K100RS an update..

Today I once again pulled the bike out of the lock up,  the master cylinder is weeping quite badly, I preempted this by wrapping some cloth around the master cylinder and brake lever, so none of the brake fluid has reached the painted area of the tank or fairing. I need to look at how you get the assembly apart, and get the lever off, ready to do a rebuild, any help in this from those who have done it would be nice.

 

K100RS & Z1b

Next I added some redex to the fuel in the tank, to give the injector system a clean up, and here I have some good news,  on starting the bike this time I had NO smoke, so maybe the initial smoking was caused by the long-term standing, maybe the original owner oiled the bores before laying the bike up, who knows, but it only had a light wisp of smoke from where I used the choke to start the bike, once warm it ran clean.

My next job of the morning was to try to remove the loose-fitting belly pan, this turned into a full on job, as someone had managed to cross thread one of the four outer mounting bolts, ripping away the pressed in nutsert from the mounting frame. After an enormous amount of swearing, I manged to drop the frame with the belly pan attached, and was finally able to get the bolt out of the loose nutsert. I shall have a new nut welded on the frame this week, I will also get a spot of weld attached to the other nutserts.  But at least while this was all free I was able to degrease and clean the motor in this area.

So that is my update for this week,  just a couple of pictures to finish off with,  My K100 and Z1b.

 

Toys

 

Off to the Pub…

Saturday morning started with the sun beating through the bedroom curtains, so I dragged myself from the pit, a quick wash and freshen up, and I headed out to get the Z1b from my lockup. It was warm in the August sun, so I went for the open face helmet and tee-shirt look, and headed out-of-town on the quiet back roads, in the direction of the Four Horseshoes, to see what bikes would come out to play in the sun.

 

My Kawasaki Z1b

 

Brough Superior SS100

 

Dnepr-Reliant

 

 

 

So there it was… Monday!

So there it was ringing in my head, the Monday morning alarm, telling me it was time to get up for work, but oh no!, this time it was wrong,  you see it is a bank holiday over here. One of those odd bank holidays they throw in every now and then, normally on an overcast, dank and miserable day, and this one was no different. Well when I say no different, I mean weather wise of course, but the day itself was special, for it was the Fleet Lions Charity ride day, held, would you believe in well, Fleet.
So up and cleaned, the coffee was calling, but then so was my bike, not one of those old leaky, rusty, brit bikes, but a good solid leak free Japanese bike, my 1974 Kawasaki Z1b to be exact. So off to my lock up, open the door, keys in, fuel on, choke, and we are away for a coffee at the Gorge Cafe, one of Reading’s oldest cafe’s, and where I had arranged to meet a few friends for the ride over to fleet, but only after we had demolished a full english first.

Monday Morning Z1b

The ride over to Fleet was in itself an uneventful ride, but the weather was doing its best to annoy everybody, rain blowing in the wind, and a heavy grey sky, but hell we were having fun, and the bikes were all running great, and what an odd assortment we were, Two Harley’s, a Pan and a Shovel, an Ariel rigid twinport, a Thunderbolt, an AJS 500 single, and my Z1b.

Boston Police Panhead

And so we come to the end of another Lions club Rally, a great day spent with like-minded people, and always good to catch up with a few old friends. And so I leave you with my bestest bike of the day, what a great looking little bike, I would have loved to take it home..

Honda

Back in 1993..

Way back in the 93, MTC Motorcycles, based here in Reading, decided to have a Kawasaki day at the shop, so they stuck a small advert in one of the bike mags of the time, and waited to see if anybody would turn up….

MTC

Out on the weekend

Heading to MTC

The Mighty Z1

MTC is still in the same place, but I guess we are all older with less hair and bigger waistlines now, but the Kawasaki’s are timeless.

More here…  http://kevindean.zenfolio.com/p824590645/slideshow

Easter Sunday & My Kawasaki..

It was a damp start today, and the overnight rain had left us with a layer of salt across the roads, but a couple of us turned up at the Hatchgate for the first Berkshire Z1oc meet of the year, and a run out to the Reading MAG show.
I was on my 1974 Z1b, and I also had my new Bultaco helmet too

 

Z1b and Bultaco helmet

 

Berkshire Z1oc

 

Guy's Z650

 

Harley Bobber

 

I will post more pictures from the show later..

Let The Good Times Roll…

So finally the the planets aligned, and the sun shone at the same time as I had a weekend off, so I got up early and dragged the Kawasaki Z1b from its  slumbers in my garage,  and  out into the warmth of the early morning sun, keys in, helmet on, fire it up and away……  but I am getting ahead of  myself somewhat, it hasn’t been quite that easy, in fact I dragged it out a couple of weeks back, but winter had paid me a bitter blow, and the bike  would only run on two cylinders.

The open road

So I dragged it down to my local garage where the owner allowed me to use one of his lifts, so tank off, and time to find what is wrong, 1&4 were hot, 2&3 were cold, so a coil had failed, no problem I thought, as I had already bought a spare new set of coils from eBay. So a quick trip home to grab the spare coils and I was back and had them fitted in no time. So tank on, fuel pipes connected, ignition on hit start and it started ok, oh yes, it started blowing fuses! Now what I thought to myself, so check the new coils, one is open circuit, the other has a very strange reading, so much for the new coils, so they now head for the bin, and an order goes in to Zpower for some pattern replacements.

Kawasaki

A couple of days later the new new coils turn up, and are soon fitted, but now one of the condensers has failed too, probably taken out by the faulty coil, another call to Zpower, and I wait for some replacements. A few days later and they arrive, they are again soon fitted, and the bike is once again up and running, which brings me back to today.  So where was I… Helmet on, keys in, fire up and away, and sure enough that is what happened, and I was out on my own Z1b, a moment I had looked forward to for a very long time. I head off through town, and pick up a dual carriage way, it was busy, Saturday morning type busy, and a lot of traffic moving around town, so I pull out to pass a bus, open the bike up, just get passed, and the bike dies! so I drift to the side of the road, but can’t find anything wrong, and it fires right back up, so off I go again.

This time I am out of town, I hit the A33 towards Basingstoke, pile on the gas, just hit eighty and again the bike dies, and again I drift to the side of the road,  again it fires right up, and I carry on to the next lay bye,  I kill the bike, remove my helmet and check everything over, and this time I find the problem, the tank is vacuuming, and I hear the tell tale hiss when I open the tank. So I head back out but this time with the tank open, and no more problems.  Back when I sealed the tank, some of the sealer had covered the tiny breather hole in the tank cap, this was soon removed, and I once  again hit the road, only this time the small country lanes, as I headed back towards home. The bike is still not perfect, it has a small stumble just as I open the throttle in traffic, so I have ordered some new pilot jets, but once you get on the throttle, it pulls like a train, and the sound from the four into one exhaust is electrifying. So it is back in my garage now, but guess what, it is going to be sunny again tomorrow.

Z1b

Kawasaki…. Let the good times roll.

Sometimes it can be a struggle!

My Z1b is fighting me all the way, you would think it would be happy to be out of the confines of the iron box it had been in for so long, but it seems not. The winter has been fairly mild to be fair, but it has paid a price on my Kawasaki, I pulled it from the garage ready for the spring, and it would only run on two cylinders. So I dragged it to my local bike shop, where they let me throw it on a bench to find what was wrong. I started by pulling the carbs, and checked the jets, and blew air through it all. all seemed good in that area, but it still wouldn’t run, so we checked the coils,  one of those seemed off, so I fitted a new pair. Now it started blowing the main fuse.

So out with the meter, and it was found that one of the new coils was shot, totally. Bugger. So I ordered a new set, and as they arrived the next day, I fitted those, but still it would not run correctly, so off with the timing cover, to find a firework display coming from the points, so now a condenser has gone down too, again I have them ordered, we shall see where it goes next.

All I ever wanted to do was ride the thing!

Whats in the Van Mister?

I love calling round to see my friends,  you never know what you might find when calling in for a cup of tea, and this last visit was no different. This time Graham was there with his wonderful street legal AJS racer, havin g a sprocket changed ready for the track…

AJS Racer

 

My Z1b

Finally today I managed to get me Kawasaki Z1b finished. I rebuilt the master cylinder, fitted new brake hoses, bled through the system, all done, ready for the open road. Although now that will probably be next spring, unless we get a period of dry weather over the winter.

All done now.

2 B’s

Kawasaki Z1b and Kawasaki H1b…

As the refurb of the Z1b gets closer to the end, my attention is drawn to the other bike in my lock up, a European model 1972 Kawasaki H1b 500 triple. I have had this bike a while now, since early summer or late spring. And have been looking for a replacement frame, and just this week I managed to find one, so the rebuild can get started in earnest.

Z1b and H1b

There was nothing structualy wrong with the old frame, but it had wrong frame number stamped on, for a different year! something that happened way back in its past, and something I never picked up when buying the bike, a silly mistake to make, remember reasearch is king.

Kawasaki H1b

 

1974 Kawasaki Z1b Comes Home…

So at last I have a bike I have longed after for many years, an August 74 Z1b, it’s not pretty, it wears its age with pride, it needs a few things doing right from the off, but it is mine. As some of you know, this bike is an ebay find, it had a buy it now option so I did just that, and dragged home another old nail, complete with a big box of spares. 20,000 original miles, wrong shocks, aftermarket seat, and a tank and carbs full of rusty slime, but it is mine….

1974 Z1b

So first thing to do was pull the tank and give that a flush out, but I think it will need a fair bit more work before it can be used, so that being said, it is  off to be power washed tomorrow.. Then it will be time to pull the carbs, these are going to need a full clean and build job, The it was time to start degreasing the old girl, while we tried to see if the battery would take a charge. underneath all the gunk and stuff it was suprisingly clean, so grease the swing arm, clean the chrome, and fit the old battery just to test the electrics, and everything works just fine, lights, horn, starter, all working.

Well that is it for today, more tomorrow, after it has had a wash….