Vintage Motorcycle Show
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Volume 36 / Number 2 APRIL / MAY 2015 • $5 2015 Vintage Motorcycle WHAT’S INSIDE: Show 1967 Honda CB450D: A History & Restoration 1973 Yamaha Enduro Collection Tips for Taking Photos of Your Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Review: The CBX Book II OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF NORTH AMERICA, INC. IN THIS ISSUE FEATURES EVENTS: 2014 Lake Mirror COVER STORY Classic 6 2015 Dania Beach PROJECT BIKE: Vintage Motorcycle Saved from the Barn: 38 the restoration Show of my 1973 kawasaki 10 350 S2 triple PRODUCT REVIEW: Blind Bearing 19 Puller Tool ODDS & ENDS: Tips for Taking Photos of Your Vintage 21 Japanese Motorcycle EVENTS: 2014 International Motorcycle Show 22 DEPARTMENTS PRESIDENT’S LETTER: PROJECT BIKE: No Excuses this Summer .....................................................................5 Restoration of my Honda CL160 BACK IN THE DAY: 26 Kawasaki GPz550 / Bob Florence ................................................... 18 TECH HELP: COLLECTIONS: Tech Tip #7: Tools? I Need Tools? ................................................... 53 1973 Yamaha Enduro Collection ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHT: 31 Vapor Honing Technologies ............................................................. 55 EVENTS CORNER ......................................................................... 57 BOOK REVIEW: Ian Foster’s CLASSIFIEDS .................................................................................. 59 CBX Book II 35 ADVERTISERS’ INDEX ............................................................... 61 Volume 36 / Number 2 PROJECT BIKE: APRIL / MAY 2015 • $5 1967 Honda CB450D: a history 2015 & restoration Vintage ON THE COVER 42 Motorcycle WHAT’S INSIDE: Show 1967 Honda Yamahas and CB450D: A History & Restoration Hondas lined up 1973 Yamaha Enduro Collection Tips for Taking Photos of Your Vintage in the Japanese Japanese COLLECTIONS: Motorcycle Review: section of the The CBX Book II My Vintage Dania Beach Japanese OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF NORTH AMERICA, INC. Motorcycles Bike Show 47 cover photo: Michael Fitterling VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE 3 PRESIDENT’S LETTER No Excuses this Summer Official Publication of the VJMC APRIL / MAY 2015 hile it is nine degrees in Georgia as I write this, I look Volume 36, Number 2 Wforward to another great riding season with our VJMC Current VJMC Enrollment: 3883 members. For those north of the Mason-Dixon line, it’s time to grab all the seat time Mother Nature grants you. Hopefully, you PRESIDENT Tom Kolenko were able to put the winter months to good use and ready your 770-427-4820 rides for the season. New tires, oil and filter change, and batter- [email protected] ies have always been important to insure a trouble-free riding EDITOR season. For those complicated repairs and restorations, our tech- Michael Fitterling nical team of Ellis Holman, Jim Townsend, and other bright members have kept this 863-632-1981 magazine filled with tips and analysis. [email protected] Remember to dust off those riding skills with some practice sessions in an empty DESIGN DIRECTOR parking lot. If you had some replacement body parts added for knees or hips in the Nadine G. Messier [email protected] off-season, be sure and practice the riding fundamentals before any canyon carving or long rides. New medications can also effect balance and riding ability, so be hon- CLASSIFIED ADS Gary Gadd est with yourself if you have limitations. In other words, be prepared for the best and 817-284-8195 safest riding season ever. [email protected] Events fill a VJMC summer. Be good to yourself this riding season and frontload it DISPLAY AD DIRECTOR with fun times at the National Rally in Pigeon Forge, Mid-Ohio Vintage Days, and Bryan Bentley the Barber Vintage Festival. Blocking vacation time and budgets early will ensure 864-923-0559 you get the maximum return out of this summer’s events. Pete Slatcoff has made it [email protected] easy to pre-register for the National Rally online and will even take credit card pay- AD SALES REPRESENTATIVE ments over the phone (850-624-8811). We anticipate our largest rally ever with lots of Art Snow [email protected] events, rides, great meals, evening socials, bike show, and demonstrations. All rally registration revenues go to meeting rally expenses with the goal of breaking even. MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Bill Granade Elsewhere, we support local events and dealer shows to help fill in the calendar with 813-961-3737 opportunities for meeting other members. [email protected] Each month the VJMC Board of Directors conducts club business over a one hour, CHANGE OF ADDRESS agenda driven conference call. This is a hard working group of volunteers that always Please direct these requests to Bill Granade: amazes me with their knowledge and skills. We recently had our advertising direc- [email protected] tor, Guido Cardillo, submit his resignation due to family commitments. We wish ADDITIONAL COPIES Guido our best and thank him for his outstanding service. Bryan Bentley, our club In order to minimize unnecessary expens- secretary, has volunteered to take on the post and use his business skills to secure es to the club, VJMC prints a limited number of each issue of Vintage Japanese Motorcy- advertising revenue to support our excellent magazine. We have a deep bench on this cle Magazine. However, we would be glad to Board, and the talent is amazing. It is a pleasure to work with such a talented group accommodate any requests for additional copies from members. that is totally committed to serving our members. Our Field Representative ranks These requests must be submitted before the have also grown with the addition of Frank Sereno (W. Missouri/E. Kansas) and 15th of the month preceding each issue. For ex- Floyd Finch (Hartsville, SC). Welcome aboard, guys. ample: for the Feb/Mar issue requests must be received by January 15. To honor our past, our membership chair, Bill Granade, and magazine editor, Mike Fitterling, have uncovered the names of some of our longest continuous members, MISSION STATEMENT: The purpose of this organization is to promote those with membership numbers under 100. These long riders and supporters of this the preservation, restoration, and enjoyment of club will be updating us on their exploits in future magazine issues. vintage Japanese motorcycles (defined here as On a side note, I often receive phone calls and emails from members and non-mem- those 20 years old or older). The VJMC also will promote the sport of motorcycling and camera- bers requesting current values for vintage Japanese bikes. As a good friend tells me derie of motorcyclists everywhere. over and over, “It’s only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.” I am not an ap- © 2015 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club of praiser, just an observer of prices from Las Vegas auctions, eBay sales, and Craigslist North America, an IRS-approved Not-for-prof- it 501(c)(7) corporation. All rights reserved. postings, so I try and direct them to recent sales at these sites as a first stop. Non-run- No part of this document may be reproduced ners are best treated as parts bikes, especially those barn finds from the 1960s and or transmitted without permission. All articles copyright by their respective authors. 1970s. While the bike might be rare in Wisconsin, they might be tripping over them in Florida or California, so cast your net wide for valuations. Condition is everything Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Magazine is pub- lished six times per year, in February, April, June, for valuations, and restoration costs continue to rise to bring these treasures back August, October, and December. The views and from the grave or a leaky shed. opinions expressed in letters or other content are those of the author and do not necessarily represent VJMC policy. The VJMC accepts no lia- bility for any loss, damage, or claims occuring as Enough said; it’s time to ride. a result of advice given in this publication or for claims made by advertisers of products or ser- Tom Kolenko vices in this publication. VJMC President VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE 5 2014 Classic An overview of Lake Mirror showing the 125 concourse vehicles spread around the circumference, including twenty vintage bikes; about 400 others vehicles were on display downtown behind the skyscrapers. 6 APRIL / MAY 2015 V INTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE 7 by Vince Ciotti / [email protected] akeland is a small town in LFlorida, nestled about halfway be- tween Orlando and Tampa, hardly as well-known as Pebble Beach or Amelia Island, which are renowned for their vintage car shows. However, every Oc- tober, Lakeland hosts its “Lake Mirror Classic,” a stunning display of vintage vehicles from around the country that actually rivals those far more famous shows in both quantity and quality. On October 18th, Lakeland hosted its 15th annual show with over five hundred ve- ABOVE: hicles from across the country, includ- Panoramic view of Lake Mirror, in ing twenty vintage motorcycles. Over Lakeland, Florida. 30,000 spectators attended this stun- ning display of two-, three-, and four- wheeled treasures, featuring 125 entries LEFT & BELOW: Classic cars on in the Concourse d’Elegance displayed display represented around aptly-named Lake Mirror. an amazing array of So what chance can two 1960s-era wheeled technology. Japanese bikes have of winning awards at this classy show that featured cars from as long ago as 1898 and bikes as old as a 101-year-old 1913 Thor? Read the captions of the photos below to learn the full story: So if any of you “snow-birders” happen to be in central Florida next October, don’t miss this amazing car and bike show in Lakeland—they really appreci- ate vintage Japanese motorcycles! l RIGHT: Twenty vintage bikes qualified for the concourse, including this Yamaha 650 on the end. One advantage of displaying on grass meant there were no visible drops of oil under the Brit bikes! 8 APRIL / MAY 2015 EVENTS LEFT: Ronnie Dale (in the black baseball cap) brought this near-perfect 1964 Honda CB77 305cc Super Hawk.