Saturday, December 29, 2007

1970 Cycle Magazine 350 Review



Here's a great comparison test of all the "hot new superbike" 350s from December of 1970! Each page is individually scanned, so you have to download each one separately, but it's definitely a good read. I don't think you'll be too surprised when you discover which bike won the top honors in the review...

1970 Cycle Magazine 350 Review

Replica Badge Source



One of the most frustrating aspects of bringing one of these old Yamahas back is finding a decent set of replacement tank badges. NOS is really nonexistant, and even replicas are getting to be very expensive. Here is a guy selling replicas on Ebay for very reasonable prices, and the duplication looks pretty spot-on.

(Sorry the original link expired many moons ago... )

Here are a few sources that might help:
Diablo Cycle
HVC Cycle

Monday, November 26, 2007

Reader Mail / Relocating Signals

Michael Brito wrote in:

Great web site. Awesome bike. In fact your R5 inspired me to refurbish an R5 of my very own. I would like to know where you got the turn signals for your R5 so I can relocate mine. Did you farm out most of the paint work? How much $$$ did you put into your R5?


Thanks for writing!

I wrote a little about relocating my front turn signals here. After Mike wrote in, I realized now that I didn't go into much detail. I hadn't bought aftermarket signals, I just used the ones that were already there, but were mounted to the forks using brackets. From what I can remember, here's the process:

- remove the nuts on top of the forks
- slide off bracket and turn signal
- remove bracket from turnsignal
- replace fork nuts
- disconnect wiring to signals (no cutting necessary)
- remove headlight from bucket, reroute wiring (from bike) into the bucket from the hole in back
- remove nuts holding bucket to flanges on both sides
- run wiring (signal) through holes in headlight flanges and bucket
- align signal base to depression on flange
- use signals to hold bucket to flanges, reuse nuts to tighten bucket and flange to signal
- reconnect wiring, test
- remount headlamp

Sounds complicated, but I figured it out just by fiddling around myself, so with the above directions anyone should be able to do it no problem.

As for the paint, I was lucky and found a bike that had been parked in a garage for most of it's life. There's little damage, just a few dents and chips. I haven't done much in terms of paint besides cleaning and waxing.

If you're looking for the metallic Mandarin Orange paint, unfortunately you're out of luck as it's no longer made. Here's a link to some discussion about a possible House of Kolor alternative.

All in all, I haven't spent much on the bike, $550 to buy, and about $1000 in parts and work to get it running, inspected, new tires, new bars, one new sidecover, and a NOS matching mirror. Not bad for such a great little bike!

Ebay Finds


1971 R5-B AHRMA Racer


1971 R5-B Brochure

Thursday, November 8, 2007

1973 RD 350 in Philly area



From Philly Craiglist:
73 RD 350 run good I have good title in hand with my name.11k miles after market exhaust and air cleaners new battery.side cover cracked $1500 obo SOON GOING TO EBAY

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Motorcycle Classifieds Site Mash

This cool website combines classified and auction listings from various sites around the internet and displays them chronologically with photos, location and price. In order to actually see anything, select a motorcycle from the text cloud or pull-down. Want something added? Email the administrator.

BTW there's one for cars too...

Saturday, October 13, 2007

LUCKY BRAND Yamaha Zip Track Jacket



Check out this incredible LUCKY BRAND Yamaha Zip Track Jacket. Finally a place for all my vintage Yamaha patches!

There's also a killer Kawasaki motocross version as well as a more generic Motor City version. Very cool...

UPDATE - I picked up the Yamaha jacket, and my business partner Brian picked up the Kawasaki version (BTW he's the one who alerted me to these finds, having a Bonneville he picks up Triumph-branded stuff at Lucky all the time). These are officially licensed products too. The jackets are extremely well-made, and surprisingly heavy. Worn it a few times now and love it!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Brittown - A British Motorcycle Documentary



Brittown is a feature documentary featuring vintage Triumph motorcycle racer and master mechanic Jeff "Meatball" Tulinius from the Hell On Wheels bike shop in Anaheim, California:

The film chronicles several months in Meatball's life as he runs his old BSA in vintage motocross races, embraces the legacy of Steve McQueen on his vintage Triumph Cub desert sled with the No Gooders motorcycle club, flies down the Willow Springs raceway on his Norstar, and uses all his skill to rebuild an old 650 Triumph Bonneville motor into a blazing road-ready screamer ... all while juggling his responsibilities to his family and his rock band Smiling Face Down.

From Scott Di Lalla and Zack Coffman, directors of the award-winning custom motorcycle documentary Choppertown comes their second intimate inside look at biker culture, Brittown: a British motorcycle documentary film.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

FixTheBike.com



Came across FixTheBike.com while I was updating the links in my previous posts (manual downloads should work correctly now). It's a great idea, similar to this site but much broader in scope - bring together all sorts of documentation on all sorts of bikes in one place for free download. From their wiki:

The first place on the internet that will try to pull together a vast ocean of motorcycle information into one place for everyone to find and use completely free of charge or restrictions.

The site looks very empty until you log in. Once logged in you will gain access to everything. This is to help prevent spammers and other bots from wrecking the site.

So please enjoy yourself. Please strongly consider uploading any documents you may have as this is the only way we can grow. Donations are always more than welcome to help cover bandwidth costs.


I already saw some stuff from this site up there, and I'm in the process of uploading some more...

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Manual Madness!



Tom writes in with some great stuff he'd like to share:

I have been using your site for months now as I work on restoring my 72 R5C. I was kindly sent these files though from a fellow two stroker I met though Craigslist. He insisted that since this info is so hard to find that I should share it in any way possible. So I am sending it to you for if you want it on your site. I am not sure of the legality of this though. This info is very old and I doubt any publisher will say anything, but you never know. These files are quite large though and will take a while for people on dial-up. They have all been worth their weight in gold to get my R5C on the way to running again. Maybe in return if anyone knows of a killer deal on a pair of carbs for my bike they can drop me a line?


Here are links to the files. They're rather large, so be prepared for long download times:

Yamaha Service Manual for DS7, RD250, R5C & RD350 1972-1973
Yamaha Motor Corp, 1974
51.75MB, 113 pages

How to Fix your Yamaha Two Cylinder, Two Stroke Motorcycle
Intertec Publishing Corp, 1975
76.25MB , 86 pages

Yamaha 250-400cc 2-Stroke Twins - 1965 - 1978 - Service and Repair Manual
Clymer Publications, 1978
88.55MB, 190 pages

And please, let me know if you can help Tom out with a set of carbs!

Monday, August 13, 2007

R5C 350 Riders Manual



Seeing as it's extremely hard to come by these days, and seeing as how mine is slowly crumbling, I figured I'd scan and post the "Rider's Manual" that came with the R5 when it was new. Fair warning though, it's a fairly large file. Enjoy!

R5C 350 Riders Manual (25.5 MB PDF)

Monday, August 6, 2007

Martin's Gorgeous R5 on EBAY!



Martin wrote in this morning to inform me that his YR5 (featured previously on this site here an here) is currently up for auction on Ebay UK.

Here is his auction description:

Yamaha YR5 350cc 2-stroke twin also sometimes designated the R5

This is an original UK bike, it has some history to suggest that it was raced in the early 70s and then converted to road use. It has only had 3 owners. The 2nd owner died in 1980 after which his widow stored the bike until it was sold to a family friend in 1999, since then it has stood almost unused for 7 years until I bought it last year.

I recommisioned the bike from the ground up

New battery

Full service,

Mot,

Hagon rear Shocks

New screen & Nosecone,

Reground Fork Stanchions and seals

The frame has been powder coated

and many parts chromed.

It has been a great bike to ride and has always drawn crowds at places like Matlock Bath. But unfortunately I suffered a seized the engine when the right hand 2 stroke oil pipe came loose.

After searching all year I have managed to find some original NOS pistons, rings& gaskets from America and Japan and have had it rebored by PJ engineering (motorcycle engineering specialists of Wolverhampton).

So far it has been rebuilt and started, that’s it. It sounds ok and has not currently done any miles.

I realised this bike is too rare to use regularly. So I have bought myself an Aprilia 250 because I enjoyed the two stoke so much

This bike deserves a collector, or Yamaha Dealer as a show piece, it would be great to parade or show.

The bike is in a Phil Read replica colour scheme, It has original Mead speed sports fairing, race tank & seat. The wheels have been upgraded at some point to RD400 alloys.

The exhausts are 1970’s originals and are stamped into the metal “Codnor Light Fabrications” this is a Derbyshire company that we now know as Micron.

It is fitted with Piranha Electronic ignition and starts first or second kick every time.

Front brake is disc with braded hoses using a standard RD350 front calliper & disc, so parts are no problem

I have some correspondence that the last owner past on to me from Padgett’s of Batley, plus Classic Bike, Yamaha, and Len Manchester motorcycles. This seems to support the case that the bike was prepped for racing, as many where from new and then put on the road by the 2nd owner. This seems correct as the fairing tank seat exhausts etc are all period early 1970,s but the rear light is from an RD400 which was not made until 5 years into the 70,s

Also included are the original Yamaha workshop manual and several magazine articles from magazines of the time in the early seventies

This is probably the only surviving example of a Yamaha proddy racer put on the road in the uk. Grab a real pierce of nostalgia.

I am selling as I have 5 bikes and my daughter is about to turn 16. I need the space for her 1st bike!!!!

The bike is MOT,ed and Taxed to October. The tax is free as it is tax exempt! The bike is in immaculate condition and is ready to show

Please ring for extra photos and spec.
Martin 07988800194

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Update - Labels Added

Just added labels to all of my posts on this site. At the very bottom of each post you'll see a grouping of word(s) that categorize the post. Clicking on one of the words brings you to a single page with all of those posts. Useful if you want to see all the technical posts, posts with downloads, or say all posts about my R5 all at once, without searching or using the archive.

Colin's R5



Colin writes in to tell us about his recently acquired R5:
I have been looking for a nice two stroke for some time now. Something that was relatively cheap, but ran. I wasn’t looking for show quality or anything just something to get around DC on and tinker with. I came across this ’71 R5 owned by an older gentleman for over 30 years. Cosmetically it has seen some wear but the engine runs great and sounds great too. I sent along some pictures. This is exactly how I bought the bike. How about that sissy bar, amazing. Fortunately in about ten minutes the sissy and highway bar come right off. Short term I am going to put some clubman bars and some rearsets. Then slowly when the money comes in will start cleaning up the parts. It was a wedding present for myself. Great website about the only place I found good useful information on the bike.

Excellent find!

Sounds like you're on the same course as I am, with clubmans and rearsets. Funny, my bike came equipped with almost the exact same sissy bar! Weird scroll thing going on...

Thursday, July 5, 2007

California Classic Japanese Motorcycle Club Show and Swap Meet



When: 2007-07-20 through 2007-07-22, 8a.m. - 3p.m.
Location: Auburn County Fairgrounds, 1273 High Street
Cost: No charge for spectators

Largest exclusively classic Japanese motorcycle swap and show in the country, held in the beautiful Sierra Foothills at the Auburn Gold Country Fairgrounds! ONLY JAPANESE MOTORCYCLES. This is a must participate event! Hundreds of bikes, parts and more! Bring your bike to show and parts to sell! Show on Sunday only - Open to all! - Shaded area for swap meet - Shaded stage for show bikes! (with seating) - Food with drinks on premises - Camping overnight 10 dollars per car – No Fires - RV Overnight with hookup 20 dollars - AMA Speedway Races Friday night! - Swap 35 dollars per swapper / space - For Sale - Bike Corral 10 dollars - 15 dollars to show one, 20 dollars for two or more bikes - Peoples Choice Awards


Of particular interest to us fellow R5 enthusiasts is that this year the show is honoring the Yamaha 2-stroke twins: R5s, DS7s and RDs. Usually this means a lot of these bikes showing up at the show and an image of the bike on the show t-shirt.

Wish I could be going... but since I'm on the wrong coast, someone local will have to go and snap some pics for the site!

(Info gleaned from cjmc.org, Hemmings Motor News Calendar and r5yamaha Yahoo! message board)

Thursday, June 21, 2007

R5 Wiring Diagrams



Ok kids... a lot of you have been asking about electrical issues. Seems these bikes (as just about anything 30+ years old!) have a bunch of gremlins, and it can be a real pain sorting everything out. I'm in the middle of it myself. So I thought I'd revamp the diagrams on the site as well as highlight them all in one post here.

- R5C Wiring Diagram - from the 1972 Rider's Manual
- R5F Wiring Diagram - not a US model
- RD 250/350 Wiring Diagram - for reference, should you need it

Also here are two diagrams tracing the physical wiring harness as shown in the factory Service Manual to help you locate everything:

- R5C Wiring Harness Diagram 1
- R5C Wiring Harness Diagram 2

And finally, here is a link to a PDF of the electrical section of the factory Service Manual (via OMP).

Gotta love all the hand-drawn complexities and typos throughout! Anyways, I hope this helps!

The German Roots of Yamaha Motorcycles



Good article over on the Kneeslider about the German roots of early Yamaha motorcycles.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Great Reader Mail

Dave Hess from Selinsgrove, PA, wrote this excellent letter to me earlier this week. Stuff like this makes working on this site worth the while:

Lawrence:

Two months ago my mother had to move to an assisted living home, so we had to clean out the old homestead. I came across my old Yamaha R5B I parked in her summer kitchen (shed) back in 1979. Wow, what a mess! I was going to roll it into the dumpster we rented but my brother told me I should try to get a few bucks for it on ebay. When I checked the prices these old bikes were bringing on ebay I just about fell off my chair! I decided to try to clean the bike up in hopes of upping the value of the old girl.

Needless to say, when I saw the shine come back on those fenders and the mandarin orange paint come back to life, it took me back to my college days when I used to jam a few bucks in my pocket and disappear on my R5 for days on end. That old sense of freedom I had back when times were much simpler struck me! All I wanted to do was fire up my old R5, listen to her throaty two-stroke rumble, smell the blue smoke coming out of her exhaust and ride into the sunset! I remembered riding with a gang of my friends back in the 70's, and just what a performer my bike was. They all had bigger bikes with far more cc's, but my R5 just blew them all away.

In doing research on the bikes I came across your website, which I must tell you is a real breath of fresh air. It shows the genuine appreciation you have for the Yamaha R5's and it has really motivated me to get my bike back on the road. Needles to say, I'm about half way through my restoration project. I'd like to share some pictures when I get a chance.

Thanks for the site. It's a real pleasure and something I look forward to seeing when each update comes to the net!

Dave Hess
Selinsgrove, PA


Dave, thanks for the great letter! I'm also very proud to know I played a (small) role in getting your bike back up and running. Please send in those pics and keep us updated!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Rebuilding the Carbs



Finally got a nice Saturday with no real plans - except tackle the R5's nagging problems, of course!

Drained the oil and transmission fluid, cleaned the carbs, and right now the bike is slowly coming back up to charge. We'll see how I did soon enough...

Friday, June 8, 2007

Jesse Writes In



Jesse from Arlington, Virginia, writes in to share some pics of his newly-acquired R5 and ask a few questions:

Hi Lawrence,

I just came across your R5 website. Very nice! I just took posession of my 1st R5 this weekend. It's an orange 1972 R5C that is need of some restoration. I have restored 4-stroke British bikes in the past (I'm currently riding a 1978 Triumph) but this is my 1st 2-stroke machine. Are there any listservs, discussion boards, etc. that focus on the R5 or Japanese 2-strokes in general?


Good-lookin' bike, Jesse! Love the exhaust! You can see more of Jesse's bike on his Flickr page.

Jesse raises a good question in his email. I've gotten a bunch of similar emails from other readers who are looking to ask questions in a firum setting. I've come across a number of sources for R5-related info in my research - here are a couple of links:

Here are some discussion groups:

Yahoo! R5 group - http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/r5yamaha/
Yahoo! YDS Owners group - http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/yamahaydsownersgroup/

A couple of other forums to try - much more generic, for a wider variety of bikes:

USA 2Strokers - http://www.usa2strokers.com/forum/default.asp
OBB - http://www.oldbikebarn.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi
Cycle Forums - http://www.cycleforums.com

There are also some shops out there dedicated to these bikes. Some good ones that come to mind are:

HVC - http://hvccycle.com
Moto Carrera - http://www.motocarrera.com
Spec2 - http://www.spec2.com
Omar's - http://omarsdtr.com

Check out the links in the sidebar for more. Hope that helps!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

More on Martin's Gorgeous R5





A few posts ago I presented Martin's beautifully restored R5 road racer (see Martin's Gorgeous R5 April 13, 2007). I asked Martin to elaborate a little more on the bike, to tell me the specs, the restoration, the original history, etc... Well, he responded - check out the before and after above!

Here is a little of its' known history:

I purchased the bike in 2006 and it was in the condition shown [in top photo]. It was in running condition although all of the fibreglass was crazed.

The bike was originally sold by Granby Yamaha in 1970 and set up with the full sports fairing from new... The bike has only had 2 previous owners the first for 2 years and the 2nd from 1972 to 1980 when I an told he unfortunately died of cancer, the bike was then looked after by a friend who started it regularly and rode very occasionally.

On the day I collected the bike it started with no problems and I took it into my van to my local dealers where it passed its MOT test . So I arrived home with a fully working motorcycle after it had been mostly out of use for 20 years!

The 2nd time out the oil pipe came loose and it seized on one side. After some fantastic help from Governors Bridge Motorcycles in Atherstone UK (01827 712906) who had a brand new pair of 1st oversize Dykes type pistons in stock I decided to completely restore the bike.

The forks where slightly pitted so I sent them for rechroming and machining to Philpot's in Luton who did a great and speedy job, the barrels where rebored by Paul Jones at PJ Motorcycle engineers in Wolverhampton UK. I have used Paul for years and he is without doubt the UK's best 2-stroke specialist.

Finally I repaired all of the tank, seat & fairing myself. The fibreglass was completely rubbed back through the gel coat, then had several lays of finish re-applied to deal with the crazing. Mark Burgess at Jawell paints in Wolverhampton who I use regularly helped with advice, and the final finish was 1 coat etch primer, 1 coat high built acrylic primer, 2 coats of 2 pack white gloss which was hand matched by Mark to a sample of the original fibreglass colour, and the stripe is in 2 pack Rosso Corsa. The paint scheme has been based on Phils Read's 1969 factory bike.


Thanks for sharing, Martin!

Custom R5B For Sale



About a year ago, Jim from Salt Lake City wrote in to tell me about an R5 he had come across... Numbers-matching 1971 R5B that has had a fair amount of custom work done. Painted frame, engine, tank, headlamp and trim ring, sidecovers, as well as a custom seat. Also mounted are low bars, fuel filter, exhaust chambers, foam intake filters and rare matching left/right mirrors. Very cool - someone put some wrench time in on this one back in the day. Unfortunately the bike has not run in some time, but is not frozen up or rusted - just needs some time and TLC to get her going again. Looking for a good home.

Interested? Get in touch with Jim here.



Sunday, May 20, 2007

R5 from Denmark



Flemming Juel from Frederikshavn, Denmark, writes in to share pics of his beautiful 1971 R5B. He notes that they "they speaks for themselves"... and boy, do they. Gorgeous!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Main Switch Diagram



A reader of the blog recently wrote in asking about the positions on the main switch, particularly the rightmost position. Here's a scan from the 1972 R5 Owners' Manual which sums it up nicely.

Monday, April 23, 2007

RD 350 in Plymouth Meeting PA



My friend Brian forwarded me this Craigslist listing for a 1971 (?) Yamaha RD 350, tricked out with chambers, clip-ons, and aftermarket tank and seat:

i have for sale a 1971 yamaha rd 350 is is an unfinished project but all the parts are included with the sale of the bike. it has after market exhaust system and clip on's.The engine runs very sweet it has a clean title.


Might be worth it for the parts alone!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

AMD World Championships



I'm not much for Harleys and the whole billet-chrome-crazed chopper scene, but I must say there's been some interesting stuff happening in the custom world lately, as things get less OCC and more creative. Check out the AMD World Championships of Custom Bike Building, especially the latest Euro Finalists. Some good stuff here, like the hot-rod Rock 'N Bike from Art of Racer in France. Not a vintage asian two-stroke, but sweet nonetheless.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Lee's Barn Find



Lee writes in to tell us about his find - this 1972 R5:

I thought you might like these pics of my "barn find", a 72 r5c. My buddy and I bought this, 2 GT185 Suzukis and a Honda CB450 for only $400. They were all mostly complete and extra dirty, but otherwise in decent shape. I only have about $200 and some blood sweat and tears into it so far and it runs great after some carb cleaning/tuning, custom baffles, new ignition switch, bars, grips, levers and some straightening of some tweaked bits. Check out the tank emblems I made on the CNC at work out of stainless steel (about 8hrs. of cut time), I couldn't bring myself to pay what they want for reproductions. Thanks for the website, it's very informative.


Nice job on those emblems! They look great! And great job on finding 4 bikes for $400 - not bad!

Keep up the good work, and let us know how you progress on those other bikes!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Martin's Gorgeous R5



You all know how much I love road-going racers (see posts here and here).

So you can imagine my joy when I received an email from Martin in the UK. Pictured above is his beautiful 1970 R5 sold by Granby Motorcycles of Ilkeston, England. I don't have much info yet, as the email was brief. All that is known is that, much like my bike, this one has been fully restored after spending 20 years in a garage.

Love the work done here - all the style of a racer (fairing, fenders, tank, seat, chambers) with the necessities of a road bike (lights, etc). I love the way the original sidecovers and oil tank were incorporated... everything looks in place!

I've asked Martin to elaborate a little more on the bike, to tell me the specs, the
restoration, the original history, where the parts came from (fairing, seat, any custom fabrication he's done), etc... I'd love to write up an article about this great bike. Hopefully he has more pics, particularly any in-progress or pre-restoration - that would be great!

I'll post more info when I get it.

Thanks Martin!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Two Wheel Tuesday!



It's that time again! Time to meet up at The Abbaye in NoLibs for Two Wheel Tuesdays!

Great turnout tonight, lots of good stuff... Jim brought out his new 749s, Skip brought his beautiful Triumph cafe racer, and later in the night a Ural with sidecar pulled up - and there were plenty of Ducs, Beemers, Aprilias and other Triumphs as well. Despite a valiant effort (and lots of pushing by Jim), we were unable to get the R5 to start...

Below are a few shots taken while we were there. Enjoy, and hope to see you next week!







R5, Super Cheap



Fellow vintage motorcyclist Brian sends me local bikes for sale from time to time. Today he spotted this '71 R5 in the Philly suburbs:

1971 Yamaha R5B 350cc 2 stroke twin, needs work - $500

Saturday, March 24, 2007

R5B Being Parted Out

Thought I'd pass this on:

1971 Yamaha R5 350 - Parts for Sale

Can't vouch for the seller, but he has a complete bike and an lot of what seem to be good-condition parts... might find what you need...

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Progress...



There is much progress across the pond (just look at all the innards there!) as Stephan Morris continues the renovation of his '72 R5C.

His work is getting me motivated to sort my bike out. Right now, the battery is holding a charge (so that problem is finally fixed) but the bike won't start. I just keep kicking until gas starts leaking out of the exhaust. Not good. Picking up a tune-up kit (points and condensors) very soon...

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Rising Sun Tank



Chris Scholey from Ontario sent these pics in to keep us up to date on his project. Great paint scheme, no?



Can't wait to see the finished bike...

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Shinohara RD/TZ



I have always been into the whole Yamaha streetbike-to-GP-racer conversions. I've even come across official Yamaha R5-TZ conversion instructions as well as some aftermarket conversions, but these were always for making the road bike race-ready. What I was looking for was a hybrid - all the look and grunt of a GP bike but without the full-faired body, and with all the lights necessary for a street-legal bike.

Well, take a look at the above. This guy solves the problem of a legally-lighted TZ by hiding small headlamps in the forks and tucking a small taillight in the bumpstop. At first glance it looks like a TZ with the front fairing removed. Bad ass... Click here for more images...

I have attempted rough machine translation on the page, and it says:
Comment of [yusuke]
Is concerning DX but…
It is no [chi] [ya] [tsu] [te] TD3, (laughing)
Still, as for the place where the hand is inserted there is Sawayama, but
Slowly spending time, we would like to keep finishing.

Engine
 The core of the crank it puts out.
Around front
 For SR. It is heavy, being long, there is no [iitoko] is.
Chamber
 ○ [ni] make.
 The front owner attached with being defeated, but
 You do not understand whether according to rumor, with with setting [ru] whether it has not come out.
 The extension above is bad, is.
Original back step
 The step position of TD3 was made in reference, but this position is a certain meaning training, (laughing)
Meter
 The electric rammer of the manufacturer, pivot.
 With the stepping motor, being accurate, it does the movement where the response is good.
Electric apparatus
 In addition to there is no light/write case, because you have supplied the battery in the seat cowl
 It recreated the harness entirely.


Via DOUBLEULTRA.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Carpy



I had written a long time ago about Steve Carpenter and his awesome Honda cafe conversions... well, he's back with an updated site, chock full of video and imagery of all manner of interesting bikes. Check it out.

BTW, I've updated my links to correct his link.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Alex Fry's RD Site



Alex wrote in last week to let me know about his RD blog called DOUBLEULTRA. Great looking site with some interesting stuff. Looks like he already has a winner of an RD, with some big plans for it.

Alex also wanted to give a shout out for his local shop Deus Ex Machina. Even more great stuff and a great site. Check 'em out.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

1972 YR5 Renovation Project



Paul Watts wrote in to let me know about Stephan Morris' just-started teardown and restoration of his R5 in the UK. The level of detail in this article is excellent, going step-by-step and photographing everything.

I for one am going to be paying very close attention to this restoration as it progresses, so that I might pick up a thing or two - for the rest of you I'm sure this information will be invaluable as well. Thanks for sharing, Paul!

Enjoy!