), immediately started developing the quarterly news-

letter which was the only form of com-munication, and which is still in exis-tence today. Mick Bulman organized VJMC lapel badges from the VJMC UK and sew on patches from VJMC NA, demonstrating the close bond existing between the three VJMC clubs.

Membership increased very quickly, vindicating the belief of the founding members of a dedicated club for classic Japanese motorcycles. The first edition of the newsletter went to 21 members; 11 from South Australia, 5 from New South Wales, 2 from Victoria, 1 from Australian Capital Territory, 1 from Queensland, with member 20 also be-ing the first overseas member, Mr. Ta-chibana from Tokyo, Japan. By the next newsletter in August 1983, membership had doubled to 43, again spread over Australia. Membership growth contin-ued with the December 1983 newslet-ter stating the VJMC (AR) membership was now 85, with seven members from New Zealand and three from Japan.

Hondas were the most numerous

brand of motorcycles with 73, Suzuki 16, Yamaha 14, Bridgestone 4, Lilac 2 and 1 each for Hodaka and Tohatsu. At the Bendigo Swap Meet, 12-13 No-vember 1983, the first national event was held, being a stall for members to meet, sell parts, and also display their motorcycles. This period saw the intro-duction of the first VJMC sticker, with the initial batch printed at no charge by Rudi Vuurens.

Because of the increase of members, five area representatives were appoint-ed. Newsletters were very informative, and all issues contained three to four pages of “wanted to buy or sell” adver-tisements which satisfied the great need of members to source or sell parts and bikes.

Mick and Faye Godfrey compiled the first Members Handbook in September 1983, containing useful information, including a list of various suppliers, contact details for various people, mo-torcycle dating information for Japa-nese makes, plus a couple of pages of



spares for 650cc W1 Kawasaki’s, which a member had amassed. Long standing Japanese motorcycle dealers were con-tacted and supplied lists of old or obso-lete parts which were included. At the time, this was extremely helpful infor-mation and the reason many had joined the VJMC (AR).

On 5th February 1984 the first VJMC (AR) run was held, starting another tradition of finishing with a barbecue at Mick Bulman’s house. By February 1984, the one hundred member mark was reached and a good rideable Yama-ha TX750 was advertised in the news-letter for $250.

The first VJMC (AR) Annual Gener-al Meeting was held on 6 July 1984 at Avon Motors in Adelaide, although it was noted in the minutes that decisions could not be made as interstate mem-bers were not present. In November 1984, members totaled 157, compared to the 21 that existed in March 1983. At the AGM held on 31 May 1985 Len Collins did not stand for Chairman and was replaced by David Olney (member 96). The position of Rally Organizer was created and Kevin Warren (mem-ber 57) was appointed. All members of the national committee were still South Australians, but state representatives were active organizing runs and activ-ities for members in their states. In its first eighteen months the VJMC (AR) had been extremely successful.

Kevin Warren set about organizing the first VJMC (AR) rally being called the “June Japanese Jamboree.” Mick Godfrey recalls, “We wanted somewhere central,

and Swan Hill was suggested by one of the Mildura members, who also orga-nized the runs.” Sunny days on June 7-9, 1986, heralded the first of many rallies which was held at the Murray Downs Lodges. Judging was preceded by a vis-it to a winery with free wine tasting and, although reports stated that mem-bers only had sips, one rider dropped his Honda in the car park, blaming the gravel surface. In the next newsletter the editor had to ask who had won awards, as all were having such a good time no-body recorded the trophy winners. One attendee complained that some entrants

trailered their motorcycles to the ral-ly when they should have been ridden there as “even older small capacity Japa-nese motorcycles are capable of traveling very long distances.”

Prior to the rally it was decided that the badge would be posted to attendees after the rally and not show a date, as a decision had already been made that there would not be a rally in 1987. As the minimum order quantity was larg-er than required, it was reasoned the badges may be used at the next rally whenever that maybe. The first rally

badge was quite large, becoming known as the “dinner plate” badge. Mick God-frey recalls, “The size was supposed to be 25mm diameter, but the makers in Taiwan didn’t read the actual order and only copied the blow-up I had includ-ed for detail. The badges were consid-erably larger measuring 46mm.” Since this first rally, 1987 was the only year a rally has not been held.

The VJMC (AR) continued as a regis-ter issuing a quarterly newsletter. In the Spring, 1987 newsletter, members were informed of the newly elected National Committee consisting of Chairman Alex Curtis (Broken Hill NSW), Secretary/Treasurer Grant Douglas (Broken Hill NSW) and Rally Organizer Kevin War-ren (Adelaide SA). This was significant as it was the first multi-state national committee coming to office in January 1988.

Both Mick Bulman and Mick Godfrey (ably assisted by wife Faye) had taken the VJMC (AR) from 21 members in March 1983 to 382 members before standing down in late 1987. They cre-ated a strong foundation upon which the club is still building. Of course, this would not have been possible without support by loyal members.

The VJMC Australian Register is now the VJMC Inc. Australia after becom-ing a registered association, incorporat-ed in the state of New South Wales.

Bart Taylor handed the VJMC NA over to others in 1987, but his vision of creating a dedicated club for Japanese bike enthusiasts has developed into a spectacular world-wide success. l

Bart Taylor, launched the VJMC to the world in 1977... creating three large clubs.

okay, so the leaves are going away and Old Man Winter is coming to see you. You’re planning to put your bike up for the winter, but don’t forget to slam the door on some unwanted elements inside your engine before you do. Winterizing your engine is just as important as those steps you take for your paint, battery, and the fuel. Preparing the “inside” is a necessary step whenever you are forced to put your bike away for the winter. Do not make short start-ups and idling a part of your winterizing plan, you can make things a lot worse than they already were. Short idling and quick rides can do more harm than good for two reasons.

First—Almost all metal-to-metal wear on engine components occurs during start-up. Once gravity has pulled all of the oil down and away from all of the bear-ings, gaps, and clearances, metal-to-metal contact and wear are certain. Only pre-lu-bing (process of turning on the oil pump which circulates and pressurizes the lubri-cation system before starting) can combat this, but we don’t have that system. Some of the new performance cars have an elec-tric drive on the oil pump to do this, and those who have built car engines know that you use a pre-luber shaft in your drill to turn the pump shaft before starting the engine for the first time.

Second—Gasoline contains sulfur. When a cold engine is first started, the moisture in the atmosphere and the com-bustion process generates condensation. This watery mix combined with sulfur makes that nasty metal-eating sulfuric acid. We’ve all seen the moisture coming out of our exhaust at start-up. The sulfuric acid gets pushed down through the rings and into the oil in the blow-by process. It also gets pushed into the exhaust system through combustion where it will eat away at the internals quickly. It is for this reason that all automobile OEMS went to stainless steel exhaust systems. They may not be pretty and use just enough stainless to prevent rust-through, but every new

car and truck has exhaust systems built from stainless to meet the five year man-date of operational compliance with the EPA. Why? The sulfuric acid simply eats the exhaust away very quickly if they were not made of stainless. Our 1986 Suzuki Savage or Yamaha XS1B aren’t so lucky.

Short start-ups are the enemy and need to be avoided whenever possible. If the engine is not allowed to reach full op-erational temps and heat the oil so that condensation is removed, the oil will, and does, become acidic. That low ph (less than 7) is not good for bearings, cranks, gears, or anything metal. It’s the same for the exhaust. If you don’t get the entire ex-haust system hot enough to remove every single trace of moisture and condensation back in the baffles and recesses, you actu-ally leave the inside of your now obsolete exhaust system with a damaging ph level and likely deposits of sulfuric acid. Idling and short runs do not rid the engine of the moisture, and it’s that moisture and the sulfur in the gasoline that compound to make the metal-eating poison.

If you must put the bike up for the winter, do so after riding it for at least 15-30 min-utes (longer is better) so that the exhaust is completely dry, plus the combustion pro-cess has likely heated the internals so sul-furic acid is not made from the moisture present in the atmosphere when the en-gine was breathing colder air. Change the oil and filter, pull the plugs and rotate the engine to get that fresh, non-acidic oil out of the crankcase and onto all those nice surfaces that will live longer once you do.

And don’t forget—Every start-up you make is done without pressurized lubrica-tion in the top end of your engine. Oil is pulled away from every surface above the crankcase level during rest. Gravity and time simply pull it down and back into the crankcase. Treat every start-up carefully and give the engine time to pressurize the oil and reach those critical areas where lubrication minimizes wear. Remember that delivery of this critical supply will

Most of the moving parts are above and away from the oil.

take longer when the oil is cold and/or the bike has been sitting for more than a few hours. Revving and loading the engine (as in riding) before oil has had time to reach and fill the gaps between those met-al-to-metal surfaces is like taking sandpa-per to them—metal to metal wear is only accelerated. Give your engine a few min-utes to put oil where it should be, then go.

Hang in there, Old Man Winter will be chased from the scene soon enough, and Spring will have you shining up the old bikes for their first rides of a new 2014 season! l


tech helpWinterize Your Engine Tooby Gordon East

Here you see how the film of clean oil reduces metal-to-metal wear by preventing almost all contact. give the oil a minute to reach all of the vitals before you rev or go.

Rebuilds get assembly lube applied so those new parts don’t have to start-up dry.


eVeNttech help

our Kansas City club is three years old and has seen significant growth during that time. From our first meeting of six people, we now have over 118 members. Our monthly meetings have also grown significantly in atten-dance as well. From an average of seven or eight, we now typically have over twenty to occasionally thirty people who join us at a local Denny’s. The restau-rant allows us to

Documents

2013 - VJMCsan antonio, TX 78209 [email protected] membership Director Bill granade 813-961-3737 [email protected] missioN statemeNt: The purpose of this organization is to promote the