Workshop

Neil Cairns didn’t have the correct special tool to hand when he replaced the fork seals on his AJS single. So he… improvised… If you plan on keeping your old bike for a while and want to work on it yourself, then it seems sensible to build up a stock of the particular tools to…

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Changing the cambelt is probably the most difficult part of servicing one of Morini’s modular v-twins. Paul Compton, Paul Morgan-Knight, Mark Bailey and Martin Gelder show how it’s done using high definition shed-o-vision video and greasy smudge photography… The Moto Morini factory workshop manual, or the Blue Book as it’s more widely known, recommends changing…

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Malcolm Thomason loves his MZ, but its going was definitely better than its stopping. He looked at the front brake with an engineer’s eye… Everybody knows that the Supa 5 front drum brakes are rubbish. Don’t they? But why? The front brake is the same size as the rear one, and that can lock the…

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Bennet Longman was so frustrated by the electrical shortcomings of his Ariel Square Four that he developed his own alternator conversion. So now he can ride at night with excellent illumination, without having to rev the engine senseless… Owners of the alloy-engine variants of the Ariel Square Four will be excited by the possibility of…

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Derek Pickard looks at the stock MZ250 carb situation, tries the alternatives, finds what works and gives the details of how to make your ETZ run super sweet… Let’s start with a few hard facts: The BVF carb as fitted to the MZ two-strokes can only be considered ‘average’ in its metallurgy and machining. It…

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As Alan Goff discovered recently, it’s not always easy fit a new set of shock absorbers to your classic bike (particularly if you have just the one set of hands). He built a special service tool to take the strain… Alan Goff recently rebuilt his Triumph Tiger Cub (you’ll be able to read all about…

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One front drum brake not good enough for you? DBD Brian grafted two BSA 8” front drums together to improve the braking on his Gold Star. Here’s how he did it… This is a conversion I carried out on my Goldie about ten years ago. As you can see, it’s two Goldie eight inch brakes…

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