Saturday July 26th 2025 Suzuki GSF1200 Bandit… Graham and Don worked to tighten all the rocker cover bolts and install the oil feeds to the back of the rocker cover.  It was a shame that we couldn’t install all of the shiny new rocker cover bolts because some had been modified with 6mm bolts fitted to holes drilled through the heads of the originals and screwed into helicoils.  One bolt, the second left rear bolt would barely tighten so we would have to hope it stayed oil tight.   Once the rocker was back in place it was time to take it outside get it warmed up and balance the carburetors.  It was at this point that it through a couple of obstacles in our path.  Firstly the battery fitted to the bike was flat.  That was quickly overcome with another fully charged battery. However despite having a fully charged battery there was no sign of life from the starter motor.  Steve soon worked his magic on the clutch lever cut out switch.  This is ...

  Saturday July 12th 2025 Suzuki GSF 1200 Bandit… Ioin prepared and sprayed the rocker cover, restoring it to its original finish.  Graham, Heinz and new member Richard then set out about re-fitting it using the brand new rocker cover bolts that had been supplied with the bike.  Once the rocker had been carefully fiddled back into place so as not to disturb the rubber seal that runs around its outside edge. They went to fit the new bolts.  Four of the eight bolts fitted, the other four could not be persuaded to screw in.  It was then that it became apparent that someone had fitted some sort of thread repair kit to four of the bolt holes and at the same time reduced the thread size from 8mm to 6mm.  An attempt was made to cut a 6mm thread onto one of the new 8mm bolts, but the difference in diameter was too great.  So it would be a case of getting the silver spray out to tidy up the modified bolts used by the previous owner.  They had been ingeniou...

  Saturday July 5th 2025   Mash 400 dirt star… We had received a donation of tools, amongst the tools was a starter pack. It was quite old and looked well used and after Don reconnected the crocodile clip, we tried it on the mash. At first it didn’t seem to make any difference however, later in the session we tried it again. This time, not only turn the engine quickly but also kept on turning it quickly. This produced lots of flames from the exhaust plus some black smoke, plus the sound as if the engine is going to start. However, it just wouldn’t touch and keep running. With the engine now turning fast enough the compression test Heinz and I fitted the compression tester and spun the engine over. The compression tester showed a peak of 145 psi and he did this twice.  This showed us that the engine had excellent compression. I removed the air filter in case a rat (Or similar creature) had taken up residence in the air filter housing.  But alas, no and in fact the ai...

 Saturday June 28 th   Suzuki GSF1200 Bandit At our workshop session Saturday June 28 th Roger, Ioin and Steve all worked on the Suzuki 1200 Bandit, the problem they were trying to overcome was the dragging front brakes.   They pulled apart the front brake calipers and after a little difficulty managed to extract the pistons and install a new set of pistons on the left hand side . Once the brakes were back together the left hand front brake still dragged too much but with some judicial fiddling it eventually freed up enough that we could move to something else at the following session.   The next thing we would be doing was to check the valve clearances and the balance the bike’s four carburettors.   Ducati 250 cc single.  John made some excellent progress with Graham’s help. John was waiting for rocker cover gaskets to come from Italy, however Graham helped him make his own. Using nothing more than gasket paper, a ball peen hammer, Stanley knife and s...

  Saturday June 14th 2025 This workshop session was a quiet one.   At its peek there were just seven of us!   A  huge thank you to Gareth for listing the contents of tool trolleys one to four and for Allan doing the same with the newer green tool chest. It was a huge help and by doing the red tool trolley myself I was able to complete the set so we now know exactly what is where (For a week anyway!) Many thanks also to Jo for collecting and bringing the new project bike into the workshop. It was a Honda CBR1000 that its donor Paul had owned for around 20 years.   It hadn't run properly for a number of years but the bike was in generally sound condition and would make a good project especially for those wanting to learn how to overcome the impact that time stood still can have on a bike and its carburettors Also many thanks to Jo for providing us with temporary use of her starter pack (I hope that’s what you call it.)   Guess where it came in handy!! ...

  Saturday May 31st 2025 Mash 400 Dirtstar. Further efforts were made to get the bike to start.   With a fully charged battery the engine still on spun over slowly but despite having fuel and a strong spark there was no sign of the engine firing.  To make sure the slow starter speed wasn’t down to a fault in the starter motor, the starter motor was removed and taken apart but it was clean inside and free from obvious faults. There was plenty of life left in the brushes and the brushes moved freely.  The valve clearances were then checked and set to the standard value of 0.07 to 0.10 mm for inlet valves and 0.10mm to 0.12mm for the exhaust valve gaps.   There was a bit of a ‘ermm’ moment before the valve clearances could be checked, when a partially removed generator cover led to a large portion of its engine oil being deposited onto the floor rather unexpectedly.  A hurried retightening of the generator cover screws and a lot of mopping up saw things back o...

  Saturday May 17th 2025 Suzuki GFS 1200 Bandit… Now that we had the exhaust system in place it was time to get it running and see how noisy it was and whether it was burning much oil.  This was because the bike had 58,000. With a temporary fuel supply the bike started and ran well.  There didn’t seem to be too much mechanical noise, although the exhaust was very loud.  On start up and when being revved there was very little blue smoke from the exhaust.  Therefore the jobs could be done at the next sessions would include  Carburetor balancing. Valve adjustment. Brake fluid replacement. Stripping out the front end of the bike and replacing the forks with the brand new forks that came with the bike.  Inspect/overhaul brakes if need be. Inspect tyres. Inspect swinging arm bearing for wear. Inspect Wheel alignment. Inspect rear shock absorber Spraying damaged ares of the frame’s lovely crimson red paintwork.  Fastening the gauze back on the metal fram...