Features

Yamaha XS250 rebuild (pdf) Yamaha's XS250 and 400 twins are pretty solid pieces of kit, but aren't immune to the occasional catastrophe. Tina's XS250 had provided solid and reliable transport for nigh on 15 years, and though it had recently been nudged aside in the garage by a Harley Sportster she thought it deserved more…

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Honda C77 motorcycle restoration (pdf) Although an unknown face to many Mechanics readers, I've been involved with classic motorcycle journalism for 15 years, much of it with sister magazine Classic MotorCycle. My favourite column, You Were Asking', allows me be an agony aunt-cum researcher and, although I've restoration experience and an extensive library, I'm lucky…

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Suzuki GS750 engine When Suzuki launched their first four-stroke back in the early Seventies they had gone to some trouble to get the design right. Environmental legislation was beginning to signal the end for high performance, smoky two-strokes, and with the GS750 Suzuki laid the solid foundation for their four-stroke GS range that would later…

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Suzuki GS750 Last month I managed to get Jason’s GS750 engine stripped down despite 25 years worth of accumulated muck, grease and barrels which were heavily corroded onto the cylinder studs. Now with all the bits and pieces thoroughly degreased and cleaned off I can lay everything out on the bench and take a good…

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Honda CB450 v Triumph 500 classic (pdf) When Motorcycle Mechanics got its hands on the new Honda CB450 in June '66, it was decided to run it against a Triumph 500. Good idea, but they then chose a production racer which, it was claimed, had had no special tuning but was, in those immortal words,…

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Dave Potter profile (pdf) The late Dave Potter was the consummate stylist aboard Ted Broad's immaculate Yamahas but tragically died at Oulton Park in search of his third MCN title. Dave Potter was one of the most successful riders on the British circuits during the Seventies and wars firmly on course to follow through well…

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Yamaha FZ600 Back in the 1980s Yamaha was in a quandary. Kawasaki had invented the sports 600 market with the brilliant GPZ600R, Honda had replied with the seminal CBR600 and Suzuki was taking the obvious step of reducing the capacity of its GSX-R750 engine to 600cc (back to the Bandit engine again). But Yamaha had…

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Honda’s six cylinder CBX This is pure classic. Undisputed, 100 percent, hallmarked classic. Odd, then, that it was a relative sales failure.To understand the CBX you have to go back to the Honda range of the mid-Seventies. Honda had a range of stodgy twins from 175 to 500cc and a range of fours that were…

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Ducati 900 Ah, Ducati… Just saying the name evokes images of booming vee-twins flicking down sunny roads; Foggy winning at WSB… or pushing a lifeless bike down the road and humungous repair bills. Is it fair? Are the old bevel-drive twins as bad as they’re made out to be? Is buying an old Ducati bevel-drive…

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BMW RT Space for a week’s luggage and 200 miles between fuel stops. Neil Murray reckons BMW got it right when they created the RT for long-distance bikers. If you ever ask people what they think was the first great purpose-built super-tourer, they’ll generally scratch their chins and mutter something like ‘Gold Wing’ or ‘BMW…

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