Workshop

Transform your juddering and shuddering classic bike into a smooth performer. Always a sucker for a workshop gadget, Martin Gelder presents a balanced approach to carburettor set-up using vacuum dial gauges… A set of carefully balanced carburettors can transform the way a bike rides. They can turn a shuddering and rattling monster into a smoothly…

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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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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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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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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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If you’re restoring a classic bike at home, then you’ll inevitably need to paint some components. Sending everything off to the professionals can be costly, so Laurie Packer investigates a new DIY option… With a good few restorations under my belt I am delighted when I come across a product which does exactly as it…

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The Power Behind The Bang Behind The Clutch Behind The Rear Tyre… Dave Minton explains about sparks… You may have grasped that I have, through probably crack brained deliberations, become the owner of a Velocette Venom. As to the reason why, rather than repeat myself or leave insufficient opportunity for further tales of the drive…

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Classic bikes can create all sorts of problems, especially the more unusual models. Phil Speakman has been puzzling over how to extract a seized crank on his Adler Favorit… When you’re rebuilding a classic bike there’s a certain amount of procrastination involved. Although maybe ‘procrastination’ isn’t really the right word now I think about it.…

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Stu Thomson wanted to improve the low-rev running on his Laverda 750 twin. So here’s how he fitted a modern electronic ignition unit to it… I have fitted a Pazon Surefire ignition to my Laverda 750cc SF1. I used the unit designed for the Triumph, BSA and Norton twins. I am a retired engineer and…

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