31
PAGES OF WORKSHOP
SUzUkI GT750 750 kETTlE BUYER’S GUIDE!
TIPS & PROJECT BIKES suZuki GT250 X7 RiDDEn
ALL THAT’S BEST IN MODERN CLASSIC MOTORCYCLING
SUZUKI SPA
JamEs WhiTham JOins CMM
suZuki X7 REsTORaTiOn
REBOOTED RD350LC
RETRO REBuiLD
CMM project bike ridden and rated
LavERDa 3C
Knowledge:
W1 engine overhaul
Skills:
Sort seized fittings
PROJECT BIKES: SUZUKI GSX-R1100L, STEVE PARRISH YAMAHA FZ750, HONDA CB750 RC42, PROJECT RICKUKI, PROJECT DR600 ❙ KNOWLEDGE BIKE REGISTRATION ❙ CLASSIFIEDS BUYING/SELLING TIPS ❙ Q&A YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
ISSUE NO. 326 DECEMBER 2014
quiCk spin
December 2014 Issue 326 Publisher: Steve Rose, srose@mortons.co.uk Group production editor: Tim Hartley Contributors: Joe Dick, Gary Chapman, Andy Westlake, Alan Dowds Design: Justin Blackamore Reprographics: Simon Duncan Divisional advertising manager: David England, dengland@mortons.co.uk Advertising: Sam Dearie, Tania Shaw sdearie@mortons.co.uk, tshaw@mortons.co.uk Tel: 01507 524004 Subscription manager: Paul Deacon Circulation manager: Steven O’Hara Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Production manager: Craig Lamb Publishing director: Dan Savage Commercial director: Nigel Hole Associate director: Malc Wheeler 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 36 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £49.20. Export rates are also available – see page 36 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. Distribution: COMAG, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE. Tel: 01895 433600 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: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 Advertising deadline: Friday, November 28, 2014 © 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
Independent publisher since 1885
Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine? Why not Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month?
From pipe dream to reality! It’s fair to say our wonderful readers are a pretty even handed bunch. I know – thanks to the letters, emails, chats and feedback that I receive – that you range in age from your forties to your eighties and that the machines that fire your two-wheeled passions are equally diverse in nature, from old Brit bikes, to new bikes, to old Japanese machines, tiddlers, superbikes, tourers, cruisers – you name it, you love it. Catering for everyone’s tastes can be difficult, but it’s a challenge I love taking on every month. To try and put a little bit of something in for everyone may be hard, but it’s also an honour. Feedback on our various features is therefore even-handed too. You know the older lads aren’t going to like the faired bikes, while the youngsters (ahem, in their forties and fifties)
may actually appreciate something more modern. However, when we did our Retro Reboot in the June issue of our idea of a Yamaha RD350LC for the modern motorcyclist, your feedback was as one: “If only Yamaha would build it.” Well, Yamaha may not want to, but we do, and we want to build one for you. Yeah, it may all seem to be a pipe dream and you may think we don’t know our arses from our elbows (and perhaps we will fall on those very elbows) but what a journey it will be: building a faithful reproduction of our Retro Rebooted RD350LC. One of the best-loved classic bikes of all time re-created for today’s rider! What do you think? Would you buy one?
ds Bertie Simmon editor
Bertie Simmonds
Daryll Young
Chris Moss
bertie@classicmechanics.com ...bad ones. Darryl and I reckon CMM can build the bike above - but you’ve got to tell us you want it!
editorial@classicmechanics.com IDP Moto are leading the build of the CMM Retro Reboot RD350LC, so any help is much appreciated!
editorial@classicmechanics.com Has been reliving his youth of late: not cider, fags and snogs, but another triple treat: Laverda’s 3C.
Steve Cooper
Mark Haycock
John Nutting
editorial@classicmechanics.com Scoop is the engine room of CMM. This month he’s riding an X7, de-fairing his RC42 and loosening his old furry nuts.
editorial@classicmechanics.com This month registration and the history of engine and chassis numbers fill MH’s head!
editorial@classicmechanics.com CMM’s Mr Debonair on two wheels recalls the launch and first models of Honda’s CBR600F.
Steve Parrish
Paul Berryman
James Whitham
editorial@classicmechanics.com Yes, finally! Thanks to Daryll Young at IDP Moto, Stavros may get the bike on the NEC show stand.
editorial@classicmechanics.com Of course it’s self indulgent to get the creator to criticise his new steed. But what a steed. She’s a beauty.
editorial@classicmechanics.com British champ, race commentator and lover of old bikes – James Whitham joins CMM with his X7 restoration!
Don Morley
Andy Westlake
Sam Dearie
editorial@classicmechanics.com Don’s superb shots help us remember the launch of the CBR600F in 1987 and recall Bruce Penhall.
editorial@classicmechanics.com Andy shouts ACTION when he finally gets his leg over a Rickman Kawasaki. She is a beauty!
editorial@classicmechanics.com This man does have his head in the clouds: he’s about seven feet tall. Top lad: talk to him and advertise!
Not all drunken ideas are...
Older/nicer stuff editor
FZ750 rolling chassis at last!
Legendary photographer
The Man with a Plan!
The Q&A King
King of Kat
Lives way out west!
Quick Spin Queen
Master of Mira
Newcomer to CMM!
Ad sales colossus
www.classicmechanics.com / 3
Contents
70
❙ WORKSHOP NEWS
74
❙ HAIL SEIZURE!
76
❙ PROJECT RICKUKI
78
❙ KAWASAKI W1
06 ARCHIVE
39 BOOMERANG BIKE
82
❙ PROJECT SUZUKI
08 1974 LAVERDA 3C
GSX1100 SPA 44 SUZUKI KATANA
Toodle with Pip and new bits. How to fettle seized fittings.
Scoop’s cafe racer takes shape. Steve Cooper on how to rebuild this cool Kwak motor.
DR600
He was a speedway whizzer from CHiPs! Bruce Penhall.
Chris Moss always loved a triple treat back in the day.
87
❙ BIKE REGISTRATION
13 NEWS
90
❙ PROJECT LOCTITE
18 CALENDAR
Paul Berryman’s big thumper! Mark Haycock on registration and bike numbers.
YAMAHA FZ750
Stavros returns with the latest on his superstock restoration.
92 94
Oh we wish it could be Christmas every day. Pricey, though.
❙ PROJECT SUZUKI X7
20 FEEDBACK
❙ PROJECT SUZUKI
James Whitham joins CMM with this new restoration!
GSX-R1100L
Steering system dismantled.
98
News, views and Mark Williams and Steve Cooper columns.
❙ PROJECT HONDA CB750 RC42
Scoop strips the fairing!
108
❙ SUZUKI GT750 KETTLE
120
❙ Q&A
121
❙ HONDA CBR600F
Steve Cooper tells us what to watch out for with the Kettle.
Don Morley’s CB500 found and lots of your views!
A Down Under Powervalve returns to its first owner more than once.
Was all the blood, sweat, tears and cash worth it?
52 RICKMAN KAWASAKI TV director finds and rides the bike of his dreams.
56 FIELD OF DREAMS
CMM launches THE project of 2015 – the RD350LC Retro Reboot!
22
SHOW US YOURS
60 HONDA CBR600F
26
EAU DE COLOGNE
68 YAMAHA YZF-R1
30
SUZUKI GT250 X7
You’ve got an amazing collection of restored machines! Paul Berryman on why the big bike shows are going retro. Suzuki’s ton-topper with a ton of Steve Cooper on board!
John Nutting recalls the first generation in MIRA Files. The original is 17 – here’s our version for today’s retro tastes.
122 NEXT MONTH
Honda Britain, CB750, BMWR80 and Mackenzie’s Fizzy finished!
You ask and we reply. Ta-da! Why 90s steelies are best buys!
www.classicmechanics.com / 5
& events
Go on ‘de Tours’ in 2015! 2015 sees the wonderful Grand Prix de Tours held over three, not two days – a welcome extension to his marvellous event which celebrates old vehicles on two and four wheels. We asked Mike Davis to tell us how good the 2014 event was, and why we should be looking forward to 2015’s event. “On the circuit at Tours, it would take a cafe racer all day to complete a lap – there being that many pavement cafes lining the closed roads of the French city centre, over which this demonstration event is run. But where else could you sip your coffee, at a table under the trees, and watch motorcycles sweep by at speed? At just under a kilometre long, the circuit at Tours comprises two
long, narrow straights, at one end linked by a tight 180° bend and at the other by a broad circumnavigation of the city’s main square – where the city’s new tramway uniquely crosses the track on the level! Speed is limited by chicanes on the straights, but these gave riders the chance to demonstrate their two-wheeled dexterity and thus to make the motorcycle class probably the most rewarding of the day. The motorcycle class of the Tours GP attracted mainly the post-historic big vehicles. This year half the field were from Japanese manufacturers. The rest came from Europe. But every one was French owned and ridden, demonstrating either the Gallic passion for these
Honda CB750 racer wows the crowds.
Ducati 860GT basks in the sunshine... 16 / classic motorcycle mechanics
Honda four sings on the Tour! powerful, foreign machines or that the Brits haven’t yet discovered this event. The pick of the Hondas was that of Edouard Delage. His 1969 CB750 Four racer looked and sounded the part, particularly in the company of the ex-works 1971 BMW R75/5 750 (the mount of Jean-Paul Passet at the time of his tragic accident at Rouen in 1972) ridden by Christian Hervet. Also impressive was the 1973 Honda 750 Daytona of Thierry Delage. In the company of numerous
650, 750 and 850 racing Triumphs, Nortons and Tritons of the same era, ridden competitively despite it being a demonstration event, this classic big bike spectacle was most appealing – particularly to ‘those of a certain age’. But it was not only the big bikes that contributed to the show. When not astride the BMW, Christian Hervet demonstrated how well suited the little 1971 Ducati 450 Desmo is to the sinuous circuit, as was Patrick Caralp’s gorgeous
...with a Ducati desmo racer alongside.
1975 Kawasaki 500 H1R. They left in their wake more powerful vehicles – including Gregory Benoist’s 1975 Ducati 860GT and Bruno Normand’s 1976 Benelli 750 Sei. Like so many of the big ‘open road’ motorcycles, they were not entirely comfortable negotiating such a compact, obstructed course, which offered little opportunity for an open throttle. Not only was it the good weather and class fields that combined to draw large numbers of spectators, but also the relaxed and inclusive ambience of the event. Access to the circuit and paddocks was free. Barriers were limited to the absolutely necessary. In the motorcycle paddock, there was real fraternité between riders and public. ■ Check out 2015’s event, it takes place over June 5-7. Go to: www.grandprixdetours.com
The most useful gear we’ve found this month
HOW TO RESTORE HONDA FOURS
This 176 page book tells you all you need to know about restoring the sohc Honda fours, such as the CB350, 400, 500, 550, 650 and 750 from 19691982. It’s by Ricky Burns and in colour! Costs £35 from www.veloce.co.uk
MOTORCYCLING IN THE 1970s
Richard Skelton tells the story of the glittering decade of motorcycling. This is a series of five ebooks starting with the run-up to 1969 through to the end of that amazing decade. All the bikes are there, as are the characters such as Jarno Saarinen, Giacomo Agostini, Mark Williams (yup, our MW) and LJK Setright. Motorcycling in the 1970s is available at various online bookstores including Amazon from around £1.25 per volume
OAKLEY LEISURE GEAR
We love some of this stuff – but only the retro gear. The Factory Winter Beanie looks like it could have been worn by any offroad star of the 1980s! Kit ranges from carabiners to hats, beanies, hoodies and T-shirts. Prices go from £12-£60. www.oxprod.com
KNOX BACK PROTECTOR
You really should wear a back protector, both in leathers and under a jacket. Some stuff is built-in, some isn’t, so it’s worth investing in something like this Meta-Sys back protector. It offers better protection for less weight than previous models and is certified to Level 2 CE. Price is £129.99. Contact Knox: +44 1900 825825 or visit www.planet-knox.com
CHILLOUT JACKET
Riding bikes is like an extreme winter sport when the weather turns cold, so wise up and layer up properly! Undergarments like this Chillout Multi-Sport Jacket help keep out the cold. With its high neck, for wind protection, handy pockets and scalloped back to keep out draughts, it’s perfect for winter! Cost £69.99, S-3XL. www.oxprod.com
BUYER BEWARE! Mark Williams wonders if buying bikes is harder than in days of yore?
A
s I write I’m still juggling the pros and cons of importing a 1982-4 Honda VT500 Ascot from the States versus building a street-tracker/scrambler out of a donor CB400N. Actually that’s a bit of a lie: what I’m really doing is spending far too many of my few remaining hours on this earth scouring the web for the best 400 Superdream I can afford and weighing up the cost of doing what needs to be done to it against the cost and risk of buying a bike that is already a faux Harley XR750, sight unseen, and shipping it here using someone I’ve never met. Needless to say, SCooperman was very helpful explaining the somewhat labyrinthine procedures involved in the latter and which I gather may appear elsewhere in these very pages at some point, but ultimately you pays your money and takes your chances, and by the time you read this I probably will have paid and taken mine. Back in the 1960s and 70s when I bought bikes almost on a whim, the principle was the same but it was all a lot simpler: one checked out the abundant Newcastle Evening Chronicle classifieds of a Friday, traipsed the many backstreet dealers there then were in that fine city and after a successful bout of tyre-kicking, produced a roll of readies. So as well as killing off most of the old-school bike traders that still clung on two decades ago and indeed the local newspaper industry, the interweb has perversely made bike buying a lot more time-consuming and labour-intensive. Although I will concede that it’s also made it rather easier for those of us passionate about keeping aulde bykes alive and kick(start)ing to source the bits we need, and even the bikes we need. Wemoto, David Silver Spares and a whole raft of breakers and specialists are all there at the click of a mouse and away we go. But I much miss hanging out at the oily-floored parts counter of… well, I’ll spare you the names as they’d mean nothing to all but the elderly few these several decades later. (Although I will give honourable mentions to Tony Huck who’s still in business just 200 yards from my London flat, and Church Stretton Motorcycles who I have to travel rather further to from my Welsh hometown when I want a set of brake pads and a convivial chat with someone who knows rather more about providing them than my local postwoman, lovely though she is). But in submitting to the strangely swelling zeitgeist and owning a roadbike that looks vaguely like Jay Springsteen might’ve got sideways on a dirt oval 40 years ago, I’ve realised something else about our little game. Had I the same fixation in the late 1980s, I would’ve simply sought and paid a few hundred quid for a leaky old BSA Victor Special, the 441cc big brother of the once ubiquitous C15s and C11s which a legion of youngsters took their tests on back in the 1950s and 60s. In fact I did own a nearly new Victor in 1969 with its snazzy alloy tank and chunky 3.25 x 18 front tyre, largely because it called itself an ‘Enduro’ and that was the look I wanted. Even though on the few occasions I tried, it was about as useful off-road as a chocolate teapot, certainly compared with my 500cc Tri-Greeves. But the thing was, you could buy spares for it over a squillion BSA dealers’ counters because it was a simple design whose ancestry went back decades. The thing is, although those dealers are long gone, you can still get almost any part for one now, at almost sensible prices, and for the same reasons. But when I last window-shopped – which if you must know was online well after midnight yesterday – after a merely used exhaust system and forks for the shortlived Honda Ascot, that certainly wasn’t the case... And a half-decent Victor now costs well north of three grand. And that, my friends, is the price of progress.
www.classicmechanics.com / 17
Classic Ride
30 / classic motorcycle mechanics
Words: Steve Cooper PHoTos: Joe DiCk
SUZUKI Suzuki has built some seminal svelte strokers in its time and Scoop rides one of the best – the X7
F
or the umpteenth time today, I have one of those silly smiles plastered across my chops and with good reason. I’m giving Tony Wall’s suzuki X7 a damn good workout and I defy anyone to ride one and not grin. I’ve ridden faster bikes and I’ve ridden more powerful bikes, but I’ve rarely piloted something so undeniably flighty. there is, as tony readily agrees, bugger all to an X7, so when you give one its head it kinda takes off and gets just a little bit squirrely. As the revs edge towards the five grand mark, things start to get interesting and the tacho’s needle launches around the dial at an indecent rate. From here to the eight-and-a-half redline this once learner legal motorcycle simply revs its heart out and continues to do so until we run out of gears or road as conditions dictate. tony assures me that aside from the period Allspeeds, the bike is essentially factory standard, so i can only assume that all good X7s do pretty much the same. When staffer Brian Crichton of our forerunner Motorcycle Mechanics edged a 1978 X7 towards the magic ton you might well imagine the reaction of any parent idly browsing through a copy of their teenage kid’s magazine. to all intents and purposes this was one of the bikes that persuaded the government of the day to bring in the 125cc learner law. Yes, okay, the accident statistics for 17-year-olds had been creeping up and up for almost a decade and some action was needed, but the X7 was a substantial coup de grace. When you grasp that a road legal X7 fitted with expansion chambers, some porting and revised jetting could touch 120mph you realise what serious latent potential there was lurking just below the surface. to say the bike was a success would be an understatement of epic proportions. At 17, the
concept of brand loyalty was hardly an issue; what the lads wanted was the fastest bike they could buy regardless of who made it. For a year or so the X7 was top dog before being ousted by Yamaha’s rD250LC. Back at our test bike, it’s obvious that this is not simply a Gt250 fed on Slim-Fast. there ain’t no spare meat on this one and little real indication it has anything in common with any of its Suzuki 250 ancestors. the square barrels and rectangular cylinder head fins almost scream air-cooled rD. the cowled ram-Air cylinder head had been dropped from the Gt250s a year or two earlier depending on the
www.classicmechanics.com / 31
I
Honda started a class war with the launch of its CBR600F in 1987. John Nutting tries a mint example from 1989 to find out what the fuss was all about.
WORD S PHOTO : JOHN NUT TING S: GAR Y CHA PMAN
t felt like I was in some kind of time warp. Here I was, riding a CBR600F that was manufactured 25 years ago and yet there were no obvious signs that it had been used since it rolled off Honda’s Japanese production line in 1989. The close-fitting all-enclosing bodywork still had that factory-fresh gloss, the single black silencer was pristine and even the tyres looked like the original Bridgestone Exedras. Only the mileage on the clock of just over 6000 provided the clue that this was a very clean and well looked after but regularly used motorcycle, one that represented a significant period in Honda’s history. Maybe if I’d been told beforehand by owner Paul Turk that the tyres were almost as old as the bike, I’d have
60 / classic motorcycle mechanics
been a bit less enthusiastic when zipping through the lanes of Kent! Even so, the temptation to explore the performance of what was a turning point in Honda’s design philosophy was too great. My first encounter with the original version of the 599cc four-cylinder sports bike had been soon after its launch in 1987 and the most vivid, almost surreal, memory is of effortlessly cruising east on the M20 motorway and glancing at the instruments to see that I’d been inadvertently topping the ton for miles. It was the combination of what was then advanced engine design and slick aerodynamics, that forced sportsbike fans to consider the
www.classicmechanics.com / 61
Inside a Kawasaki W1 motor Not all four-stroke Japanese twins run camchains and balancer shafts, finds out Steve Cooper.
I
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don’t suppose you’d be interested in looking at my rebuilding of a Kawasaki W1’s motor would you?” asked owner Dave Jupp. Of course we would; we’d leap at the chance. The bike is a total anathema to what we all suppose is standard Japanese industry process, right-hand gearchange, left-hand rear brake, push rod motor, separate engine and gearbox, iron barrel and alloy head. Now observe it’s a 650 parallel twin and do a double take; it all sounds rather like something out of the West Midlands circa 1958 but in reality the bike is as Japanese as they come. The story goes that BSA licensed Meguro/Kawasaki to build a version of the venerable A7 twin and the end result was a series of parallel twins (initially 500 then swiftly 650) that ran from 1965 through to 1974. There’s even a suggestion that the bikes were only dropped by Kawasaki to improve sales of the home market Z2 750, Z650 four and latterly the KZ750 twin. Japan was the largest market for the Brit-copy twin where it won legions of fans. It was never officially imported into the UK, so CMM has the unique opportunity to see how Kawasaki believed a traditional British twin should go together. If you’ve ever looked inside an Armoury Road BSA, there are a few things you might be familiar with and much that’ll seem novel or different. It’s the 650 twin Blighty never built. 78 / classic motorcycle mechanics
1
1/ Roller bearing bottom end, pork chop crank webs and a ball race main bearing of sizable proportions. No wonder the bike had a reputation for being robust.
Simple solutions: Garner all information, manuals and the like before attempting a rebuild of this sort. 2
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4
2/ With one main already in place and held by a retaining plate, the crank now needs to be pressed into the opposite half. Check out the width of the mating surfaces. The redesign ensured minimal leakage propensities. 3/ With suitable supports and packers, the crank is carefully pressed into the engine case. The official Kawasaki workshop manual says the crank should be hammered into place! 4/ The four lobed camshaft gets some oil ahead of installation into bronze bushes. Note the worm drive on the far end that powers up the tacho drive. 5
6
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5/ No need for red Hermatite here, thank you! The wide gasket surfaces need just a light smearing of solvent curing Kawasaki-Bond or similar. 6/ The right-hand case is fitted over the left case that contains both the crank and camshafts. 7/ With the camshaft idler gear, oil pump drive and distributor drive in place, the latter’s holding nut is tightened. The white markers highlight the factory indents on the cogs that aid placement and positioning. 8
9
8/ Typically Japanese and elegantly simple, the distributor powers a double coil setup that runs on the wasted spark principal. The body of the unit is asymmetric, preventing it being installed 180º out of phase. 9/ More asymmetrics; the outrigger plate further supports the camshaft and has its own bush. Again typically Japanese, there’s also a dowel on the RHS of the plate, making it impossible to wrongly fit the outrigger. www.classicmechanics.com / 79
Next month
Phil Read Replica CB750 Honda Britain: Steve Cooper rides one of the original homologation racer replicas AND gives us a Buyer’s Guide on the CB750/4! Finnishing school: Part one of a Jarno Saarinen replica build. 1980 BMW R80: Chris Moss rides a boxer twin classic. Yamaha RD200: MIRA-filed, with John Nutting. National Motorcycle Museum: One place you really must visit, so come along with us... All subject to changes because life’s like that, innit?
PLUS!
Reader’s Special: Aussie Winfield RC30 racer. Workshop: Valves evaluated and a part one on drills. Project Bikes: Our amazing Project Retro Reboot RD350LC begins. Niall Mackenzie finishes his 1977 Yamaha FS1-E, Suzuki’s apprentices carry on their GSX-R1100L restoration, Alan Dowds continues the motor on his Kawasaki ZRX1100 while Paul Berryman checks out his Suzuki DR600
AND LOTS MORE DON’T MISS IT!
ON SALE: DECEMBER 17