Workshop Session on Saturday August 30th 2025 It was a quiet session so the roundup is relatively brief. Yamaha YP125 Majesty... The Yamaha YP125 Majesty (AKA Yer Majesty) was the centre of attention.  Dave, Peter, Don and Jason set about what should have been a simple job of refilling the coolant in the cooling system ready to give the engine a run.  However as soon as coolant was added to the radiator it appeared on the floor underneath the bike.  So, as is so typical of our projects a quick and simple job turned into something more time consuming.   The radiator had to be removed in order to check why it wasn’t holding water.  As the four bolts that secure it were undone one of them promptly decided to shear off. A temptingly long length of bolt was left projecting out of the aluminium crankcase.  However its tapered sides meant that nothing would grip it.  Taking a chisel and using it to try and punch the bolt round failed to turn it, so it...

  Saturday August 16th 2025… Honda CBR1000FX… Work began today on getting the recently donated Honda running and tidied up. With a little persuasion it started but was clearly not running on all four cylinders, so it was time to remove the carburettors and have a peek inside.  Keiran, Pete, Allan Guy and their team set about removing the fuel tank and removing the carburettors.  At first glance everything inside looked clean although one of the CV slides had to be freed off.  However a stuck slide wouldn’t have prevented it from starting on 4 cylinders (As it only comes into play as the throttles are opened and the vacuum being created by the engine rises enough to draw the slides upwards).  Something else had to be at fault.  Graham suggested that despite how clean the inside of the carburettors looked, all the main jets, pilot jets and emulsion tubes (That's the tubes that the main jets screw into) should be removed and cleaned.  It was then discover...

  Saturday August 9th 2025… Suzuki GSF 1200 Bandit. Work was done to improve the appearance of the bike by addressing some of the wear and tear and corrosion.   Guy tackled the aluminium foot rest and exhaust hangers  restoring them to a bright silver painted finish.  Andy worked on the rusty area of the frame behind the front forks.  He cleaned it and  removed the loose corrosion before applying a coat of basecoat, kindly supplied by the bike’s previous owner.  Next session it would be time to apply the cherry red metallic top coat. Excellent use of old cardboard for masking purposes.  The left-hand footrest plate looking resplendent in a fresh coat of silver paint. The team hard at work refurbishing the Bandit The resprayed bracketry on the right looking very smart in a fresh coat of silver paint.  Z250 Scorpion… The correct speedo cable had arrived, but Keiran wanted to know if the speedo actually worked.  After a bit of thought, Grah...

  Saturday August 2nd 2025 Suzuki GSF 1200 Bandit. Gareth, Jo and Ioan worked to re-install the bodywork around the tail end of the bike.  Everyone was in agreement that Scott Oiler was probably more trouble than it was worth and so it was removed.  It looked as though there should be some kind of rubber infill where the grab handles passed through the tail piece but there were missing, so the bike was reassembled without them,   Black tape securing the centre of the tail piece was removed and the glue residue was also removed.   Honda 650 Vigor. AJ had made a spacer for the rear wheel and bought it into the workshop with him.  AJ Jon and Mal worked on the bike to get the rear end back together.  There was some discussion around whether the bike’s rear disc should be replaced as the pads were being replaced.   The existing disc was ridged but not worn excessively thin.  Male decided that to get the bike complete he would run for a while ...

  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...