Features

Yamaha XT500 restoration For step-by-step photos and captions, visit the image gallery. Picture one: Now the real fun can begin. The XT engine is a fairly light and manageable lump compared to some, but I still find it easiest to lay it on its right side and offer the frame up to it. The traditional…

Continue reading »

Suzuki GSX550 Poor old Suzuki. It’s not often that a bike that is technically advanced and a good performer gets sidelined very quickly, especially after it’s had a very positive reception from the press. However, it happened to the Suzuki GSX550. Back in the early 1980s, things were just starting to move in the sports…

Continue reading »

Suzuki TS125L trailbike Suzuki almost invented the concept of the trailbike with their radical TC120 Trail Cat, first imported into the UK in 1970. The bike was light and nimble for both on- and off-road use, and had a dual-purpose gearbox that allowed the rider to select a set of high- or low-ratio gears. The…

Continue reading »

BMW R90/S Every now and again a motorcycle comes along which sets completely new standards of performance, handling or sophistication and which proves to be, in time, a trend setter. The Honda Fireblade, Kawasaki GPZ900R, Kawasaki Z1… and the BMW R90/S. More than 25 years after its launch, most people have forgotten its initial impact.…

Continue reading »

Suzuki Katana When the Suzuki Katana was first shown at the Cologne exhibition in 1980, it was generally dismissed as a styling exercise. Yes, it was stunning, but the Japanese would never produce a bike like that really. Would they? Yes, they would. A year later the Katana was on the roads. Well, two Katanas…

Continue reading »

Yamaha YDS1 20 1959 Yamaha YDS1 The grand-daddy of them all – Yamaha and Japan’s first out-and-out 250cc two stroke sports road bike. Its impact on the road was mirrored on the track. Yamaha’s over-the-counter twins have been the mainstay of 250cc and 350cc road racing for nearly 40 years and they all go back…

Continue reading »

Harley-Davidson X90 If you're a regular at the classic motorcycle shows, you may recall seeing a young lad charging around the edges of the field on a tiny Harley-Davidson X90 mini-bike. The bike belongs to Mick Hall and his son, Jack. Mick has a lifelong passion for bikes of all varieties, and young Jack's interest…

Continue reading »

Kawasaki Z400 rebuild A colleague had his arm twisted for a Scrapheap Challenge-type project and had earmarked a distressed Kawasaki 440 engine as the project’s powerplant. Could I look over the engine for him? You bet! The engine had previously been removed from the donor bike and was of unknown history. When I finally got…

Continue reading »

Kawasaki Z400 engine rebuild I had already stripped Steve’s Kawasaki 400 twin engine into its component parts and now it’s time to take a good look around the bits to see what needs to be replaced for the rebuild. Ringing Z-Power for some advice about gaskets and parts availability gave me something of a surprise,…

Continue reading »

Kawasaki Z1 It's not often I get the opportunity to delve deep into the heart of the King of Motorcycles, but when this scarce 1972 Z1 turned up at our workshops in a cloud of oil smoke, I relished the prospect of giving it a thorough mechanical overhaul, particularly as it was such a lightly…

Continue reading »