HONDA SS50 YAMAHA RZZ-R 60s 6
WIN!
Buyer guide
Ridden!
80s
ELSIE LSIE
WEISE SIRIUS GLOVES, BRIDGESTONE TYRES, S-DOC CHAIN KIT!
ELSIE
TOOL OF THE MONTH, WORKSHOP: CLUTCH BASKET SHOCKS 00s: YAMAHA YZF-R1 5VY 90s: BMW R1100S, TRIUMPH CRK CAFÉ RACER, YAMAHA YZR500, HONDA ST1100 PAN EUROPEAN 80s: YAMAHA RZV500R, KAWASAKI Z550F 70s: YAMAHA TX750, KAWASAKI HYBRID, SUZUKI TS400 APACHE. ALSO: ALLEN MILLYARD COLUMN Q&A: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND YOUR BIKES AND MEMORIES!
No.388 February 2020
FIVE DECADES OF MODERN CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS INCLUDING:
UK off-sale date – 19/02/2020
£4.40
Niall Mackenzie’s Mackenzie s mint Yamaha RD350LC ridden! Pro-Am racing recalled! LC Club in focus!
Month 2019 Issue 388 Publisher: Tim Hartley, thartley@mortons.co.uk Publishing Director: Dan Savage, asavage@mortons.co.uk Designers: Charlotte Fairman, Jake Sidebotham, Michael Baumber Picture desk: Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield Production Editor: Mike Cowton Divisional Advertising Manager: Zoe Thurling zthurling@mortons.co.uk Tel: 01507 529412 Advertising sales Tel: 01507 529575 Subscription Manager: Paul Deacon Circulation Manager: Steven O’Hara Marketing Manager: Charlotte Park Commercial Director: Nigel Hole Editorial address: CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS MAGAZINE, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR Website: www.classicmechanics.com General enquiries and back issues: Tel: 01507 529529 24 hour answer phone help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk Archivist: Jane Skayman jskayman@mortons.co.uk, 01507 529423 Subscription: Full subscription rates (but see page 42 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £52.80. Export rates are also available – see page 42 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. Customer services: Tel: 01507 529529 Lines are open: Monday-Friday 8.30am-5pm Distribution: Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU. Tel: 0203 787 9001 Subscription agents: CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS MAGAZINE, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR Printed: William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton Published date: CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS MAGAZINE is published on the third Wednesday of every month Next issue: February 19, 2020 Advertising deadline: January 30, 2020 © Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher. ISSN 0959-0900 CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS magazine takes all responsible steps to ensure advice and technical tips are written by experienced and competent people. We also advise readers to seek further professional advice if they are unsure at any time. Anything technical written by the editor is exempt – he’s rubbish with spanners. CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS (USPS:729-550) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $60 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Postmaster: Send address changes to CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS, Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com
The cult of Elsie! You can’t help but notice that we have a certain theme running through parts of this issue. If you’re of a certain age, ride bikes (we guess you do) and went through puberty in the late 1970s, you’ll recognise our cover star as up there with Debbie Harry in the lust-worthy stakes. Yamaha’s RD350LC and subsequent models/ family members really did change the face of motorcycling forever. It’s why we’ve got a road test of Niall Mackenzie’s Elsie, a feature on the Pro-Am race series, news on the marketplace for LCs, a refreshed version of our most popular Retro Reboot, part five of Jeff Ware’s RZV500R resto, and the introduction of the most racy ‘LC’ ever – Yamaha’s YZR500 grand prix bike. Yes, Niall’s 1991 racer will be restored to its former glory in these pages and we get to ride it in 2020. He did promise me a ride on it back in 2003 at Donington, but the radiator sprung a
Jeff Ware
Paul Berryman
Scoop is like the love child of a top 1970s porn performer and a factory mechanic: big moustache and a big… ability with the spanners!
Jeff returns once more with tales of restoring the rough Yamaha RZV500R and will soon be with us with the reverse-cylinder 3MA!
PeeBee carries on with his detective work with his 5VY R1: just what has happened inside that motor?
Hard-working Hybrid!
Ralph Ferrand
Independent publisher since 1885
Allen Millyard Pan’s People…
He is indeed… he loves his ST1100 and will be telling us how to keep on top of this V4 touring masterpiece from Honda.
Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine? Why not Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month?
www.twitter.com/cmmmag
Steve Cooper
Ralph is back with his bikes next month, but this issue he reminds us of the importance of keeping an eye on your brake fluid.
Member
Editor
BSimmonds@Mortons.co.uk
www.facebook.com/ClassicMechanics/
Where’s yer tool?
The Professional Publishers Association
mysterious leak before I got a chance… Me? I was a couple of years too young for the original heady days of LC hooliganism, but instead fully bought into the YPVS scene: I still wish I had my F2. I sold it about 15 years ago for £450. I’d have to spend four times that amount to get a rougher one… This issue has reminded me why I need a two-stroke back in my life… more so when my mate in December dropped a bike off he’d bought for his son for Christmas Day. A Yamaha TDR-R; a 125cc machine made by Belgarda Yamaha in Italy. He kicked it over and got it going and we both breathed in the blue smoke. Magic!
G’day, Jeff!
Niall Mackenzie
The artist formally known as…
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!
Ultimate RD-LC owner?
This isn’t a bit of crawling so I get a ride on the YZR, but Niall kindly lent us his RD350LC this month, contributed to Stu Barker’s Pro-Am feature, and is now restoring his old 1991 YZR500. We think the Yamaha Moto France blue scheme was better even than the Marlboro bike of Wayne Rainey, et al!. Cheers, Spuds!
Stuart Barker Bar Fly boy!
Before bikes for Barker came ‘Bar Fly’ a glam-rock/ metal outfit based in Glasgow. His stage name was Jakki Stevens. He wrote our Pro-Am piece!
John Vassallo Valued CMM reader!
Ok, you all are! John often sends letters to CMM so when he told us of his cheap Z550 we had to get him to write something.
Mark Haycock
Jon Bentman
Lily Schiller
Not happy with giving us some superb Q&A responses, Mark reveals what was in the box with his new TX750 from the USA…
JB goes down memory lane with a ride on Niall’s mint RD350LC this issue. He owned a few himself, it seems!
Our Lil’ is the person to speak to if you want to be seen by hundreds of thousands of CMM readers looking for parts or services!
Q&A Kingpin!
Elsie lover!
Lovely ad lady!
www.classicmechanics.com / 3
56
❙ Q&A
58
❙ KAWASAKI HYBRID
62
❙ YAMAHA YZF-R1
Steve Cooper gets the motor in the frame.
Paul Berryman has a peek inside the knackered motor.
66
❙ ALLEN MILLYARD
70
❙ KAWASAKI Z550
72
❙ YAMAHA TX750
76 78
Allen talks tiny twins once more!
Reader John Vassallo bags a bargain. Mark Haycock reveals what was in the box!
❙ TOOL OF THE MONTH Ralph on brake fluid.
❙ HONDA ST1100 PAN EUROPEAN
Allen Millyard on this much-loved machine.
82
❙ YAMAHA YZR500
86
❙ HONDA SS50
90
❙ WORKSHOP
94
Contents
Mark Haycock with a page of tips.
Niall Mackenzie with the wildest project bike ever!
Steve Cooper with our buyer’s guide! Scoop on clutch basket shocks.
❙ SUZUKI TS400 APACHE
06
ARCHIVE
30
YAMAHA RZ250R
08
CMM MARKETPLACE
36
YAMAHA PRO-AM
10 14
CMM STUFF
We love this Yamaha RD350LC special! What does the Yamaha RD350LC look like in the marketplace?
New kit, tools, tyres and stuff.
NEWS
Events, news and diary dates for Feb 2020!
42 46
Andy Bolas on this forgotten RD-LC family member! Stuart Barker looks back at this legendary race series.
SUBSCRIBE!
Save cash! Get a T-shirt!
YAMAHA RD350LC
Jon Bentman rides Niall Mackenzie’s mint Elsie!
20
FEEDBACK
54
22
SHOW US YOURS
113 NEXT MONTH
26
CLUB FOCUS
WIN Bridgestone tyres for our Star Letter! WIN S-DOC chain cleaner! Win Tamiya kit for ‘The Way We Were!’ The LC Club is 30 years old!
RETRO REBOOT
Check out this re-invention of the LC! Check out what’s in the March 2020 issue.
114 PIP HIGHAM
Pip is on fire this month!
Scoop once more on choosing his steed.
108 ❙ YAMAHA RZV500R Jeff Ware with part five!
www.classicmechanics.com / 5
www.classicmechanics.com / 31
MAIN TEST
EIGHTIES ICON! At the end of the Seventies, Yamaha took the decision to reconnect the link between their successful racing TZs and their RD road bikes. Combining British design talents with Japanese technology, the resultant LC exceeded all expectations, becoming a bike that changed laws and lives forever. Jon Bentman rides Niall Mackenzie’s mint example. WORDS: JON BENTMAN PICS: GARY D CHAPMAN
I
t’s 1980 and Yamaha’s existing twostroke light-middleweight sports offering is the RD400, by now in its fourth year, as the F model. Good for a steady 106mph, and a fair deal faster once a decent tuner has been at the barrels. Good enough to be spanking everything in proddie racing, but then what opposition does it have? Suzuki has launched the instantly forgettable GS425 four-stroke twin, Kawasaki is hanging on with the KH400 (once quite a sharp racer, but no more), and Honda had replaced the jewel-like CB400F with the altogether more mundane CB400 Super Dream, no faster than the F, but a lot more dull. So, Yamaha had that lightmiddleweight sports category sewn up in 1980, but far from doing nothing, Yamaha instead pushed the whole game clear into the next century. The history books will tell you that at a time when USA legislators were vilifying the two-stroke, with sales there on the wane, Yamaha took the brave step of tasking their newly-formed European design team to come up with a new two-stroke sports model. That European team had a lot of British bods in it, not least Paul Butler who was Product Planning Manager at Yamaha Europe. Butler had worked with Kenny Roberts in his early GP years and later would be part of the Marlboro Roberts team set up. Today he’s an IRTA boss and race director for MotoGP.
www.classicmechanics.com / 47
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CLASSIC
#48
ISSUE
Forty-eight Autumn 2018
OCTOBER 2018
No. 330 October 2018 £4.30 UK Off-sale date 31/10/2018
MOTO MEMORIES // TECH TALK // MONTESA COTA 200 // BULTACO MATADOR
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R 2018 ISSUE 174 OCTOBER
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