Yamaha s Mini Enduros Yamaha s Mini Enduros - vjmc-florida.org · VJMC magazine. However, when I investigated those systems, neither seemed quite right for what I had in mind. While

Celebrating over 25 years of vintage motorcycling

Mid Ohio 2004

Local VJMC Events

Spoking and Aligning a New Rim

Mid Ohio 2004

Local VJMC Events

Spoking and Aligning a New Rim

Yamaha,s Mini EndurosYamaha,s Mini Enduros

Volume 26, Number 11 October 2004 $4.50

2 www.vjmc.org

VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2004

CONTENTSPresident’s Column. . . . . . . . . . 3

Editor’s Column . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Product Review: EastwoodElectroplating System . . . . . . . . 4

Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . 6

Member Profile: Jason Bell . . . . . 7

Product Review: PrecisionManufacturing and SalesBike Lift Model 1801 . . . . . . . . . 8

Vintage MotorcycleEnthusiasts' Puzzle . . . . . . . . . 10

Tech Tip: Air Filter Saver . . . . . 12

Wisconsin's First-EverAnnual VJMC Event . . . . . . . . . 13

Good Intentions . . . . . . . . . . . 14

It Was A Crazy Idea, Anyway . . . . 15

Independence Day . . . . . . . . . 16

2004 VJMC Day Blue Ridge Ride. . . 18

2004 Mid-OhioSwap Meet Report. . . . . . . . . . 20

Spoking and Aligning A New Rim . . . 24

Coming Home Again. . . . . . . . . 26

Americade 2004 FeaturesSome Vintage Bikes . . . . . . . . . 28

Yamaha's Mini Enduros . . . . . . . 32

Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

This issue’s web password is:worldseriesEffective October 1stUse lower case

Mission Statement

The Purpose of this organization is to

promote the preservation, restoration

and enjoyment of Vintage Japanese

motorcycles (defined as those greater

than 15 years old) and to promote the

sport of motorcycling and camaraderie

of motorcyclists everywhere.

PresidentPete Boody(865) 435-2112, [email protected]

Magazine EditorKaren McElhaney(865) 671-2628, [email protected]

Classified AdvertisingGary Gadd(817) 284-8195, [email protected]

Commercial Advertising Region ANorman Smith(941) 792-0003, [email protected]

Commercial Advertising Region BBrad Powell(678) 576-4258, [email protected]

MembershipBill Granade(813) 961-3737, [email protected]

WebmasterJason Bell(972) 245-0634, [email protected]

Cover LayoutAndre Okazaki

Magazine LayoutDarin Watson

2004 Vintage Japanese MotorcycleClub. All rights reserved. No part of thisdocument may be reproduced or transmit-ted in any form without permission.

www.vjmc.org 3


From the President: Thanks go to manyby Pete Boody

A number of years ago, I became amember of this unique club and in thetime that has passed since then, I havewitnessed the comings and goings ofthe executive staff and board mem-bers. Many have left our ranks be-cause of commitments in theirpersonal lives or their jobs (yes, all ofus have full time jobs or are occupiedin other ways). Some have servedwith great enthusiasm but have de-cided after long years of service thatothers need to have a go at it. Occa-sionally, there might be some differ-ences of opinions warranting us toconsider our priorities, but every oneof these members has, without excep-tion, added a measure of credibility tothe ongoing process of building thisclub into today’s progressive andprofessional organization.

Today, I would like to add my per-sonal thank you for a “job well done”to our current and past executive offi-cers, board of directors, field repre-sentatives, and all the other hard-working individuals. Although ourcurrent leadership has served to-gether for less than one year, all ofyou have displayed a loyalty to ourmembership that is of the highest cal-iber. My VJMC hat is off to you and Ioffer a hardy thank you for your de-votion to this club.

This month will be the second issueof the VJMC magazine in full color.We have received a fantastic numberof emails telling us that “this wasworth waiting for,” “WOW! What adifference color makes,” “you mademy day….by adding color to thisnewsletter,” “can’t wait for the Octo-ber issue,” etc. All of these commentsindicate what we suspected all

along—that the VJMC magazine hadthe quality of content, the aestheticappeal, and the professionalism, butlacked only one thing to make itgrand: color.

I have read, re-read, and read againevery article and advertisement,viewed and re-viewed each of thepictures and the stunning coverphoto, and I have to say, we wereright. It is everything we wanted it tobe and we are not finished yet. Themagazine now offers a more excitingforum for members to share theirstories and experiences, and folkswho want to have their articlesprinted with color pictures now havethat opportunity. And the fact thatwe have made the conversion has al-ready prompted vendors to placecolor ads. So did we decide correctlyto add color to our publication?

YOU BET!!

From the editor: Web site changes comingby Karen McElhaney

Bittersweet Anniversary

August 11. Time to drink a toast tothe fact that I am still alive and to takea ceremonial ride around the block onsomething – anything – with only twowheels. Yes, today is the 23rd anni-versary of the unfortunate entangle-ment of my Yamaha DT175 with anorange 1970-something Ford Pintoon a busy four-lane highway near theKnoxville airport. Some things younever forget, and the memory of thatday I suppose will be with me for-ever. So each year I celebrate by tak-ing a moment to consider what couldhave happened and how lucky I wasthat it didn’t. A short bike ride re-minds me to “get back on the horse”and to keep looking to the future.

The miserable August weather hasme looking for an excuse not to mowthe lower forty tonight. Actually, Iam quite jealous because by the time

you read this it will be October. Thehot, humid days will have given wayto the cool, crisp fall air, and despitethe fact that the Red Sox will almostcertainly have broken my heart againby then, perhaps we will all be ener-gized enough to take a ride longerthan just around the block. I think Iwill start cleaning now so that whenthe time comes, I can roll out my ne-glected Honda treasures without hav-ing to maneuver around the mowers,trailers, rakes, shovels, and gas cansthat occupy almost every inch ofspace in what was once an organizedgarage. Hey - does anyone need apressure washer with only a slightly

dry-rotted primer bulb?

Web Site Enhancements

Members have suggested that weconsider placing additional limita-tions on the availability of our onlinematerials so that most of it is re-stricted to members only. Currently,

anyone can access our articles, tech-nical information, photos, etc. Theonline version of the magazine is theonly resource that is password pro-tected. Look for changes in the futureso that you, as a VJMC member, willenjoy more restricted access to valu-able information. Non-members willstill be able to get information onVJMC events, officers and field rep-resentatives, membership, etc.

Vintage Japanese Motorcy-cle Collector/Rider to be In-

ducted into AMA Hall ofFame

The AMA’s Hall of Fame Museumwill induct eleven riders for 2004 atits induction ceremony on October 9in Pickerington, OH (just east of Co-lumbus on I-70). The induction cere-mony includes an all-day outdoor

See Editor, page 6

4 www.vjmc.org


Product review: Eastwood electroplating systemby Richard J. Sulik

I have a 1965 Honda CB77 that I re-stored, in fits and spurts, over morethan a decade. I started out intendingfor this bike to be a “daily rider.” Butafter a couple of years had passed, Icame to think of it more and more asstrictly a showpiece. Therefore, Istarted taking pains to make it appearas “original” as possible.

This included reusing, to the great-est extent possible, the original fas-teners. Some reutilization was out ofnecessity; the CB77 has many deeplyshouldered or otherwise oddlyshaped bolts that are unobtainableelsewhere, the oddly flared seatmounting bolts being a prime exam-ple. In addition, although there werealso many bolts of standard size andthread pitch, the original 1960’s vin-tage bolts on the Super Hawk hadsmooth faces, whereas the currentproduction metric bolts have raisedmarkings on their faces.

Ultimately, I realized that many ofthese original, and rather specializedfasteners were too corroded to get bywith just a squirt of WD40 and a lickwith some steel wool—they wouldhave to be re-plated: not chromeplated, but zinc plated, as they camefrom the factory. I have had the expe-rience of having personnel in com-mercial plating shops roll their eyesat the little handful of bolts I offeredfor processing, and subsequentlywaited six to eight weeks for them to“get around to it.” Thus, it was with agreat deal of interest that I read the re-views of both the Caswell and JNThome electroplating systems in theVJMC magazine. However, when Iinvestigated those systems, neitherseemed quite right for what I had inmind.

While perusing the latest EastwoodCompany catalog one evening, I no-ticed that they too offered a homeelectroplating kit and supplies. Andtheir system enabled plating in azinc-tin alloy.

The catalog offered a complete kitfor $69.99, as well as replenishmentmaterials, in this case electrolyte so-lution and zinc-tin anode bars, whichtogether would cost $49.99. In addi-tion to a plastic battery holder, the kitoffered a number of items which Iconsidered superfluous, primarily be-cause I already owned similar ones:

safety goggles, a plastic funnel, rub-ber gloves, a plastic “plating jug” anda tube of metal polish.

My initial inclination was to buyjust the electrolyte solution and theanodes. What finally changed mymind was an uncertainty regardingthe little plastic box, provided aspart of the kit that holds the two D

Top: Plating set-up (shown without plating solution). Bottom: Re-plated CB77 specialfasteners.

www.vjmc.org 5


cell batteries that power the platingprocess. While I was pretty sure Icould get something similar at mylocal Radio Shack relatively inex-pensively, I really had no idea if thebattery box was constructed so as toput the batteries in series, in order toobtain 3 volts, or in parallel, to ob-tain greater current. Figuring I’d besorry more than twenty bucks worthif I guessed wrong, I ordered thewhole kit. Induced by the promiseof a 10% discount for on-line ordersplaced during the first weekend ofthe new year, I ordered through thecompany’s web site, which iswww.eastwoodco.com. However,they also have both a toll free and afax number that can be used forplacing orders.

The plating kit arrived more quicklythan promised. After it did, I un-packed the contents and read the en-closed instructional leaflet beforestarting to work. The principle waspretty straightforward: the zinc-tinanode bar provides the metal which isto be deposited on the object beingplated. A small plastic box holds twoD size dry cell batteries, and on in-spection, it proved to be constructedso as to put the two batteries in series,

just like a flashlight. The positive(red) lead of the little battery box isclipped to the anode, and the negative(black) lead is clipped to the objectbeing plated.

The kit’s instructional material em-phasized the need for having the partsto be plated scrupulously clean. So,although only a couple of the fasten-ers that I wanted to plate were actu-ally rusty, they all spent a night in abath of the vintage motorcycle re-storer’s secret weapon – MilkstoneRemover, diluted 3:1. The nextmorning I cleaned the residue offthem in hot water and dishwashingdetergent, using a non-woven nylonpad. Many people know the familiargreen household variety of these padsby the brand name Scotch Brite.However, for shop work, I like to usethe harder, gray or brown varietiesthat are sold in hardware and autosupply stores for sanding down paintand removing rust from metal.

Ignoring the specific warning notto do so, I set up the kit on mykitchen counter next to the sink. Myonly concession to safety (and com-mon sense) was that I placed an oldwooden cutting board on thecountertop first, deluding myself

that any spills or splashes of theacidic electrolyte solution would beconfined harmlessly to the board.Upon setting up the kit though, itquickly became apparent that theEastwood “System” was a one-piece-at-a-time proposition. And, inmy estimation, the plastic platingcontainer provided in the kit wasboth too deep and too narrow at themouth to be of much good for myuse. The application of a little inge-nuity quickly resulted in a solutionto the problem. An empty one-poundhand cleaner container was obtainedfrom my workbench. Four incheswide, three inches deep, and made ofheavy plastic, it was perfect for aplating tank when filled with theelectrolyte solution to within aboutan inch of the top.

The anode bar is a flat strip aboutone inch wide, eight inches long, andvery soft. You can easily bend it inyour fingers to any required shape.Generally, that would be with a shorthook in one end so that it can hangover the mouth of the plating jug anddangle in the electrolyte solution. Inmy case, I made it bend just about inhalf. This allowed the anode bar tostand on its own, and made it easy toattach the positive clip from the bat-tery box.

The piece to be plated must be at-tached to the negative battery clip andimmersed in the solution, at whichpoint the plating process begins.However, I immediately realized thatif I just clipped on the negative leadand dropped the bolt in the solution,the side of the bolt laying against thebottom of the tank might not getplated, or at least not very well.Somehow, I had to suspend the pieceso that no part of it would be touchingeither the bottom or the sides of thecontainer. I made another trip out tothe workbench and obtained a pieceof 12 gauge solid copper wire about afoot long. I stripped it, then starting inthe middle of the piece, I wrapped acouple of turns around the threadedportion of the bolt that I had selected

Close-up of the installed, finished product

See Product review, page 27

6 www.vjmc.org


Editor: An invite to AMA Hall induction

bike show on the AMA campus.Many of motorcycling’s legends andluminaries will be in attendance.

One of the inductees is Dal Smilie,whose motion started the AMA mu-seum back in 1982. He served as theChairman of the Museum’s Board ofDirectors for 14 years. Dal is a 35year advocate for motorcyclists’rights. Dal also collects and racesvintage Japanese motorcycles. His1964 red frame Type II CL72 sits inthe AMA’s foyer. He has won fourAHRMA national championships onhis 1974 C&J framed XL350. Thepast “First Bike” exhibit included his1968 Bridgestone Hurricane Scram-bler.

Dal issues his personal invitation toVJMC members to come and help himcelebrate. Bring your bikes for theshow. Early October is a great time toget out and enjoy the foliage change in

Ohio. For more information on the mu-seum and the celebration see:www.motorcyclemuseum.org. To askDal a question see: www.dalsmilie.com.

In this Issue

“What I did on my summer vaca-tion” might well be the theme for thismonth’s magazine. We are fortunateto have members’ reports on severalevents and rallies: Lloyd Blythe de-scribes the annual VJMC Blue RidgeParkway Ride, John DeBeck coversthe first annual Wisconsin VJMCevent, Rick Darke chronicles VintageDays at Mid-Ohio, Mike Vachonshares his experiences at LakeGeorge’s Americade 2004, and KenCarlson narrates a tale of a grueling650-mile road race. Stories include AlOnia’s confession that a movie in-spired his fever to collect vintagebikes, Andrew Bolduc admits to a lit-tle carb rebuilding project that went

slightly awry, and Ellis Holman tellshow an old bike found its way home.On the technical side, Jim Townsenddescribes how to spoke and align anew rim and T.D. Bash offers amoney-saving alternative to air filterreplacement. There are also two prod-uct reviews this month: Richard Sulikcritiques the Eastwood ElectroplatingSystem and Andrew Bolduc tests anew bike lift from Precision Manufac-turing and Sales. Our member profilethis month highlights Jason Bell, theVJMC webmaster. Finally, a mini his-tory of Yamaha’s mini enduros is acollaborative effort between RichardSulik and yours truly. Enjoy!

Cover photo

The cover photo shows a cute little1973 Yamaha GT80 mini enduroowned by Randy Marble. You canvisit Randy’s entertaining web site at

www.marblesmotors.com.

Continued from page 3

Calendar of eventsOctober 2004

3Holly (Fall) Vintage Motorcycle

Rally, Downtown Holly, MIBritish, European, Japanese, and

vintage motorcycles will be on dis-play from 9:30 am. to 4:00 pm. AllVJMC members are invited to attendand are encouraged to bring a bike fordisplay.

Contact Scott Timoff for more infor-mation: [email protected] or(248) 338-9320

9AMA Hall of Fame Museum In-

duction Ceremony, Pickering, OHThe AMA’s Hall of Fame Museum

will induct eleven riders for 2004 atits induction ceremony on October 9in Pickerington, OH (just East of Co-lumbus on I-70). The induction cere-mony includes an all-day outdoor

bike show on the AMA campus.Many of motorcycling’s legends andluminaries will be in attendance.Info: www.motorcyclemuseum.org.9-10

Gotham Motorcycle Classic, NYCNew York City’s world-class,

all-brands motorcycle show, held on thedecks and docks of the Intrepid aircraftcarrier, sponsored by RoadBike andAmerican Iron Magazine. Four divi-sions and 32 classes of show bikes, ven-dors, and more. Pre-registration isrecommended for show bikes. Pleasejoin us and help spread the word to in-crease the turn out of vintage Japanesebikes for 2004. Magazine coverage anda chance to have your bike photo-graphed and featured in RoadBike, theindustry’s only all-metric motorcyclemagazine. Visit www.GothamMC.comor www.RoadBikemag.com or write [email protected] for moreinformation.

Quick Tip ofthe Month

“How the handlebars attach tothe upper tree is usually un-known, but it can be assumedthat in most cases, the manu-facturer has designed them sothat the lower portion is inalignment with the fork angle(rake).”

Check out the classifieds

section of this issue for

dozens of bikes, parts,

and miscellaneous items

wanted and for sale.

www.vjmc.org 7


Member profile: Jason Bell

by Jason Bell

Editor’s note: Jason is the VJMCwebmaster.

The sickness started with a 1971CB100, metallic turquoise with whitestripes. The bike was a stray, rescuedfrom the trash heap by dear old Dad.With a splash of carb cleaner and afresh plug, I was slipping through thegreasy weeds of west Houston on afree bike. That summer I learned howto short shift, double clutch, and trailbrake on bald street tires. By sum-mer’s end I was a ten year old junkie,hooked on adrenaline, living a fastlife on the ragged edge of traction.

Q: How long can a CB100 run witha crankcase half-full of sludge? Ac-cording to my scientific research,about three months. Those sadists atHonda R&D couldn’t have dreamedup a stress test as sick as my daily reg-imen of abuse. I was a fearsome anddestructive force of nature. By sum-mer’s end, I had squeezed the lifefrom that poor Honda’s main bearingand left it on the trash heap. The bikedied, but the sickness lived.

Dad came to the rescue with anotherfree bike. This one was an XL185 dualsport, fresh from the dealer’s show-room with only 400 miles on theclock. The bike gave up its first life to

a car bumper, mangling the forks andsteering head. Luckily, the old man isa decent welder, and he had it back to-gether in time for Christmas, 1983.Forget about a nickel-plated RickmanMetisse or a Trackmaster frame. ThatChristmas, I was the only kid with acustom framed dirt bike: 20% CL125,80% XL185, 100% cool. For twentyyears I rode that bike everywhere: hillclimbing, trail riding, motocrossjumping. I finally broke that poorhomemade frame about an inch abovethe weld, riding on a cow trail.

Over the years I picked up stray dirtbikes, fixed ‘em, rode ‘em, sold ‘em. Ididn’t care too much about them; Iwas just happy to be riding. But afterseveral years of living in the city faraway from dirt roads and open land, Ibegan to miss motorcycles, so I founda project bike: a 1980 CB750K with abad alternator. Boy, was I in over myhead. I began looking for parts and ad-vice on the internet. I found the VJMCmessage board and began askingquestions and picking up tips fromguys like Wayne Marsula, EllisHolman, Craig Faith, Joe Broussard,and Ed Moore. I soaked in the knowl-edge, enjoyed the encouragement, andlaughed at the BS. It didn’t take longfor the fever to grow. I began collect-ing older bikes: first a pair of 1971

CT-1s, then a 1974 CB750, then a1978 CB550, then a 1965 YGS1T.Today, I have six bikes in the garageand five more in storage, all of themJapanese and most of them Hondas.My collection includes a 1965Yamaha YGS1T, 1969 YamahaCT-1, 1971 CB350, 1974 SuzukiTS250, 1981 XR185, 1982 XL600R,1982 XL185S, 1990 GB500, 1990XR250, and a 1981 ATC110. Maybe Istill feel guilty for destroying thatCB100 or maybe I have a sentimentalattachment to the brand that started meoff, but I like old Hondas best.

This hobby has consumed me, ap-pealing on many different levels:there’s the scavenger hunt for parts,the research needed for working on abike, the bargain hunting, the accom-plishment of doing the work myself,the good feeling of bringing an oldrelic back to life, the history lessonabout global politics and business andengineering and manufacturing, andthe appreciation of beautiful shapesand colors and craftsmanship. There’salso the “Zen,” sitting alone in asmelly room for hours on end, medi-tating on the task at hand, focusedonly on the moment of now. If I do ev-erything correctly and complete mytasks to the best of my ability, I willhave a piece of rolling, moving, buzz-ing, smoking art that keeps the wind inmy hair and the bugs in my teeth.That’s the “roller coaster” appeal ofthis hobby, and I live for that thrill.

I live in a quiet Dallas suburb with anunderstanding wife and three daugh-ters who all love to ride on the back ofdad’s bike. Last year I took up thechallenge from Jim Townsend; Itaught myself to build web pages and Ihave been the VJMC webmaster eversince. It’s a fun way to use my talentsand give something back to the clubthat has taught me, encouraged me,and entertained me over the last fiveyears. I have learned a lot, met somegreat people, and found a place wheremy sickness fits in.

Jason Bell tunes the carbs on his CB750.

8 www.vjmc.org


Product review: Precision Manufacturingand Sales bike lift model 1801

by Andrew Bolduc

This year my back finally con-vinced my brain that working onbikes without some kind of elevatedlift was not something I should en-dure any longer. It was time to bitethe bullet and come up with a lift forthe workshop. After a bit of research Ifound that the professional lifts usedby bike shops were too expensive formy budget and also just too big andheavy for the size of my workshop. Ifinally happened upon a web site forPrecision Manufacturing and Sales inFlorida, who offer hydraulic lifts intwo styles; the Model 1801 lift and aheavier unit aptly named “TheBeast.”

Based on the ad copy on their website and the accompanying photos,the Model 1801 lift looked to have allthe features one would want, and at$299, it came at a price I could justifyfor a home workshop.

The unit arrived well packaged in aheavy cardboard box that wasband-strapped down to a woodenskid. Forget UPS; this 200+ poundbox is coming common carrier soprepare to shell out some additionalmoney for shipping. Give somethought also as to how that huge de-livery truck is going to get up yourdriveway to the workshop. I arrangedfor mine to be delivered to a localbusiness with a proper loading dockand then moved it to my house in apickup.

To my surprise the unit was basi-cally fully assembled. Even the hy-draulic system was filled and bled ofair. The front wheel chock and clampcomponents needed to be mounted,which was a ten minute job with theincluded hardware.

Though advertised as a “motocrosslift,” the rated capacity is listed as800 pounds. This should clearly besuitable for all but the heaviest vin-tage Japanese machinery. As I was

clearing space for the lift in theworkshop, I couldn’t help but won-der how an 800-pound motocrossbike would handle in thewhoop-de-doos.

The front wheel chock is rubbercoated and clamps using a handwheel. This is easy enough to usewith one hand while you hold thebike stable with your other hand. Themounting holes in the platform arelaid out for placement of the fixed

chock on the right and the hand wheelchock on the left. If you want it theother way, you’ll need to drill yourown holes. There is a bolt-on wheelstop at the very front to keep youfrom pushing the bike off the lift andonto the floor.

There is a foot lever to raise the lift,and with about a hundred shortstrokes of the pump the platform is atits maximum 31” height. While onehundred strokes might seem like a

Top: Model 1801 lift in lowered position for loading. Bottom: Model 1801 lift in fullyraised position with safety bar installed.

www.vjmc.org 9


Western Hills Honda / YamahaWestern Hills Honda / YamahaWestern Hills Honda / YamahaWestern Hills Honda / Yamaha3110 Harrison Avenue

Cincinnati, OH 45211 USAPhone: 1 513 662-7759Fax: 1 513 662-7912

Vintage N.O.S. Honda PartsVintage N.O.S. Honda PartsVintage N.O.S. Honda PartsVintage N.O.S. Honda Parts

www.westernhillshonda.comwww.westernhillshonda.comwww.westernhillshonda.comwww.westernhillshonda.come-mail: [email protected]

Herschel Benkert, OwnerSince March 1962

Offering Domestic and Internationaldealers' parts inventories with shipments

arriving on a regular basis

Our inventory is always changing

lot, the leverage ratio is pretty signif-icant, so each stroke isn’t muchwork. A second foot control bleedsthe hydraulic cylinder to lower theplatform. There are two sets of holesfor inserting a safety bar (included)so the hydraulics can be relievedwith the safety bar holding the liftraised. One set of holes is at maxi-mum height and the second set isabout halfway raised. The foot con-trols are also designed for left sideuse only, and swapping them side forside did not look possible withoutsome considerable metalworking.The safety bar can be inserted fromeither side.

The hinged ramp mentioned earlieris conveniently removable with notools, making rear wheel removal asnap, especially on bikes with longer“euro style” rear fenders where thewheel can’t be removed straightback.

Overall construction is very goodwith attractive welds and every-thing has a heavy coat of well-ap-plied paint. The top platform isdiamond plate, as is the ramp. Thelifting mechanism is constructed ofa mix of channel, structural squaretubing, round stock and plate. Thecast front wheels are solid andsturdy and allow pushing the unit ina straight line. The rear wheels arecasters and allow for steering thelift when you want to move a pro-ject over into the corner while youwait for your next UPS parts deliv-ery. There are vertical holes nearthe rear wheels to allow lagging theunit to the floor.

I must confess that I have mademodifications to mine already; weengineers can’t help ourselves. Somebodywork edge-trim around all theedges of the diamond plate made mefeel better about hitting my shin or el-

bow on it someday. I also rounded offthe square edges of the front wheelstop for the same reason. The best up-grade was using the lag screw holesat the back for installing somecrank-down disc feet that can be usedto jack the rear wheels off the floor toincrease the stability.

After using the lift for severalweeks, I can attest that the folks atPrecision Manufacturing and Salesoffer a well made product at a fairprice. They were easy to deal with,returned my calls and emails, andshipped my lift the same day I or-dered it.

Precision Mfg. & Sales is offering a10% discount on the Model 1801 liftas a promotion to all magazine sub-scribers by mentioning the productreview. For more information, con-tact the company at www.preci-sion.bz or by phone at 1-800-

237-5947.

10 www.vjmc.org


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Created with EclipseCrossword — www.eclipsecrossword.com

Vintage motorcycle enthusiasts' puzzlecreated by Ellis Holman

www.vjmc.org 11


Across

2. Common means for starting a motorcycle5. Historic location that has held motorcycle races for nearly 100 years6. Device that uses friction to transfer power from engine to transmission

10. Popular term for a street bike with off-road pretense12. Restorers often look for parts like these13. Motorcycle manufacturer that began production in 1948 and bears its creator’s name14. Commonly acknowledged as the first “Superbike”16. Yamaha factory rider that rode a TZ750 flat tracker at Indianapolis in 197321. Japanese name for the home islands22. Metal disk used in valve gear in many engines in the 1980s23. One of the “Big Four”24. Company that began by building musical instruments25. Where rider and bike meet28. A control mechanism29. Kawasaki two-stroke twin of the late 1960s30. Part of an engine that caps the cylinders31. Primary power-producing engine component33. Largest of a now out-of-production company’s designs35. Second word in Honda’s formal name40. Supplier of carburetor rebuilding kits41. Builder of ships, planes, and motorcycles42. Common welding technique44. Camshaft relationship to piston movement47. Once called the “$995 Meet God Machine” by a motorcycle magazine writer48. Electronic device that converts AC to DC50. Gathering of motorcyclists51. Short form of motorcycle52. Stage of power transfer between crankshaft and transmission

Down

1. Slang term for a motorcycle3. Petroleum product that prevents engine seizure4. When it began production in 1968, it was a more nearly dirt-capable motorcycle than many of its contemporaries6. Component required for ignition in internal combustion engines7. Kawasaki’s largest two-stroke8. Replica of Kawasaki’s big twin of the late 1960s9. Top of the line Yamaha in the early 1970s

11. Self-contained ignition system14. Part of engine that converts piston motion to rotary motion15. Engineer responsible for the design of Honda’s CBX17. Motorcycle manufacturer that created many interesting designs during the 1960s18. Honda’s method for supplying spares19. A Suzuki T25020. Term applied to early CB450 Hondas25. Honda’s mid-sized model of the 1960s26. Insignia denoting make and/or model27. Kawasaki’s code name for the 1973 Z-132. Container for fuel34. Fast 350 twin known for good handling and a direct lineage to racing bikes36. Most common choice for final drive37. Honda’s designation for race parts38. One complete circuit on a race track39. Summer event drawing thousands43. One of three components required for an internal combustion engine to run44. Rubber hoops that provide traction45. A place to keep motorcycles46. Refined petrochemical compound49. Wire device to control mechanical brakes51. Device for converting motion to heat

Crossword clues (answers on page 30)

12 www.vjmc.org


Tech tip: Air filter saverby T. D. Bash

Vintage motorcycle paper elementair filters are not only getting harder tofind but are also constantly going upin price these days, to the tune of$50-$100, especially if they areNOS/OEM parts. Well, we can’thardly get around the increases in costof parts, as these vintage Japanese ma-chines appreciate in value. But here’sa tip that will at least save you somemoney in the long term by saving thatexpensive filter, be it new or used.

Once you have purchased a new pa-per filter (or if you already have oneinstalled on your bike), go to anyHome Depot, local hardware, or gro-cery store and get a sheet of replace-ment window/wall unit air conditionerfoam filter (1/4" thick; black). Theycome in various sizes, so get the big-gest sheet in stock. These usually costaround $1 to $1.50.

Measure the width of your air filterelement and then cut a strip of the

foam sheet the width of the elementusing a single edge razor or X-actoknife and a ruler or straight edge. Thefoam sheet can be cut a little oversizein width by approximately 1/4-1/2",which will compensate for the foamgetting narrower once stretched overthe element. To determine the correctlength, wrap the strip around the ele-ment and mark it where the stripoverlaps. Cut the length just about1/4-1/2" SHORTER than the guidemark. This will compensate and cre-ate a tight fit by forcing the foam to bestretched in length onto the element.Next, get some Super Glue GEL (Irecommend Zap A Gap Gel and itscompanion catalyst “kicker” spraybottle) and put a light bead of gel gluealong both edges where the sheet’slength ends will meet. It’s not critical,but use glue SPARINGLY! It won’ttake much glue to get the job done!Hold the ends together, preferablywhile laying it on a flat surface. I liketo use a short section of 1 by 6 thru

the middle of the “O” being formed,but a corner of a work bench or tablewill work fine with some wax paperunderneath to keep the filter fromsticking to anything else and also tokeep any excess glue in it’s place.

Holding the foam ends flat, lined up,and together, spray the glued line withthe “kicker.” This will adhere the endsinstantly so you don’t have to hold ittogether patiently waiting for it to dry.Let the assembly cure for about 1-2minutes, and voila! Instant filtersaver! You can now stretch the foamstrip “O” you’ve just created aroundthe paper element and even spray itwith WD-40 or silicone spray(preassembly with element is best).This will make the paper element lastforever, as you can remove the foamouter sheet and wash it in dish deter-gent, lighter fluid, or mineral spiritsfrom time to time, let dry, and re-use!You won’t have to buy another expen-sive paper element again for possiblythe life of the bike! Ya gotta luv that!

www.vjmc.org 13


Wisconsin's first-ever annual VJMC eventby John DeBeck

Being a rider, collector, and restorerof vintage motorcycles of all makesand models, it was a natural fit for meto join the VJMC several years ago.My own experiences with othermembers of the club have made mymembership worth far more than myyearly dues. Because I was somewhatdisappointed that not much was hap-pening in Wisconsin relating to vin-tage bikes (either through ourWisconsin VJMC chapter or throughany other avenue), when I noticed inJune that there was a need for a fieldrepresentative for our state, I decidedto take the proverbial “bull by thehorns” and do something about it. Iwas already in the process of coordi-nating a vintage motorcycle show forAugust 2004, so why not enhancethat by having a VJMC presence andgetting the word out further?

So on the weekend of August14-15, we had our first annual stategathering, combined with the North-eastern Wisconsin Vintage Motor-cycle Show, Charity Ride, and SwapMeet (also first annual) in which Iheld the reins. Nick’s BMW, justsouth of Green Bay, was the gather-ing place. Before any VJMC’er getstoo upset wondering why we had agathering at a European bike dealer-ship, let the facts be known! JohnEng and Pete Beyer, the servicemanager and chief mechanic atNick’s, are as crazy about old bikesas I am, and do a majority of the ser-vice work on the fleet of 49 (yes, youread that right...49!) bikes that Iown, the majority of which are ofJapanese heritage. Unlike a lot ofdealerships, these guys invite every-one into the shop and don’t try tohide anything! All of my bikes, plusothers, will be going into a museumthat we are establishing here inGreen Bay—the Motorcycle andModel Railroad Museum of Wiscon-sin— which received its nonprofit

charter two years ago.

I have to admit that when I took onthe task of heading up a motorcycleshow, especially one in its infancy, Iwas a bit concerned that on the day ofthe event it would just be me, John,Pete, and the Nick’s BMW staff whowould attend. But considering that Ialso promote sports events, (specifi-cally youth basketball tournaments)for a living, I rolled up my sleeves

and went to work. We put up postersin every bike shop from the Michiganborder down to Fond du Lac. Everypaper in the state received severalpress releases about the event. Manyof the local media, including TV, ra-dio, and newspaper, were contactedin person. Plus, I think I rode in

Top: Some of the bikes on display at the bike show. Bottom: John DeBeck’s pristine1972 Suzuki 750 Water Buffalo.

See Wisconsin, page 33

14 www.vjmc.org


Good intentionsby Andrew Bolduc

Editor’s note: When I recently asked my friend Andrewhow he had enjoyed a concert on a particular weekend, hereported that he had not quite made it to the event. Here’swhy. And I did laugh.

Long story short...I missed the concert. I was franticlytrying to finish my bike to take it to the vintage events onSunday and Monday and blew it. Had a major malfunc-tion Saturday that threw a huge wrench in the works.Wasn’t meant to be, I guess. Here’s the wrench in theworks. Try not to laugh.

There are thingies called “float needles” in carburetors.Their purpose is to shut off the flow of fuel to the carbswhen the “float” in the carb rises from the correct level offuel. Mine were stuck (open) from the winter. The result(on a two-cycle engine) is that the entire contents of thetank flow through the carbs and into the intakes and pourdown into the crankcase. Remember that a two-cycle hasno oil in the crankcase; only oil is in the transmission. Soonce the crankcase is full of gasoline (an incompressiblefluid), the pistons can not go up and down because there isno place for the gasoline to go to get out of the way. Thisresults in a hydraulically locked engine, or more color-fully, a “swamped engine.”

Now on a dirt bike when this used to happen to us whenriding through deep water (water works as well as gas)one would drag the bike to the shore, pull out the sparkplug, flip the whole thing upside down, and ease the motorback and forth with the kick starter or rear wheel untilmost of the water belched out the spark plug hole. Try thatwith a three hundred pound street bike that you just spentthe winter detailing.

So I was stuck (or my motor was at least). I pulled all theintakes and carburetors and stuck little rubber tubingdown into the crankcases and hooked up an aquariumpump in a lame attempt to blow some air through there toevaporate the gas and left it outdoors overnight in thehope that it would dry out enough to turn over.

I spent the next morning rebuilding the carbs and install-ing three new float needle assemblies ($27.00 each).

When reassembled, it would kick over but wouldn’tstart. Spark plugs were soaked enough to “bridge” thegaps every time I pulled them out. I pulled the enginecases to confirm that I hadn’t hydraulically jacked out thecrank seals in the process of getting it to turn over (hadnot).

Finally, finally after much kicking and uttering the in-cantations it went burble...once. Then again a little longer.Finally it fired and ran and as a point of habit I lookedback for the exhaust to see how much smoke, what color,etc. and couldn’t believe what I saw: three streams of fluidshooting out the three exhaust pipes about four feet in dis-

tance and each one about the size you would get from agarden hose! I said to the guy standing beside me, “that’sgasoline!” He looks at me quizzically. I say again, “that’sgasoline!!! We could have a fire!” Do you suppose he’ssmart enough to back away? Nope. But I’m stuck on thisthing ‘cause there is no way I’m giving up now; it’s run-ning!

It finally cleared after thirty seconds or so and nothingever caught fire, thankfully. There is now a brown spot onmy lawn about six feet long and three feet wide, however.

Old bikes are so much fun and the source of great excite-

ment; even in the driveway!

Attention all members: If youmove, change addresses or changee-mail addresses, please notify the

membership chair as soon aspossible. This is important.

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It was a crazy idea, anywayby Ken Carlson

While contemplating the fact thathalf my life is behind me and that thesecond half will be more of the sameunless I do something about it, I founda notice for a race: a cannonball racearound Lake Erie. It was to be a racefor very small motorcycles—mopedsize and slightly larger—and it was totake place over only one day’s time.Total distance: 650 miles. Now that issomething very different than any-thing I had ever done before. You canask my wife. While I have done manyinsane things, this would be a notablehigh point. I think she thought I’dnever follow through when she agreedthat that would be a “nice” thing to do.She obviously wasn’t paying atten-tion. Running souped-up mopeds formany hours at a time while competingwith heavy traffic and trying to avoidthe attention of the law might be manythings, but “nice” is not one of them.

As I considered this challenge, theimage of typical race vehicles plasteredwith more advertising than a free bulle-tin board at the supermarket came tomind. I needed sponsors to help memount a campaign. A brief write-upand pictures of the intended racer wasenough to convince several local busi-nesses to share the pain and glory. It isamazing the things that can happenwith the backing of a body shop, tireshop, cycle repair shop, and a welding/machine shop. I even recruited a com-plete stranger that I found on aninternet chat site who had experiencewith modified small Hondas. The bikeof choice would be a ‘65 Honda S90,which due to exceptions and allow-ances in the classifications, wouldqualify for the smallest class of bikescomprising the souped-up mopeds.

After procuring a suitable bike, mostof the winter was spent lightening it bysubstituting aluminum for steel wher-ever possible. Low handlebars andfootpegs moved reward would contrib-ute to a racing posture. Considering thelong distance endurance event, a large

aluminum fuel tank was fabricated tominimize time spent looking for gas.As the race approached, the bike soonbecame a sharp-looking racer completewith upswept megaphone exhaust,which I am sure delighted the neigh-bors. Friends from miles around wouldcomment that they had “heard me goby” and they would then ask “When isthis race, anyway?”

I will tell you about the actual race butnot keep you in suspense. I did not fin-ish it. My bike broke down but not with-out a mammoth display of Hondatoughness. The morning of the race, itrained—hard. The racers kind of forcedeach other to roll out of tents and vehi-cles and try to get on enough rain gear tokeep us dry. We were delusional fromthe beginning. My rain gear consisted ofyellow pants and jacket borrowed fromwork with a blaze orange safety vest. Ifigured that if I was to be run down by asemi, it wasn’t going to be because hedidn’t see me.

We hadn’t progressed two milesdown the road until water beganpooling in my boots and my glovesbecame saturated. This wouldn’thave been too bad except that twohours into the race the rain was re-placed by a 40° cold front in Detroit.Hypothermia is the condition of los-ing more body heat than your systemscan replace. It’s kind of uncomfort-able at the beginning, but then youdon’t seem to notice much. The littlebike ran like a champ, holding 60-65mph on the flat and level and boost-ing to 70+ when a truck provideddrafting for awhile. Did you knowthat tank trucks suck you in muchbetter than ordinary vans?

What was unique about this race isthat the rider is all alone. After the ini-tial start I never saw the other ridersuntil about midway, somewhere inCanada when I pulled into a serviceplaza for fuel and food. There wasErnie Copper warming up in his chasevehicle while eating lunch, and Iswear he was putting on dry clothes.How unfair! When I dismounted, my

body decided to entertain the other pa-trons by going into an uncontrolledshake. Somehow, a wet and soiled guydressed in bright yellow and orangedoing the herky jerky really clearedthe area. Little kids pulled back to thesafety of their parents. Their expres-sions seemed to say “Keep your dis-tance or I am going to scream.” It wasthat way every time I got off the bike –rapid shakes as the muscles desper-ately tried to generate heat.

Thirteen hours after starting the event,I had actually covered 560 miles. Thehome stretch was down I-90, headedback to Ohio and the finish line. Thebike had been running flat out, as inwide-open throttle, for the entire time.How many motors would you expect tohandle that abuse for so long? It wasnow 8:30 p.m. and with a mere 90 milesto go I was already savoring the chanceto get warm and to eat, when the bikelost power and started to backfire andmiss. I was not totally unprepared forfield repairs but had not considered thechallenge of assembling the parts of atool kit while doing the shakes. I couldnot even manage to work a screwdriver,much less manage any technical think-ing about what the problem might be.While trying to call a lifeline to comeand pick me up, Ernie came buzzing by.He could not see me, though, because Ihad moved back away from the heavytraffic. I would later find out that at thetime of breakdown, I was leading allthree divisions and could have “cleanedhouse” if only…if only.

The riders gathered around the fire lateinto the night sharing experiences andwaiting for the last riders to come home.We now had a common bond; each ofus had braved the physical demands anduncooperative weather to compete forthe glory of finishing the race. In theend, only a small handful would wearthat honor. The rest of us had only tried.But you know what? There will be an-other race and I will try again becausethis was a high point in my list ofachievements; even though I did notfinish, I know that I gave it my all.

16 www.vjmc.org


Independence Dayby Al Onia

It wasn’t the aliens, it was RandyQuaid (though one could argue thatRandy makes a good case for the ex-istence of creatures from anotherplanet). Watching the space disastermovie Independence Day for the firsttime, I literally left my seat when thekid pulled up on his Candy AppleRed Honda 90 Scrambler. “I had oneof those!” I shouted to the furniture.Oh yeah, I’m alone.

But I did have one of those, boughtnew when the candy colors andchrome-fendered models came out in1968. It replaced a blue Honda S65that was still running great at 5000miles but rumor had it that the S65trannies were weak and it was livingon borrowed time. A couple of yearslater, the CL90 was replaced by awell-used (okay, it was clapped out)CL72 that was bigger and louder. The250 was cool on the street for a sum-mer, but it was superceded by aHodaka Super Rat. The Rat had itsday when I bought a new SuzukiTS185 street scrambler in 1975/76 (Iremember buying it with my newVisa card). Surprisingly good on thetrails and on the street, I held on to itlonger than any of the previous bikes– until the early 1980s when mar-riage, mortgage, and children kindarendered two wheels (and two-seat-ers – goodbye, Corvette) an unjustifi-able luxury.

Convertibles (four-seater) gradu-ally dimmed every springtime’sopen-air freedom fever until the late1990s, and that damn little Hondascrambler. I knew that the Honda305s were something of a collectiblebut wasn’t sure if I wanted one. Ithought “I’ll check around for some-thing easy to ride and restore that onedoesn’t see at every vintage show andshine.” I started cruising the VintageBike Guide thinking that I wanted aHonda CL125. I found out that thosewere extremely rare and that partswere very difficult to get.

I had acquired vacation property inIdaho, and three or four trips every sum-mer took me past a house in Bonner’sFerry on which sat various motorcyclesthat seemed to come and go, except forone constant, a Hodaka Ace 100. Aneventual search on the internet revealeda cult-like group devoted to Hodakas,fostered by Paul Stannard. It appearedthat parts and support were readilyavailable. So it was time to stop andmake the acquaintance of the fellowwhom I came to know as “Bonner’sFerry Bob.” His dad had been a Hodakadealer in Montana and Bob was sellingthe very bike on his porch, complete

with the original bicycle pump that fitunder the toaster tank. A hole in the rearhub, thrashed seat, crinkled fenders,rusty spokes, burned-out lights, missingignition switch, and other minor faultsweren’t enough to put me off. OneThanksgiving weekend later, I unloadedit and a “parts bike” in the Calgarysnow, ready for a winter of rebuilding.

By the time I was ready to start strip-ping it down, I had acquired anotherpair of parts bikes locally, figuringthat anytime I got stuck for bits, I onlyhad to go around to the other side ofthe garage. This was a fine plan until Igot to fiddling with the two bikes and

Top: 1977 Hodaka 125 Wombat Series 3 purchased in Lethbridge, Alberta. Bottom:1971 Hodaka Ace 100A (frame painted 1967 Pepsi Red in Imron), originally fromMontana via Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

www.vjmc.org 17


realized that the other one ran quitestrong and was worth restoring aswell, it being a B+ and differingenough from an A to make them acontrasting show pair. The first resto-

ration went well and I showed the bikeat the World of Wheels, garnering anoutstanding vintage restored plaque. Irode the dickens out of it the followingsummer.

By now, the collecting fever was infull force. A phone call from an enthu-siast in Lethbridge led to the acquisi-tion of a 1977 Hodaka Wombat withonly 800 miles on the clock. The bikeran strong but cosmetically needed alot of freshening, which continues as Iwrite this. I ran a want ad for Honda160 Scramblers in northern Idaho andfound two, one of which has been re-stored, the other sold. I finished andsold the second Ace 100 and am nowlooking for the next project, maybe aYamaha RD350 or 400.

What about the CL90 that beganthis crazy journey? Well, I did finallycome across one, but it just didn’tmove me enough; there are too manyother models to discover!

Every time I go out to the garage, Ithink of those damn aliens. If it had-n’t been for them, who knows how Iwould have wasted away the last few

years.

Membership ApplicationNew _______________ Renewal ______________********************************************Name: ______________________________________

Address: ____________________________________

_____________________________________

City: _____________________ State: ____________

Zip/Postal Code: ___________ Country: __________

Phone: ______________________________________

E-mail address: _______________________________

Preferred Make(s): ____________________________

Preferred Model (s): _________________________

Signature: _________________________________

Date: _____________________________________

Membership options:1) Multi-year membership–$45 for two years; $65

for three years.2) Spousal membership–$15 per year with no discount

for multi-year applications. This type of member-ship can be completed at any time. The membershipmust be for the spouse or partner of a current mem-ber or can be included with a sign up of a regularmember. One magazine will be delivered to thathousehold with both names on the mailing label.Spousal members will have a membership card witha unique number such as 5226A.

Yearly dues: $25 (USD) for North America; $41(USD) outside of North America. Please send yourcheck or money order made out to VJMC along withthis application to:Bill Granade13309 Moran Dr.Tampa FL 33618-3011Thank you!

A 1966 Honda CL160 acquired in Idaho.

18 www.vjmc.org


2004 VJMC Day Blue Ridge Rideby Lloyd Blythe

Here’s a little background info be-fore I actually get into the details ofthis year’s event. After joining theVJMC four years ago, I was some-what disappointed that there weren’tmore events in my local area. So aftertaking part in an impromptu ride withother South Carolina members in thefall of 2002, I decided that I was go-ing to try to pull together an event bymyself. So in January of 2003 I wentto work putting together a ride to bescheduled on VJMC Day; one thatwould include some of the best mo-torcycle-friendly roads in our area. Iset a goal of making this an annualevent that I would sponsor – sort ofmy annual contribution to the VJMC.

To accomplish this, I prepared a flyerand worked with our VJMC team toget it in front of everyone by using thecalendar and the web site. I also broad-casted it to our members via the emaillist, and lastly obtained a mailing list ofall members in South Carolina, NorthCarolina, and Georgia. My wife, Deb(who is a wizard with a PC), helped mecreate labels which we used to mail fly-ers to all members within a 3 to 4 hourdrive of our ride’s starting point. Butwhen May 17, 2003 finally arrived, sodid about 2 inches of rain! Seven mem-bers showed at the starting point, butonly five of us ventured out into the peasoup thick fog (and sometimes neardownpour of rain). After reflecting onthe poor attendance, even though thefew of us who rode in the fog and rainstill had a great time, I figured badweather had done us in. But maybe thesun will shine next year, I hoped.

For 2004 we followed the same no-tification process; i.e., using theVJMC magazine and web site and themailing of 157 flyers to membersclose enough to attend. This year theweather guessers dealt us a muchbetter deal with nearly perfectweather for riding (low 80s). Of allmy trips to the Blue Ridge, thesewere the clearest views that I can re-

call. The 2004 attendance included 8VJMC members, and because somebrought friends, there was a total at-tendance of 15 riders on 12 bikes;perhaps not many, considering theaforementioned targeted audience,but enough to have fun.

The 2004 ride started at 8:30 amwith what I have called a parking lotsocial. At the 2003 ride, everyoneseemed to enjoy the gathering, mak-ing new friends, and admiring ma-chinery almost as much as the riding.

So for 2004 we added 2 hours for justsocializing: meet at 8:30 am and rideat 10:30 am was the plan. This workedwell; everyone came early and seemedto enjoy telling tales and just talkingVJMs. Claude Mailloux earned theIron Butt award for the event. He rodehis really nice 450 Black Bomberfrom Spartanburg to the event, thentook our 130 mile ride and back homeagain, resulting in about a 280 mileround trip! Unfortunately for Claude,his clutch cable snapped en route to

Top: Claude’s bike. Bottom: The highest point on Blue Ridge Parkway.

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the event. But Raymond Amos, wholives nearby, quickly came to the res-cue by zipping back to his house to re-trieve an assortment of cables. Onedid the trick, and Claude was quicklyback in the saddle.

Steve and Sue Gordon had a little badluck before they left home. Their ‘80Kawasaki 750 sidecar rig blew a shockout the day before the ride, but theycame anyway and made the longest tripto attend, since home for them is in Al-abama. When they showed up on theirHarley, Steve mentioned that he hadbrought it rather than his Gold Wingbecause it was easier to load the Harleyin his pickup truck. I think I quoteSteve correctly: “The Harley is just likea dog—you just point and tell it to getin the truck!”

Claude’s clutch cable repair causedus to hit the road about an hour laterthan planned, but once underway wewere on a roll. We took Route 276from Brevard N.C. up to the BlueRidge Parkway (BRP). For those ofyou not familiar with Route 276, ittwists and climbs through the PisgahNational Forest and is really a greatride; low traffic, good pavement, andlots of corners, pass Sliding Rock, andthe Cradle of Forestry. Route 276 in-tersects the parkway at Wagon RoadGap. Once on the BRP we headedsouth, climbing for 20 miles before ar-riving at the lookout marking the

highest point on the parkway, 6,047 ftabove sea level. Here we stopped andtook pictures, enjoyed the view, andmingled with the other motorcyclistsdoing the same. If you have never rid-den the BRP, do it! You are reallymissing something special!

After leaving the lookout, we dou-bled back and headed north on theparkway. The trip north included fan-tastic views, including Pisgah Moun-tain. We also enjoyed more pleasanttemperatures as we descended fromthe higher elevations. At the high alti-tude, most of the trees are sproutingtheir leaves by mid-May and the rho-dodendrons are just starting tobloom. We turned and climbed,twisted and descended through someof the best parts of the BRP through aseries of tunnels for a total of nearly50 miles. It was really silly fun whenall 12 bikes beeped their horns in ev-ery tunnel. At the Asheville route74A exit we jumped to 74A South,fueled up, and motored on.

Route 74A has a series of switch-backs as it winds up and over the East-ern Continental Divide and windsdown into the Chimney Rock/LakeLure resort areas of North Carolina.My understanding is that this route wasan original wagon trail over the divide,pretty much unchanged from the firstcarved corners. It is a fun road to ride,with a series of 1/8-mile straights and

20 mph corners in between. Along theway we noticed that someone hadpainted a Suzuki racing logo on thepavement every mile or so for a 5 to 8mile stretch of road, in both lanes cov-ering both directions! Whoever thiswas, they spent a good deal of time do-ing it. I suspect they were a Suzukiowner! I should mention that we didn’thave a single Suzuki along for our ride.Anybody got a few cans of red paint? Iguess you could call me a Honda man.

Once in Lake Lure, we stopped for alate lunch at a popular motorcycle hang-out, The Margarita Grille. There wereprobably 50 or 60 bikes in the lot – amostly Harley crowd – but many ofthem seemed to enjoy our mixed lot ofold Japanese bikes. They really likedKeith Averill’s Yamaha 350 two-stroke. No Harley ever sounded like it!One fella asked me when Honda hadmade a 6-cylinder bike while at thesame time telling me my CBX was re-ally cool! I caught quite a few riders ad-miring Claude’s Black Bomber andDavid and Sevena Gagnon’s really niceYamaha Radian. Mark Anthony rodehis ‘75 XS650B Yamaha and turned afew heads himself; I think it fell into the“I never saw one of those before” cate-gory for many. Scott Jameson’s veryclean nice ‘84 Kawasaki GPZ 750 alsograbbed a few eyes. I’m not sure thatmany of them had never seen aCB400F, but Joe Wallace’s bike gavethem an education.

I’m sure I missed a few names and abike or two, but next year we will askfor that information on the signup sheetat the beginning of the ride. To those Imissed, please come back next yearand I’ll make sure you’re mentioned!After lunch we split up, with some rid-ers heading straight home, and the re-mainder of us who had hauled ourbikes to the starting point returningthere to complete the day. I guessyou’re never really sure if everyonehad a good time, but Deb and I left feel-ing that way because everyone said“Be sure to let me know when you’redoing this again; I’ll be there!” May21st 2005 is coming up soon! Who’splanning our fall ride? Remember, it’snot the destination, it’s the ride!

Keith’s Yamaha 350.

20 www.vjmc.org


2004 Mid-Ohio swap meet reportby Rick Darke

I missed Woodstock in 1969, andI’m not sure why. Maybe I was toopreoccupied with my recently ac-quired Honda 350 scrambler? But Iwas one of the 600,000 that con-verged on the Watkins Glen “Sum-mer Jam” in 1973 and it is stillmemorable, not so much for thechance to hear the The Band, theAllman Brothers, and the GratefulDead “Singing in the Rain,” but be-cause of the community that hadsprung up, literally overnight, toshare a common interest. AMAVintage Motorcycle Days atMid-Ohio is similarly remarkable.There may be a little less music, andcertainly there’s a lot less mud, butwhat is present in staggering num-bers are people and vintage motor-cycles. Over 30,000 cycle fans,vendors, and racers converged atMid-Ohio this July 15-18 to makeup a virtual “Cycle City.”

Bigger than ever, this year’s swapmeet covered 35 acres, with 650vendors occupying 950 spaces. I’veset up to vend for a few years atMid-Ohio, but the meet is so vast itstill takes a while to get oriented. Inpast years I’ve brought a Honda 450out with me from Pennsylvania sothat I had something to ride aroundthe meet and save my feet, and alsoto go riding through the pleasantOhio countryside that surrounds theevent. Truth is, even the best-tem-pered 450 resents a sustained 2 mphcruising speed, and that’s about maxfor the meet, the aisles of which aremore congested than a New YorkCity sidewalk on a Friday afternoon.This year I rode out with my nearbyMaryland friend and VJMC memberJohn Potter, and we each broughtmore reasonably-sized rides: aHonda 90cc for John and aCB175K4 for me, both street legal,licensed, and insured.

We spent the first day or so scour-ing the vendors’ spaces, buying, sell-

ing, swapping, and meeting andgreeting friends old and new. TheVJMC booth was our first stop, tofind out who was out for the event,catch up on club news, and admire an

impressive lineup of vintage Japa-nese motorcycles on display byVJMC members. I was pleased tovisit with Treasurer Tom Kolenko,past President Jim Townsend, and to

Top: I paused too long, considering this nearly mint Honda GB500, which sold in a flash.Bottom: Dwarfing my 1970 CB175, this vintage home-built aluminum home attracted al-most as much attention as any bike at the meet.

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meet current President Pete Boody.Sure we’ve all emailed, but it’s notthe same as talking to someone out inthe sun, leaning against some vintagemachinery. VJMC members whowere set up nearby the club booth in-cluded Troyce Walls, with aworld-class collection of earlyBenleys, and Mark Troxell, who hasprobably helped a significant portionof the VJMC population find that re-placement NOS key.

Having been to Mid Ohio before, Iwas interested to compare this yearwith others, looking for changes andtrends. It might be my experienceonly, as a vintage Honda collector,but I’d guess there were a tad fewerlots of NOS parts on display than inthe past. I’d guess eBay is at least

Top left: A pristine 500cc Kawasakigraces the VJMC booth, with JimTownsend enthusing about its conditionand merits. Top right: As a vintage Honda450 collector, I’m aware that one of the en-gineering weaknesses of these engines iscamshaft lubrication. This race engine byTeam Hansen provides a hint at howHonda might remedy the situation if theywere still making 450s today. Note the ad-ditional oil feed to the top end. Left:Mid-Ohio offers an up-close-and-excitingglimpse into the world of vintage racing.Here, Honda 350 and 450 racers awaittheir time on the track.

See Mid-Ohio, page 22

22 www.vjmc.org


partly responsible. Still, there were astaggering number of bargains to befound, both new and used. Beyondbuying and selling, the swap meetprovides unrivalled opportunities tolearn about vintage cycles. No matterwhat you collect, there’s certain to beone of ‘em sitting pristine or in partsin someone’s booth. I’ve learned agreat deal by inspecting bikes in vari-ous states of disrepair, to see howthey vary, how they age, how theyendure. I always carry a notepad anda digital camera to record my obser-vations.

As impressive as the swap meet is, itis a mistake to let it be all you do atMid-Ohio. Vintage Days offers manyadditional activities, and in my firstyears attending, I concentrated somuch on “the search” that I ran out oftime to simply relax and enjoy. Thisyear, I made sure I got around thewhole circuit. I’m not a racer myself,but the sights and sounds of vintageracing are undeniably thrilling. And Iwasn’t one of the 300 bidders signedup for the annual Motorcycle Hall ofFame Museum Auction, but that did-n’t stop me from “sitting in” and ad-miring the fabulous machinery beingauctioned under the big white auctiontent. In addition to the motorcyclesup for bid, I was intrigued by an orig-inal Honda Super Cub dealer posterin new condition, which fetched $600at the gavel.

In addition to the auction and vin-tage racing, Vintage Days also in-cludes a “Ride ‘Em, Don’t Hide ‘Em”show. This year, more than forty par-ticipants rode through forty miles ofOhio, stopping midway for icecream. On Saturday, over 90 contes-tants entered their machines in theMotorcycle Hall of Fame Bike Show,which includes 47 classes to accom-modate everything from vintagebikes to café racers and customs.

No, BMW is not vintage Japanese,but it was this year’s featured

Mid-Ohio: Vintage Days has plenty to seeContinued from page 21

Top: The event is so big, it spills out onto nearly every edge of every roadway at the site.By Friday afternoon the main boulevard was lined with untold numbers of vintage cycles,on the ground and in the backs of pickup trucks. Is this Kawasaki for sale? Never hurts toask. Bottom: Adjacent to the VJMC booth, member Troyce Walls’ remarkable collectionof early Hondas was on display (1954 Dream 4E in foreground). Troyce’s 1958 DreamME (3rd back from front of image) won 1st in Class at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame BikeShow on Saturday, and his 1959 CS76 took 2nd.

www.vjmc.org 23


marque, and I’ll confess to being awed by the design andengineering marvels of these Bavarians. In addition toprivately owned BMWs on display, Bavarian MotorWorks set up its Mobile Tradition unit: a virtual rolling

museum of BMW’s 80+ year history. Admiring thisfrom my little CB175 on Friday, I’ll admit to feeling a bitupstaged, but a curious event that evening seemed to setthings even. Although John Potter and I had tents set upin our vending spaces (Hey: how can you beat $90 for asite for the whole event big enough to vend and set upresidence?), we had reservations at a Hampton Inn as abackup in case of heavy rain. The inn was about half anhour’s ride north, first through hilly countryside and fi-nally through urban sprawl, all of which we negotiatedably with the combined 265cc of our vintage wheels. Wearrived at the inn and parked in a single a space not farfrom a group of state-of-the-art BMWs. Instead of feel-ing upstaged, we were happily amused when the BMWowners appeared and were completely enthralled by ourminiature machines. Of course, they’d all “had one likethat when I first started riding” and that made ourHondas relevant in a pleasantly nostalgic way. But theBMW riders were also fascinated by the sight of twogrown men appearing improbably out of the modernOhio landscape on 30+ year motorcycles that can stillmake a gallon of gas last forever. Now, that’s VintageJapanese!

(l to r) VJMC President, Pete Boody, Treasurer Tom Kolenko, andpast President Jim Townsend with the latest in vintage garb, avail-able at the VJMC booth.

Interested in Old Motorcycles?Join the Antique Motorcycle Club of America! The largestorganization in the country devoted to antique motorcycles.Membership includes an 88 page full-color quarterly magazineloaded with feature articles, and a free Want Ad section.Sign me up!Name ____________________________________Address __________________________________City ____________________ State ____ Zip______

Dues: U.S. Residents ......$20.00 Canada ......$30.00

Mail to:Antique Motorcycle Club of America Inc.P.O. Box 310V, Sweetser, IN 469871 800 782-AMCA (2622)

To participate in club events and place want ads bikes must be 35 years old.

Join theClub!

Or join on-line at:www.antiquemotorcycle.org

Special Introductory OfferFor New Members

Thanks to everyone who attended the VJMCNational Rally and helped make it a success!

24 www.vjmc.org


Spoking and aligning a new rimby Jim Townsend

Installing new rims or rechromed rims is a job that manyof us look at and just throw up our hands and say we can’tdo it and send out to someone else. But this is a job thatyou can do with minimal equipment and some patience.The whole job from start to finish will probably take abouttwo hours.

Before dismounting the old rim from the hub, take a dig-ital picture of it and keep it on file unless you have anotherwheel that has the same spoking pattern. You will needsome pattern to follow this first time.

Before beginning, you should already have the spokes,nipples, hub and rim, and pattern. Notice that there aredifferent kinds of spokes. Honda wheels have two kinds;one has a shorter bend and is angled differently from theother. These are the inside spokes; the ones with the lon-ger bent end are the outside spokes.

Insert the inside spokes for the first bank and start thenipple about two turns on the end of the spoke. Also,make sure that the spokes are inserted in the properholes because there are sets of four and each one is adifferent angle. Refer to your picture or examplewheel.

Once you have the inner spokes in one side, turn the as-sembly over and insert the inner spokes on the other side.You will have to do this with the hub and rim part wayover the edge of your bench so that you can insert thespokes. Just start the nipples on the spokes. Again, makesure that you are using the correct holes.

The next step is to insert the outside bank of spokes onone side into the hub.

The third bank of spokes is inserted so that the headof the spoke is inside the hub. The outside spokes willhave a longer bent end. These spokes will cross the in-ner spokes and go the opposite direction. Again, donot do any more than just start the nipples on thespokes.

After you insert the last remaining spokes in bank 4, it istime to tighten up the spoke nipples a bit more. I use anelectric screwdriver since there will be either 36 or 40spokes and they have very fine threads. Screw them onuntil there are about 2 or 3 threads still showing. This willbe enough so that you can mount the wheel either on yourbike or in a truing stand.

While using a truing stand is the best way to go, youcan do an excellent job of truing your rim by just putt-ing the wheel (without the tire) back on the bike andusing a simple pointer. Since I was a machinist formany years, I use a dial indicator. This gives me anidea of exactly how far off the wheel is from perfectlytrue.

Truing the wheel

First we will true the rim radially, that is, we will make itround. Put a pointer or indicator on a flat spot of the rimand begin tightening up the spokes. You can use a screw-driver for the initial stage until you have them aboutevenly tightened all the way around. An easy way to keeptrack is to start with the valve stem hole and tighten eachone a little at a time all the way around the wheel.

For general road use under 90 mph, try to aligned the rimto within .030 inch total indicator reading. If you are usinga pointer, touch the pointer on the high spot and then try toget it as close as possible. This will probably be within1/32-in and is good enough. For a dirt bike or

Top: The first bank of spokes. Notice that this rim is narrower thanthe hub and is supported on center by wood blocks. Bottom: Thesecond bank of spokes partially inserted. Notice that the rim issupported by blocks. You may want to insert all the spokes andthen start the nipples.

www.vjmc.org 25


motocrosser, anything within 1/16-in will probablysuffice, but the closer the better.

If you plan on racing the bike or riding at speeds over 85or 90 mph, I suggest that you try to get the rim within .015in or less than 1/64-in. For you metric folks, that is about1/2 mm or less.

Axial Alignment (side to side)

After the radial alignment is finished you can begin theaxial or side-to-side alignment. After the radial alignment,the spokes should be fairly tight. Set the pointer or indica-tor on the side of the rim. Turn it slowly and you will eas-ily see any dents or bulges in the rim. Ignore the spotwhere the rim has been welded.

If you have a high spot indicated, tighten the spokeson the opposite side of the rim. Depending on how badit is, you may want to snug up about 4 spokes that are onthe opposite side. Continue around the wheel andtighten spokes according to the high spots. If the spokesare really tight, you may want to loosen the spokes onthe high side a bit before tightening them on the oppo-site side.

After the wheel is aligned axially, re-check the radialalignment and make any necessary corrections. Thencheck the axial alignment again. Next, take a metalwrench or screwdriver and see if all the spokes “ring” likea violin string. If any give a dull “thunk,” tighten them un-til they ring like the others. They should all sound verysimilar in tone.

Recheck your alignment again and make any necessarycorrections, but you will probably find it to be okay. Youare now ready to mount the tire.

These instructions are for wheels with the same lengthspokes on either side of the hub. If you have a large brakedrum on the hub, you may have 4 different kinds ofspokes. In any case, there will be inner and out spokes andyou shouldn’t confuse them.

Editor’s note: Jim Townsend has a booklet availablethat describes wheel building in more detail and withreferences to tire sizes, chain sizing, and other usefulinformation for $10 postpaid. Contact him [email protected] or (260) 839-5203.

Top: The third bank of spokes. Middle: A setup with the frontwheel in the forks and with an indicator against the rim. It ismounted on a magnetic base and just attaches to the fork tube.You can also check the radial runout on the inside of the rim wherethe rim is flatter and smoother. Bottom: A wheel rebuilding standwith a pointer set up to check radial runout. Stands like this aregenerally a bit expensive for the average home shop, and unlessyou plan on doing a lot of wheels, you are better off just using thebike as your aligning stand. This particular stand can also be usedto balance wheels by inserting the axle and putting it on the bear-ings. Static balancing will probably be fine for any riding at normalspeeds.

26 www.vjmc.org


Coming home againby Ellis Holman

In the spring of 1971, I found andbought a 1968 Honda CL175 from itssecond owner. At the time I pur-chased the bike, it was just threeyears old and had seen someersonalization. Gone were the turnsignals and the center stand and therear wheel wore a 54-tooth sprocket.Though I didn know it at the time,there was a stamped steel skid platethat had been removed too. I did notrealize at the time that the bike Ibought for the princely sum of $300was a rather unique bike. I liked that Icould go on the road and off the road(sort of) with this bike. The CL175was ridden everywhere as I had nocar at that time. It was also a bike thatresulted in having a local hill namedose dive hill in my honor. This allcame about when having ridden ap-proximately half-way up the hill theengine bogged down and died. Whenthat happened I attempted to turn thebike broadside to the hill and tried tofind neutral, which was needed be-fore I could kick the bike back to life.Ultimately I slipped, fell, and startingsliding face down back towards thebottom of the hill. The bike went slid-ing too, jumping up and down on meas we headed for the bottom of thehill. After a year or so, the time cameand the CL175 and I parted company.I moved on to other bikes.

Two years ago, I was browsingeBay for parts to finish restorationwork on a CB500 and saw an auctionthat caught my eye. The orange 1968CL175 on the page looked very likethe one I parted company with somany years ago. I decided to bid for itand have another CL175 back afterso many years. So with a little luck, Iwas the proud owner of a 1968CL175. This time it only cost me$247. After the auction completed Idiscussed strategies for getting thebike from New Hampshire down tome in Indiana. The seller indicatedthat he was going to the White Rose

show and that he would be happy totake it with him there. Unfortunately,because of work commitments Icouldn go to White Rose. Fortunatelyfor me, Jim was going and he hadroom on the trailer to bring myCL175 back with him. THANKSJIM!!! In early September 2001 Imade the trip to northern Indiana topick up my ew bike. The bike wasrusty, air cleaners were non-existent,and the engine was locked up. But itwas more or less complete and theseat had survived undamaged. As Iloaded the bike onto the trailer Iglanced at the frame number and itseemed somehow familiar, but Ididn't know why. Later that eveningwith the bike in the shop I was goingover paperwork and turned up a reg-istration for my CL175 and framenumber jumped out at me. I wentdown to the shop and sure enough thenumbers were the same. The trustyCL175 had come home. The bikewould undergo a complete restora-tion and emerge like new. With theyears between my first ownership ofthe bike and now, I gained a new ap-preciation for it.

I learned that the CL175K0 is a oneyear only machine and that there is adistinct early and late version of thebike. As with many Hondas of thatera, production line changes pro-duced distinct variations. In myCL175 case this means that the fend-ers are painted Metallic Silver insteadof the later chromed ones. The ex-haust system heat shields on the earlyversion have horizontal slots some-what like the CT and CL90s of thesame period. Late model heat shieldsused more familiar vertical slots. In-terestingly, the exhaust itself is alsoshaped differently so that both theguards and exhaust do not inter-change between early and late mod-els. The carburetors are differentfrom the early to late models. Thosewould be difficult items to turn up.Western Hills Honda turned up theleft and Terry there went searchingfor the right one. A shop in upstateNew York had the left. Interestingly,the front forks used on the early ver-sion are from the CL125 twin thatHonda did not import into NorthAmerica. I called on a friend in Can-ada and he turned up the correct 241

Ellis Holman on his new (and old) Honda CL175K0.

www.vjmc.org 27


forks. Early CL175s did not haverubber-covered foot pegs; they werelike the ones used on the CL72. For-tunately, the ones I had needed onlycleaning and powder coating. One ofthe biggest challenges ultimatelyturned out to be the seat. It was inamazingly good shape considering itsage. The seat had managed to survivewith no rips or tears but was ratherscruffy. I turned to T.D. Bash, whoruns Cool Retro Bikes down in St.Petersburg, Florida. T.D. had re-paired my CB500 seat and had donean outstanding job, so I figured thatthis would be a cakewalk for him. Itturned out that the HONDA logo onthe seat was also a transition style. Itwas unlike the earlier script and itwas not like the later styles either. Ifthat were not enough, the seat hadpiping that had turned yellow withtime, but which was originally silver.T.D. found the correct script for theseat and worked out the silver piping,too. He returned a seat that wasnearly indistinguishable from a newone. The only way to know was tolook underneath, which didn't showwith it mounted on the bike.

The inside of the tank was a disas-ter. I worked and worked and workedto get the rust, varnish, and assortedcrud out of the tank. Tim McDowelltold me about a silver paint that isused for, among other things, bridgepainting and coating the inside of jetfuel tanks. Its information sheet liststhe paint resistance to a variety ofsubstances, including hydrochloricacid, sulfuric acid, gasoline, and die-sel fuel. I figured that would work forme. The paint was supposed be ableto set up in temperatures as low as 30F. So on a January day I poured thepaint in, sloshed it around, andpoured out the excess. The insidenow looks perfect and the sedimenttrap on the petcock remains clean.

The bike is now up and running. It asmuch fun now as it was when it servedas my sole means of transportation. Itis called upon far less frequently nowthen way back then. I guess it wasmeant to be with me; like a faithfulpuppy, it found its way back home!

for plating. The wire holder was bentinto a slight V shape to submerse thebolt fully in the electrolyte solutionwithout touching the bottom of thetank, and “ears” were bent down ateach end of the wire to hold it inplace.

With the bolt and the anode inplace, the plating process started im-mediately after connecting the bat-tery leads. The instructions indicatedthat the average bolt should plate inthree or four minutes. However, Ifound that on my first try, with anon-critical bolt, leaving it in the so-lution for four minutes resulted arough coating of material whichlooked almost white when it wasrinsed and dried. However, a coupleof swipes with the nylon pad re-moved most of the roughness andbrought out the start of shiny metal.

The instructions emphasized learn-ing by practice, and I found this goodadvice. After a couple of tries, Ifound better results were obtainedwhen I removed each bolt after abouta minute of plating, rinsed off theslight grayish film that was develop-ing, and replaced it in the solution, re-peating this process two or threetimes until I was satisfied with the re-sults.

Initially, the anode bar, where it liesbelow the level of the electrolyte so-lution, appeared to diminish at arather low rate, and lead me to expectthat it would have a fairly long life.However, after plating four or fivebolts, I noticed that it was starting todisintegrate at the point where it en-ters the electrolyte solution. It is thistendency that will ultimately prove tobe the factor limiting the life of thebar.

Worth repeating is the fact that theelectrolyte solution is acidic. The in-

struction manual specifically warnsagainst using the system on yourkitchen counter. I ignored the warn-ing, figuring that: (1) the stuff could-n’t be that powerful, and (2) I’d justbe careful. It turned out that I waswrong on both counts, and I endedup with an ugly, blotchy, indeliblestain on my wife’s kitchencountertop. If that old countertophadn’t already been slated for re-placement, I’d still be sleeping in thegarage. Also, be sure to wear rubbergloves and your oldest shirt; if youhave an “Oops!” while handling thesolution, you don’t want your favor-ite red flannel shirt looking likeSwiss cheese.

Overall, I was very pleased with theway the bolts turned out. And, I dis-covered that the zinc casings of com-mon D cell batteries can be used as anacceptable substitute for the zinc-tinalloy anode bars, although they give asomewhat softer and less brilliant(without polishing) finish.

In summary, Richard’s Recom-mendation Regarding the EastwoodCompany’s Electroplating System isthat it works, and works well formost uses you would put it to. How-ever, unless you are a total new-comer to even the most basic kindsof automotive or motorcycle repair,save the twenty bucks, and just orderthe electrolyte solution and the an-ode bars. Except for the little batteryholder, which you can easily getfrom Radio Shack for a buck or two,you probably have most of the otherstuff you need already in your ga-rage, and the full set of instructionscan be copied off their web site. Justuse a little care, the usual parcel ofcommon sense, and you will be ableto produce zinc-plated bolts andother bits that you’ll be very pleasedwith.

Product review: Eastwood'selectroplating system works

well for most usesContinued from page 5

28 www.vjmc.org


Americade 2004 features some vintage bikesby Mike Vachon

The annual Americade rally, heldeach year in Lake George, NY, isnot necessarily known for anythingspecifically related to vintage bikes,but with so many riders in atten-dance, there are bound to be a fewclassic Japanese bikes around. LakeGeorge is about 200 miles from myfront door, so I make an almostyearly attempt to get over there dur-ing the week-long rally. This year’srally ran from June 7th to June 12th. Iwanted to make a point of gettingthere so I could share some of themotorcycling sights that I com-monly find there with my VJMCbrethren.

This year I had the added advantageof my sister having relocated to atown about 20 miles south of LakeGeorge. She had originally plannedto attend the rally, but she was awayon business that week. She invitedme to make use of her place ratherthan struggle to get a room in LakeGeorge. Many hotel/motel ownershave recently begun requiringwhole-week rentals and since I typi-cally only go over for 3 or 4 days,bookings were becoming slim-to-none for that kind of stay. What awindfall to have a relative offer aplace to stay! Of course there waswork to be done in exchange for thelodging, but mowing the lawn andfixing a pesky leak in my sister’s ’71CB500 petcock was easy enough.

My friend Scott and I decided torun over to the rally on Wednesday,the 9th of June. This would give usthree full days to check out the fes-tivities. I rode my decidedlynon-vintage Valkyrie Interstate andScott was on his ST1100. We met inConcord NH, in the south centralpart of the state. The ride started outwell, but the weatherman hadwarned of impending thunder-storms. Sure enough, we could seethe big dark thunderheads loomingon the western horizon as we rolled

along. As we headed west, weskirted most of them for a couple ofhours. Our luck ran out just outsideof Bennington, VT, as the skyopened up and the light show com-menced! Lightning never bothers mewhen I am out on the bike, but with

dusk fast approaching, the effect ofthe flashes was intensified! We de-cided this was an excellent time tovisit a local eatery and sit out thedrenching.

The rain continued well after ourplates were cleared, so we ventured

Top: Possibly a 1967 Yamaha YD250 in very nice condition – obviously a runner. Bot-tom: A suddenly popular rustic gas station.

www.vjmc.org 29


out and found a convenient overhangwhere we could don our rain gear. Itrained most of the way from there tomy sister’s place. Once there, wemanaged to dry out and there wasplenty of room in her ample garage toget the rides out of the weather.

Thursday dawned slightly overcast,but dry. We headed to the rally andvisited some of the special attrac-tions. Friday was spent on a custom-ary ride in and around theAdirondacks. The sky was clear andthe temperature hovered around 70degrees. We only did 300 miles, butsaw some interesting sights.

At one point we came across an up-side-down motorcycle. As werounded a bend in the road, we sawtwo bike tires sticking up from a ditch– a heart-stopping sight if there everwas one. Scott and I immediatelypulled over, as did a third rider com-ing up from behind us. There was awoman standing next to the over-turned ride – laughing! I took that as agood sign; no injuries here. She ex-plained that she had pulled over to

adjust something and had put downthe side stand. But as she steppedaway, she heard the loud “clunk” ofthe bike turning over. We checkedover the bike for her (a mid-80sHonda V-45) and made sure it wouldstart again. When it did, we rodeaway feeling relieved.

Just a short distance away, wecame across deer feeding in some-one’s front yard – right beside theroadway! We got some photos butthe deer didn’t seem to mind us onebit. We also hit one of those longstretches of road where there wasn’ta gas station to be found for miles. Iwas all set for fuel, but Scott wasrunning low. We finally came to arustic looking gas station/generalstore out in the middle of all this no-where. The gas prices reflected thelocation, but it was better than run-ning out. Saved again!

Each evening we parked along themain strip in Lake George andstrolled through the hundreds [maybethousands?] of bikes parked every-where. I spied quite a few interesting

rides – like the CB750 K0 that had aserial number in the low 400s. Therewere a number of early CB750s. Onewas a K1, similar to my own, butheavily customized. The owner hadchromed many of the bare metalparts, bobbed the front fender, and in-stalled a bore kit. We talked about re-storing bikes of that vintage and hesaid that customizing had made mostof the job easier for him as he couldfit parts as he pleased, rather than bestuck looking for some near-impossi-ble-to-locate item.

There were vintage bikes of allkinds; I saw a two-stroke Kawasakitriple 400, an early 60s CB150 Hondatwin, a Suzuki GT380, and a WaterBuffalo. I found that I was so intenton looking around and taking in asmuch as I could, that often I wouldforget to pull out the camera! I wasactually disappointed when I finallyreviewed my set of pictures – I hadn’ttaken nearly as many as I thought Ihad!

Rallies like Americade are a greatplace to check out all aspects of mo-torcycles and vintage bikes. I am al-ways amazed by the openness andcamaraderie among riders. It’s sogreat to be able to just walk up to peo-ple and say, “Is that your ride?” orhave someone do the same to you andjust launch into a great conversationabout a shared interest. The size ofthe Americade rally is something youhave to experience for yourself.Americade founder Bill Dutcher wasquoted by local news sources asguessing there were in excess of50,000 attendees. This was evident aswe tried to enter Lake George on Sat-urday. The right lane of Interstate 87northbound was backed up for about½ mile at the first exit into LakeGeorge.

By Sunday, it was time to point ourown bikes east and head home. Theweather had improved and stayedthat way for the whole stay in NewYork – most likely a big factor in theattendance. We almost hated to leave.The ride back home was pleasant, re-laxing, and uneventful. What a wayto cap off a great trip.

An exceptional early 80s Suzuki GS1000.

30 www.vjmc.org


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ORDER FORM FOR REGALIA ITEMS

Show your colors. Let other riders know you are a member of the VJMC!

T-shirts - White 100%cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL and XXL, 3XL....................... $15.00T-shirts - Black 100% cotton printed front & back available in sizes M, L, XL................................................ $15.00

Hats - Red all-fabric ball caps, one size fits all, logo screened on front............................................................ $15.00Nylon Stuff bags (black 14” x 12” zippered w/hand strap & screened-on logo, nice, seen at rally.................. $9.00

Stickers, Large Logo, 3-3/8 x 3-3/4, vinyl ......................................................................................................... $0.75Stickers, Small Logo, 2-3/8 x 2-3/4, vinyl......................................................................................................... $0.50

2002 VJMC Calendars (nice photos, classic quality)........................................................................................ $5.00

Quantity Description Size Cost Tot al

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Add Shipping & Handling: All items sent Priority Mailing with delivery confirmation $4.50 first item and $2.00each additional item (except stickers which are mailed at $0.37) USA only. Canadian orders multiply US mail rate by1.5

Shipping Charges $ _______________

Enclosed is my check or money order for the total of....................................$________________

Ship to: Send your order to:

Name___________________________________________ Tom Kolenko, Regalia Chmn.2445 Elmhurst Blvd

Address_________________________________________ Kennesaw GA 30152

City____________________________________________ State _____ ZIP_______________

32 www.vjmc.org


Yamaha's mini Endurosby Karen McElhaney and Rich Sulik

“Enduro” motorcycles, those produced with a dualstreet/trail purpose in mind, proliferated in America in themid-1960s, immediately following the introduction ofsmall-bore street bikes by all the major Japanese marques.

Dual purpose bikes were offered not only by Yamaha,but by Honda, Suzuki, and Bridgestone as well.Kawasaki, in particular, produced some notably fine of-ferings in the 125 – 175cc class. However, the majority ofJapanese dual-purpose motorcycles were simply adapta-tions of their basic “street” models. Often, these adapta-tions consisted of nothing more than an upswept exhaustpipe, cross-braced handlebars, and the installation ofknobby tires. With their fragile, short-travel street suspen-sions, these early enduros were seldom good for anythingmore serious than a dusty blast down a dirt road or someoccasional cow-trailing. Serious “scrambling” or enduroriding was best left to purpose-built machines from theEuropeans, such as the Spanish, the Italians, and even theBritish, who had been pursuing this genre vigorouslysince the end of the war.

But 1968 saw the introduction of Yamaha’s DT-1 Enduro,a bike which is widely acknowledged to be the world’s pre-mier dual-purpose motorcycle. The 250cc single-cylindertwo-stroke was the embodiment of a machine to take therider “beyond where the roads end.” The design boasted newtechnologies and features expressly for off-road riding, likea Ceriani-type front fork with the longest stroke of any Japa-nese-made unit at the time. Yamaha’s Autolube systemeliminated the need to mix oil with gas, and their 5-port pis-ton valve engine was virtually unbreakable. The YamahaDT-1 swept away the competition with an unbeatable com-bination of power and reliability.

At the same time, home-grown “mini-bikes” were a rag-ing American phenomenon. These diminutive, fat-tired,ill-handling little beasts were generally powered by anycast-off lawn mower engine that could be made to fit in acobbled-up tube steel frame. Despite their shortcomings,they were enthusiastically utilized, often at the risk of lifeand limb, by “tweens” and pre-teens to blast across anyhandy wooded lot or vacant field.

What could be more natural then, than crossover of theenduro with the mini-bike? Yamaha saw the opportunityand produced three models of mini enduros in the 1970s:the FT-1, the JT-1, and the GT50/80. Yamaha’s two-strokemodels FT-1 and JT-1 were the first small-sized bikes thatlooked like their bigger brothers. Yamaha boasted that dadcould ride his DT-1 and junior could look just like him on amini enduro.-A pioneer of the mini trail or mini enduro cat-egory, the 1970 FT-1 mounted a rotary disk valve 2-stroke50cc engine on a compact chassis. Despite its small dis-placement, this model had features like a full-fledged dou-

ble-cradle frame, Ceriani front fork, and separate meters.Its spirited running performance and full array of featureswon it solid popularity.

In 1973 the GT50 and GT80 models were introduced asthe next generation of mini enduros. Both bikes were sim-ilar in size and appearance to the FT-1 but sported newtorque induction. The Yamaha GT50/80 series was pro-duced until 1980. These bikes were later joined by the80cc DT series in the early 1980s.

Top: A 1968 Yamaha DT-1, the first enduro bike. Middle: A 197160cc Yamaha JT-1 mini enduro. Bottom: A 1973 Yamaha GT80(Photo: Randy Marble).

www.vjmc.org 33


enough rides to get some sort of an“Iron Butt” award, at which I passedout hundreds of flyers and posters.We did not spend one dime on pro-motion except the paper that wentinto my office copier....and all of mygas!

To say that the event was a successwas an understatement. Over 50bikes showed up and registered forthe vintage show, and at least 60 oth-ers were ridden in just to witness theevent. By 1 p.m. the first day, wewere out of hamburgers and low onsoda, and had to go get more food!Our charity ride left at 2 p.m., and asJohn and I led the pack down the firsthill, we were amazed as we lookedbehind us at a stream of bikes a milelong. Our 75-mile jaunt made a stophalf way in Shiocton for refresh-ments, and then continued with a runup Wisconsin Highway 187 – ourown mini version of “Deal’s Gap.”All the riders received free food andbeverages upon return to Nick’s(yes....there is such a thing as a freelunch!). We had gathered over 65door prizes and many people wenthome happy, including the gentleman

who won our grand prize – a trip toLas Vegas and three days free motor-cycle rental!

Over 500 people went through thegates on Saturday, and even withshorter hours on Sunday, still morearrived or returned for the day’sevents. Even with the late announce-ment of the VJMC presence, a goodselection of Wisconsin members at-tended. John and Pete offeredwell-attended free motorcycle repairclinics in the garage, and the band“Honky Tonk Twisters” entertainedguests until sunset after the Saturdayride.

To avoid any sort of controversy,we offered “People’s ChoiceAwards” for the vintage show. Any-one attending the event was encour-aged to vote for their favorite bikes,with winners receiving trophies do-nated by Crown Trophy. While theshow was open to all makes andmodels (as it was advertised as suchbefore I became a VJMC rep), I wasfortunate to have my 1969 Honda750 sand cast take home secondplace. It has just 200 miles on theodometer, and had only 2 when I gotit. It is still in showroom condition,and is the finest one I have everseen. Other great Japanese bikes at

the show included a 1973 KawasakiZ-1 in near mint condition, a re-cently restored 1975 HondaCB550K, a like-new 1976 HondaCB360T and a pristine 1972 Suzuki750 “Water Buffalo” that looks likeit just drove out of the factory.Many other fine bikes of other na-tionalities were also there. The planfor next year is to have two sets ofawards.....one for Japanese and onefor European, but leave the votingto the people!

Amazingly, even though wecharged no admission to the show,with the donations from the charityride, our raffle, bike show registra-tion, swap meet spaces sold, and foodsales, we raised at least $2,000 forcharity. Our two charities are theNorth American Youth SportsWomen’s Sports Scholarship Fund,in which girls who played a sport inhigh school and plan to further theireducation in college can receivesome financial help, and the NicholasEng Memorial Scholarship Fund, es-tablished to honor John’s late son.Being an avid supporter of women’ssports and a women’s basketballcoach for the past 19 years, I couldthink of no better way than to helpsome girls in need than to combinemy passion for motorcycling with mylove for sports and kids. Somehow, Ieven got roped into leading anall-women’s ride next weekend be-cause of this, too! Well, actually, Ihave to lead all of the guys who wereupset at the women because theywanted to ride alone....so we are tak-ing the route in reverse at the ladies’request!

Based on all of the great com-ments we received this weekend, Ihave no doubt that the event willdouble in size at minimum nextyear. We hope to always keep theadmission free. We will begin plan-ning and will announce the dates inSeptember. Watch for them in theVJMC magazine calendar and on

the web site!

Wisconsin: Event raises $2,000 for charity

Charity ride participants line up for departure.

Continued from page 13

34 www.vjmc.org


ClassifiedsRemember that a “Vintage Japa-

nese” motorcycle is 15 years or older(cut-off for this year is 1989) and, ofcourse, Japanese. Please be awarethat ads may be edited to conservespace. For large business ads, pleaseconsider a commercial ad. Don’t feelreluctant to use punctuation andproper case on emailed ads.

Be mindful of publication dead-lines. Ads are due by the 20th of themonth in which a magazine is issuedfor the NEXT magazine. For exam-ple, ads for the December magazinewill be due to the editor by October20th.

Send all ads to:Gary Gadd3721 Holland St.Ft. Worth, TX., 76180(817) 284-8195or e-mail: [email protected]

For Sale

Bridgestone

1960s Bridgestone Trail 90. Mostlycomplete. Starts and sputters. No pa-perwork. See at http://photos.ya-hoo.com/lowsideking. Asking $300.You pick up.

Deron, Galt, California,[email protected]

1968 Bridgestone 100cc TMX.Runs but needs restoration. Manynew parts. $450.

Jim, Dallas, Texas, [email protected]

Honda

For 1959/69 Honda 50-305cc:30-year collection of vintage Hondaparts and projects. Truck load ofNOS stuff, used stuff, and about 15project bikes; have crash guards,racks, bars, fenders, lens, engines andparts, showroom flags, posters, NOScast iron ashtrays, etc. Decided I’d

rather ride a bike than have all thisstuff filling up my garage. I want afairly new Kawasaki 1500 drifter orclassic (you know, bags-lights-wind-shield-fringes-whitewalls-etc) or$10,000 to buy one. There is approx$30,000 worth of stuff here at retailvalue; would like to sell it in one lot.

Greg Carson, (403) 748-3000,Bently, Alberta, Canada,[email protected]

Clymer manual for Honda singles50-90 cc 1963-1978. $10.

Mike Plante, (303) 582-3493cell/(720) 289-5085, PO Box 16294,Golden, Colorado, 80402,[email protected]

1962 Honda Cub C100/102. I havethree Honda Cub scooters that are allparts bikes and in need of a home.There are enough parts to build onenice C102 and 95% of another with abunch of extras. $200 takes them (ormake an offer). You have to comepick ‘em up in South west Michiganand if you’re real nice I can e-mailsome photo. They are not good look-ing but are a fantastic start on a pro-ject. Thanks.

Craig Irvine, (269) 945-6308,Grand Rapids, Michigan,[email protected]

For Honda CB72/77: NOS flat han-dlebars. $85 plus shipping.

Byron Blend, (303) 290-0968, 5217S. Kenton Way, Englewood, Colo-rado, 80111

1965 Honda CP77. Black/silver,fully restored Canadian version withthe blinkers, Benly bars and grainyseat cover. 400 miles since resto.Runs excellent, needs nothing -$3000 obo/trades. Can deliver to TNRally no charge.

Brad Powell, (678) 576-4258, At-lanta, Georgia,[email protected]

1966 Honda CM91. Has rare fac-tory Roadster Kit installed. Originalred, complete, runs sweet, $1000.Can deliver to Rally in TN.

Tom Kolenko, (770) 422-3629, At-lanta, Georgia,[email protected]

1967 Honda CB 450 Supersport.Black Bomber with chrome tank.Newer engine in 1991. 12,000 miles,garaged, very clean and runs well. Iwill sell it with the original engine ifyou want to fully restore it. The origi-nal engine needs the top end rebuilt. Ihave other extra parts plus the origi-nal Honda service manual. I cane-mail pictures to you.


For 1969 Honda CB175 K3 SuperSport: NOS fuel tank in factoryprimer. Has “HONDA” and wingbadges; no cap, petcock or kneepads.Factory sealing tape still in place overthe filler neck and petcock mountinghole. $75 plus packing and shipping.

Reade Whitwell, (206) 935-9183,Seattle, Washington,[email protected]

For 1969 Honda CB750: rear drumassembly. Complete with axle andchain adjusters. $200 obo.

Jim Hayes, (201) 863-2372

1971 Honda CL350. This is the nic-est scrambler you will find. Recentlytuned with new BridgestoneTrailiwings. I will include two carbu-retor kits, shop manual, complete mi-crofiche and a microfiche reader.Email for photos of this classic.$1300.

Keith Smart, (864) 583-8435,Spartanburg, South Carolina,[email protected]

www.vjmc.org 35


Classifieds1971 Honda CB750. Good condi-

tion, new front brake pads, new fronttire, fresh tune up, clean carbs, orig 4into 4 exhaust, new seat, dent on tank,26,000 miles. $1800.

Chris Thomas, (704) 575-5388,Charlotte, North Carolina,[email protected]

Honda 750 parts. 1971/72/78. Partsor whole bikes.

Jim Hayes, 4828 Tonnelle Avenue,Trlr B39, North Bergen, New Jersey,07047

Honda CB 750 K2. BREAKINGCOMPLETE BIKE. All parts avail-able at the time of advert.

John Bambrough, 0777 850 4212phone/01935 412462 voice mail,Yeovil, Somerset, UK,[email protected]

1973 Honda CB750 K3. Orangeflake, original pipes with no rust.Wixon fairing. Has been 6 yearssince running. Clear title. Contact forsome pics.

Michael A Crimmins, (817)996-6316, Arlington, Texas,[email protected]

1973 Honda CB750. Good “origi-nal” condition due to excellent stor-age. Great original paint (green), andoriginal chrome, 12K miles, smalldent in tank, everything works. Doesnot have original mufflers. Soundsgreat and runs good. $2,300.

Dick Lavoie, (401) 821-7226 or(401) 461-4825 Cranston, Rhode Is-land, [email protected]

Honda CB500T. Very clean CB500twin. Been in storage since 1981.Bike needs motor work. Great forcollection. Bike missing side coverand ignition cover. Sale price $600.Also have many more old Hondas forsale.

Rich Grant, (718) 448-7322, NewYork, [email protected]

1976 Honda CB400F. Two bikes ingood condition; have been sitting.$1500 for the pair. Will considertrades.

Claude Carrier, (508) 543-6157evenings/(508) 543-0490 days.

1976 Honda CB550 Super Sport.Parting out, including a decent used4-into-1 factory exhaust. Contactwith needs.

B Samms, (208) 664-4462,[email protected]

1970 Honda Z50 K0 Mini Trail.Original condition; folding handle-bars. Starts and runs fine. Exhaustchrome and badges are excellent, seatis very good, rebuilt carb. Gas tank isred/white but it has been soldered soit will hold gas. I can email pictures.$899 obo.

David Hellard, Columbus, Ohio614-871-1154,[email protected]

1970 Honda CB 450. Totally origi-nal, beautiful candy blue/green Only11,500 miles, starts and runs excel-lent. Everything works, has verygood tires; 9 on a 10 scale. I can emailpictures. $1999.

David Hellard, Columbus, Ohio614-871-1154,[email protected]

Kawasaki

1965 Kawasaki J11. Touringmodel, 85cc, runs, all stock, needssome work. Real rare classic.

Bruce, (616) 784-3139, Grand Rap-ids, Michigan,[email protected]

1969 Kawasaki Bushwacker 175cc.Two bikes. Both original, one run-ning, the other in a box. $1500 obo.Please put ‘Bushwaker’ in the subjectline. Thanks.

Thomas Curran, (802) 388-4376,Middlebury, Vermont, [email protected]

1974 Kawasaki S3 400cc. Runswell, good chrome and aluminum,new Dunlops, needs cosmetic finish-ing. $800 obo.

Jeff Kowalchuk, (920) 845-5304,Green Bay, Wisconsin,[email protected]

Rupp

1972 Rupp RMT 80. 80cc dirt bikewith Fuji motor (looks like a Hodakamotor). Very rare, chrome needs re-plating, includes box of new parts.$995.


Suzuki

1970 (March) Suzuki T250 II. Eightmonths of labor and meeting peopleall over the world have resulted in avery nice 250 twin. Everything re-painted; tank and side covers are me-tallic blue. New seat cover and foam,cylinders bored 1mm over, new pis-tons and many other parts replaced.Service manuals and many otherparts included. Email me for thewhole story and photos. About 200miles since restoration. $2,500. I amwilling to discuss delivery on theWest Coast. I live near Sacramento.

Mike, (530) 622-9133, Sacramento,California, [email protected]

1972 Suzuki TS400 J. Dual SportEnduro. CCI, P.E.I., 34hp, less than5k original miles, awesome bike,runs great. Original owners manual& helmet incl. Current registration;garage stored. This bike is worthmuch more. I hate to have to sell it, sodon’t let this one slip by. Call now.$2500. See it now athttp://adcache.cycletrader.com//5/6/74169056.htm

Rick, (714) 394-1595, GardenGrove, California,[email protected]

36 www.vjmc.org


Classifieds1971 Suzuki Hustler T250R. Excel-

lent original condition. 6675 miles.No scratches, two small dents ontank. No rust. New petcock (dealerpart) in 2003. If interested, I willemail photos. Best offer.

Karen Arthur, (218) 393-2226, Du-luth, Minnesota,[email protected]

Yamaha

For Yamaha: Various piston ringsfor sale. Will sell the lot - you pay forpostage. Part numbers:2n5-11610-10. I also have jets. Partnumber: 193-141-42-55

Mick, 07761241663, Northern Ire-land, [email protected]

1968 Yamaha YCS1. Nearly com-plete. Not running but has spark.Needs restoration. Canada. $400.

Brian, (705) 799-6987, Lindsay,Ontario, Canada,[email protected]

1968 Yamaha Gran Prix 350cc.Red, white and chrome. Never re-stored, runs good, needs 6V battery.Grand Prix sticker missing. Street-le-gal road bike. Asking $1250.

Steve Walden, (517) 263-9513,Adrian, Michigan, [email protected]

1970 Yamaha YL1 Twinjet 100.Complete, but needs restoration.Runs. Electrics all work. Canada.$500. Good project bike.

Brian, (705) 799-6987, Lindsay,Ontario, Canada,[email protected]

1973 Yamaha RD350. Decentshape, runs, but third gear is out.Great for restoring! Best offer.

Richard Raider, (218) 895-7557,1201 8TH ST NE #4, Staples, Minne-sota 56479,[email protected]

Yamaha RDs. 1972 R5. Same asRD350. 1973 RD350. RD400streetable race bike with custom sus-pension, brakes. $850 each or allthree for $1795. Will consider trades.


1973/74 Yamaha TX500. Haveboth a 73 and 74, one orange, oneblue; both totally original with lowmiles, run excellent, no issues, propertitles, etc. Need to sell one; tradesconsidered. $2000 obo. Free deliveryto TN rally.


1973/74 Yamaha RD350. Have 2RDs plus a ‘77 RD400; need to sellone or two. All are original, correctand run well. The ‘73 has chambersand has a nice repaint. $2500 eachobo. Can deliver to TN Rally at nocharge.


For Yamaha RD250/350/400:Parts. Mostly for 350 but some 250and early 400 parts. Good side pan-els, oil tanks, instruments, lots ofmisc. Reasonable.

Jeff Kowalchuk, (920) 845-5304,Green Bay, Wisconsin,[email protected]

1983 Yamaha 550 Vision. Veryclean original condition with just12,800 miles. Runs and looks great.Just detailed and ready to ride. Candeliver in central FL. $2950 or inter-esting trade.

Eric Wala, (352) 303-5220,Clermont, Florida, [email protected]

For Yamaha: NOS Yamaha precutkeys. E-mail me with the numbersthat you need.

Mark Anthony, (336) 788-7528,North Carolina, [email protected]

For 1969 Yamaha AT1M125cc: Riders Manual in excellentcondition. Very rare motocross ver-sion of the 125 Enduro. 48 pages,very detailed specs, performancecurves, wiring, service tools, and fac-tory part numbers for GYT engineand chassis performance kits. $40obo. I can email pictures.

David Hellard, Columbus, Ohio614-871-1154, [email protected]

Miscellaneous Items

For Early 1960s and up Japanesebikes: Keys. Thousands of OEMHonda and Suzuki keys. Keys are $8each, which includes shipping. Wealso have thousands of NOS parts forthose old bikes in stock. Just send uswhat part you need with the bikemodel and year (or preferably a partnumber) and we just may be able tohelp you out. We’re a salvage yardlocated in the middle Tennessee area,just 40 mi NW of Nashville. Give us atry. Thanks.

Queen City Motorcycle, (877)648-4355, Clarksville, Tennessee,[email protected]

1970/85 Japanese 100/1100cc. I amselling a complete salvage and partsbusiness with more than 700 bikesand too many parts to even start a list.All bikes and parts are in 40 ft. stor-age trailers that can also be bought.Taking Reasonable Offers.

Stephen Horton, (717) 532-6147,Roxbury, PA,[email protected]

Keys. We supply hard to find keyblanks for classic vehicles! We canhelp you get the keys you need. Westock keys for cars, trucks, buses, mo-torcycles and even some airplanes,some of which are no longer manufac-tured anywhere. Visit our web site tobrowse our catalog and order online,or to request help finding the key youneed: www.key-men.com

Key Men - Keys for Classics, Mon-roe, New York, [email protected]

www.vjmc.org 37


ClassifiedsVideo Tapes. #1: 1966 Honda Fac-

tory Tour, 1964 Suzuki Factory Tour,plus 1970 Honda’s 1st Daytona200-miler win, $20. #2: 1959Greenhorne Enduro and 1964Jackpine Enduro plus two indoorshort tracks on concrete from the1970s, $20. #3: 1954 Triumph Fac-tory Tour and 1958 BSA FactoryTour, $20. Tapes are one hour or lon-ger. Price includes shipping.

Jim Minnis, 210 S. Madison St.Princeton, Indiana, 47670

Wanted

Bridgestone

For Bridgestone 175: Any manualsor parts books, originals or copies.

Larry Mayne, (304) 525-6703,Huntington, WV, maynef@zoomnet

Honda

For 1960/62 Honda CB92: Lookingfor front fender, seat, and mufflers.Please call or e-mail if you knowsomeone who may.

Doug Gregory, (281) 655-4944,[email protected]

For 1960 sHonda CB72 250cc: I amlooking for a decent head. Considercomplete parts engine if reasonable.

Ed Haddaway, (505) 842-8117, Albu-querque, NM, [email protected]

1962/65 Honda CA200. I am lookingfor a nice black 90cc CA200 with thepush-rod motor. If you know of any thecolor is not mandatory. Any color willdo but preferably a black one.

Mike Chandler, 770) 471-0438, At-lanta, Georgia, [email protected]

1963/66 pushrod Honda 90cc. Not astep-thru bike; it is a regular motorcy-cle. I think it is either a CA or C100 or200. I will be at the Mid-Ohio event inJuly. If anyone knows anybody thathas one for sale please contact me.

Mike Chandler, (770) 471-0438, At-lanta, Georgia, [email protected]

For 1964/65 Honda CB92 Benly:Looking for spares. Need seat, ex-haust, headlight, gear change pedaland linkage, tank badges, frontfender, etc.

Bill Carmichael, 01780 752425,Lincolnshire UK., [email protected]

For 1965 Honda 50: Looking to buya muffler in new or used in good con-dition. Bolts directly on the motorand runs to the rear wheel; all onepiece

Butch Ballot, (352) 874-3549, LadyLake, Florida, [email protected]

For 1965 Honda CA95: I am look-ing for 150cc Dream parts. Specifi-cally, rear shocks, “carb covers” thatcover the air intake, headlamp, andI’m sure more things will come up asI put this thing together.

Jenny Bell, (614) 477-1859, Co-lumbus, Ohio,[email protected]

For 1966 Honda C72 Dream: Look-ing for a handlebar yoke with coveropening for damper knob.

Wray Moore, Bay City, Michigan,[email protected]

For Honda CL77: Looking for aWeisco big bore kit: cylinder, pis-tons, and gaskets. Also 15-tooth and37-tooth front and rear sprockets.The center hole is 80 mm and the boltspacing is 4.00 inches; late model di-mensions.

[email protected]

For 1968 Honda CL350: Need aseat in good or NOS condition. It hasa good early CB350 seat on it that Iwould be willing to trade or pay cash.

Jim Smith, (805) 968-9748, Cali-fornia, [email protected]

For 1969/73 Honda 350: Need en-gine bottom end for CB350 caféracer project. Might be interested incomplete, working motor.

Thomas McNicholas, (865)719-2988, Jefferson City, Tennessee,[email protected]

For 1973 Honda SL350 K0: Needexhaust. Would like stock parts, butaftermarket will do.

Mike Elliott, (678) 878-0692,Metro Atlanta, Georgia,[email protected]

For 1973 Honda CL350: Need a setof mufflers. NOS or after-market.

Robert Mow, (586) 336-1536, Ro-meo, Michigan, [email protected]

For 1975 Honda CB360T: Needcomplete, rust-free, decent exhaust.Can be stock or aftermarket. I am inMass, but will pay for shipping.

John Gifford, (508) 958-1995,Mass., [email protected]

For 1975 Honda CB360: Lookingfor a serviceable set of mufflers for adaily rider.

Will Endsley, [email protected]

1975 Honda CL360: Looking forthe mufflers. Interested even if youjust have the bottom one.

Chris Pearson, (401) 640-4799,East Greenwich, Rhode Island,[email protected]

For 1977 Honda CB750AHondamatic: Looking for a spokedfront wheel. Wheel must be completewith bearings intact and not out ofround. Also need seat in good condi-tion.

Michael Smegielski, (203)754-1482, [email protected]

For 1977 Honda CB750K: Need areplacement left side cover/panel.The problem I’ve had so far is findingone with the “750FourK” letteringthat will match the right side letter-ing. Can you help directly or refer meelsewhere?

Paul Schofield, (828) 235 1721,Waynesville, North Carolina,[email protected]

38 www.vjmc.org


ClassifiedsFor 1979 Honda CB400T: I need an

alternator stator in good condition forthis bike. This bike has a manualtransmission; kick start only.

Don Philip, (250) 397-2720, ForestGrove, British Columbia, Canada,[email protected]

For 1979 Honda GL1000: Lookingfor stock seat.

Brad Nessar, (603) 434-3611,Derry, New Hampshire,[email protected]

For 1989 Honda VT1100 Shadow:Need gas tank and rear fender. Prefermaroon but will consider other colors


Kawasaki

For 1968 Kawasaki C2SS 120cc: Iam looking for some piston rings. Doyou have any ideas as to where Imight find some?

Brandon Buford, (314) 322-6535,Toledo, Ohio, [email protected]

For 1971 Kawasaki H1: Lookingfor complete 3-pipe stock set of muf-flers. Also need a stock front fender.

Brad Nessar, (603) 434-3611,Derry, New [email protected]

Kawasaki H1F: Need both side cov-ers and a good seat.

Charles Sims, (806) 878-2807, POBox 1064, Stinnett, Texas, 79083

Kawasaki H2. Prefer bike suitablefor restoration as I’m looking for a re-condition/restoration project. Doesnot have to be rideable or running.

Kelly Wright, (269) 561-2662,Fennville, Michigan,[email protected]

For 1982 Kawasaki KZ750-N1: Ineed a speedo assy. and mounting

bracket to fix up a Spectre. Could alsouse a turn signal head and stem(black). Any help appreciated! Thanx.

Phil, (814) 445-8737, Somerset,Pa., [email protected]

Suzuki

For 1972 Suzuki TS250: Need anon-stock pipe/chamber good, used.Also tach, oil tank cover (this bikegreen), maybe other parts.

Jeff, Wisc., [email protected]

For 1982 Suzuki GS850: Need rightside cover, headlight shell brackets,and a good seat.

Charles Sims, (806) 878-2807, POBox 1064, Stinnett, Texas, 79083

Tohatsu

Tohatsu Run Pet Sport 50cc. Seekcomplete original, complete projectbikes considered. Please call Tom.

Tom Kolenko, (770) 422-3629, At-lanta, GA, [email protected]

For 1962/63 Tohatsu Runpet Sport50cc: I need two tank emblems and aright hand side cover with chrometrim to finish up a restoration.

Richard Blue, (936) 825-2225, CollegeStation, Tex., [email protected]

Yamaha

For 1965 Yamaha YDS2 250cc UKmodel: Looking for rear fender (mud-guard to us Brits). Complete engine orWHY as mine has LH casing cracksadjacent to kick lever. My USA contactis David Gage atwww.thatchedroofgarage.com locatedKingsport, TN. Any info appreciated.

Malc Bates, (423) 578-6887,[email protected]

For 1966 Yamaha YM-1 305cc:Need swing arm and front fender.

David Cocuzzo, (203) 266-6364,Bethlehem, Conn., [email protected]

For 1967 Yamaha YR1 350cc:Looking for fork boots; Yamaha partnumber 211-23191-40-00. NOS,used, even broken would help as Ihave nothing.

Charles E. Finney, (563) 355-7727,[email protected]

For 1967/68 Yamaha YR1 350cc:Need mufflers.

Peter Douglas, 07 49543653, Aus-tralia, [email protected]

For 1967 Yamaha YM2C 305cc:Would like to find a speedometer/ta-chometer unit. Need not work as I canuse some of the internal parts. Any-body know were there is one or wereI can get parts? Thanks.

Mike Allen, (218) 828-4451,[email protected]

For Yamaha YDS3/YM1250/305cc: Looking for a set of ex-pansion chambers. Also TD1 orAscot Scrambler.

Mark Anthony, (336) 788-7528,North Carolina,[email protected]

Looking for a 1970 Yamaha TA125 racer. Must be complete, origi-nal. Complete project bikes consid-ered. Call Tom.

Tom Kolenko, (770) 422-3629, At-lanta, GA, [email protected]

For 1970 Yamaha R5 350cc: I re-ally would like to find a purple andwhite R54. I have found a few but Iam not a collector. I want to ride thebike. I do want a bike that is in aboveaverage shape - does not have to beall-original. Let me know details. Ihope dealing with a great club will in-sure positive results. A LARGESTEP ABOVE EBAY AUCTIONS.

Dewey David Martin, (931)823-2342, Livingston, Tennessee,[email protected]

1982 Yamaha XV920RJ. Conditiondoes not matter. Looking to restore.

Chris Keeton, (407) 694-6967, Or-lando, Fla., [email protected]

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A -

HO

ND

A H

ON

DA

- HO

ND

A - H

ON

DA

- HO

ND

A - H

ON

DA

- HO

ND

A

ALL AT DISCOUNTED PRICES

• WE KEEP IN STOCK MOST OF THE PARTS REQUIRED FOR BOTH ENGINE REBUILDS AND COMPLETE RESTORATION PROJECTS

• WE STOCK MANY LARGE COMPONENTS:CYLINDERS, BARRELS, CRANKCASES, WHEELS, TANKS, EXHAUSTS, FAIRING PANELS, SEATS, FRAMES, ETC

AFTERMARKET MUFFLERS:CB77 SUPERHAWK EXACT REPLICA MUFFLERS WITH WELDED BRACKET. BAFFLES AND DOWNPIPES ALSO IN STOCK CB750K0-K6 4:2 CHROME JAPANESE MCA COMPLETE EXHAUST CB500F AND CB550K 4:2 CHROME JAPANESE MCA COMPLETE EXHAUST

PARTS FOR ALL 1960’S TO 2005 MODELS ARRIVING ALL THE TIME

•

WANTED: Large stocks of N.O.S. Honda parts

CASH: $$$ PAID We receive huge deliveries of old and obsolete Honda parts through out the year. So phone, fax, write or email for our free latest price list.

DAVID SILVER SPARES Unit 14, Masterlord Industrial Estate,

Station road, Leiston, Suffolk, IP16 4JD, United Kingdom Web: www.davidsilverspares.com

Email: [email protected] Phone: 011441728833020 Fax: 011441728832197

DAILY UPS SHIPPING TO THE USA HONDA ~ HONDA ~ HONDA ~ HONDA

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ORIGINAL MUFFLER SPECIALS:CB750K0/K1 ‘300 TYPE’ SET OF 4 EXAUSTS CB750K2-K6 (72-76) ‘341 TYPE’ SET OF 4 EXHAUSTS CB500F/550K/K1/K76 ‘323, 374 TYPE’ SET OF 4 EXHAUSTS

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ORDER ON-LINE:VAST COMPREHENSIVE AND EASY TO USE, SECURE ONLINE STORE. THOUSANDS OF GENUINE HONDA AND AFTERMARKET SPARE PARTS LISTED FOR HUNDREDS OF MODELS

•

Documents

Yamaha s Mini Enduros Yamaha s Mini Enduros - vjmc-florida.org · VJMC magazine. However, when I investigated those systems, neither seemed quite right for what I had in mind. While