2017 bike show & swap meet - vjmc · manifest destiny, of outlaws and great native american...

Volume 38 / Number 3JUNE / JULY 2017 • $5

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

WHAT’S INSIDE:Yahaha TD4Western Nebraska Motorcycle ShowThe Craigslist LotteryEmblem & Badge Refurbishment

Bike Show & Swap Meet

2017

ViNtagE JapaNEsE MotorcYcLE MagaziNE 3

PRESIDENT’S LETTER: 40 summers of Fun ..............................................................................5

BACK IN THE DAY:richard Blue ....................................................................................... 10

FROM THE EDITOR:commmunicating with Your active club ....................................... 11

CUSTOM CONNECTION:take a Walk on the Mild side .......................................................... 12

FEATURED BIKE:1975 Honda cB500t street tracker .................................................... 15

ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHT: Vapor Honing technologies ............................................................. 58

EVENTS CORNER ............................................................................ 59

CLASSIFIEDS .................................................................................... 60

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX ................................................................... 61

Departments

IN THIS ISSUE

2017 Destination EustisBike Show & Swap Meet.............................................. 40

coVer story

Features

On the Cover Celia Willliams with her award-winning Fujis.

cover photo:Mike Fitterling

Volume 38 / Number 3JUNE / JULY 2017 • $5

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF NORTH AMERICA, INC.

WHAT’S INSIDE:Yahaha TD 4 BackgroundWestern Nebraska Motorcycle ShowThe Craigslist LotteryEmblem & Badge Refurbishment


2017

EVENTS:Western Nebraska Motorcycle show

6MAINTENANCE & RESTORATION:cB50v Flip cap Mod

9PROJECT BIKE:Yamaha tD4

16EVENTS:Macau grand prix 50th anniversary

18ODDS & ENDS:affliction condition, part 1

21PROJECT BIKE:suzuki Epilogue

30

PROJECT BIKE:Wes cooley replica

44

MAINTENANCE & RESTORATION:cleaning a Motorcycle tank with Electrolysis35

EVENTS:ironclad art:the Motorcycle

46PROJECT BIKE:Ninjago rebuild

49

ODDS & ENDS:the craigslist Lottery

37

MAINTENANCE & RESTORATION:Emblem & Badge refurbishment57


Official Publication of the VJMCJUNE / JULY 2017

Volume 38, Number 3presiDeNt

tom Kolenko770-427-4820

[email protected]

Michael Fitterling863-632-1981

[email protected] DirectorNadine g. [email protected] aDs

gary gadd817-284-8195

[email protected] Display

aDVertisiNg DirectorBryan Bentley864-923-0559

[email protected] Director

Bill granade813-961-3737

[email protected] of aDDress

please direct these requests to Bill granade:

[email protected] 13309 Moran Drive, tampa, FL 33618

Membership check renewals:1 year - $30 / 2 years - $55 / 3 years - $80

outside North america: 1 year - $50

aDDitioNal copiesin order to minimize unnecessary expens-es to the club, VJMc prints a limited number of each issue of Vintage Japanese Motorcy-cle Magazine. However, we would be glad to accommodate any requests for additional copies from members.

These requests must be submitted before the 15th of the month preceding each issue. For ex-ample: for the august/september issue requests must be received by July 15.

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

© 2016 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle club of North america, an irs-approved Not-for-prof-it 501(c)(7) corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted without permission. All articles copyright by their respective authors.

Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Magazine is pub-lished six times per year, in February, April, June, august, october, and December. the views and opinions expressed in letters or other content are those of the author and do not necessarily represent VJMc policy. the VJMc accepts no lia-bility for any loss, damage, or claims occurring as a result of advice given in this publication or for claims made by advertisers of products or ser-vices in this publication.

40 Summers of Funi t’s riding time in all of North America. Our Yankee and Canadi-

an members are now back on the road, while the rest of us have switched to summer riding gear to cope with baking heat. Hope-fully, you’re riding to one of the many events that make a VJMC summer so much fun. Rallies, Mid-Ohio, AIMExpo, and Barber Vintage Festival will celebrate our fortieth birthday in style. Join in the fun times and make plans to bring friends and family along. Making new friends and renewing old relationships is what it’s all about.

What has the VJMC learned in these four decades to help it survive and thrive? First and foremost, we must always focus on what’s important to our members. You have told us in surveys that the priorities are the magazine, website, and events, in that order. Some members have never attended a VJMC event but find that our amazing magazine and website are great resources to support their vintage motorcycle passion.

Second, we need to nurture and support our selfless volunteers who share their tal-ents and resources. VJMC leadership always tries to select and develop solid team play-ers that share in this commitment. Our current BoD members, Field Representatives, and inspired members who give freely of their time and talents are great role models. These are all volunteers who work nights and weekends to address club needs, often while holding down demanding day jobs. Great volunteers are hard to find and will always be the core of this club.

Third, we have to be good stewards of our limited resources. We haven’t raised dues in more than a decade, yet insurance, printing, mailing, and regalia costs continue to rise. The BoD has leveraged and developed partnerships with key players like Yamaha Motor Corporation, AMA-Vintage Days, Barber Motorsports Museum, Hagerty In-surance, and many local supporters of our mission. Part of this stewardship challenge is saying “no” to requests to appear at expensive venues and fancy shows where hefty ticket prices would keep our members from attending. We don’t supply hundreds of free goodies to pass out at events. This BoD always tries to negotiate discounts and seeks multiple bids on all services. We know these are still tough times for many mem-bers, and we respect your dues contributions.

If we remember these three basics, the VJMC should be healthy and around for the fiftieth anniversary. Adding to our leadership bench are two new Field Representatives: Canadian Andy Dixon and J.R. Luksik in Michigan. Welcome guys! We are always looking for members who wish to step up and create fun for members in their area. Log in to the website and read our Field Representative Guidelines and, if interested, contact Sean Carrigan (859-391-8736) for greater details on becoming a Field Rep.

The updated website is still being tuned up and improved. A key goal of the website upgrade was to make it more self-directed for events, calendar, classifieds, etc., where folks can enter their info directly into the site. Webmaster Pete Slatcoff advises that the best way to get his help is to fill out a trouble ticket under the “Help” menu, which doesn’t even require you to be logged in to use.

Our magazine’s editor, Mike Fitterling, is always seeking great articles of interest to our members. We do not have paid writers and correspondents on staff. All maga-zine content is member-generated. High quality photos are always needed, especially for cover stories. He tries to balance the mix of events, restorations, rides, product reviews, etc. in each issue, but he needs your submissions. Consider becoming a pub-lished author by sharing your expertise and experiences.

Kudos to Field Reps Brendan Durrett (CA) for the Death Valley Ride; Don Stockett (CA) for the Sayonara Ride; Ellis Holman (IN), Sean Carrigan (KY), and Jim Townsend (IN ) for Mid-Ohio Vintage Days; and the Klemm brothers in AZ for the Route 66 Tid-dler Ride. Ideas and actions make the good times happen in the VJMC, and thanks to your efforts fun got multiplied. I hope to see and ride with many of you at the National Rally in Pigeon Forge and other VJMC events.

Ride safe and often,

Tom KolenkoVJMC [email protected]

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

6 JUNE / JULY 2017


Western Nebraska Vintage Motorcycle Show

by Brandon Davenport / [email protected] by Brenda Suhr

EVENTS

to tell the truth, here in western Ne-braska we’re spoiled when it comes to

motorcycling. It’s a little hard to believe when you look outside and see the af-termath of a winter storm that dropped over a foot of snow on the prairie, and you know that it could snow again even into May. But really, two weeks ago, in the middle of February, it was T-shirt weather, and many of us found our way back onto our bikes.

That’s a special treat for those of us in regions that experience all four sea-sons. To be honest, even though here in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, we enjoy the snow in winter, thunderstorms in spring, and the sweltering heat of the summer, the comfortable riding season is relatively long. And anyway, those days of inclem-ent weather lend themselves well to tin-kering on our old bikes.

We’re spoiled in other ways, as well. There’s a real beauty to the landscape here that’s particularly special, because it makes you work to appreciate it. It’s a beauty that’s not as obvious as a moun-tain vista or an ocean view. Ostensibly, it’s bland, flat, monotone. But among the long stretches of sparsely-populat-ed road and on two wheels, where you can really soak in your surroundings, you get the sense that on a deeper lev-el it’s none of those things. The horizon is long and meandering, and where low rolling hills or rare bluffs interrupt it, you appreciate the contrast. You begin to notice that rebelling against the tan and browns of the dirt and prairie grass is a surprising amount of green, and where the yellows and purples of wild-flowers peek through, they’re all the bet-ter for the rarity. And the sky—looming and endless—the best way to enjoy it is to take a ride in the early evening when

swaths of oranges, purples, and pinks are like brushstrokes on an uninterrupt-ed canvas as the sun begins to set. And don’t get me started on what it’s like to watch the dark clouds of a distant thun-derstorm, like towering monoliths roll-ing over plains from miles away.

On days when I can, getting off the as-phalt and onto the sprawling network of dirt roads in the early evening is my fa-vorite way to enjoy a ride. The landscape and the solitude create a sort of melding, not just between man and machine, but between man, machine, nature, and the past, as well. As lovers of motorcycles, I believe we’re deeply attracted to the sense of adventure they offer, an aspect that meshes so well with the sense of adventure naturally present within the local landscape and its history. I often wonder if that combination is one of the forces behind the strength of the local vintage motorcycle community; that as-pect of adventure married with the past.

When our history books speak of the Old West, of pioneers seeking their Manifest Destiny, of outlaws and great Native American chiefs, our backyard provided the setting and to this day pro-vides fantastic ride destinations. Great pioneer landmarks like Chimney Rock and Scott’s Bluff are found, and near-by you can still see the ruts carved by wagons on the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails leading west. Just southwest of town are the remains of Rubidoux Trading Post, which served early fur-traders and missionaries trav-eling through the area.

A ten-minute ride to the west of Scottsbluff will lead you to the site of the signing of the Horse Creek Treaty, one of the most historically significant treaties signed between the Native Peo-

ples and the US Government. If north is your preferred direction, Fort Robinson can be found an hour-and-a-half’s ride from Scottsbluff and provides a look into what life as a US Cavalry solider on the frontier of the West was like.

To be nestled into an area that pro-vides such great and often low-traffic riding destinations is a real blessing, and considering that a major US city, Denver, Colorado, is a mere three hours southwest, and motorcycling mecca St-urgis is a little under four hours to our north, Scottsbluff’s a pretty good place to be for a lover of motorcycles.

But I’m gushing here, and digressing from the reason I even began writing, which is to tell you good folks what a wonderful time we all had this past Au-gust at the Western Nebraska Vintage Motorcycle Show and to convey how spoiled we are to be able to put on such a great event not just for our local com-munity, but for those from beyond our borders as well. This past year was the third instance of the show and again saw over 150 vintage motorcycles of all makes and models, along with a num-ber of vendors at the swap meet. The weather was amazing, the people were

8 JUNE / JULY 2017

even better, and we were thrilled to be graced by the presence of some great out-of-state exhibitors like Lyle Penner and the trio of stunning Hondas he brought.

While the show’s primary purpose is to allow those of us who organize it a chance to share our love of vintage motorcycles, we take advantage of it as an opportunity to do good within our community. We’ve never charged a fee to show bikes and, instead, ask that each exhibitor donate $20 toward our chosen charity, which again was our local Hu-mane Society. Between our sponsors, our exhibitors, raffles, giveaways, and direct sponsor donations, over $4000 went directly to the Humane Society. We’re extremely spoiled that all of the operating costs for the show are pro-vided for by in-kind donations of both time and services from local communi-ty members and fellow lovers of vintage motorcycles, which speaks to the quali-ty of people we’re affiliated with.

We hope for, and invite, all VJMC

members to attend this year’s show on Sunday, August 20th, 2017, our first time as a VJMC-sanctioned event. We are ex-pecting record high attendance this year due to us being spoiled once again for an unlikely, and certainly rare, reason. If you bless us with your presence that Sunday, not only will you be able to view a lot of great vintage bikes and share in the company of a lot of good people, if you stick around until the following Monday, Scottsbluff will be right smack dab in the path of totality for the 2017 total solar eclipse occurring that day.

Anyone not within the path won’t have the opportunity to witness totality, and we’re definitely excited that such a stellar event is occurring in such close proxim-ity to our scheduled show. If you’d like to know more about the eclipse, head on over to http://2017nebraskaeclipse.com for more information and then to www.greatamericaneclipse.com/splendor for a couple of videos and more informa-tion on what you can expect to experi-ence with us in the path of totality.

We hope that by moving the show to that Sunday, instead of the Saturday before when it would normally occur, attendees will be able to make a long weekend of it, enjoying the amazing his-tory and great rides our community has to offer, a great day of vintage motor-cycles, and the ability to cap it off with the chance to witness what for most is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

For information regarding the show and registration or for any questions you might have, please visit our website west-ernnebraskavintagemotocycleshow.com or reach out to [email protected] or by telephone to Jim Neuwirth at 308-225-1967, or even by checking us out on Facebook. We hope to bring in exhibitors and amazing vintage bikes from all over the nation, and if you have questions or need assis-tance with travel or accommodations, please don’t hesitate to contact us. As al-ways, entry to the show is free, but we do ask exhibitors to please donate $20 per exhibitor to our local charity. l


Not long after I brought my Honda CB50v home from Barber Vintage Fest in 2015, I found myself asking the question, “How do I get a flip up gas cap with-

out welding on an adapter?” I spent some time on various sites and found that oth-ers had asked that same question and had produced an answer. Unfortunately for me, those solutions were in Japan, and their asking price was nearly four hundred dollars. That was a bit too pricey for me, but it at least confirmed that it was possible to do what I wanted to do.

I researched Monza-style caps and found that British American Transfer (BAT) in Sarasota, Florida, sold a number of different styles and adapters to suit. A business trip to Sarasota gave me the opportunity to spend some time with the good folks at BAT. I explained what I was looking for, and they took me out into the warehouse and spent some time with me to find the cap that most closely resembled the CR110 cap. They also provided me with an adapter. The adapter threaded into the cap and had a flange that would normally be used to secure the adapter to bodywork. The parts I ended up with were:

Monza Cap, 2.5” x 16 TPI Polished Aluminum, stock # MON25Threaded Flange for 2.5” Cap, Anodized Aluminum, (2.5” x 16 TPI / 6 hole x

76mm), stock #FLAA25After a lot of measuring, I worked up a fully-dimensioned drawing that I could

use to make the fuel tank adapter from.One of the keys to making this work was the 3 mm stainless steel roll-pin. The

use of that roll-pin obviated the need for some complex machine work to produce a tang that would lock the cap into the tank. Essentially, I was creating a gas cap with a hole through it. Which brought up two more questions. How big of a hole was needed to allow the gas pump nozzle to enter the adapter? Would there be enough room in the adapter for the nozzle to pass and still retain mechanical strength? More research told me that an unleaded fuel nozzle by standard can be no larger than 0.85 inch in diameter. A 22 mm/0.87 inch hole would allow the nozzle to be inserted into the adapter. That would allow enough metal to remain in the adapter, given the outer diameter limit of the adapter, so as to retain structural strength.

An ideal starting point for this would have been a bar of 2 1/8 inch 6061 alumi-num. Unfortunately for me, that wasn’t a standard size at my metal supplier. I ended up with 2 1/4 inch bar stock. To get down to the adapter’s 31 mm/1.22 in. there was a lot of waste, but then this wasn’t a production line, so I wasn’t too fussed about the swarf that ended up on the floor.

You may have noticed looking at the drawing that the locking tangs, or roll-pin in this case, are not sprung. In many gas caps, the locking tangs are sprung to maintain a tension to help keep the cap sealed. In this cap there was no space to place springs. I got around this by placing the “tangs” in such a way as to cause the rubber gasket to compress and serve the same function as if the tangs were sprung. This gave a solid seal and prevented the cap from moving. In use, since the roll-pin prevents the fuel nozzle from being far enough into the tank to activate the automatic shutoff, care must be taken when filling the tank. You can also remove the cap and fill the tank in the normal way, without benefit of the cap. Either way, filling the tank slowly is recommended so that fuel doesn’t spill out onto the tank’s painted surfaces. l

CB50v Flip Cap Mod

by Ellis Holman, Director / [email protected]

MAINTENANCE & RESTORATION

10 JUNE / JULY 2017

by Richard Blue / [email protected]

BACK IN THE DAY

back in the day, 1965. Three mem-bers of the exclusive Bayport Cy-

cle Club , showing different styles of “How to do a Wheelie with the San Jacinto Monument” as a backdrop. Bill Wainscot’s brand new 1965 Hon-da S65, probably less than 300 miles on it, Neil Trigg’s 1964 Honda 50 SS, with my 50cc Tohatsu Runpet Sport at home with a bad rod bearing. Saw a Cycle World magazine last week with a kid named Sammy Tanner spinning a circle with his Tohatsu. If he could do it, so could I on a borrowed CA110. We rode ,em hard and, sometimes, put ,em away wet. The Runpet Sport had just blown the doors off the two aforementioned bikes on a top end run, with me laying “flat out” “Rollie Free” style, on a deserted part of long blacktop. 1963 Tohatsu Runpet Sport sported 6.8 HP at about a zillion rpm with my less than 100 lb. (at that time) frame on it. 60 mph was FAST for a kid “Back in the Day.” Cushman’s? Not a chance, even if they had moth-balls in the gas tank! l


i often get emails or phone calls from members requesting extra copies of

the magazine or wanting to add a clas-sified ad or asking for an event ad to be added to the next issue or other things I am not involved in directly. The prob-lem is I do not have the information to help with those questions so must for-ward them on to another person. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t mind doing that and helping out fellow members, but if your query goes directly to the correct person in the first place, you will get your answers more quickly and with more authority than I can provide my-self. So, I thought it fitting this issue to use this column to do a list of who to contact for which questions or requests.

I hope this list helps get your ques-tions answered more quickly. If you can’t find this article and need to know who to contact, you can also look at our masthead on page five of every issue for most of these contacts.

And here is where the “Active” comes in. As I’ve mentioned before in this col-umn, members sometimes think that most events are being held in only two or three parts of the country. What happens is often I am not sent any ar-ticles on events that have been held, and that may give the impression that your club is not active, or at least not active in your region. I was just looking over the Field Rep list of events being planned for 2017 and there are around forty events listed in all parts of North America. Here’s a quick list of where the VJMC will be involved in events: In Canada: AB, QC, and in the US: AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KY, MA, MD, MI, MN, NC, NH, NJ, OH, SC, SD, TX, VA, WI. I hope this dispels the myth and encourages those attending or organizing these events to send in an article and photos so I may

share them with the rest of the Club. And for those of you who do not see something close to home, why not step up and become a Field Rep and make them happen in your area? Sean Car-rigan, our Field Rep Director, stands ready to help. Email him at [email protected]. l

Communicating with Your Active Club

by Michael Fitterling / [email protected]

FROM THE EDITOR

Any articles and photos, and captions that go with them, should be directed to me. Articles are best submitted in Word (or other word-processing files) without formatting. PDFs can be used, but they present a lot of work compared to using a plain Word file. Any formatting you do in either format will be lost anyway when your article is published. Photos should be high resolution (a minimum of 3888 x 2592 pixels is best) and sent as attachments to email and not added within the article. Captions help a lot to make your stories more interesting, too, and can be added at the end of the article. If you don’t sup-ply them, there won’t be any. My email is [email protected], and I welcome your calls if you have any questions: 863-632-1981 (remember, I am on Eastern Standard Time or sometimes am out on my bike riding or at events).

Extra copies of magazine issues, trouble receiving the magazine, and/or change of address or other updated membership information:Bill Granade, Membership Director, [email protected] or call 813-961-3737. You can also mail Bill at: 13309 Moran Drive, Tampa, FL 33618.

Classified ads:Add on the website using the form provided or send to Gary Gadd at [email protected] or call him at 817-284-8195.

Commercial ads should go to:Bryan Bentley, Display Advertising Director, [email protected] or call him at 864-923-0559.

Field Reps or those wanting to become Field Reps should contact:Sean Carrigan, Field Representative Director: [email protected]. Also, Field Reps wanting to send out email blasts to groups of members should con-tact Bob Kelly, Communications Director: [email protected].

Any requests or submissions of event ads should go to:Peter Slatcoff, National Event Coordinator: [email protected]. Vintage Japa-nese Motorcycle Magazine only publishes ads for national and major regional events or any event ads submitted by Peter.

coNtact cheat sheet

If your query goes directly to the correct person in the first place, you will get your answers more quickly.

12 JUNE / JULY 2017

left:this extraordinary cBX, featuring some nice custom touches, was one of the crowd favorites at the Destination Eustis show in March this year. the 6-into-1 exhaust and aftermarket seat being among the non-stock features on this beauty.

right:i spotted this super clean Yamaha rD350 at the riding into History show a couple of years ago. a great exam-ple of a vintage motorcycle that retains its factory look while adding some tasteful performance touches.

left:My own 1975 cB550F, built as a tribute to the ’60s’ Honda cL scramblers. alloy wheels, scrambler handle-bars, and the traditional paint scheme are among the small changes that vary from stock.

opposite page:a gorgeous cB400F built by ttr400 in south africa. they specialize in restorations, but also build bikes to suit a customer’s particular taste, as evidenced by this black super sport. as a side note, they also machine some very nice aluminum custom parts for these bikes.


Take a Walk on the Mild Side

by Toby Jones / [email protected]

CUSTOM CONNECTION

there will always be a debate be-tween those that choose to mod-

ify vintage motorcycles and purists who believe total originality should be maintained at all cost. Like opposing political parties, we expound the vir-tues of our chosen side and condemn the opposition’s point of view. This same argument takes place among vin-tage automotive hobbyists and most likely any other antique hobbies where there is a choice between preserving total originality and changing some-thing for personal taste. Since the in-ception of this column, it has never been my intention to take either side of this debate. I remain permanently “on the fence” in this matter. While I really enjoy looking at those wonderful old bikes restored to their showroom glory and appreciate the huge commitment that a first class restoration requires, I also get great pleasure from seeing one of those motorcycles tastefully modi-fied to suit the owner’s taste. If there is a “middle ground” in this issue, I stand firmly on it.

For me, one of the best things about our hobby is being able to admire and ride different years/models of these great old bikes and getting to know their “personalities.” Each and every model has its own distinct character-istics in performance and design that set it apart from all others (something that is sadly missing in many modern bikes). To customize certain mod-els beyond recognition is, to me, the equivalent of cutting the fins off of a ’57 Chevy. On the other hand, a ’57 Chevy looks mighty sweet with chrome re-verse wheels. There are certain things that I feel can be changed without tak-ing away from the model’s identity.

As a young man I remember seeing a friend’s brand new KZ1000 Kawasaki.

In its stock form it was a glorious sight, with its bright red finish and race-in-spired seat tail. At the time I thought it was the most beautiful motorcycle I had ever seen. A week later, the same friend stopped by my workplace on his new Kawasaki, but it had a decidedly more menacing growl to the exhaust and a subtly different look to its stance. Over that week my friend had installed a new chrome Kerker 4-into-1 header, a set of lower handlebars, and a Dyna

left:i came across this cB400F Honda at the Barber Vin-tage Festival last year in the paddock ready for a few laps around the track. Unfortu-nately, i didn’t get a chance to talk to the owner, but from the look of it, performance was definitely on his mind.

ignition with high performance yellow plug wires. Whereas before the bike was a glorious sight, now it was a glo-rious sight with a distinctly purposeful look, and I thought it was even better looking than before.

My point in all this is simple. It is pos-sible to put together a vintage motorcy-cle that retains its factory designed styl-ing and identity but, at the same time, reflects the owner’s/builder’s taste and preferences. When the changes made

14 JUNE / JULY 2017

are thoughtfully chosen and carefully executed, a bike that retains its stock flavor but becomes subtly different can become a real show stopper.

Motorcycles done like this typically don’t fit into any of the popular catego-ries that we tend to try to fit bikes into, but they are often the ones I admire the most. Call them resto-mods, call them specials, or just call them mild customs; some are fine examples of the vintage Japanese motorcycles that make up our hobby.

When many purests think of custom motorcycles, the vision that comes to mind is the crazy man wielding the cut-off saw, throwing sparks and tossing perfectly good stock pieces in the trash can. I suspect this has a lot to do with “reality” TV shows. While there are builders out there with the capabilities to create works of art us-ing vintage bikes as blank canvases, unfortunately, it has made many new-

comers to the vintage motorcycle hob-by attempt to recreate a professional customizer’s end product without the level of skill or the budget to pull it off. The end result, more often than not, can be found for sale as an overpriced, unfinished, or badly finished project. A destroyed vintage motorcycle…and none of us want that. The intent of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club is to preserve, not destroy, these fine old bikes. The mild custom, on the other hand, can be nicely done and finished without destroying the original or its unique qualities. In the end, any mo-torcycle, stock or custom, is an exten-sion of the owner’s/builder’s tastes and preferences. Some are going to like it and some people aren’t. The import-ant thing is the enjoyment we derive from building, riding, preserving, and collecting these great Japanese vintage motorcycles and the friends we make along the way. l

aboVe:Keith carlson from indianapolis, indiana, did this fine rD400. Keith normally does incredible full cus-tom vintage bikes, but he took a milder approach on this sharp flat track style Yamaha.


this bike was given to me after be-ing pulled from a collapsed barn,

post-tornado, in Oklahoma. This was a 1975- and 1976-only model, and last of the twins, pushed out by the on-slaught of the in-line fours. New were the torsion bar valves (no springs). It was not well-respected in its day or now.

Contrary to almost everything sug-gested in Toby Jones’s excellent article, “Kick Starting Your First Custom,” so many parts were either crushed or missing, I felt there was no harm in “free-styling” here.

Pistons were seized in their bores, but new pistons, rings, and cylinders on eBay were only $25. I’ve had nu-merous offers to buy, and this thing runs beautifully with cross-pipe and stif ling air-cleaner system removed. Carburetors are stock.

Again, Toby’s piece is so correct, except that I have had no problem registering/titling bikes in Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas, either via an Indemnity Insurance Policy thru the DMV or by simply using somebody like All State Title Service in Tennes-see or GetNewTitle.com.

Happy Fortieth! l

1975 Honda CB500T Street Tracker

owned by Tom Hemmen / [email protected]

FEATURED BIKE

16 JUNE / JULY 2017


PROJECT BIKE

Yamaha TD4

by Richard Snyder / [email protected]

about a decade ago, I spent three years doing a museum quality res-

toration of a 1972 Yamaha TD-3 factory race bike. As much as I loved looking at it, it was a challenge to ride, and it would have broken my heart to have thrown it away on the race track. Having a cof-fee table motorcycle wasn’t really an option, so I took it to a Mid-America auction and came home with a 1949 Matchless. But whenever I came across a photo of my TD-3, I got that regret-ful feeling that comes with a lost high school sweetheart.

This past winter I needed a project, had piles of Yamaha items from years of racing, and I had a head full of inspi-ration from all my copies of Café Racer Magazine. I envisioned building a ful-ly faired, street legal replica of the old TD-3 in a Kenny Roberts color scheme. The project took four months of every spare moment. I need to mention that I am blessed with a very accommodating wife!

I started with a 1973 Yamaha RD250A rolling chassis that received quite a bit of cutting and welding for the engine, bodywork, lights, etc. My goal was to use a rubber-dampened 1976 RD400 engine, ported and tuned to nearly race performance, hence the “four” of TD4. It is currently 427 cc. But I also need-ed all the legal items on it for licensing in New York State, and a kickstand if I wanted to ride it anywhere. It is titled as a 1973 RD250.

The bodywork was ordered in yellow from Mead Speed in England. It has a 10,000 rpm crankshaft from Lyn Gar-land of Georgia, with Spec II expansion chambers and EGT gauges to keep an eye on things. Chrome work was done by AC Plating of Bakersfield, Califor-nia. A great deal of fabrication from scratch was needed, including the TD-

style tach mount, instrument mounts, front fender, rear sets, fairing mounts, tail lights, and wiring. The lithium-ion battery is inside the oil injection tank. I run pre-mix for peace of mind. The Powerdynamo ignition has a charging system.

The greatest challenge was trying to foresee how one item might impact something else. There were countless episodes of mockup, problems, disman-tle, repeat. For example: I was admiring the clever tail light license plate bracket, which discretely came out from under the seat tail section. As I marveled over my handiwork, a very disconcerting thought started to form. Sure enough, the rear wheel was not going to fit. I don’t just mean there was no room for the suspension to work. The rear axle was inches away from going onto the

swing arm! Back to zero. As they say, “If it was easy everyone would do it.”

This project was one of those rare ex-periences where the end result matched my initial vision. It draws a lot of at-tention, and its most frequent ride des-tination has been the local ice cream parlor. l

18 JUNE / JULY 2017


in November 1967, the first Macau GP Motorcycle Races were held in the

then Portugese colony on the south coast of China. Yamaha Works rider Hasagawa won the top honours, beat-ing a field of international and local rid-ers. In November 2016, being a VJMC member in Hong Kong, I was asked by the Macau authorities to bring over fifty classic motorcycles to help them celebrate this half-century landmark with exhibitions and parade laps. Here follows an account of the two weeks of celebrations.

Hong Kong, the ex-British colony on the south coast of China, has had a close relationship with the Macau GP since its inception for car racing in 1956 and motorcycle racing in 1967. Indeed, over the years, Hong Kong’s drivers and riders had been instru-mental in establishing the Macau races and filling the grids. There have also been numerous American riders make the trip to participate in these pre-mier races in Southeast Asia. In 1988, Schwantz took his Works Suzuki there and left the competition in a haze of blue smoke, and famously completed the last lap on the back wheel! In 2006, the Macau GP Organising Committee (MGPOC) asked us to bring over forty classic bikes for their fortieth anniver-sary celebrations, with the event being duely recorded in the VJMC magazine. Following the success of this and fur-ther classic car parades in 2013, the MGPOC began to prepare for the fif-tieth anniversary of motorcycle racing.

They required to have our bikes in Macau for two weekends The first weekend would have an exhibition displaying the fifty classic bikes along-side the modern race bikes and some production race cars; with the second weekend being parade laps around the

city and on the famous Ghia Circuit.The first weekend saw our bikes be-

ing displayed under a huge tent struc-ture in a central downtown plaza. The bikes were cordoned off in rows, and the public were permitted to stroll among them taking photos. The show was well-attended with an opening cer-emony on the Saturday formally start-ing the Macau GP festivities.

The brief had been to gather fifty clas-sic motorcycles that would demonstrate the development of bikes that raced in Macau over the years. Starting with a sprinkling of British, Italian, and Ger-man bikes in the form of Triumph Ti-ger, Norton Commando, Ducati 750 SS, BMW R60, etc., the field soon be-came dominated by Japanese classics. The lineup of VJMs was impressive, in-cluding a 1969 Honda CB350K0, 1975 Yamaha RD350B, 1977 Kawasaki Z1R, 1980 Honda CBX1000, 1980 Yama-ha RD350LC, 1981 Honda CB750FII, 1982 Kawasaki GPZ750, 1982 Suzuki GS750 Katana, 1982 Honda VF750F, 1983 Suzuki GS750ES, 1985 Yama-ha RD250YPVS, 1985 Suzuki RG250,

Macau Grand Prix 50th Anniversary

by Ian Foster / [email protected]

EVENTS

20 JUNE / JULY 2017

Grant and Steve Plater came over to the classic bike storage to see the bikes and meet the owners. They had some good stories to tell and facilitated ev-eryone’s requests for photos and auto-graphs—true gentlemen! The Fiftieth Race took place in the afternoon and, as expected, was a huge battle between Rutter and Hicks, with the latter storming to victory in the last laps. It was an amazing race to watch on the tight urban street circuit. Once they left the track the classic bikes were brought on for a two lap parade. We had police out-riders and the safety car leading us, but at a fair pace. It was incredible to think how fast the mod-ern race bikes were lapping this track as there was no run-off, no “margin of error,” just metal armco-barriers and brick walls either side of a narrow ur-ban street. The parade laps were led by our “local heroes,” KK Wong on his 1982 Harris-Suzuki GS1000E and Chan To on the Fiftieth Anniversa-ry Bike (a modified 1970 Yamaha R5 350cc) and were enjoyed by everyone. We came back to the storage facility, and the bikes were loaded into con-

tainers to be shipped back the fifty miles to Hong Kong. The riders retired to a restaurant where MGPOC had ar-ranged for a dim-sum buffet (tradi-tional Chinese food) to be laid out for us, as we watched the highlights of the race and parade on TV.

Later that evening was the awards ceremony and banquet where we were all invited to enjoy wonderful food, free-flowing booze, and cultural enter-tainment. Again, it was an opportunity to mix with the current road racers and VIP past winners. We crawled back to the hotel in the wee hours after copious amounts of good wine and great Chi-nese, Macanese, and Portugese Food.

It was another wonderful weekend spent in Macau with our classics. Ev-eryone is now looking forward to the Sixtieth Anniversary in 2026! If you ever get the opportunity to visit Ma-cau, grab it; it is a very hospitable and interesting city perched on the south coast of China—a mix of East (Chi-nese) and West (Portugese) cultures and an amazing party town…imagine what Las Vegas is like, then multiply that by ten! l

1992 Honda NSR250SP, 1993 Suzuki RGV250, 1993 Yamaha TZR250, etc.

We also had many bikes that had been raced in Macau, such as KK Wong’s 1975 Honda CB750-4 Dunstall and his 1982 Harris GS1000E. KK had won the second Macau GP Novice Race in 1968 on a modified CB250K. Chan To brought his original 1992 Yamaha TZR250SP1 that he had won the Nov-ice Race on. These two riders, now in their late-70s, were honoured with a presentation of an award from Macau GP. It was recognised that riders and enthusiasts like them had filled the grid during the years and made Macau GP the success that it is today.

Macau are very generous hosts. The fifty owner/riders were given five star hotel accommodations for them and their wives. We were invited to the opening ceremony to meet the VIP past winners; were treated to dim-sum food after the parades; and were invited to the prestigious lakeside awards party at the end of racing.

At the opening ceremony, we were introduced to the road racers who would take part in the fiftieth race on Saturday, 19 November 2016. Rutter was there to see if he could add an-other win to his record, having ousted Haslam as the rider with most victo-ries on the Ghia Circuit. Hicks, who won in 2015, was also there with oth-er top riders like McGuinness. MG-POC had also invited some VIP past winners to attend, so it was very in-teresting chatting with famous road racers, like Mick Grant (1970s Kawa-saki), Steve Plater (2000s Yamaha), Phil McCallum (1990s Honda), etc. At the opening ceremony we had on display a replica of the Works Yamaha that won the race in 1967. When the riders emerged from their briefing we had them all sign this Fiftieth Anni-versary Bike and later got the VIPs to autograph the top of the tank.

On the second weekend, we checked into the hotel and went to get the bikes ready for the weekend’s activities; they had been securely stored in a govern-ment building near the circuit. Mick


by Jim Turner / [email protected]

Affliction Condition, Part 1ODDS & ENDS

Introduction

slmjim’s grandfather owned a bat-tery supply company and auto repair

shop in Louisville, Kentucky. Growing up around crusty old mechanics and electricity naturally led to slmjim being a motorhead. If he’s cut he sparks, then bleeds 20w50. He recently retired from a gig as Network Analyst for Xerox, is VJMC member #378, and is generally in charge of guy stuff around the house. The Lovely Z1BEBE likes to garden and is an avid reader. She’s also a rid-er. And she cooks. She recently retired

from a gig at a urology practice where she learned all sorts of good stuff, like the right nerve endings. She’s generally in charge of girl stuff around the house. What that means is that, given the shared responsibilities of married life, if it bleeds, nourishes, involves scratch-ing in the dirt or making slmjim purr, it’s her responsibility. If it sparks, rattles, internally combusts, stops working, or just becomes generally cantankerous, it’s his.

Part One: Affliction ConditionOur story picks up in the modern day,

with slmjim at the DMV license branch. It’s a sunny day in August, 2016…

The gruff Deputy Sheriff looks at the title a second time, looks at the odome-ter again, then squints at the title a third time. He straightens up, looks at slmjim, and growls, “New York title, eh?”

slmjim thinks, ”Aww…crap! Now what?”

Deputy says, “This can’t be right! Ti-tle’s twenty-seven years old; bike’s over forty years old and only has fourteen miles on it…???”

“Yeah,” says slmjim, “It came to me as

Public Service Disclaimer: What you are about to read is based on a true story. The names have been changed to protect the healthy from identifying and having contact with the two main characters; slmjim and The Lovely Z1BEBE. Both are infected with a particularly virulent case of The Dreaded Z-Bug. This will be your only warning.

22 JUNE / JULY 2017

a basket case; bare frame and over a doz-en boxes of disorganized, grimy parts. And two partial motors. I just got done restoring it. It was a seven year itch of a Project.” (There’s a reason for the capital “P.” More on that in Part Two.)

Deputy looks at slmjim like he’s not really sure if slmjim is nuts or not. For some reason, the phrase the nut holding the handlebars flashes through slmjim’s mind, and he chuckles out loud at the thought, likely removing any doubts the deputy may have had.

The deputy and slmjim are both in the parking lot, standing next to the 1973 Z-1, named Six-of-Six. It glitters in the sun with only a few dust bits visible here and there, the yellow/green/polished aluminum/chrome contrasting with the flat black of the fresh asphalt. She’s still pristine in the first few hours and miles of her new life, rolling once again, fol-lowing a seven year resto effort, having lain dormant, gutted, and in pieces for

over twenty-five years prior to today. The pipes are still ticking and tinking as they cool.

The deputy folds the title into thirds and slips it into his shirt pocket.

But this story actually begins in 1974—March 14th, to be exact.

slmjim had traded a sweet/leaky/fast/cantankerous ’71 Triumph Trident 750 for a brand new 1974 Kawasaki Z-1A, based on nothing more than the advice of a friend. And it was too cold this day in March to be ridin’.

Really.But slmjim was indestructibly young

and was taking delivery of his new bike; a ’74 (late ’73 mfd.) Z-1A in Candytone Yellow livery. We’ll call this bike One-of-Six. Think future Borg character from Star Trek, Seven of Nine, but this is something slmjim can actually rid…um, never mind.

slmjim had never even ridden a Z-1 be-fore today. And it was starting to snow.

So starts a lifelong passion for the leg-endary Kawasaki Z-1. In truth, more like an affliction. More on that later.

slmjim made it home OK, along with a new mental note-to-self regarding the need for better cold weather gear.

Thirteen years later, the rugged Z-1s had long since cemented their reputa-tion as a bulletproof design. The pol-ished dual-overhead cam caps on the valve cover were as iconic as the sensual sweep of the 4-4 pipes, instantly recog-nizable expressions of industrial art. The Z-1 was becoming a modern clas-sic. slmjim had unknowingly been bit-ten, infected by The Dreaded Z-Bug. He was a bachelor and had yet to realize the seriousness of his Z-bike affliction or how virulent the Z-Bug could be. Afflic-tion Condition: INCUBATING* (more on that shortly…)

Then he met the beautiful, innocent young lady who would ultimately be-come The Lovely Z1BEBE.


Long story short: huggy-poo, kis-sy-poo……married-poo.

When they marry, a lot of guys lose their bike for one reason or another. Not so with Z1BEBE. They did much courtin’ and sparkin’ and ridin’ on One-of-Six. And not long after they were married, Z1BEBE said, “We should get another bike, one that I can ride, so we can take trips together.” Even then, vague symptoms were beginning to manifest. So, after Z1BEBE spent a ridin’ season on a ’76 Honda CB360T as her training wheels, slmjim happened to see a newspaper ad for a Candytone Super Red ’75 Z-1B. On only its second own-er, it was in VGC, stock, complete, and remarkably unmolested, needing only some love and a set of pipes to replace an obnoxiously loud Kerker. In those days, a good used set of OEM 4-4 pipes were still easy to find and reasonably cheap. One set of 4-4 pipes and some good lo-vin’ later (lavished on the bike, y’all…

jeez…apply thought bleach here), and The Lovely Z1BEBE had Two-of-Six, a lovely vintage ’75 Z-1B all her own. And she was happy! Affliction Condition: GOOD* (more shortly…)

As time passed, the Internet and eBay came into being. slmjim was happily buying Z-1 parts anywhere he could find them with the thought of maintaining these aging bikes. A particular treasure trove of NOS Z-bike parts were scav-enged from an estate sale, swap meets, word of mouth, anywhere he could find them. “Just one more…just one more…” became his mantra as the Z-Bug afflic-tion was also starting to affect slmjim’s mind. As he squirreled away more and more parts, he was often haunted by dreams and fleeting visions of Z-1 restos that might happen, someday…

Not long after Two-of-Six found its hosts, slmjim happened upon a very nice, low mile ’74 Z-1A in original Can-dytone Orange. slmjim seemed so excit-

ed that Z1BEBE couldn’t bear to disap-point him by saying, “No.” It’s doubtful that she could have even if she had want-ed to, not yet having realized that the word No had been effectively blocked from her vocabulary when it came to all things Z. So, Candytone Yellow One-of-Six now had Candytone Orange Three-of-Six as a stablemate, completing the set of ’74 Z-1As. Affliction Condition: GUARDED.*

At a regional swap meet they met a fel-low sufferer trying desperately to over-come his Z-Bug Affliction. He claimed to have a ’73 (late ’72 mfd.) Z-1 that had been parked in a barn for twelve years. Although her thoughts were mysteri-ously becoming increasingly clouded by thoughts of Z-bikes, Z1BEBE still retained a modicum of sense and tried halfheartedly to object. But, slmjim was completely eat up with Z-Bug by now. He excitedly said to her, “It’s stock and complete!” Then inaudibly he muttered


under his breath, “Been in a flood once, too.” Due to her weakened condition, Z1BEBE somehow became convinced that this was a good idea. But the first time she saw the ’73 Z-1 barn find/flood victim she secretly thought slmjim had completely lost his mind. However, as slmjim peered out at the bike through the rosy filter imposed by the Z-Bug, he thought he could see a diamond in the rough. So the bike at-tached to its new hosts and, after an intense eighteen months of heavy breathin’, non-stop lovin’ (once again, applied to the bike…thought bleach…focus, y’all, this is about bikes), and concerted resto effort, an award-winning ’73 Z-1 emerged from their basement workshop/infirmary/aZylum, practical-ly indistinguishable from new. And so came into being Four-of-Six. Affliction Condition: FAIR.*

So…One day not long after the ’73 Z-1 barn-find symbiont was completed, suddenly and without warning during one of his increasingly rare, lucid moments, slmjim had a thought! (Difficult to believe; but true! Z1BEBE even had the presence of mind to write it down for posterity.) slmjim said to himself, he said: “Self, we now have four of the six Z-1s that Mama Kaw produced from ’72 thru ’75. Why not get two more Z-1s to complete the production set?” Z1BEBE overheard his mumbling and, herself becoming increasingly distracted by the Z-thoughts, somehow understood that slmjim’s Z-bike affliction was now wholly incurable. slmjim had been in-fectious since they met, and poor Z1BEBE was now afflict-ed with the dreaded Z-Bug herself! (Sadly, there’s no known cure. Remember…) And as if those facts weren’t unfortunate enough, slmjim had diabolically corrupted this beautiful, once-a-Sunday-School-teacher (really!) into being not a bik-er-chick, not even a motorcycle-hoodlum-chick, but a rider (gasp!). Having so been infected, inflicted, and corrupted, she was immediately agreeable to acquiring even more old motorcycles.

Him, speaking from the dark Z-recesses of his mind: “mumble…mumble…more Z-1s…mumble.”*

Her, almost involuntarily: “Sounds good. Where we gonna put them?”*

Him, suddenly lucid: “Why, in the basement, of course! Our tools, parts, and all are already down there, and we can get bikes in and out through the ground-level entry door with some physical acrobatics if we hold our tongues right, not left.”*

Her, from a Z-induced dream state: “OK, I’ll help you re-arrange. We can get rid of some of that Christmas stuff too, to make room for more Z-1s.”* (Dont’cha jus’ love those cor-rupted, afflicted rider chicks?)

So commences a search for more Z-1s.During slmjim’s feverish Z-Bug-driven forays into eBay he

had, among other things, procured a NOS Candytone Sky Blue tankset, correct for a ’75 Z-1B, with the thought of may-be, some day, finding it an appropriate home (the Z-Bug is like that; it’s a survival mechanism). The tankset was placed on the shelf for many years, waiting for the right bike to find a home upon. Some very nice OEM 4-4 pipe sets, both


stamped and original ’73 un-stamped, came into their pos-session and likewise were placed in waiting. More and more parts followed. Finally in the late ’90s, the right unmolested ’75 Z-1B appeared on eBay. It needed only pipes, paint, and a minimum of love and was calling to them from afar, “Follow the headlight…follow the headlight…” A cross country trip to Pennsylvania, a few months, and some serious lovin’ later (c’mon y’all…thought bleach!), a very nice, almost box-stock Candytone Sky Blue Z-1B named Five-of-Six joined the col-lection. It completed the set of ’75 Z-1Bs and also trimmed the number of Z-1s needed to complete the production set to only one. Affliction Condition: SERIOUS.*

Over the past thirteen or fourteen years, slmjim & Z1BEBE had been attending the Mid-Ohio vintage swap meet regu-larly. There, they were finally able to put faces on some of the personas from all over the nation and elsewhere in the world who, up ’til then, had been known only by their forum screen names and avatars. It was there, through a kawasa-ki-z-classik.com forum member who was in attendance, that they learned of what would become both their crowning ad-dition and most serious Z-Bug challenge yet; another ’73 (late ’72 mfd.) Z-1. Outfitted in the Candytone Yellow Green livery that predominantly went to Europe and Australia, it could complete their Z-1 production set and perhaps, finally, relieve them of some of their worst Z-Bug symptoms. There was just this one eensy-weensy little problem.

It was a basket case.The seller recognized immediately the symptoms of Z-Bug

when he saw them and pounced. He assured slmjim and Z1BEBE the basket case was complete. Mostly. He thought. He says, “Just don’t be surprised if some stuff is AWOL. I didn’t take it apart, but the guy who did said he’s pretty sure everything was maybe still there. He thinks. I bought it to re-store myself years ago, but realistically, I’ll never find the time to do anything with it. I had the frame painted, the gauges restored, and the switchgears done. I’d like to see it on the road again. Why don’t the two of you come to New York to see it. Maybe we can make a deal. It could be a very nice, correct early-production Z-1. I think y’all could do it.” (He doesn’t really talk like that last thing. It’s just Kentucky-speak slipping out, and he’s not from here. Sorry…)

All they heard was “…blah blah…very nice…yadda yadda…Z-1…blah…yadda….”

Later that year, slmjim and Z1BEBE, both thinking it’s a good idea due to their shared Z-Bug delirium, hop in their truck and drive a full, long day, desperate to see an old mo-torcycle in pieces.

In the dimly lit New York aZylum of a fellow Z-Bug suffer-er they find a bare, nicely-painted frame, pristine clean and wrapped in bubble wrap, that had the original VIN tag still present and in excellent condition; a dozen or more card-board boxes of disorganized, grimy parts. Correctly-num-bered (for the frame #) motor cases, black paint mostly flaked off, empty except for the critical line-bored center clamp for the crank. Correct jugs, same paint condition. Correct, com-

28 JUNE / JULY 2017

complicating the restoration process by orders of magnitude (which one of these two, or half-dozen widgets is correct for a ’72?). Most of what was not there were small parts already in NOS inventory, due to slmjim’s parts acquisitions from eBay, swap meets, estate sales, and just word-of-mouth finds over decades. slmjim learned how to lace wheels, a story in itself. The Candytone Yellow Green tank-set was sourced from Japan and other needed odds and ends from various vendors. The Lovely Z1BEBE has even been driven by the insidious effects of her Z-Bug symptoms into becoming a very good mechanic’s helper in her own right. slmjim learned to step out of her way; not to get between her and a fastener needing tightened if she has a torque wrench in her hand.

And so starts the beginning of the end. In Part Two we’ll follow the resto project from basket-case to the suc-cessful completion of Six-of-Six. l

The next day they’re heading home, wallets lighter, truck very much heavi-er (“What’s that dripping out of the bed? Oil?!? Aww, crap! Stuck motor still has oil in it…”).

Thus begins the deepest excursion yet down the rabbit hole into their pri-vate Z-1 dream state/aZylum/work-shop. A variety of life-getting-in-the-way stuff conspired to transform what should have been a two to three year event of basket case lovin’ (need we remind you?) restoration effort into a seven-plus year endeavor. Pick it up for a month, put it down for three. Up for five, down for a year. Etc. But, piece by piece, screw by washer, bracket by rod, wire by bulb the bike came together. Almost all of the correctly date-cod-ed parts needed to reassemble a late ’72 Z-1 from scratch were present in the boxes, as well as a generous help-ing of parts from other, later-pro-duction Z-1s. A few unknowns were also scattered throughout, sometimes

plete head needing a valve job, paint ditto. And a partial Z-1B motor, pis-ton rings rusted-stuck in the bores but with a good donor crank and tranny. Correct-for-the-year restored tach and speedo were present, as were profes-sionally restored left and right side switchgear units.

Because of the Z-Bug raging in their veins they’re laid low by what they see. Like road crud to frame they’re helplessly, powerfully attracted to an inert Z-bike in such obvious need of a host. It’s that survival mechanism thing again. This time it’s Z1BEBE(!) that says, “I think we should get it.” (remember…?). Affliction Condition: CRITICAL.*

*Recent studies have concluded that for those unfortunates suffering from any detectable level of Z-Bug Affliction Condition, the only known treatment is the suitable and timely application of additional Z-1s. All sufferers self-ad-minister.

30 JUNE / JULY 2017

aboVe:New items, and the final outcome.


in this article I want to review some of the important lessons I learned during my rebuild of a Suzuki T-20. It is my hope to inform and enlighten others to similar

dangers and possibly how to avoid them.The first lesson to be learned…A person is blinded by what he envisions the do-

nor bike to be. For those of you going to undertake a project, you have to look at the bike and stay focused on the condition of the bike in front of you and not the bike you are dreaming of building. In retrospect, the Suzuki T-20 I choose was in really bad shape, and I could have done better...a lot better.

The next lesson to be learned...Is to know what you want and make that your goal. My big mistake was to change the goal during the build, costing me time and money. To start a project this big and not know what you want as an end result will make the cost of the project exceed any budget that your bank account or wife will allow.

What did my final goal end up being? I wanted to build a bike with an engine that would be competitive on the track but detuned just enough to work on the street. It would retain most of the original looks but not advertise the power hidden within the bike. I was able to attain the goal. That was almost easy. The hard work and extreme costs came in what happened afterwards: the research and development needed to prep a bike for dependable use, then have it fail for other unforeseen reasons. That will be the focus of this article.

I will jump ahead here to the outcome of over three years’ worth of mistakes and constant changes in direction to achieve a final goal. With the modified bike com-pleted, you need to be able to start it, and the carburetor jetting needs to be close for this to happen. On a stock bike this is easy, as the factory does this for you. On a modified bike it takes a lot of skill to do this, and you have to be in the ballpark just to get the bike running. The engine builder put me close with the initial jetting. This proved to be close enough for it to start. With my very limited knowledge of tuning, I was able to get it running well enough for the road tests to begin.

My first few road tests ended with a number of flaws that I never saw coming. The new sprockets and O-ring chain that I decided on were huge mistakes. The O-ring chain, although the original size to fit the bike, wore into the engine cas-ings because of the added width of the O-ring design. When I installed this set-up, I thought that I had enough clearance. To my untrained eye it looked just fine. But under stress the chain was able to just hit the casings. The damage to the casings was done, luckily not enough to destroy the casings. The new sprockets I had made were nowhere near the size I needed. All of this showed I did not know exactly what I was doing.

Another costly mistake was the use of Locktite on the fittings for the plastic headlamp. I did this twice, not knowing what caused it to crack in the first place. What I found out later was that the Locktite makes the plastic brittle. With the few short runs the vibration of the engine was enough to allow the cracks to start. This ruined two headlamp shells with paint. The costs were high for this one! Never use Locktite or anything similar around plastic parts.

Other problems arose with the way I ran the cables and how this was affecting the throttle and wearing into the new paint. I took care of the cable routing issue with ease, but there was nothing that could be done about the damage to the paint other

Suzuki Epilogue

by Mark Booth / [email protected]

PROJECT BIKE

aboVe:Melted down parts.


than repainting the parts.My biggest issue was tuning of the

modified engine. I was out of my league here and needed professional help. I searched the local area for a person that was skilled in the tuning of two-strokes and had the ability of putting the bike on a dyno. I found Motorsports in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I asked them a lot of questions, and all they wanted was that the bike would start, and they would take care of the rest.

They had it for three weeks. Getting different parts for vintage carburetors was proving to be difficult. They did a fantastic job with what I gave them. What was the outcome for this stage of tuning? The bike was putting out high 20s and into the 30s at the rear tire with a huge power band from 6500 rpm to 10,500 rpm. They could not do much with the bike at this time as second gear started jumping out. I would have to break the engine down again to make repairs. The tuner said to bring it back when everything was sorted out and they would finish the job. He also said to get some time on the engine to break it in. So I put a total of 130 miles on it before the transmission could take no more.

The transmission is a simple assembly. But if you are asking the engine to do more than it was originally designed to do, you have to be sure that everything is perfect or better than original. When I first looked at the gears, to my eyes they looked great. If they were installed into a stock motor I am sure they would have worked just fine. But when asked to do more, the weak spots showed in no time. The cause of second jumping out was the gear dogs. These need to be true and square, or in a modified motor like mine they have to be undercut so that they will stay engaged.

For the chain and sprockets I called Krause Racing and told them my prob-lems. I talked with them for about half an hour, and they said to send them the sprockets and hub. They decided on reducing the size of the chain from the standard 520 to a lighter 480 chain. The sprockets would need to be made to fit,

and that was not a problem for them. From the information I gave them and the info they found online as far as gear ratios for the bike, they decided on what gearing would work best for me. The old 520 sprockets and drive hub was sent to them so that the parts could be made to fit.

The initial first run after the chang-es was truly amazing. All gears stayed engaged. The choice of sprockets and chain made the bike so much easier to ride and handle. The takeoffs were smooth and quick, and the huge power surge at 6500 was better to deal with.

The bike went back to Motorsports for a final tuning. Again, it was there for some time, waiting on more parts for the vintage carburetors. I was start-ing to question whether the boring and modifications to keep the stock carbu-retors were a good idea. But again, they came through and did a fantastic job. On the dyno it topped out at 41 hp at the rear tire. I never saw the paperwork on this reading; it was what the tuner said it hit at 10,500 rpm. I think it is a bit high, in my opinion. The engine held together, and the gears stayed in place. I was making progress on the bike.

The next 600 miles proved to be fun and exciting. The bike ran strong and powerful. I had to replace the cheap me-chanical tachometer with a better elec-tronic unit. The mechanical one would

not read accurately enough to prepare me for the powerband to hit. The new electronic tachometer worked great and allowed me not only to get ready for the power to hit, it allowed me to keep the engine in the powerband for some very exciting rides.

With the bike complete, I was having a ball taking it to shows and local meets, not to mention the fun I was having beating the Harleys to the next light. Even better is when my little 250cc was louder than their big 1000cc monsters. Yes, I have to admit I like to mess with the chopper guys. But this bliss was not to last.

This now brings us to the next major problem of a modified bike like this: running ten-percent ethanol fuel in a vintage motorcycle. A book could be written on the subject. But to run it in a modified two-stroke brings in a whole different set of issues.

I was at a distant motorcycle show and had to fill the bike at a different station than my usual stop. When I topped off the tank, I hit what is called the “Etha-nol Lotto.” The “Ethanol Lotto” is when a lot of water gets in the underground fuel tank. This water is absorbed by the ethanol and then lies at the bottom of

aboVe:the finished bike.

34 JUNE / JULY 2017

the storage tank, just waiting for a per-son like me to fill up. I did, and this slurry of water, ethanol, and fuel was deposited in my tank. These bottom dreggs of one and a half gallons were lacking, to say the least.

Most bikes and cars can burn this with no problems, especially if it is di-luted with another few gallons from the same storage tank. But in a high performance engine like mine, these rare bottom dreggs were a time bomb

waiting for the winner of the lotto. I did feel the bike’s performance dropping after I filled up but put it off as a tuning problem caused by a drastic change in the weather during the show. In reality, it was my inexperience with modified two-stroke engines. Well, the bomb went off while cruising the freeway at 70 mph. The engine seized, and I al-most went down. To this day, I have no idea how I was able to hold the bike up, but I did.

The damage was done, and I had to send the top end back to the engine builder for repair. He looked at the parts and said it was the “Ethanol Lot-to” and not a jetting issue. He also said that he has seen this more and more with the amount of ethanol they are putting in the fuel. The ethanol ab-sorbs the water, and that drops the oc-tane rating too low for the extremely modified engines out there, and this is the result. It is very rare, as the condi-tions have to be just right. The chance

of this happening again is the same as winning the Lotto, thus the name giv-en by the engine builder. To stop this from ever happening you either mix your fuel 50-50 with racing fuel or find a station that you can trust. After the cost of repairs, I now mix my fuel for this bike and any other modified two-stroke I do.

This is about the end of my story. There were many other smaller, more foolish problems that needed to be fixed. There are just too many to list here. Suffice to say, the bike was repaired and is back on the road. The costs of my mistakes are behind me, and I can rest easy that I will never win the “Ethanol Lotto” if I do not play it. It is my hope that you will learn from my mistakes.

To test what I have learned, I am working on my next project, another modified two-stoke: a 1974 Kawasaki H2 Denco KC120 with Tracy Body. I hope and pray that I make fewer mis-takes the second time around. l

aboVe:Machined heads


Whether you are new to vintage motorcycles or a veteran collec-

tor of these great machines of yester-year, you learn very early on about the fuel tanks and the exhaust systems. One or the other can make it or break it to a successful restoration, especially to an “original” restore. If your tank is totally trashed, you are left with a cost-ly and sometimes lengthy search for a replacement. Rust is the enemy of most things made of metal, especially met-al produced thirty to forty years ago. Even the most preserved, stored-inside bikes are subject to rust inside their fuel tanks, due to left over gas, moisture build up from climate changes, etc.

My very first restore and introduction to vintage motorcycles was a 1976 Hon-da Mini-Trail 50 with a dent-free tank, but alas, a ton of crusty rust inside. I did a little research and tried the harsh chemicals and the old tried-and-true “shake and rattle” method (using bolts, nuts, and screws) and literally almost tore my arms off shaking and rattling the mixture around! After a lot of time and effort, I was still was not getting the satisfactory results I was looking for.

After some background in manufac-turing, electro-plating, and more re-search, I now use a method of electrolysis for a rusty gas tank, using a twelve-volt battery charger, with surprisingly good results. This process uses electrolysis to pull the loose rust/metal particles off the base metal toward the electrical charge, as opposed to electro-plating in which the charge applies the zinc, copper, etc. to the base metal.

Items needed: A battery charger (12 volt), metal rod (3/8”-1/2” rebar), and “washing soda” (Arm & Hammer so-dium bicarbonate). DO THIS OUT-DOORS in a well-ventilated area, as there will be some hydrogen gas as part of the process.

Step 1Remove your tank and remove the pet-cock (as this process will damage it). Using rubber plugs, corks, etc., you will need to plug the hole/holes where the petcock was attached to ensure that the tank will hold a full tank of liquid and be leak-free.

Step 2Use painters tape on the outside of the tank at least on the top if the finish on the outside is useable; if re-finishing/re-painting, it won’t matter. Mix one cup of washing soda to a gallon of water (I use hot), pour in the tank, and finish filling the tank with water to about a ½” to ¾” from the top.

Step 3The metal rod you choose to use needs to be suspended where it is NOT touch-ing any part of the metal tank. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I use an old spray can top, drill a hole for my rod, and tape it in place. Suspend the rod into the tank through the fuel cap hole and make sure that it is in the liquid, not touching the sides or bottom of tank when inserted.

Step 4Good conductivity is a must; sand

and clean the rod and spot on back of tank for good contact points for your charger leads. MAKE SURE BATTERY CHARGER is not plugged in to pow-er supply, attach the negative ground clamp to the back of the tank, and at-tach the positive power clamp to the suspended rod. Turn the setting of the charger to the lowest setting, 2 amp or 6 amp suggested. THEN plug charger into your power source.

If you have good conductivity, you should see the liquid start to bubble. Do not breath the fumes or hold your

Cleaning a Motorcycle Tank with Electrolysis

by Tom Price / [email protected]


1

4

2 3

36 JUNE / JULY 2017

head over the fuel opening to monitor the process. Leave the tank and set-up to do its work for six to eight hours. You will see the rust start to come off and foam out the opening of the tank. After a few hours, you may want to stop the process to check the steel rod and clean it. I have seen the rust be so thick and concentrated on the steel

rod it would not pull out of the fuel opening.

Step 5After the time has lapsed, disconnect

the charger by unplugging it from the power source first, then remove rod and pour liquid out (it will be safe to pour on your lawn, and it will love it!). Rinse the tank out with water sever-al times, swirling it around the tank to get a good rinse, and pour out. Use a shop vacuum or air compressor to blow air into the tank or set it out in the sunlight to get a good drying of the tank.

You will be amazed at the results this will produce! This process removes the rust with no harm to the base met-al or the integrity of the tank. After several tanks, I am still amazed at the incredible results it produces, without all the backbreaking or arm work it usually takes.

Step 6The tank will “f lash rust” fairly

quickly, so fog the inside with WD-40 or a compatible product, and it will be fine until you put the tank in use.

TipsLet the process do the work; don’t

rush it. Do it outside with adequate ventilation; dangerous hydrogen gas is a part of the process. Didn’t get the results you desire? Use a fresh rod and repeat the process to achieve the desired results. Lower voltage pro-duces the best results. Be safe! You are using an electrical device and wa-ter. Washing-soda produces the best results. Some may suggest a salt solu-tion, but hydrogen gas may increase, and we all know what salt does to metal.

I may not ride all the time but when I do I ride Vintage Japanese Motorcy-cles! Ride on VJMC members! l

5

aboVe:the amazing results!


What is the Craigslist Lottery? Why, it’s finding a jewel of a vintage Jap-anese motorcycle on Craigslist, of course! My buddy, Dale, and I do a

pretty good job of winning the Colorado Craigslist Lottery. I have to admit, Dale does a better job of finding “treasures” than I do. Dale has an unfair advantage; he’s retired, plus he gets up hours before I do. He often has a bike bought before I’m at work. The early bird gets the awesome vintage Japanese motorcycle.

Dale and I have a friendly competition. Sometimes he will call me up and say he bought a new bike but I will have to come see it; he won’t give me any details, so I know it has to be something special. Even though we try to outdo each other, we also share bikes we see if we think the other may be interested.

Colorado is a great place to live, especially if you’re looking for a vintage motorcycle. Colorado bikes are almost never corroded or rusty if they were maintained and garaged. During a long winter, most bikes just sit in the garage until summer comes. Carburetors don’t fare as well and usually are good and gummed up. Some owners put their cycles in the back of the garage and forget about them; a few years or decades later they end up on Craigslist.

by Bob Kelly, Director of Communications / [email protected]

The Craigslist LotteryODDS & ENDS

Here are the stories behind a few of our Craigslist treasures:

Kawasaki Big HornThe Kawasaki Big Horn story is a bit boring. Dale states, “I found the bike on

Craigslist, spoke with the guy, and came home with it a few hours later.” The Ka-wasaki 350 Bighorn is a rotary-valve, 350cc two-stroke single enduro built from 1970 to 1975. The Bighorn is easily one of the most under-rated and overlooked high-performance vintage machines around. The rotary-valve engine design gave it a huge horsepower advantage over other two-strokes of the day. The Bighorn is one of those bikes that people have fond memories of, and they are drawn to it like a bear is to honey. Dale’s bike is a super clean, low mileage example of this beloved motorcycle and is a treasure.

Pick a name any name— The Honda NT650, Hawk GT, 647, or RC31

Whenever you search for one of these bikes to buy, it pays to search all three names, plus some people call the bike the “GT650.” The Honda NT650 has classic written all over it. In a few years this bike will be on a lot of collectors’ radar. This was a Craigslist find, eventually bought through eBay.

Dale and I saw a near perfect Honda NT650 for sale in Aspen, Colorado, on Craigslist. The bike had less than 4000 miles on the clock, and it was a beauty. Dale made a really good offer that was turned down by the owner. After a month or so on Craigslist, the bike was offered again on eBay and failed to meet reserve. A few weeks later, the bike was offered again at no reserve. Dale was the high bidder for less money than he originally offered. Dale sold me the bike a few years later. This cult classic now resides in my garage.

38 JUNE / JULY 2017

A Scrambler— 1971 Honda CL450

This 1971 Honda CL450 may look great now, but that was not the case when Dale brought this Craigslist find home. Sitting unused in a garage for over thirty years can take a toll on a motorcycle. This bike was no exception. The bike had a few scrapes and bruises from being pushed around the garage for decades. Dale’s secret weapon to clean up old bikes is his steam cleaner. Nothing melts away the cloudy clear coat on brake hubs or engine grease and grime like his steam cleaner. Hours of hand scrubbing with harsh chemicals wouldn’t do a better job. On average, Dale spends about forty hours working on a bike. It took a while to get the old Honda looking and running good. This Scrambler is a keeper.

Everybody’s Favorite—1968 Honda CB450K1

A few years ago, Dale called to tell me he was on his way to Steamboat, Colorado, to look at a CB450K1. The CB450K1 is rarer than a Black Bomber and, in my opin-ion, is a better looking motorcycle. The K1 was only offered for two years, and the K1 with the chrome-panel tanks only lasted eighteen months and represented the end of Honda’s chrome-panel tank era.

Dale’s CB450 was a bike most people would have walked, or even ran, away from. The bike was a roller. The engine was out of the frame and disassembled, but Dale could see the jewel underneath the layers of dust and spare parts lying around. The tank and side covers were in great shape, the mileage was low, and the bike was a perfect restoration project. Long story short—the bike is stunning today.


Cult Following— The Honda NX250

I like to search under “garage sales;” you never know what unloved old bike will be rolled out and sold off to a lucky guy. A garage sale ad close by my home indicated a “Honda” for sale. On the way over to the sale I was thinking the “Honda” could be a 1983 Accord, a lawn mower, generator, snow blower, or maybe even an old Super Hawk. As I drove up, much to my surprise, the lawnmower I was expecting to find turned out to be a really nice 1990 NX250 with just 1300 miles on the clock.

The NX is a dual sport with a liquid-cooled, dual overhead cam, 250cc engine with a small, but loyal, following. I have two friends with NXs. One has a NX650 and rides its on trails through out Colorado; the other guy put street tires on his NX250, stiffened the suspension, and rides it work almost every day. The only problem with this NX was the color, what Honda called “Ross White.” Big Red should know re-frigerators are white, not motorcycles.

The owner of the NX wanted under $1,000 because it had not been started in more than a decade. I liked the owner a lot; he probably purchased the bike when he was fifty, and now twenty some years later, he just wanted to clean out his garage. We struck a deal, and I took it home and brought the bike back to life. I rode the bike for a few years and sold it on eBay to a nice lady who bought it on her birthday. This bike will make her happy for a lot of birthdays to come.

The Stolen CB400FI had been looking for a nice CB350F for a long time. Finally, six assorted old Hon-

das were offered on Craigslist. The bad news was I had to buy the seller’s CB400F, if I wanted the CB350F. The good news was I bought both bikes for what I thought the value of the CB350F should be. Two bikes for the price of one! I told Dale I didn’t have room in my garage for both bikes. He offered to buy the CB400F.

Dale took the bike home and spent hours cleaning, polishing, painting, and steam cleaning; the end result is the bike looks practically new again. I offered to buy the bike back for what he paid for it, but no dice. We joke that he stole this bike from me. Truth be told, this bike would have never looked this good in my care. Dale easily spent forty hours or more on the bike and polished up a lot of value. It has to be easily worth twice what he paid for the CB400F Super Sport.

The Parts Bike—Honda XL600

Dale found an ad on Craigslist that advertised a “XL600 Parts Bike.” The seller’s advertisements lead you to believe it was a very nice parts bike. When we looked at the bike, it was not well presented, covered with years of dirt and grime, but the signs of a nice bike made its way through. It had less than 1000 miles, with no dents or broken plastic. The engine turned over and the tires look new, but after years with no air they had cracked under the weight of the machine.

Dale added a lot of value by cleaning the bike, changing all the fluids, cleaning the carb, and buying a new set of tires. This bike was ridden for a few years and then sold on Craigslist. Today a new Honda XR650 lists for $6700; the buyer got this near new XL600 for $2400. The buyer drove off with a really nice bike, feeling like he won the Craigslist Lottery.

The Real Craigslist Lottery WinningsSetting aside the fact that you can find some really nice vintage Japanese motorcy-

cles, the real advantage of winning the Craigslist Lottery is the people you meet and the friendships you make along the way. l

40 JUNE / JULY 2017

1956 showa sc at the swap meet


COVER STORY


2017

42 JUNE / JULY 2017

clocKWise from aboVe:the outdoor swap meetpre-1969 Hondasa beautiful pair of Xs650s2017 trophy winnersa pristine gs1000 setting out for a ride


COVER STORYCOVER STORY

by Michael Fitterling / [email protected]

on March 9th, the weather couldn’t have been better for this year’s Destination Eustis bike show and swap meet. Temperatures were in the upper 70s with sun-

ny skies through Saturday, the day of the judging and awarding of show trophies. Well over 130 vintage bikes were on hand in the show this year. This may have been slightly fewer than the previous year, but the exceptional quality and rarity of the bikes on display more than made up for their numbers.

Outside, the swap meet area showed signs of growth with vendors of parts of Jap-anese, American, and British bikes with a ratio of approximately 60/30/10 respec-tively, not to mention many complete or nearly complete bikes for sale and ready for a loving hand to bring them back to life. One standout in the swap meet area was a ,56 Showa motorcycle. I also spied a ,59 Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon among the offerings at the swap meet.

Inside the exhibition center the collection included a pair of rare Fuji Rabbits, a trio of beautiful examples of Suzuki GSs, like-new Yamaha XS650s, and a long line of pre-1969 Hondas. There were several spectacularly executed Japanese-based café racers, both in the show and surrounding the Riding Into History table. One of the café bikes really had to be studied to appreciate some unique details, like a seamless conversion to mono-shock rear swing arm.

After the show and subsequent awards ceremony, the VJMC hosted a gathering of two dozen members for a dinner of pizza and fellowship, followed by a special fortieth anniversary cake.

Sunday dawned with a chance of showers, but it didn’t keep a half dozen members from gathering to ride. We set out into the rolling surrounding countryside for a relaxing and enjoyable ride of about fifty miles completely free of rain, capping off another great weekend together. l

clocKWise from top:40th anniversary cakethe café racer sectionanother view of the showaparts galore in the swap meetaHrMa National 350 champion scott turner with peter slatcoff

44 JUNE / JULY 2017


I think this is a cool (pun intended) story.

Back in April 2013, a friend crashed Trevor Franklin’s beloved 1983 Suzuki GS1100E. Trevor broke one of motorcy-cling long held rules: never let a friend ride your motorcycle. He loved that bike! The bike was painted by his father, so the bike had tons of sentimental val-ue. The friend did the right thing, and a price was settled on for the bike.

Trevor posted his sad Suzuki story on a forum, and he received a lot of con-soling messages from his fellow mo-torcycling brethren. Those folk really understood his great loss. There was one reply to his post from Jeff that really caught his attention: “Do you want my 1980 GS1000S? I think it’s a Wes Cooley replica in need of restoring. It’s in Colo-rado Springs, Colorado, if you want to come by and check it out. It’s buried in my garage.”

Jeff sent Trevor pictures, and a deal was made. Trevor stated, “Jeff was very kind to me…very kind. I promised him that I would restore it and ride the snot out of it!” Jeff could have sold this bike to anyone, even his own brother, but he sold it to Trevor. Jeff knew that Trevor would care for the bike and show it the respect it de-

suzuki surprised the motorcycle market with the GS series, particularly with their 997cc-engined entrance into the liter bike market. It was fast,

it had great handling and brakes, and over time it’s proven itself to be one of the most reliable in-line four engines in history. In 1978, Yoshimura was running a KZ1000 with Wes Cooley, but they weren’t winning races. They switched to the GS1000 and then started dominating—Cooley won the ’79 and ’80 AMA Superbike Championships. While this was happening, Suzuki decided to release a Euro-only sport version of the GS1000. Once American dealers got a peek, they started clamoring for them too. The American deal-ers got their wish; enter the Suzuki GS1000S, of which only about 700 were imported to the states in 1979. Another small batch was imported in 1980 of about 535, supposedly one for every US Suzuki dealership.

Wes Cooley Replica

by Bob Kelly, Director of Communications / [email protected]

PROJECT BIKE

served. The bike was originally owned by Jeff ’s brother-in-law, who passed away several years ago. Jeff bought it from the estate with the intention of fix-ing it up some day. Jeff passed the torch to Trevor who took on that responsibil-ity.

Department of Motor Vehicle stories are always the worst, and this bike’s story was no different. Jeff had to put the title in his name and ran into many issues, but he persevered. Jeff jumped through all the hoops the DMV had to offer and provided Trevor a clean title. Jeff, a good and honest man! Prior to receiving the bike, Trevor or-dered over $1000 in parts he knew he would need. The bike was finally deliv-ered to a warehouse in Sumas, Wash-ington. Trevor arranged in advance for a brokerage company to do all the paper-work at the Canadian border for him.

Once the bike was home in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with Trev-or, he started to clean the bike up. You know the old saying: “Bikes always look better in pics than in person.” Well not this time; after a good clean-ing that washed always the years of dirt and grime, Trevor realized what a gem of a bike he had. A lot of period correct

mods had been done to the bike, such as the Kerker four-into-one exhaust, Grab On grips, Derail oil cooler, fork brace, and shaved and stepped seat. This bike had been loved by someone that really appreciated motorcycles.

An interesting detail is that this bike had a 140mph speedo in it, but in 1980 the GS1000 had the dreaded 85 mph speedos (US only). The GS experts over on GSR Forum said that the speedo must have been switched out at some point. This is okay, because lots of peo-ple did it back in the day. Which led Trevor to wonder about the true mile-age. While cleaning under the seat he found a note taped to the pan which read “3/25/1981 Speedometer, Current mileage 2503.” The original owner ac-tually documented the speedo change out, putting actual mileage at just over 20,000 miles.

After an extensive amount of work completed by Trevor to get this bike in shape, he put his first sixty miles on the bike bombing around town for work. While eating breakfast downtown, he could see the bike from the window. He could not believe the number of people stopping to look at the bike. In between bites, he noticed three different people take pictures of it with their cell phones. He received many thumbs-up from drivers and people on the street. Trevor has never ridden a bike that garnered that much attention. Oh, and the sound of that Kerker…this bike is just perfect!

Trevor Franklin would like to give a shout out to his buddies, Rob Hayward and Mark Wright; without their help he could never have completed the bike on his own. They gave up their own time to help bring the bike back to life. Rob even went with Trevor to the USA border to collect the bike. They are tru-ly good friends. l

46 JUNE / JULY 2017

far left:a sculpture on the grounds suited for the event

BELoW:gail’s shiny clean Honda cB350


picture yourself on a leisurely walk browsing an eclectic setting of art

and culture that could very well be in Napa Valley, California. There’s fam-ilies, individual partisans, and the oc-casional eccentric spending the after-noon in a majestic outdoor art gallery amongst the trees and exquisite out-door sculptures. Now open your eyes and transport yourself to a surprising event in the Midwestern town of Mount Vernon, Illinois, and the featured col-lection for the day is motorcycles! An-other twist is that the admission is free to spectators. The bike show competi-tion is completely voluntary and very reasonable for those that would like to compete for a trophy. If you are just in-terested in displaying your machine on the paved meandering walkway as you tour the premises, again, no charge.

Thanks to my friend, Barry Schon-berger of the VJMC, I discovered this great event. While the Ironclad Art event pays homage to all motorcycles, Japanese motorcycles and a few VJMC members are significant participants in this recommended showing of motorcy-cle diversity. My friend, Rex Cusumano, is the event’s catalyst, who has a great collection of bikes of his own, but on event day he is just a contributor adding to the many machines brought in by the devotees in attendance.

Back to participants, Barry Schonberg-er has had several Japanese machines recognized in the top tier of the event’s bike show the last three years in a row. While Barry is in attendance to pro-mote his own Tri-State VinMoto orga-nization, he always promotes the VJMC at our booth, as well. On a more grass roots level, Gail Kroeger of the VJMC brought his ’71 Honda CB350 that had to be cleaned at the event after being rid-den to Barry’s house on wet pavement.

From there Gail’s 350 Honda enjoyed Barry’s concierge trailer transport the remaining distance from Evansville, In-diana. While there is parking available on the grounds for bikes trailered in, there’s many ridden to the event, as well.

I hope my photos will underscore the quality of this event. Now to explain a very unique Kawasaki at the 2016 event and confess that I do have a sense of hu-mor. I have extensive past experience with many Japanese motorcycles. At the 2014 Barber Vintage Festival I start-ed to meet members of the VJMC and liked the club and the awesome quality of bikes members display at events. This led to my joining the VJMC in my pres-ent awkward position. I presently don’t own a Japanese bike, and I have a very small garage, limiting my opportuni-ties to get that third bike that would be a Japanese two-stroke of some sort. So this year at the VJMC national I brought my rare Moto Guzzi LeMans to show a few friends, with a twist. I masquerad-ed it as a Kawasaki GPz1000 prototype with magnetic Kawasaki stickers on the gas tank for some laughs. It wasn’t that long of a stretch, as I used to tease a local Kawasaki dealer that my Guzzi was the prototype for the new GPz. Anyway. in the vintage bike arena it can be a dilem-ma only having one old bike. In my case it’s like a really nice prom dress having to be worn over and over to multiple proms! My Italian bike had been to the Ironclad Art event twice already, but not as a Kawasaki! Since Rex Cusumano, the event organizer of the Ironclad Art, was so tickled to see my fake Kawasaki at the 2016 VJMC national, he convinced me to give it one more try at his event. My apologies if there was anyone out there to take this fake Kawasaki too seriously.

In closing, the atmosphere of this event is what sets it apart, just as a

quality frame compliments a painting. There are entertainers playing music at an appropriate volume in the back-ground and great food, including bar-beque sandwiches at reasonable prices. There are art sculptures spread all over the well-configured grounds of the Ce-darhurst Center of the Arts. Ironclad Art has one thing many quality events don’t offer, a shady place to locate your folding chair to relax and interact with friends, new and old. If you happen to be in striking distance of this event, I’d highly recommend you join us with a real VJMC presence for the next event in September 2017. http://www.cedarhurst.org/IronCladArt-Motorcycle.html l

Ironclad Art: The Motorcycle

by George Martin / [email protected]

EVENTS

aboVe:My Kawasaki gpz1000 “prototype”


by Clinton Kleen / [email protected]

Ninjago RebuildPROJECT BIKE

i enjoy riding and restoring mo-torcycles, and for those of us with

kids (in my case, grandkids), I felt a sense of urgency to pass along my passion for motorcycles as soon as possible. I had my grandson sit on my motorcycles at an early age, help me in the garage rebuilding them, and talked about motorcy-cles when we were together. I did not drag him to shows, though; I thought that would be just a little too much. I was not sure I was get-ting through. A few of the ques-tions I kept asking were: How do I get him away from video games and other distractions? Is he ready

mentally, physically? Is he really in-terested?

I am the type of person that does not like to spend much money on a project for which I am not sure about the outcome. I was lucky and found a 1993 Honda Z50R that I called a “Frankenstein bike,” because it was put together with a bunch of parts from different years. Notice the two different types of wheels.

It was pretty rusty, the plastics were cracked and broken, and it used a wa-ter pipe for the exhaust. Basically, it needed to be rebuilt. But it was cheap, and I figured it was a good fall-down bike for my grandson to learn on. I

liked the fact that it did not have a manual clutch, which would make it easier for him to learn on. I cleaned up the carburetor and got it running. He showed no interest in learning how to ride. He wanted to play with his Legos Ninjago characters instead.

So, the question then was how would I get him away from Ninjago? I decided to join in and just add anoth-

1993 Honda z50r Lego Ninjago

50 JUNE / JULY 2017

er Ninjago toy. I would turn the old Z50R into a Ninjago motorcycle. Cole was his favorite character, so I would pattern the bike after him.

I noticed the gold dragon on his chest. That was going to be the color scheme, black and gold, and I would take the dragon and make decals and put those on the tank. The plan was for my grandson to help a little—no pressure.

I found black vinyl Naugahyde that simulated alligator skin. I told him that it was dragon skin and recovered the seat with it. It was no big deal, just a little pull and tuck here and there, and lots of staples. I plastic welded the covers and fenders and got all

the broken pieces back on and cracks fixed. I painted them gloss black on the outside and f lat black underneath.

We painted the engine and shocks black and gold. The shocks were taken apart so that they would have black springs and gold shocks. The hubs were painted gold and the wheels black. The back wheels came from a 1984 (maybe) and the front were from a 1993, but they worked, and only the purist would know the difference, and at five feet away they looked great. We painted the handle-bars gold and the front tubes black. Only a few new parts purchased—the on/off switch, grips, brake cable—all for less than a hundred dollars.

seat fenders “alligator skin” Naugahyde

My grandson wrenching on our project bike.


www.cyclehouseperformance.com

Not the Biggest, Just the Best 314-270-3312

CyCle House PerformanCeWe have over 80 years’ of combined shop experience. Customer service is our #1 goal. We proudly stand behind any and all work that leaves our shop.

Specializing in:•ultrasonic carb cleaning•vintage restoration•complete engine rebuilds•powdercoating•vaporhoning•dynotuning

Crestwood, MO

Joe helped put on the tank and other parts—this turned out really well.

There is a car show on the first Sat-urday of each month, and I had made arrangements for us to show his Nin-jago motorcycle there. I was hoping that the kids would f lock around and treat him as a rock star! It worked—we had a bunch of kids come by, and he talked about how he and his grandfather built the bike. We only stayed a few hours—I didn’t want to wear him out. the final reveal at a local car show.

We tried another car show. Every first Saturday of the month the Ga-zeebo Burger in Plano, Texas, pres-ents a car show. He cleaned his bike and talked with the kids and adults for five hours. I was really impressed that he lasted that long. In the end he won a trophy. We now have a joke:

“Who takes a motorcycle to a car show—Grandpa and I do.”

We took his bike to Georgetown, Texas, for the Antique Motorcycle Club of America’s Cherokee Chap-


georgetown, texas car show Joe and his trophy! Joe working the VJMc show in Dallas.

ter’s Christmas Party. That was a three and half-hour drive. Wow, were they nice! Joe was a king. They helped him take his bike off the rack on the back of the 4Runner, had him test and pump up the tires, get it started, and helped him ride it. He had a won-derful time.

Cycle Source magazine showed a picture of Joe and me with a little ar-ticle about he and I building the bike and winning a trophy. l


there are quite a few different meth-ods you can use to restore motorcy-

cle emblems that have paint that needs refinishing. You can repaint them by hand using small artist’s brushes. I have even spray painted tank badges using a solvent soaked rag on a sanding block to remove the paint from the high points of the lettering after spraying on the paint. Of course, masking off the different colored areas was a pain.

Recently, I learned of a much easier way to quickly and inexpensively re-fresh your tired looking motorcycle emblems and badges. To give credit where credit is due, I learned of this technique in a post to the Club’s Face-book page by Toby Jones, in which he

Emblem & Badge Refurbishment

by Floyd Finch / [email protected]


1 2 3 4

Hey members! Tell us YOUR story!the best way this magazine can accurately reflect what our members are up to is if YoU tELL Us what you’re doing!

the VJMc magazine is only possible through member interaction, and we’ll pay you for it!

We pay $100 for feature stories (typically at least 2 full pages with 4 or more photos).

If your story is selected for publication, you will receive extra copies of the issue in which it appears.

send your stories and high res photos to: [email protected]

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

TEXT: • .pdf, .rtf or .doc file formats • include your byline, photocaptions, and credit for the photographer

photos: • high-resolution color pictures (300dpi) • typical file size of a .jpg will be at least 500kb • 1mb - 3mb per image is preferred

spoke of using paint markers from a welding supply house and posted a cou-ple examples that looked really good. I’d like to say thank you, Toby, for sharing.

For this article, I’m using the front cov-er badge of my C70 Passport as a guinea pig to try this technique. The chrome on this part stilled looked good, but the long exposure to the elements had resulted in the paint flaking out of the lettering and accent lines. (photo 1)

Start by gathering up your supplies. You’ll need oil paint markers, a couple shop towels, and little bit of odorless paint thinner. For this job I used artist paint markers, but you can also get them from welding supply houses. My reason for using odorless paint thinner is that I

did this in the house, but if you’re work-ing outside you can use whatever paint thinner you have. (photo 2)

Open up the marker and color in the areas that need paint just as if you were a kid playing with a coloring book. Have a shop towel handy with a small amount of thinner on it, not soaking wet, and every minute or so stop and wipe off any paint that has stuck to the chrome out-side of the lettering. (photo 3) Be sure to wipe frequently; it will make the paint harder to remove from the wrong places if you let it dry.

When completed, let it dry, wipe over the badge with a clean shop rag, rein-stall it on your bike and enjoy the vast improvement in its looks. (photo 4) l

58 JUNE / JULY 2017

ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHT

it has been four years since I first vis-ited Vapor Honing Technologies, and

what a difference I have seen. The com-pany has grown from a small operation to one that has not only begun ship-ping all over the US but has also begun working with a European distributor. Although the hobbyists, like most of us, are an important part of the company, which has helped it grow and remains a focus, a large part of the company is also making machines for large industries. I also saw a very small machine that had been made for the jewelry market.

I recently sold the machine that I had purchased in the early years of the com-pany, and while waiting for my new machine, I learned how much I had been relying on it. Work backed up in my shop until I obtained my new ma-chine, and what a difference four years of improvement have made. My new machine is constructed of HDPE plastic and is much lighter than my original. A new window, LED lighting, and pump agitation really help make this unit far superior to the original machine. I also ordered this machine with a window spray bar, a rinse hose, and a closed-looped filtration system.

The closed-loop filtration system al-lows you to operate the system without a water supply. Once the machine is filled from a hose or other source, the water at the top level of the machine is emp-tied into a filtration system and reused for the window spray bar and the rinse hose. This keeps you from constantly having to change the water, since most of your contaminates are contained on the surface of the machine’s water sup-ply. I was amazed at how much this system helped keep the machine clean and improve the quality of my finished product.

The first project that went in the ma-

by Bryan Bentley, Display Ad Director / [email protected]

Vapor Honing Technologies

chine was a wheel and tire combination from a Yamaha dirt bike. The owner was selling the bike, and he wanted it to look its best. The wheel and tire fit the large opening on the side of my machine with ease (the old one was a top load-er). Cleaning time was approximately ten minutes for each tire and wheel, and they look brand new again. I have also used the new machine for cleaning sur-face rust from rear shocks, on exhaust pipes, carburetors, and of course, engine cases. I do recommend a short followup in an ultra-sonic cleaner with just wa-ter and a drop of dish detergent to make sure you have no blast material lodged in any small passages, and your carbu-retor will look brand new. Give Vapor Honing Technologies a call and let them tell you how they can help in your shop. Also, let them know how much we ap-preciate their support of our club. l

coNtact iNfo

Vapor Honing technologies2901 Berea church roadconnelly springs, Nc 28612

phone: Usa 828-202-5563Europe +45 4034 1325

[email protected]


JUNE 9-11Vintage Motofest

plymouth, Wi

JUNE 16-17Minnesota Vintage Japanese

Motorcycle Showst. paul, MN

JUNE 22-24National Rally

pigeon Forge, tN

upcomiNg eVeNts

by Peter Slatcoff, Vice President, Events Coordinator / [email protected]

Events CornerEVENTS

i’ts all about the 2017 VJMC National Rally where we will celebrate the For-

tieth Anniversary of the Club. So far, the number of registrations for the Rally indicate this will be the biggest one yet. But what is most remarkable is the num-ber of ladies who will be joining us this year. Regardless of the size of the group, the Event Team has put together a three-day agenda that will be a topic of discus-sion for years to come.

Here’s a brief glimpse of the agenda. Friday, June 23th, there will be a Tiddler Ride followed by a Tiddler Bike Show in front of the convention center. During the Tiddler Rde there will be a picnic stop, hosted by the Florida Team. There will be numerous group rides with am-ple opportunity for individual riding. Pigeon Forge is home to some of the best ride routes in North America. One sug-gestion is the Tail of the Dragon—Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap with 318 curves in 11 miles is America’s number one motorcycle road.

Unfortunately, Greg Pitt, who has year after year flawlessly executed the show, will be unable to join us this year. He had some excuse about a day job. Sor-ry about that Greg—but you know the saying the show must go on. Therefore, the Rally bike show will be hosted by

Florida’s own, Norton Muzzone. He is a dynamic personality and the guru of the Yamaha 650. He wrote me a note today saying he has a talented team to support him—Tom Slatcoff, Charles Osterly, and Rob Schroeder (Larry, Curly, and Moe).

All joking aside, no VJMC event would be complete without its social activities. Now, this is my area of expertise. You all know by now that eating is the focus of VJMC events. Well, at least by my defi-nition of events. So, you can expect to eat well each evening.

Two highlights of the Rally I would like to share follow. On Friday night, we will be entertained by Jim Smith. Jim is a member of the Smith Family who has been entertaining visitors to Pigeon Forge for…well, longer than he will ad-mit. Saturday night’s special guest is Brian Slark, many of whom you know from Barber Vintage Motorcycle Muse-um. Brian will share with us a little of his background in motorcycling and the progression of his career.

The Smokey Mountain Conference Center, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, will play host to our Rally, which will take place June 22-24, 2017. VJMC has a block of rooms reserved at the adjacent Ramada Pigeon Forge South, 4010 Park-way, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee 37863. For

room reservations please call 1-800-523-3919 and ask for Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club to receive the group rate. Individuals will be required to pay a deposit in the amount of the first night’s stay at time of booking. Rooms not reserved by May 15, 2017, will be re-leased to the hotel.

Each registered guest will receive a limited edition Fortieth Anniversary T-shirt. Each registered member will receive a Fortiethth Anniversary me-mento that can be proudly displayed on your wall.

To Register for the Rally visit: https://www.regonline.com/40thAnniversa-ryNationalRally or call 850-624-8811 for assistance registering. Due to liabili-ty insurance requirements, you must be registered for the Rally to participate. l

60 JUNE / JULY 2017

CLASSIFIEDSplease Note: ads will be run for one issue only. please resubmit via the VJMc website or email if you wish an ad to run longer. also, contact our classified ads Editor, gary gadd, if your post has been fulfilled, again via the VJMc website or email ([email protected]). this will help keep our classified ads as current as possible.

a “Vintage Japanese” motorcycle is 20 years old or older and, of course, Japanese. please be aware that ads may/will be edited to conserve space. 12 lines of print will be free to club members.Please be aware of publication deadlines. For an upcoming issue, ads are due by the 20th of the month of the preceeding issue’s release. For example, ads for the august/september issue are due June 20. if you have business-related ads, please consider taking out a commercial display ad. contact Bryan Bentley ([email protected]) or me for details and rate in-formation.We can include color photos with your ad. cost is a minimal $10 per pho-to per issue. payment via paypal is available on the VJMc website. For payment by personal check or money order, please address payment to “VJMc” and send to the address below. photo ads will appear in the magazine issue following payment.garY gaDD • 3721 HoLLaND st. • Fort WortH, tX • 76180 / 817.284.8195

for sale

hoNDa

Honda Memorabilia. After 56 years of collecting Honda mem-orabilia, i’m selling everything. to list it all would take many pages in this publication. Let your imagination run wild with items you’re wanting: service manuals, owners manuals, ad-vertising material, brochures, photos, slides, videos, post-ers and other Honda printed material. clothing, tote bags, keys, service awards, special tools, test equipment. some parts mostly Nos cB92. also some N600, s600 and s800 automobile manuals and N600 parts. E-mail me with what you would like and i’ll respond with availability and price. george g grauwels, 715-533-1999, [email protected]

Honda CB72/77 parts. $2500. David Livingstone, phone 01642 504124. [email protected]

For 1965/69 Honda CB/CL/CA160, CA95 and S65, Still have new and used parts for Honda 160s, s65 and ca95. Engine parts such as heads, pistons, cylinders, cases and covers. sealed gas tanks. paul Enz, 321-

268-5461, titusville, Florida, [email protected]

1968 Honda CL77-Blk/silver, unique bike, has kilo speedo and factory blinkers, new paint, weekly rider, Detroit area pick up only.$2850. Myke Jacobs, [email protected]

1968 Honda CB450E. 95% orig-inal. Runs, shifts, handles like new. Engine is strong. owned since 1971, 2nd owner. 12444 miles. Worth $10000, asking $3800, might dicker some for the right person. Full details and photos on request. Bob White, 864-457-2293.

1975 Honda Gold Wing gl1000K0. ready to restore. $975. Fred Ellenberger, 815-494-5907, [email protected]

1978 Honda CB750. 32606 miles. Last ran in 1991. With the typical rust and corrosion from being in storage since then. Motor is not seized and will move by kick starter. Fuel tank has been stored indoors and is dent free and rust free inside and out. all original ex-cept exhaust, coils, and side covers. title included. pictures available on request. $500. William Kroner, 252-619-8831, [email protected]

1978 Honda CB750F Super Sport. Fully serviced, many upgrades. 34k miles. Yoshimu-ra knockoff header imported from Japan. Very nice condi-tion. Not all stock but close. a good bike. William Blythe, 860-716-0542, Connecti-cut, [email protected]

1982 Honda Silver Wing. 500cc, full restoration started but is ready to ride now. All plastic there, some touchup and paint would make it look new. Newer tires. Replaced exhaust, radia-tor, carb. 17400 original miles. $4000 obo. David Landsberger, 973-723-6515, chincoteague, Virginia, [email protected]

1985 Honda Gold Wing 1200 Interstate with Voyager attach-ment. cranberry color. show-room condition. Extra lights and chrome, backrest. ridden weekly. only 60759 miles. $5800 obo, cash in person. shipping arrangements are up to the buyer. call for photos. Bill grosjean, 352-430-0689, the Villages, Florida

1986 Honda VF700C Magna. 10324 miles. Has carb/flood-ing issues. runs well other-wise. Excellent original bike. Clear title. Pictures available. Local pick up only. $1900, Wil-liam Kroner, 252-619-8831, [email protected]

KaWasaKiKawasaki Jacket/Anorak. Made for introduction of ZX 6R for press day. Jacket is unique and was never for sale from Kawa-saki. it’s complete with detach-able liner. size Large, brand new. asking $75 includes ship-ping to coNUsa. pictures avail-able upon request. Dian slark, [email protected]

yamaha

1979 RD400F Yamaha 11900 mi, mostly original, many new parts including spec ii exp chambers, ft master cyl, brake lines, tires, tubes, chain & seat. $3400/ offer. Dave 923-642-3215 sF Bay area

1979 Yamaha XS650 Special. 8200 mi, mostly original, recent major elec work, many new parts including tach, fr mas-ter cyl, tires, tubes, brake lines & seat cover. really nice bike.

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX


ADVERTISERS APPEARING IN THIS ISSUE:

Acme Zoom (Mule Pack Panniers) ...............................................25

AHRMA .........................................................................................28

Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum ........................................32

BD Designs ...................................................................................38

Buchanan’s Spoke and Rim ............................................................8

Buzzzzz Rag ..................................................................................36

CMSNL ..........................................................................................64

Charlie’s Place ..............................................................................28

Corazzo .........................................................................................49

Cycle House Performance ............................................................51

David Silver Spares .......................................................................63

Diamond Gusset Company ..........................................................25

Discovering the Motorcycle .........................................................34

Gasolina Boots .............................................................................50

Hagon Shocks ...............................................................................22

Honda Restoration .......................................................................15

JDV Products/Vessel.....................................................................50

Jess Bikes ......................................................................................36

Johnny’s Vintage Motorcycle .......................................................29

KSM-Hagerty ...............................................................................24

Marbles Motors ...........................................................................21

Motorcycle Yamiya 750 .................................................................4

Moto-Services ..............................................................................29

National Motorcycle Museum .....................................................23

Nor’Easter Blastworx ...................................................................26

NOS Parts Now ............................................................................53

Precision Motorcycle Painting .....................................................27

Revival Parts (Mixe XS, Z1 Enterprises, Rendakk’s Cycle) . ..........52

Rick’s Motorsport Electrics, Inc. ..................................................14

RJ Cycle .........................................................................................15

Road Dog Publications .................................................................51

Spacecoast Plating .......................................................................38

Speed and Sport Yamaha .............................................................48

Triple Deuce Cycles .......................................................................27

Vapor Honing Technologies ................................................... 54-55

Vintage Suspension (Race Tech) ..................................................53

Workshop Hero ..............................................................................2

Yamaha Powersports Division .....................................................56

$3300/ offer. Dave 925-642-3215 sF Bay area

1980 Yamaha XS650. semi-bas-ket case. Barn find. Electronic ignition failed 18-20 years ago. Engine is in the frame with great oil pressure. rest is in boxes. Clear Georgia title, 7500 miles on clock. $1200, will dick-er. raW, 864-547-2293, campo-bello, south carolina

Yamaha hard saddle bags and tour pack with keys for locks. Original Yamaha mounting brackets for said bags and tour pack with keys for locks. crash bars front and back as well. the bags and tour pack were mount-ed to a 1981 Yamaha Virago 750 cc. I believe they will fit other model Yamahas as well. ask-ing $100 or best offer. Dennis Ventura, [email protected]

misc. for saleKeys for Honda and Yamaha. Email me for a list of keys and other items i have. Keys are $12 with free shipping. Joe Lachni-et, [email protected]

1968/81 Hondas. 50 Japanese bikes, mostly Hondas, $75 each for most or will part out. includes 1978 gold Wing en-gine, front wheel and fender, carb set and manifold, cool-ing fans, and other gW parts. Deal on whole lot. also 2 Ya-maha Big Bear scramblers and Yam and Honda mopeds. Lots of seats and side covers. For cB750. gas tanks. For Bridge-stone 100/150 seat, very nice, $100. Dream and super Hawk

frames with attached fenders, electrics, wheels, etc. 1965 Honda Dream engine 150 cc, $100. Ask for prices. Make offer on the whole lot. Ken Krauer, 845-266-3363, salt point, New York, joankrauer@ yahoo.com

WaNteD

hoNDa1972 Honda Z50 K3. Looking for excellent original bike in candy gold color. Would like to find an original paint bike. sean Mor-phew, 562-698-7484, Whittier, california, [email protected]

suZuKi1967/68 suzuki t200/X5 in good project, running or re-stored condition. What do you have? sam Whiteside, 775-721-5958, [email protected]

misc. WaNteDDealer memorabilia. collector seeks 1950’s-1980’s Japanese dealership items including ban-ners, signs, ashtrays, lighters, hats, clocks, promos, etc. rare, weird and old is good. tom Ko-lenko, 770-427-4820, atlanta, georgia

Honda CBX 1000cc 6 cyl memo-rabilia for museum and the CBX Book I am presently writing. any brochures, adverts, post-ers, owner’s manual, workshop manual, set-up manual, toys/models, old photos, etc. related to the 1979-1972 cBX. also pe-riod aftermarket fairings/body-work. Let me know what you have and how much you need! thanks. ian, 626-444-9358, cal-ifornia, [email protected] l

VJMC REGALIA ORDER FORM

You can also order online: VJMC.ORG/STORE

SEND YOUR ORDER TO: Tom Kolenko • 2445 Elmhurst Blvd. • Kennesaw, GA 30152 Questions?: [email protected]

Add shipping and handling costs to your order:

• All items sent U.S. Priority Mail with delivery confirmation $7 for first item and $5 each for additional items in USA only.

• Canadian orders multiply U.S. mail rate by 1.5 to determine S&H charges.

• Questions? Call Tom at 770-427-4820

SHIP TO: NAME

ADDRESS

CITY, STATE, ZIPCODE

PHONE NUMBER

EMAIL ADDRESS

SHORT SLEEVE T-SHIRTS:• white 100% cotton, large circle logo on front & three bikes on back

2XL, 3XL /M, L, XL / $20

• black 100% cotton, small circle logo on front & large circle logo on back with “Tokyo Chapter” bottom rocker (no 3XL)

M, L, XL, 2XL /POLO SHIRTS:

• black, red, or white 100% cotton, embroidered with club name & logo on left chest$25

$25

HATS:• black or gray, cotton, baseball style with embroidered club name & logo $20

DRINK KOZEE:• red foam with white club name & logo screenprinted

$2

• white/black or black/gold metal with 1/4” top tab mounting hole $10

CLUB MEDALLIONS:

KEYCHAIN:• white soft vinyl with club name & circle logo linked to chrome ring

$1

VJMC MEMBER MOTORCYCLE LICENSE PLATE:• embossed aluminum $7

• available in 4”, 8” 12” VJMC CIRCLE LOGO DECALS:

4” / $3 8” / $7 12” / $20

ENCLOSED IS MY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER MADE OUT TO “VJMC” FOR THE TOTAL OF $

TOTALQUANTITY ITEM DESCRIPTION SIZE PRICE

SHIPPING CHARGES $

2017 bike show & swap meet - vjmc · manifest destiny, of outlaws and great native american...

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