Quick Stafford show review

Well, my arm has now recovered well enough so I can type up the a
short show review.

Arrived about two hours later than I wanted to, in the middle of the
crowds. The whole show looked well-attended again, although the main
hall - like last year - didn't quite feel as crowded as it did a few
years ago. I think they put fewer stands in the main hall, thus having
slightly wider aisles as a result.

The a lot of club stands are getting more and more professional which
can IMHO only be a good thing. Of course, that's mostly the larger
clubs, not the small ones that stick a few bikes on the stand and a
bloke with some leaflets.

I quite like the LC club stand sporting a nice collection of 500LCs,
plus of course several 350s, both modded and original. The finishing
touch for me was the mannequin clad in jeans, demin jacket and Simpson
helmet with black visor that they stuck on on Elsie...

The whole Millyard (sp?) collection was there, including the Kwaka
V12. Impressive in the flesh that, but absolutely crap lighting so I
didn't get any photos of them. The crap lighting theme continued in
the area where they showed a Kwaka special called 'tinkers toy',
which appears to have three rows of two-stroke cylinders on each side
of the bike. From memory it's either a V30 or V48, and it appearantly
runs. No chance of getting a photos as the crowd in front of it was
huge and I don't have this 'lemme through I'm a photographer' lark
sorted out yet. Plus a lot of the blokes did look like you didn't want
to elbow them out of the way if you like your nose shaped as it is.

The 'Moto Mental Martin' - the turbo's CBX special that's on the cover
of this month's Classic Mechanics - looks even better in the flesh
than it does in the mag. I was surprised how tiny (relatively
speaking) it is. The engineering on it is superb, too. Not a big fan
of street fighters, me, but I liked it.

All in all I got the impression that the standard of restoration of
the bikes that were on the club stand has gone up again. I did see
several restored bikes that were visibly better than new, and a lot of
them were at least as good as new from far and got a lot better when
you get closer. The obsessive attention to detail that seems to fire
up the 'merican car restoration crowd seems to have infected at least
some bike restorers over here as well. Actually, I think it's a good
thing because the lesser spotted or striped restorer like me can use
these bikes as a reference.

Honourable mention must go to the best? barn find display in as-found
condition - a Yamaha TZ750D racer, suspected to be an OW31. That
must've been stored in the mythical barn that even TOG hasn't managed
to find yet.

The show proved again that the natives there are a friendly bunch, and
it's a fun and laid-back show, which is why I go there again and
again. Plus I tend to bump into people that I don't meet anywhere else
and it's always good to see them - you know who you are.

Anyway, time to swap the report hat for the TOG hat. Hmm, doesn't
quite fit but anyway...

Bikes for sale. And bits for sale. OK, so it's a SOB show so you'd
expect that you (a) find a lot of SOBs for sale and (b) a few people
are trying it on with the prices.

This year, they were taking the mickey. I have never seen some much
overpriced tat. A few examples, from memory:

Morini 3 1/2 Sport, earlyish with original Italian cobwebs. In truly
shite condition with lots of corrosion on the engine as well - 900
squid, not even registered.

Yamaha TX750 twin looking niceish until you discover the corrosion on
the engine - 1095.

Cagiva Mito, Italian import, unregistered with 26000km on the clock,
had been down on one side with crap respray and didn't look too clever
everywere else - 1200.

Ducati 500 parallel twin, restored for 1895? Lire?

A pair of KH500s in 'restorable' condition, 500 and 600
respectively. Needed a full restoration though.

And the list goes on and on. Suffice to say that the prices were well
out of order, some being at least double what I would think would be a
reasonable price, and that's for bikes I know my way around like BMWs
or Morinis.

OK, I also came across a few tempting ones were the prices were a bit
more realistic, like a very nice looking Yamaha YD7 (YS7?) or somesuch
for 1250 (still high), a Honda XL250 Motosport for 550, but that needed
engine work. A nice looking CB400/4 for 950 with a rebuild engine in
blue nearly tempted me to get the wallet out. And a CB250RS in very
good condition with 14k on the clock, yours for 850.

All in all, I don't think it was a good place to buy a bike, and the
outside autojumble left a bit to be desired as well compared to 2-3
years ago. The wallet stayed firmly shut, with the exception of buying
some lurch boots that actually fit me. Commercial failure from that
point of view but if one is after a cheap angle grinder, steam
cleaner or decentish cheapish tools then it's well worth a visit. And
the two confectionary stands aren't bad, either.

Unfortunately taking the bike up there turned out to be a crap idea as
my arm got so bad that I had to miss out on the SteveHfest on the way
back. My apologies to you, but if I had stopped over there I would've
had to continue the journey by train and leave the bike there, which I
couldn't afford to do.

 

<fx: buys divining rod>

 

The thing to do with this is to buy them as a pair, take all the best
bits from each, and sell the rest as spares, which would cover the cost
of the restoration.

Seriously. I've done this several times (XS650, CD175, CB500T).

 

Timo Geusch wibbled incoherently

I want...

....Oh no I fucking don't.


--
Lozzo
ZZR1100D, GPZ500S, CBCBCB750RSRSRS
BOTAFOT#57/70a, BOTAFOF#57, two#49, MIB#22, TCP#7, BONY#9,
ANORAK#9, DIAABTCOD#14, UKRMT5BB, IBW#013, MIRTTH#15a/16,
BotToS#8, GP#2, SBS#10, SH#3, DFV#14, KoBV#3.
Url for ukrm newbies : http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ukrmscbt.html
www.mjkleathers.com

 

Lozzo was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

I thought so - otherwise I would have given you a ring.

 

The Older Gentleman was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

Well yes, I thought about it, but when I looked closer it still looked
like the same parts needed overhauling. Both needed a paint job, both
needed all the alloy cleaning and polishing, and both probably needed
the engine stripping down and rebuilding.

Not worth it IMHO.

 

The Older Gentleman was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

<hands over a fiver>

Better buy two.

 

some here Timo
http://uk.zn1300.com/



--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://wrexhamseals.tripod.com

 

Ask Dodger for his opinion.

On second thoughts, better not.

This morning I have mostly been riding the Monkey Bike, as has The
Doctor, for some pix of the thing in motion. She took a static shot of
me proudly displaying the new MoT certificate, and there was a gust of
wind and it blew out of my hands.

And up. And up. It sailed over the garages and landed in somebody's
garden. You feel a right tit, on a Sunday morning, knocking on
somebody's front door and saying: "Please, mister, can I have my MoT
back?"

 

They're unmitigated bastards, designed purely to help sell baldness
cures.

One day, they won't start, so you'll fiddle, and fettle, and furtle,
and nothing happens.

Then, weeks later, you'll wheel it out of the garage, and kick it over
for the Hell of it, and it'll burst into life, and run as sweet as a
nut.

So, you'll go back indoors to retrieve gloves, jacket, and lid.

And then the bastard won't start.

Hehehe. Git.

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C/exTS185C
_/_____\_ ..61036../..13743.../..3157./.19406/.fecked.
|_\_____/_| IMC#4 TPPFATUICG#7 YTC#4 DIAABTCOD#9 PM#5
(>|_|_|<) BOTAFOT #70 two#11 Ignoramus #0001
|__|_|__| BOTAFOF #09 IbW#0 & KotIbW# OSOS#07
\ |^| / WG* BotTOS #6 GP#4 ANORAK#17 FTB#14
\|^|/ 2003 RBR landmarks:99 points:2100 miles:8000
'^'

 

The Older Gentleman was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

I don't think I have to. As you suggested before, putting me on a
two-stroke will probably result in some kind of nuclear meltdown...

Bwahahaha. I better get the tea cleaned off the monitor now.

 

Salad Dodger was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

You need a KH500 for that? For me, any bike will do :-/

 

I dunno, at least there's a chance, with a Kwak triple, that's it's
*not* your fault.

Sounds like your ideal bike, to me.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/KH500A8/TS250C/exTS185C
_/_____\_ ..61036../..13743.../..3157./.19406/.fecked.
|_\_____/_| IMC#4 TPPFATUICG#7 YTC#4 DIAABTCOD#9 PM#5
(>|_|_|<) BOTAFOT #70 two#11 Ignoramus #0001
|__|_|__| BOTAFOF #09 IbW#0 & KotIbW# OSOS#07
\ |^| / WG* BotTOS #6 GP#4 ANORAK#17 FTB#14
\|^|/ 2003 RBR landmarks:99 points:2100 miles:8000
'^'

 

Salad Dodger was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

But the end result is the same, isn't it.

Breaking down without making an effort. Hmm. Has a certain ring to it,
it does.

 

Pics here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/f.caster/Info.htm

Before you slate me, it's not my page, so I'm not guilty of putting 20
squillion thumbnails on one page.

 

Oh my god
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/f.caster/5.jpg

 

So what's the motor?

 

2 x 1300's I think. Was in a recent-ish Classic Mechanics, he's done a
few like this, google should bring em up. Timo mentioned it in the first
part of this thread.

 

Mike Buckley was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

The V12? Yep, that's 2xZ1300 as you said.

 

It was obvious once he'd said it, but with only the picture to go on I
hadn't realised it was based on a Z13.