Tinkicker

Pushing on. Want to try finish the thread before I go back to work in the new year. So I looked in the tool holder and found an electrical unit of some type. What on earth could it be. Was it a tracking device of some sort? I know that the seller had a bee in his bonnet about doing a 12v conversion for better lighting and one could buy a plug and play kit that just plugged into the wiring, was it one of these? Expensive mod if it was. I pulled the battery... Yup 12v battery... and a cheapo, non automotive rated one. Still, the plug and play 12v conversion was a nice thing to have. Maybe if I eventually decided on putting everything back to the original standard 6v, I could sell it on. I pulled the unit and all the wiring connector blocks fell out. They were not compatible with the unit and were only held in because they were all jammed into the toolholder together. I looked at the unit and a sick feeling started in my belly. Or God, please do not let this be the wrong CDI unit for a 12v system and the wiring harness he butchered to make it fit. Of course, it was the wrong CDI unit and a totally and utterly butchered original wiring harness. Merde and double merde! At this point I wanted to do some physical damage to the seller. Stupid man obviously did not realise that the ignition system was completely independent of the charging and lighting systems. To make matters worse, did he fit the expensive plug and play 12v conversion kit? Oh no, he went the cheap route and butchered yet more harness to make a generic 12v regulator rectifier fit. Now I was understanding how the bike came to have so many electrical problems. This was going to be expensive in time and money to put right. Soddin idiot. Starter course.. Non standard CDI of unknown provenence. Gawd alone knows what timing advance curve it had. Main course...non automotive rated battery with crimp on connections, held on by gaffer tape. Dessert course.. Cheapo, generic chinese reg rec. Butchered wiring harness with wiring to his own mad design. None of the wiring matched what Yamaha designed in either colours, sizes or connections. All nicely twisted together and wrapped in insulating tape. What a headache to put right.

Honda CB250 General Export Parts List. It covers general parts by country fitment. Be aware that while 95% of the parts in this book will be correct, there may well be some parts peculiar to the UK G5 model that are not correct on the list. You will need to double check things like carbs and carb parts, wiring harnesses, exhausts, lights, esp tail lights, and things like fender extensions and reflectors. https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cb250-general-export_model50695/partslist/#.Y6nfh86nw1I France CB250K4. Same year as G5. Probably the better bet for most parts and you can try cross checking UK specific parts against the general export list. https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cb250k4-france_model16394/partslist/#.Y6n1F86nw1I

Barrel returned and fitted and the shift lever parts arrived at almost the same time. My rule in restorations is to complete one task per day in order to progress the job and avoid burnout. Some people try to do too much at once and get fed up. The bike sits in bits for a while, then get sold on as an incomplete project. Other people let the job run on for years. I like a resto to last 6 months or so and one job a day tallies nicely with lead periods of parts and services. However, cylinder, piston and shift parts made me a little giddy and in a rare burst of energy, I fitted the barrel and piston, went on to complete the transmission side, and finish off the motor. It looks like loose steel filings around the top of the cylinder, but isnt. Everything was cleaned thoroughly in the industrial cleaners at work before fitting. It is just the reflected light of the LED torch I was using as a lighting source. Shift assembly arrived and fitted. Engine completed. Out of curiosity, I looked in the toolkit holder (triangular shaped container with lid removed by the battery box) to see if the original tools were still inside. They were not. What was stuffed in there after further investigation, was a very nasty surprise indeed.

With cylinder and piston away for rebore and waiting for the new shifter parts to arrive, I stripped the oil pump, cleaned it out and fitted new seals. Also got the clutch cover paint stripped and repainted it. Weeks of research looking at Yamaha parts drawings finally gleaned a rear brake rod that looked to have the correct ends and about the right length, although it had a slight dogleg where mine did not. I thought maybe I could just take out the dogleg and make it fit. No need to worry, it fitted like a glove and the dogleg was in the right place to avoid fouling the frame. It looked like it should have been fitted from new. It is from an Asian market 2020 Yamaha DT125. What often happens is that Yamaha and most motor manufacturers will modify a part from model year to model year, and when that model goes out of production, they will often reuse the part on a newer model of bike to save retooling costs. When this happens, they will change the part number to suit the new model and the old part number becomes obsolete. When stocks run out of the parts packaged with the original number, it shows up as unavailable on the system. This rod is a 40 plus year old design fitted on a newer model of bike. It may have been modified a few times in its life. When the part number changed, it became design number one for that part number as denoted by the 00 at the end of the number. Subsequent modifications such as change of finish or ends would end in 01 and 02 ect.

Engine reassembled with new mains, but despite fitting the new spring on the shift lever, it still would not change down. Nothing inside the crankcases to indicate problems, so it had to still be a problem with the selection mechanism. I had realigned and adjusted the shift shaft as per the factory specs, but still had an iffy gearchange. I tried to adjust it out by getting away from the factory settings and got it changing both up and down, but I would not call it a crisp change. It is now obvious that my previous estimate of just changing the spring for about £7 was not to be. I assessed that the problem was actually a bent shift shaft assembly, managed to find a new old stock one in the Netherlands and ordered it, along with the shift stopper alignment peg. I think this probably explains why the bike was parked up for so long without being disturbed. The original owner fell off it on the left side, the gearlever dug into something and the force bent the shift shaft assembly internally. Knowing it to have a probably expensive gearbox fault, it was parked up and left when the owner went back to Hong Kong. The family knew it had the gearbox fault and never bothered trying to sell it or get it running. Engine reassembled and back in frame. Clutch just loosely assembled so as not to lose any parts. It was going to have to come off again as the shift lever fits behind it. The £7 spring is just to the front of the clutch basket. Left side completely reassembled and chain fitted. Unbeknown to me at the time, it would have to come apart again as I uncovered another series of very nasty surprises.

Pulled out the engine and stripped it down. Gave everything a good coat of looking at. The mains, as I suspected were badly corrosion pitted and tgere was some surface rust on the crank flywheels, but overall, everything looked ok. I can verify that the recorded mileage is correct just by looking at the wear patterns on certain parts such as the clutch basket and drum. Absolutely no wear on the clutch basket fingers, indicating that the bike had indeed done very few hours of running and the recorded mileage was almost certainly correct. Same with with the driven clutch drum. It is in as new condition. The gear selector forks have not seen very many gearchanges in their 43 years of life. The transmission gears and shafts have seen very little action. There is absolutely no wear on the output axle splines where the front sprocket sits. This area tends to wear quite quickly as it is a very heavily loaded area, subjected to shock loading and grit inside the sprocket chamber.

Went into shed. Turned VFR ignition on. Pressed starter. Whirr whirrrrrrr click. Removed seat and stuck a voltmeter across the battery terminals. 12.7v. Stuck it on the charger for a couple of hours. Pressed the starter whirr whiirrrr click. Put the voltmeter on .. 12.8v. Pressed the starter... Voltage sagged to 9.5v. Battery knackered. It was ok a couple of weeks ago, but this is how they seem to go these days. Sudden death. Order for a Yuasa YTX12 BS has been placed...

Definitely not. He said he was a motor vehicle lecturer. Of course one takes it as read that he teaches mechanicals, however I now think he was teaching car body repair and spraying. The bike looked great cosmetically. God help the poor passengers of the cars he "restores". I would not ride in one. Replacement rear damper unit arrived from the US. A big improvement. It looks almost new. I had a lot of luck sourcing parts long out of production with this resto. Back end rebuilt with new brake shoes, new wheelbearings, all new bushes, seals, and bits n bobs for the swingarm assembly, plus all new brightwork. The big zinc plated wheel spacer appeared on ebay as new old stock and the one on the bike was painted silver and was very badly corroded. Competition was fierce. Yamaha listed the retail price at the last update before it became unavailable at £4.50. Probably back in the late 1980s. Bidding was stiff and I needed it badly. I put in an automatic bid at £40 and hoped for the best. If it went above £40 it would be cheaper to have one made and plated. Despite the big flurry of bids in the last minute, I finally got it for a mind blowing £25 iirc. It is an expensive business restoring an old favourite to showroom condition. It is the final 10% of the detailing that cost 50% of the total cost of a build. I spent well over £700 just in genuine Yamaha nuts, bolts and insignificant parts alone. The seller had replaced everything with generic, ebay hardware section allen screws. It has to be a labour of love at this level because it is unlikely you will see a return on your investment for quite a few years. That brake pull rod ruffles my feathers. It should be bright zinc plated and is listed as unavailable (at the time the pic was taken). The previous owner just had it powder coated black. I put it on my search list.

The pile of bits is growing and we come across our first potential killer. In order to get the rear shock out, the swingarm has to be removed. When I got to the lower shock mount I found that the bushing pin did not have any means securing it. The "restorer" had trouble getting the split pin out and knocked the bushing pin out with a hammer and punch, shearing the split pin. Well and good, I would have done the same. However, he neglected to knock the remnents of the old split pin out of the hole. He built the rear end up and either forgot or could not fit a new split pin because the hole was blocked by the remains of the old one. Upshot is that the pin would have worked its way out and the rear suspension would have collapsed suddenly. This stuff gets people killed. Pile of bits growing as every level removed revealed more feckwittery beneath it. Bushing pin with remnents of old split pin still in the hole. Not a bit of grease used in the reassembly. Also he deemed those age brittled, cracked swingarm bushes with broken thrust flanges as suitable for putting back into service. They had in fact seized on the inner bearing pin and the entire slip plane of the assembly was actually between the outer of the bush and the swingarm itself. Again, this could have killed someone.

All in good time. I have not even got started yet....

I contacted the suspension firm that hard chromed and reground the front fork tubes on my VFR to see if the DT rear damper was rebuildable. Much sucking of teeth over the phone and the answer was that anything was rebuildable, it was just a matter of difficulty, effort and cost. Was the chrome good on the damper rod? Nope, peeled off. He said forget it, it was going to cost an absolute fortune. Better to look for a good secondhand one. Eventually found a good secondhand shock at a bike breakers in sunny California. It looked to be corrosion free and was supposed to have less than 5000 miles on it. I snapped it up before he changed his mind about shipping it to the UK. Meanwhile, cylinder barrel removed, I gingerly looked for excessive free play in the big end bearing. I was expecting it to have rusted. It looked and felt ok. Then I gave the motor a spin to test the mains. Growling and grumbling like a pissed off dog. Absolutely shot. So I was going to have to split and rebuild the "rebuilt engine" completely. Mains absolutely shot. At least the autolube oil pump working now. When the bike arrived it had premix in the tank as the seller could not get the oil pump to work. This was one of the issues he had owned up to in the ad. In this case it turned out to be just a stuck outlet check valve. You can see oil dripping out of the carb after I spun the engine to check the mains. His ad said he had replaced all the cables with new. Does that oil pump cable look new?

Looks tidy doesn't it? It certainly fooled me. They say you cannot polish a turd, but the previous owner managed it. It is a death trap. There is not one single system on that bike that did not require a lot of effort to get it in a roadworthy condition. New indicators fitted, but the rest of the bike is going backwards progress wise. Time to pull off the barrel to send it away for a rebore. A quick measure proved it was standard size, so a first oversize piston was ordered, along with the required gaskets. Optimism is still high. So assembled the tools I would need and looked at the cylinder base nuts to find the correct size socket. I need not have bothered, the base nuts were alloy and one of them had been so badly chewed that it was completely rounded. Thinking cap on. How would I get the nut off? I could hammer a smaller socket on and hope it would grip enough to loosen it, but my 1\4 drive, 11mm hex socket was in my toolbox at work. I needed another solution. I removed one of the better nuts and assessed how high the inner stud went in the nut. I drilled a hole in the offending nut above the level of the stud and used a crosshead screwdriver as a tommy bar to loosen the nut. Job done. New cylinder base nuts added to my growing list of parts. They were not cheap, but at least they were available. So barrel off and as I suspected, the piston was toast. What I cannot understand is if the engine had been stripped and rebuilt as the seller stated, and those nuts had to come off to do so, why would he refit them in that state?

So. It was noted that the indicators as shown on the advert were not correct, presumably wiped out in the spill. After arranging for delivery, I ordered a set of reproduction ones, to replace the el cheapo modern LED ones that the seller had fitted. Bike duly arrived and led indicators were removed and the repro ones installed. Odd thing, the led ones were flashing very fast, but the orange turn warning lamp on the tacho would only light up when switched to the left. Fitted new indicators and they were flashing at a more reasonable pace, but the warning lamp persisted. I came across a missive among the paperwork showing that he knew about it and was unable to fix it. It read that because the indicators could be seen from the riding position, the warning lamp was not a legal requirement. Hmm. Something about any lighting system fitted is required to be functioning in its entirety in the MOT testers handbook. So waffle. Anyway. Time for a test run. Fuel on, kick it up and take it for a little trip around the village. Got it up into third gear and bwaaaar, bwaaar bluuuurrg. Its cutting out, snicked down into second and it would not go down the box. Stuck in third. Clutch in, I coasted to a stop. A lot if messing finally got it into neutral. Now why did it cut out? Much consternation ensued, then the penny dropped... Reserve! I have not had a bike with a fuel tap for many the year and had got out of the habit of reaching down and turning the tap to reserve when the engine suddenly cut. Reserve selected and the bike fired up. Finished my ride round the village, got up to fourth and could not change down again. Just as I was pulling in the drive, the thing cut again. No fuel. Tank was completely empty. Must have been less than a pint in there. Old skinflint must have siphoned it and left just enough to start it. Had a think about the gear selection problem. In my yamaha techie days it was quite common and the cause was usually a small selector spring on the shift lever. Not a big or expensive deal. Spring ordered. Strange though, he stated he had stripped and rebuilt the engine as part of the restoration, so why had he not noticed the selection problem? The bike did seem a bit down on power from what I can remember, so I decided to take a look at the top end if the engine and this is where the quality of the "full restoration" became apparent. Removed tank, seat and exhaust and head. I was also confronted with a rear damper in name only. It was toast. Dammit, looks like I am going to get my hands dirty after all.... Not what one expected after buying a fully restored bike from a "motor industry professional". Head off, the barrel was also toast. It had been stood for 40 years and corrosion had set in around the ring area. The cylinder, although unworn, was too badly pitted to hone out. It would be past its service limit. On a happier note, the lack of wear did confirm the mileage was genuine. Corrosion pitting where the piston rings stopped 40 years ago. Otherwise unworn. What a shame. Again, not what one would expect on a "rebuilt" engine. My faith in the seller was starting to slip and I resolved to dig deeper..

So, some background from his letter of provenance. We have a college motor vehicle lecturer, keen car restorer and fairly newly retired. His latest project completed, he was looking for another project to keep him occupied. He bumped into an old student and they got talking. Turned out the student's mum was moving house and wanted rid of his Dads old bike from the back of the shed. She was going to take it for scrap. His Dad came from Hong Kong originally, met his Mum and they got married. He bought the DT brand new to go to work on. All well and good until winter and Dad found it a toil commuting in freezing conditions. He fell off it on a patch of ice and decided to park it up until spring. Time passed, the wife got pregnant and the marriage failed. Dad went back to Hong Kong, leaving the DT parked and forgotten at the back of a shed under an old tarp and his wife holding the baby. 40 years later, the college lecturer took a look at the bike. Weeds were growing up through the frame and wheels, but it looked complete. The speedo had 1931 miles on the clock. He deemed it worthy of restoring and brought it home, stripped it and "restored" it. The numberplate was missing, presumably torn off when it was dropped and the logbook had long vanished, so no reg number. However the engine and frame numbers were intact. DVLA were contacted, but were unable to help, the registration was inactive so long that the records were destroyed in a fire in the 80s and there had been no tax ot MOT activity to keep them updated. However, they did confirm that it was not on the stolen vehicle database. The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club were contacted to assess the bike for registration and official Yamaha records indicated that the DT was assembled at the Iwata plant in Japan during August 1978, intended for the UK 1979 model year. It was number 358 in the production run. The pictures supplied of the bike pre restoration indicated that the paint colour, country specific parts and styling was correct for that UK model year. DVLA was contacted with the provenance and an age related number was issued. The bike was put up for sale and a clown who should have known better bought it at a premium price because he ignored all his own rules. He was an experienced motorcycle techie and confident he could sort out any issues. After all, how bad could it be if it was restored by a motor vehicle lecturer? Hmm.

This will likely be a long thread, based on one from another forum that ran into over 100 pages. I still have the pics I took of the rebuild and they comprise a good part of my provenance folder. Like the VFR750 already detailed, I had a brand new DT175mx back in the day, as part of my stable of off road bikes. I loved that little Yam as it got me to work and back during the day, and was suitable for a little light offroading on an evening or weekend when I couldn't be arsed to organise my car driving mate, get my much more capable offroaders onto a trailer and go to the venue. The Dt was light, nimble and was pretty good on and off road. My older mates at the bike club slowly turned towards weekend camping trips and bike rallies and bought on road bikes. My DT was just two months old when I traded it in for, of all things, a Honda CB250N Superdream. It was better for camping trips and far more comfortable, but insipid to ride. It did teach me to corner well though. When you were trying to keep up with 650s and 750s, you did not have the luxury of slowing down for a bend. It was the only time I could make up a little ground. I did put a deposit down on a Honda CB400/4 but the insurance broker almost broke a rib laughing when I enquired about insuring it. Not just turned 18 sonny boy. Anyway, I really missed that DT and vowed that one day I would get another. As usual, life got in the way, mortgages, breadsnappers ect. In 2019, I righted my biggest mistake and reaquainted myself with the VFR750. That restored, I decided to get a DT. I came across an ad for a "fully restored" DT175mx, restored by a college motor vehicle lecturer, and thought that for once I would not have to get my hands dirty. It looked the biz and had provenance proving its origins, life story and its very low original mileage. Being an ex Yamaha techie, I knew some parts would not be up to standard and was prepared to be replacing incorrect bolts and fastenings for the correct ones, but I was not bargaining on a full rebuild. The thing turned out to be an absolute death trap.... Only pic I have from the original ad. It looked the business, even if I did spot one or two "mistakes". I ignored the warning bells....

I beg to differ..

These days all my riding is done purely for pleasure and I am very aware that my reactions are probably not what they used to be. I know my hooning around with my hair on fire type skills certainly are not. In those days, if I was not riding 100 road miles per evening for the pleasure, between tea time and bedtime; I could be found at some off road venue with one of my collection of trials bikes or motocross bikes. So I am very cautious about filtering. If the traffic is in a queue and slow moving maybe 15 to 20 mph, I will go down the outside, sometimes at quite a speed if there is no oncoming traffic, I own the carriageway, but am ready to slow and pull in as soon as oncoming traffic is spotted. I never stay out on the other carriageway if I can see oncoming vehicles. I will never stay out before something like a hump back bridge or a right hand bend where my visibility is limited. As for filtering in the pure sense, between two rows of stationary cars, then I will filter cautiously at maybe 15mph, but only if I can see they are not going to start moving suddenly. A moving car has the ability to suddenly change direction, but a stationary one does not. So in these circumstances, as an example. If I see a traffic light go to red ahead, I will filter to the front. If it is already at red, I will hold my ground until I either go through the light, or see it turn red again.

Wandered out to the shed. Pulled the blankets of the VFR and spun it over. Typical stood for a month, cold winter day, VFR fitted with carbs behaviour. She fired on one. She fired on one again. Third attempt and a second cylinder decided to take an interest and I could let go the starter button. A third woke up about ten seconds later, shortly followed by number four. You cannot touch the throttle at all while all this is going on. It will instantly cut out. When the fast idle reaches 1500 rpm you can knock the choke off. Warmed it up till the fan kicked in and out a few times, put the blankets back on and locked up the shed for another month. That is the limit of my winter riding. Back in the day I rode all year round, but these days I prefer toasty toes and a warm fire.

Here. Just pour it dwn the plug hole and let it stand a week. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marvel-Mystery-Oil-and-Fuel-Additive-Engine-and-Valve-Treatment-32-fl-oz-bottle/281448134413?hash=item41879db70d:g:zA0AAOSwGvhUEDe7&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA4Ctpnq57NIy5sccu/wakx4mcL+9dfIO/PejIK3m5MyCHJxJODca+tOvofCgIovL2eojkCv2+oFu5/Hx0eerGjrr1trFSbRqC5yzRyJcaX1dEVFeU4e2fucBf3XXvueL6KgrHT4XbdnPy3I4idgj6uShDJfxMSPiEjEbN0AsEpNzg1cc88Jxyug1YK6ebJKS9NbjK3N3pjGAYpEI4s96KzG4t0TwK/SDMgDBJtVubT7ococL8KCkGj51MElFo8vYeyghdk1BYxvka95p+ReRpGmmv6VmBznXMD+la9ZIGJEUr|tkp:BFBMmo79oKBh&pageci=383b065d-17a8-46d9-b70f-9f93f5b35f45&redirect=mobile

As above. Being as passionate about aviation as I am about bikes, in the 1990s I was studying for my private pilots licence. A bad bike accident entailing many bits of metalwork in my leg put paid to that dream about 3/4 of the way through. Kids n mortgages got in the way after that. A long time later, DCS came along that scratched the itch to fly. Then VR entered the scene and it was a match made in heaven. DCS is a study level, combat flight simulator that is full fidelity. Eagle Dynamics does simulators for the military to train their pilots on and once the aircraft in question is significantly updated or removed from front line service, ED removes classified systems from the simulation and releases them to the public or often makes stand alone simulations to the same or better quality as military stuff. The vid below is an unrealistic but fun dogfight between the world war two P51D Mustang and the current Fairchild Republic A10C Thunderbolt 2 ground attack aircraft. Aka the Warthog or just hog. I mention study sim. The hog flight manual amounts to 800 pages and is a decommissioned US Air Force simulation. The current version of the hog depicted is circa 2005 so nothing in it is classified any longer. If there is any interest I will expand upon it, but it is a very complex subject. Let me know if you want to know more. Dogfight. Best played in 720p.

Finished, all bar the gear lever rubber on Xmas day 2019. It was a long winter waiting for the road salt to get washed away and the roads to dry out. I've done about 2000 mies on it since. All the paint is original. I waited a long time to find one with undamaged paint and plastics, but paying well over the average for it was going to be cheaper than having everything painted. I have kittens moving it around the yard, those plastics are irreplaceable.

A bit of time to kill before it becomes a reasonable time to open a beer, so I thought I would travel back to the the bikers scene from the late 70s up to the early 90s. Born and raised in Dewsbury when it used to be a prosperous mill town without the reputation it has these days. Got my first bike at 12 years old (Yamaha DT125 of 1972 vintage), and rode it with my Dad over on the Shaw Cross pit stacks. It was a popular venue and I got to meet and know quite a lot of older riders who had big road bikes as well as their off road stuff. Dewsbury at that time was bikers heaven with a lot of biker type pubs and nightclubs and a large proportion of people had motorcycles. Probably about 15, by then I had graduated to riding a 350 Bultaco Sherpa T and was suitably skilled enough to be able to offer advice to other, less experienced off road riders; I was invited by a couple of lads I had been giving riding tips to, to come down to a fairly local town centre pub one summer Friday night to view their other bikes, so with some trepidation I turned up outside on my pushbike. I knew it was a biker pub and half expected to either get beaten up, or laughed at. I could not make my mind up which would be worse. Dozens of bikes were lined up outside with dozens of biker types hanging around, and from what I could see through the windows, loads more, obviously without bikes inside getting blitzed. The jukebox was pumping out Led Zep, Rainbow and Sabbath. A heady mix for a callow youth who lived and breathed bikes. Luckily I knew quite a number gathered there and was introduced around. I had a whale of a time. It became quite the Friday night thing for me in the summer. Bikers from miles around would congregate early evenings and start to depart at around 9pm, baiting the watching coppers in the police car parked over the road. They would start their bikes. The copper on hearing the ear shattering blat of assorted 750 fours firing up on open piped Alfas and Marshalls would put down his paper and watch. The bikes would crawl slowly up to the traffic lights outside the pub and stop. The lights would go green and the bikes would gently move away... Copper glances back at his paper... Bwarrrrr, everyone would be up on the back wheel, while the bobby would be nearly snapping the key off in the ignition trying to start his Ford Escort. Off he would fly with sirens and blue light flashing, only to return a few minutes later. I have been told the cops enjoyed it as much as the lads did. I would talk to the lads outside, soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the occasional pint of shandy they bought me. At sixteen I attended on my Yam Fizzie and was allowed into the bar to purchase my own shandy so long as I went straight outside again. I doubt my mother knew where I was, but I suspect my dad knew. As the years passed I was a regular on a weekend and made a lot of friends. As the drink drive laws were ever more stringently policed, a bike parked outside a pub on a Friday evening became a prime target, and the gatherings dwindled away, although it remained a popular bikers pub and favourite haunt throughout my pre family years. Unbeknown to me, the girl I would eventually meet elsewhere and eventually marry was quite a frequent visitor to the pub and I can sort of remember her, or more her mate who was the spitting image of Toyah Wilcox with pink hair. I was probably too drunk to focus too clearly at the time. We got married and moved away, not returning to Dewsbury for maybe 20 years, although I have driven past a few times on my way elsewhere. The John F Kennedy was still there and I always got a pang of sadness everytime I drove past. I have heard that although it is still there and is kept clean and maintained, it has in fact been closed for a good number of years. This is incrediby sad. I still greatly miss the place well over 20 years later. The very best of times. John F Kennedy. I have quaffed many the pint leaning against those hallowed walls, watching the goings on.

Circa 1978 BSA Airsporter. Not my original gun which languished in my bedroom after I moved out of my parents house and vanished at some point. I guess it got lent out and never returned. I was given this one in a very sorry state. It had languished in a garden shed for many years and was rusty, the stock was dulled and dried out and it did not fire. It would not even cock. A few months later, a few new parts and an awful lot of elbow grease and it lives again. Amazing to think back, as a teenager, I would stick it over my shoulder and saunter down the road to the fields for a bit of target practice. The old lasses on the street would ask if I was going shooting and be careful not to hurt myself. No one thought I was going to shoot them or in any way thought it out of the ordinary. The local bobby would collar me a couple of days later and tell me he had spotted me carrying the gun without a cover on and don't do it again or he would take my name and address and invoke the terror of him calling in and having a cuppa with my parents. He knew who I was of course, but the casual flip of that notebook and pencil coming out of his top uniform pocket always invoked terror. These days, just being seen in the bedroom window with it by a passerby would invoke an armed police response and helicopters overhead. Beeza Airsporter.

A quick peek under the skin. Always a major milestone in any restoration. It is on life support but slowly coming alive. Wiring completed and dash fitted. First sign of life in months.

At least with 31000 miles on the clock, unlike my DT175 with less than 2000 documented miles in 43 years, I am not afraid of adding to them. Original zorst, but to keep everything peachy over winter, I fire it up and run it till the fan kicks in to dry out the moisture collecting under the tank and bodywork, plus ensure clean and fresh fuel in the carbs. This is heavy on the silencer, with moisture collecting inside and promoting internal rot. To this end, I have been keeping an eye out for a period correct, stainless steel, Motad road can, so I can put the original away. Motad went out of business a number of years ago, so new cans are harder to source than rocking horse poo and all the old ones are scratched and dented. Mission accomplished in September and the best part was it was a buy it now or make offer listing. The seller knew it was a VFR can, but did not know which model it fitted. Luckily the pics included one of the box with the motad part number on it. Much research ensued and I eventually came across an old Italian shop listing with the correct part number and among the scattering of italian words "1997" and "VFR750" . Job done. Made offer and got it for a great price.