Yes we are still here and still getting along on the Z750 twin. Just haven’t had time to write so much about it. I missed a couple of Thursday nights with the guys for various reasons including apathy. Then Graham rung and I decided I’d go along again.

As usual the Kawasaki fired up perfectly, as usual it was heavy to get out to the road, and as usual it ran nicely and felt great since the last load of adjustments etc. So I met up with the guys at the appointed time, and Graham had a call from another of his mates, after some directions were given we waited for him to arrive. A little later and another phonecall of directions to a biker lost somewhere near Newport Pagnell. Still he did arrive and we did get to ride to the pub.

An uneventful but fairly quick ride to our cokes, and for Graham and Pete to fill their faces with chips. A good hour or so of chat about all kinds of stuff from bikes, to cars to films and all stops in between. Soon it’s time to saddle up for the journey home. Fired up the two cylinders and turned on the lights as it was getting dark, but there was no increase in forward visibility. Only sidelights were on. I hit the dip switch and the headlight lit up, back to low beam and nothing.

I suspected I had disturbed the wire when checking the bulb to source a Halogen replacement, so made the decision that as I had to get home I’d ride on the high beam which still didn’t blind anyone unless they crouch in front of the bike. For some reason again all the guys with their modern lights which could bring daylight to the roads ahead of us decided to follow the Kawasaki with its failing torch level of lighting.  No matter we lead and made a dash for home, and managed to keep a good speed up in the dim glow of the 70’s lighting.

It was just about a mile from home and luckily on a lit road that the high beam also went AWOL. So with just a sidelight showing people in front that I was actually there, I trundled into my street. My daughter had heard us coming and opened the gate so I could ride straight in, which was nice.

Being the kind of guy I am, the lights weren’t checked until the Wednesday a week later. I suspected a loose connection so it would be a quick and easy repair ready for a ride with the Thursday night gang again. Wrong! The headlight bulb had completely burnt away one of the (quite thick) internal wires and left a very blackened glass in its wake. It is a dead bulb, it had ceased to be. So I searched Ebay, and ordered a bulb, but missed another Thursday excursion. Happily the bulb arrived the following Saturday, and on fitting all the lights were functional again. And that’s all there is to say about that.

Grumpy Graham from work rung me again a couple of weeks ago, and asked if I wanted to go out on the bikes again. I turned it down as it looked like rain. It didn’t rain and they had a decent ride out I was informed. This week when he asked, the weatherman had promised a warm and dry evening, and I jumped at the chance to test the newly improved handling of the Z750.

Thursday nights is their regular ride night so I got home on Thursday got ready, and fired up the Kawasaki’s 750cc twin engine ready to go. Two kicks saw life, and we were on our way. The handling in the first few corners was noticeably better, and roundabouts were no longer a challenge to get around at a sensible speed. So I enjoyed a quicker ride to the rendez-vous point. The suspension soaked up the roughest of bumps now without putting a shockwave through my whole body, too.

Soon Graham and Pete turned up on their beasts, and we headed out to the back roads between Newport Pagnell and Stoke Bruerne. This time, I could at least get the Z750 around the corners without slowing to a crawl, and didn’t have Pete almost rearranging the rear of the Kawasaki with the front of his Bandit every bend we came to. In fact when we made it to the pub (the Ship Inn at Stoke Bruerne) they both remarked how well it had kept up this time. Fait Accompli then.

After a couple of diet cokes, it was time to head home. The sun was fading into night and I hoped the new speedo bulb would light up the dial enough so I could keep the 60mph the other two liked to ride at. No problem there, but with the glow-worm in the headlight shell still a bit poorly forward visibility was still down to a few feet. Luckily Pete led the way along the unlit road, and Graham sat behind with his headlight lighting either side of me. We did manage to keep a steady 60-ish too and soon got back to Milton Keynes.

After my biker gang had finished their coffees and headed home I went online to find a better headlight again. I found out during our conversation that there may be a Halogen upgrade for my light, so I have ordered a halogen bulb which looks right in the picture. Hopefully I may soon have a light which I can at least use to illuminate the road enough to see if there’s a kerb imminent. Which is nice.

Hopefully I’ll be able to test it on the next meeting of the Thursday night gang.

I have been meaning to write a book about procrastination, but just kept putting it off. Much like I have been putting off fixing the niggling faults with the Z750 which showed up on the last ride. I know they need doing but just find other more important issues to deal with, like eating too much.

I awoke this morning to a lovely sunny day, just right for riding motorcycles, and just as good for fixing them. As Graham my workmate kept telling me, it wouldn’t take long to drain and fill the forks to the correct level, and to maybe push them through the yokes a little so they are the same length as the originals. So spanners in hand I set about the simple task.

Firstly drain the old oil from the forks, an easy job on the left hand side, just undo the drain screw, and wait while it drains. It didn’t drain. So undaunted I removed the top plug from the fork, and then the oil drained out of the hole at the bottom. I set up a bottle with the mark at a level indicating 165ml and poured in some fork oil (actually hydraulic oil) to the level ready to pour in.  Refitted the drain and poured in the oil. I struggled a little to get the top plug back in, it has to be forced against the spring, but not too hard. One side done.

The right hand fork should be just as simple. I undid the drain plug screw, or rather turned the screwdriver which promptly chewed the cross out of the screw leaving it round and useless. After swearing at it had proved to have no effect, I slotted the head of the screw with a hacksaw and used a flat head screwdriver to undo the offending article. Removing the top bung saw a torrent of oil run out from this fork leg, much more than I’d have expected.

While I waited for the oil to drain I measured the oil out. As soon as the drips stopped, I fitted a new drain screw (new as in old from another fork leg) and refilled the fork and refitted the top bung. Immediately I could feel there was more movement in the front suspension, and it still damped the spring on rebound. Excellent.

Next I measured my old bent fork and, having loosened all the clamps, moved the fork on the bike (they are longer ones from a Z650) up through the yokes to equal the height of the originals as this should improve the handling a little by changing the rake, and the wheelbase slightly. Carefully measuring both sides to get the lengths the same, I clamped the forks in place and checked them again. Now the steering geometry should be as Kawasaki had intended it.

Next I removed the speedo to change the bulbs, then realised I didn’t have any only to notice a set of clocks in the boxes under the bench. Bulbs removed from those were fitted, tested and the speedo refitted in it’s bracket.

I was just about to stop work on the bike to check my daughters punctured bicycle tyre when I decided to check the tyre pressure on the Twin. OH! 10 psi is not enough for this bike at the front, so some legwork with the footpump was required to bring it to a more reasonable pressure. I checked and pumped up the rear tyre too. Note to self, check tyre pressures more often.

With all the work done I decided I should treat the old Kawasaki Z750 to a clean and polish. She scrubs up ok for an old un. Then it was out for a quick test, and all the work seems to have paid off, the handling feels better and the bumps are being smoothed out much better. All in all a very productive day.

It all started with a phonecall about work. My colleague was asking about some work related issues, and before he went mentioned he and a mate of his were going across the top of Milton Keynes on their bikes on Thursday. Would I like to meet them at Newport Pagnall? I said yes, and so it was settled.

Thursday night I started the bike, dragged it out to the road and got ready. I stopped for petrol along the way, and got to our rendez vous point just outside Newport Pagnall by 7:20 and waited. Soon Graham on his Yamaha and his mate Pete on a 1200 Suzuki Bandit arrived, and we set off for the Canal Museum car park at Stoke Bruerne going via he back roads. A pleasant enough ride, and Graham and Pete were graciously holding back for me on the Z750.

After a few decreases in road size and deterioration in road surfaces we came to Stoke Bruerne, and down into the Museum Car Park (some wags keep covering the “C” in Canal museum to leave the hilarious results on the local signs). I lost Graham in the car park, but soon found his Yamaha skulking in a corner, and Pete and I parked up nearby.

Across the canal we headed for a pub, and had a coke outside in the dying sunlight. Then went inside for another. Here we found a quiz night had just started so we joined in with the locals, and answered questions as “Norfolk n idea”. A couple of diet cokes later and we were declared the winners, accepted our prize and went back outside to find a cold night had settled in.

We all mounted up, all of us in motorcycle jackets, but only jeans on the lower half. As we set off the chill of the April night was immediately apparent. With Grahams words in my ears “Keep it at 60 on the A 508, should be easy enough even on that old crate” I headed for the main Northampton road back to Old Stratford and Milk n Beans. As we got onto the unlit A508 I realised I still hadn’t replaced the speedo bulb, so judging 60mph to be a tad over 3,500 rpm in top I aimed for that.

The second thing which hit me was that the last time I rode the twin at night I hadn’t been able to see a thing over 3 yards in front of me with the 70’s lighting of the old Kawasaki. This situation still held true, and was compounded by the two modern bikes lights glaring in my mirrors. So I headed along the A508, judging 60mph (wrongly it transpired) and trying to navigate by the dying candle of a headlight. Not great, reacting to white line changes as they happened a few feet ahead  isn’t recommended to anybody.

Going into the small hamlet of Grafton Regis there was at least a few street lamps, so I could see I had slowed to 25mph for the 30mph limit in force here. Unfortunately that also meant the visor on my crash helmet misted over just as we exited the lit area of the road. So foggy visored I tried again to hit 60mph and hold it with a visibility measurable by a regulation school ruler. In addition my legs were going numb under my faded blue jeans.

At the A5 roundabout Graham and Pete peeled off to head back to Bedford, grateful that they would be able to add some speed I guess. I went across through Old Stratford and home. I arrived cold, but beaming and full of enthusiasm for the next ride out. That’s if Graham will offer an invite again, as he rang on Friday on another work related matter, and dropped into the conversation some of the finer details of the ride along the A508. Firstly my speed judgement fell short, hitting at best just over 50, and mostly around 45mph. Secondly the two modern bikes had burnt a lot of brakes just trying to avoid my rear as I suddenly braked to make the turn they could have seen from half a mile away.

To give them their due, the guys were gracious, and didn’t mock me too much and sort of accepted my excuses re: lights in the speedo and headlamp. The proviso is get a speedo bulb before the next ride, and I decided for my own peace of mind to find a modern headlight or upgrade to help me see where the road is going in the darkness. A 7” round Suzuki Bandit one allegedly doesn’t look too bad on the Kawasaki Z750 twin, so I’m going to look for one of those at an affordable cost. Anyone giving any away? Oh wait, Grahams mate Pete was on a Bandit wasn’t he, I just wonder….

The first really nice day of this year since I got the bike on the road came this Saturday. Unfortunately just at the time the brakes and discs needed replacing on the wifes Zaffira. What to do? Ride the Z750 in the nice weather and leave the brakes for another day, not really an option safety wise so I spent Saturday fitting pads and discs to the Vauxhall. Nasty job.

Sunday dawned and the weather looked great once again, so I made the executive decision to take the Kawasaki out for a quick ride. The board of governors (well her indoors) agreed, so I dragged the lump of Japanese metal out onto the road. While I was sitting on it ready to start it, our friendly hairdresser and biker gal Emma pulled up in her car and suggested a ride out to a cafe up the A5 with a bike meet going on.

So I waited while Emma and her hubby got their bikes ready when they returned, a swift kick saw the Kawasaki spring into life, and we all set off together for Towcester. Before too long the Yamaha and Emma felt the need for speed, and her hubby Simon on his GSX-r followed as they began overtaking slower cars. I sat back on the old Kawasaki happy to enjoy the scenery until we all met up again at the cafe.

I arrived to see them waving me over to them, and parked up to view the other bikes. An old Brough Superior sat next to a new Yam, and next to that a Norton and so on. All era’s and many makes from all parts of the world all sat together in the car park, while the owners talked about each others and their own machines. And the sun shone.

We decided it was time to return, Simon and Emma had decided to take a longer route back and give their bikes a bit of welly on the dual carriageways. I had little petrol and no money so I bid them adieu and went back along the A5 for a quiet and uneventful run, steady and admiring the views and enjoying the warm spring breeze on my legs. 

Soon I was back in MK, the Kawasaki had purred all the way back and given me another 20 miles of relaxing ride. This is what Spring was made for right?

So it’s time for the Ministry of Transport yearly inspection of the Z750. I prepared for getting the bike uncovered during the week to fettle before the day arrived. My super wife phoned and booked the MoT test for Saturday the 27th at 10:30 so all was set.

Except of course the weather and other non bike related stuff which kept me from uncovering the Kawasaki until Friday night. Luckily all the lights still worked after the lay up and the engine fired into life on the 4th kick. A few quick checks and then it rained again so it was left in the lap of the gods and the MoT tester.

Saturday dawned and I pulled the Z750 from its resting place and out into the street. Then I got my jacket out, and found about 6 quid in loose change in the pocket, I took it as a good omen. 2 or 3 stabs on the kickstart saw us once again moving under the twin cylinders power. Off to the testing shed then.

A few people were gathered getting bikes ready for the year, so I waited in line and admired a lovely old W650 which was sitting next to my Z750 (kinda Kawasaki equivalent of the Evolutionary chain I guess). Then as the line of bikes dwindled, my turn came to wheel the Kwak in. Some prodding, poking, testing and more poking and all too soon we were heading for the main shop and the computer which would print the yes or no sheet.

All was good, as the money changed hands and I was handed a pass sheet. As we walked back out of the shop to the shed to retrieve the bike the heavens opened. I rode home in the rain, but I didn’t care I have a piece of paper which says the bike is roadworthy and ready to tax and ride for the summer months of 2010

Although I haven’t posted for a while, things have been going on…

Firstly I had a late summer visit to Lonesome, and had the grand tour of his new mansion. A palatial van conveniently situated with easy access to major routes (in a layby of a carriageway off the M1.). All amenities are available, including hot and cold running water (hot in summer, and cold in winter). But all seriousness aside, it’s an amazing place he has setup inside an old 7.5 ton box lorry.

The ride and conversation were as last time the perfect tonic to the weeks stresses and strains. The bike ran fine, and Lonesome gave me the usual warm welcome and we talked crap for a while and I headed home.

Then on 20th September the Z750 twin was again entered for the Wolverton Show, and placed among the classic bikes from all areas of the world. There were plenty of British machines, and a fair few Japanese classics too.

My dad once again made the trip up on his BSA pictured here next to the Z750, with my daughter perched on the seat.

There were also a lot of Scooters there too

One of the kind scooter owners allowed Phoebe to sit on his bike.

Anyway, it was a nice day with plenty to see and do, here’s a selection of highlights

Unfortunately the Summer and the tax are both running out, so the Z750 will take a few months break again. Hopefully next year will be good to us with sunny weekends, and I can get out on the bike more often. I also hope to be doing some updates over the winter months as I clean and tidy some areas of the bike.

Stay safe.

It’s been a while since I posted, because the Z750 has been nowhere for a while. Today though my wife needed some shopping so I offered to take her on the Kawasaki, and to my surprise not only did she accept but also decided we should go a little further than the local Tesco to give the Twin a run.

So it was that we went to Asda near Bletchley. As the Kawasaki’s twin cylinders hadn’t breathed fire for a while I thought it may need some coaxing back to the land of the living. I switched on the ignition, and hit the starter button expecting nothing. The lazy starter turned slowly once, and on the second lot of compression the Z750 fired up.

Knowing there was not much fuel I hit the kill switch, and pulled the heavy lump up the hill out of the drive backwards, and onto the road. We both suited up and got back on the bike, which again started on the button with one push. We were off, bound for the supermarket. A nice leisurely ride saw us there in just a few minutes, and parked. While the missus went off for the provisions I checked just how low the petrol was. Lets just say we’d made it to our destination, which luckily had a fuel station on site as we wouldn’t have gone much further.

The wife returned with her booty, and we forced the rucksack to take more than it should (I’m sure she must have forgotten we weren’t in the car). Back on ole Betsy which started again on the button, and round the corner to the filling station. Packed with cars, but on the bike we could jump ahead while the back ones were waiting for the pumps to clear.

Its thirst quenched we headed for home on the Kawasaki. At one stage we were even overtaking cars, and no complaints from the wife either. Then it was home again, and put away for later. Hope we get some more good weather soon.

Well as you can guess from the title I finally managed to get the Kawasaki down for an MOT. A few false starts as there were no slots available at the mot station, or I was too busy to get there, but finally it all came together. The bike ran ok to get there, the MOT tester was happy that the bike was roadworthy and we got the required certificate.

I got home, waited a few hours and then applied for tax online. Everything was showing as accepted, MOT, Insurance etc. so the tax went through without a hitch. So now we’re ready to go once more.

This was going to be the weekend I took the Z750 in for it’s MOT and got ready to ride again. The Kawasaki had other plans though. Running through the lights to make sure they all worked, and my previous temporary repair to the high beam/low beam switch gave up. The screw replacing the original thumb push just broke out of the internal switchgear. So no high beam.

Luckily when Big Al got his Z750 he replaced both handlebar switch controls, so there was a spare in the garage. The problem was the wires had been cut (not by Al I hasten to add) so the loom would need connecting in some way. I decided that soldering was the best course of action.

I removed the left hand control switches and cut back the wiring to a point I could access easily, and that had a previous taped repair anyway. I then mounted the “new “ set of control switches, and put the cable through to cut to match the existing bit. So far so good.

Out came the trusty soldering iron, and solder. The first wire was matched to its new partner, and both were tinned and then held together and the iron applied to melt the solder together. Success. Cover the exposed wires and on to the next. The second one also went well. It’s after that things become difficult.

The 2 previously soldered wires now have a tendency to push the others away from each other so twisting and bending becomes the only choice. 3rd and 4th wires done, the 5th wire becomes difficult to position, solder and hold all with just two hands. If you ever want to learn new swear words and new and innovative sentences containing swear words, just turn up when someone is in this predicament. The burnt fingertips and many badly soldered joints which have to be redone are not good for the nerves.

By wire number 7 the whole world seems to have turned against you, and everything nearby is in danger of a kick or getting thrown if it gets in the way. Add some wind cooling the solder rapidly and things get real ugly.

Anyway in the end all 8 wires are soldered, 4 fingertips are burnt and none of the neighbours will let their kids anywhere near in case they pick up some bad words. But joy of joys it all works and now all is right with the world once more. Peace is restored to the Sabbath.

So next time it’s the MOT test. Be afraid…..