Inside: WOW Show Attracts Crowds in Ga
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•Inside: WOW show attracts crowds in Ga. • Rotary Jet reunion • VJMs shine at Gilmore. Again. • Riding Britain, top to bottom • Comparing two CL72s Vol. 30, No. 4 August 2009 $5 4 President’s letter How’s the weather by you? 6 Letters, news and miscellany CL72 congrats, CBX and C92 help sought and more. 13 Barber Vintage Show needs show bikes, volunteers Here’s how to help in the VJMC display at Barber. 14 WOW show brings out the iron Georgia show continues to draw crowds. 16 One picture is worth a thousand bucks Photo help to improve your online presence. 18 Rotary Jets reunite in the Rockies Nostalgia leads Michigan man to Colorado. 20 Honda TL250: Trials or Trails? Restoring a trials bike from its life of on-road use. 24 Q&A with Doug Mitchel One author’s love of VJMs and photography. 28 2009 Gilmore Vintage Motorcycle Show Japanese bikes wow crowds again. 30 New Ohio show dodges weather Rain threatens new Columbus display. 32 Riding Britain ... from end to end Atop a CBX from John O’Groats to Lands End. 36 A tale of two scramblers A pair of CL72s compared. 39 Cable restoration help New cables for your project from Motion Pro. 41 Classifieds What do you need? On the cover Vintage bike photographer and enthusiast Doug Mitchel’s archives include this beautiful shot of a Kawi 750 turbo. August 2009 www.vjmc.org 3 FROM THE PRESIDENT VJMC magazine August 2009 Vol. 30, No. 4 President Stuart Covington 978-582-3335 How ’bout that weather? [email protected] Editor ow is everybody doing this summer? Brendan Dooley Have you been out riding your bike? Up [email protected] here in New England, it has been rain- Art Director H Rhonda Cousin ing 25 days out of the month and riding has been minimal at best. They blame it on the jetstream Classified ads not moving out. Gary Gadd 817-284-8195 Oh well, I guess I can just work on them [email protected] instead! Display Ad Director/ I hope you have had good weather in your West Coast Rep parts of the country for riding, I see that it has Bob Billa been extremely hot in a lot of the areas. Heat 949-433-3580 [email protected] can be a nice deterrent from riding, too. At the rally in Deals Gap a couple of years ago, it was Mountain States Rep bowls, tank and petcock. When I went to start Hal Johnson nearly 100 degrees every day and by the week- this spring, on that one sunny day, the throttle 402-660-6710 end, no one wanted to ride. [email protected] was stuck. I found not one, but three stuck slides. I did get some riding done in Florida in ear- The insides were not much better and I ended up Central States Rep ly June when I was there for a class reunion. It Volunteer Needed rebuilding them and had to put them in the ultra- was hot and sunny. (I did the nearly unthinkable sonic tank to clear micro-debris too. The 750 is Northeast Rep though, I rented a Harley. I could not find a Gold George Duffy screaming again and it is a lot of fun to ride. Wing.) On a positive note, it ran and handled 805-602-6239 My mechanic told me the ethanol in gas [email protected] well, but I did not fit the bike right. I never could plays havoc on all rubber gaskets, will attract get comfortable with the seat and footboard con- Southeast Rep moisture inside tanks and gums up carbs quick- Louise McCarthy-Dutton figuration. I will take a Honda any day! ly. There is no ultimate solution, but it is best to 954-993-3993 I want to remind you about the National Ral- [email protected] use Stabil and Marvel mystery oil in every tank. ly in Saint Joseph, Mo., on Sept. 2-5. It sounds When you mothball a bike, run the gas out of the Membership Director like it will be a great one. Go to the website Bill Granade carbs to suck all the fuel out to leave no residue. (www.vjmc.org) for all the information you need. 813-961-3737 I figure I will just keep them charged and crank [email protected] It is never too late to decide to go. them often. The board has been discussing having sev- Mission statement: We did have a successful show at Rhinebeck, The purpose of this organization is to eral regional rallies instead of one grand rally; promote the preservation, restoration N.Y., this year. I thank Rich Holman for taking it is a lot of work and a big commitment and we and enjoyment of vintage Japanese the reins for that one. Mid-Ohio will be over by motorcycles (defined as those 20 will see if we can get enough people to step up years old and older, until 2011. We will time you read this, but so far it is shaping up to embrace 1990 until then). The VJMC to make them happen. If not, we will continue to be another good one. also will promote the sport of motorcy- have a main rally somewhere new each year. I cling and camaraderie of motorcyclists So for all of you who have good weather everywhere. am looking into the possibility of having a New mostly, get your riding in. We are dying here in © 2009, Vintage Japanese England rally some year. I have planted the seed the northeast for sunshine. I have scheduled my Motorcycle Club of North America, and we will see when we can get one together an IRS-approved Not-for-profit annual VJMC BBQ for August 9, which by na- 501(c) corporation. All rights re- up here. served. No part of this document may ture is the safest bet for sunshine in New Eng- be reproduced or transmitted in any On another note, I would like to welcome our land. We will keep our fingers crossed. form without permission. newest S.C. field rep Flay Dinkelbach to the fold. So until next time, keep it sunny side up and The VJMC magazine is published six He is in the Charleston area and we hope y’all times per year, in February, April, June, get some riding in! August, October and December. The can make a lot of great events happen together. views and opinions expressed in let- I have been working on several of my bikes ters or other content are those of the author and do not necessarily repre- that have carb issues and they are all due to the sent VJMC policy. The VJMC accepts — Stuart Covington no liability for any loss, damage or ethanol they put in gas these days. My CB750K0 claims occurring as a result of advice was run just two summers ago and I thought I given in this publication or for claims made by advertisers of products or mothballed it correctly; I drained the gas from services in this publication. 4 www.vjmc.org August 2009 ad_mcr_vjmc.qxd:Layout 1 3/13/09 9:23 AM Page 1 THE GGLLOORRYY DDAAYYSS ARE BACK! IItt’’ss ttrruuee …… Motorcycle Retro, America’s only full-coverage vintage magazine, is now available via subscription! Focusing on the bikes, people and culture from 1965 to 1985, plus tech, racing, collections, event coverage and much more, Motorcycle Retro is your glossy, high-end fix for the glory days of ’60s, ’70s and ’80s Subscribe today at motorcycling— www.motorcycleretro.com! street, dirt and minis. Issue #1 available in May. Subscriber copies will arrive quarterly in a protective polybag so they're tear-free. To advertise in Motorcycle Retro, to sell the magazine in your shop or for general information, contact the publisher: Email: [email protected] Phone: 310. 849. 1845 LETTERS , NEWS AND MISCE ll ANY Kudos to CL72 recently won the People’s Choice award at R e g a r d i n g the Gilmore Museum vintage bike show in Roger Smith’s Michigan (show story in this issue). That CL72 in the June award made three straight for Smith, where 2009 issue: That he beat many Brit, U.S. And Euro bikes on CL72 is outra- display with an X-6 Hustler in 2007 and a geous — I mean CBX last year. — Ed. beautiful! There aren’t many who un- derstand the in- Help with a credible success C92E that machine accomplished with Ekins and I’m a member of Baja. Though the CL77 is perhaps more the VJMC and have a widely regarded as the Scrambler (and it question. I can’t find in is easy to understand why), the CL72 pro- any recent Honda sales ceeded the CL77 and is so amazing itself. More praise for the scrambler that has a bike like this I enjoyed the VJMC magazine enor- Perfect article about Fournier metal 1966 125 C92E. This mously. This issue is packed with details services. We enjoyed seeing that beauti- bike is totally original about who can and does perform restora- ful CL72 on the cover of the last VJMC with the exception of tions. The seat for my CL72 is in need of magazine; then were surprised to see how the two seats which such service for example, about the only Roger Smith actually brought the fenders were totally restored thing remaining I have not had redone, re- back into shape, with the help of the met- with 5,800 miles.