On the Road Again!

It was raining of course.  So we had to be quick.  All that shiny alloy and new chromed wheels.... I didn't want water marks before I get to ride it. There was time for photo or two and then Suzi was put away in the garage until it dries up. And locked up with the Abus!! Claire took the photos on her new Samsung A21. I am very happy.. that is a smile! OMG! It's heavy! 🏍️ Still a lot of work to do to clear surface rust on the rack and mudguards, and fit the parts that have arrived over the last week or so. Need the pressure washer on the swingarm etc. All the bits that Phil wasn't tasked to do. Hopefully the weather will be better over the weekend and we can get her out and get some fuel in the tank. Currently dry for transporting. Phil suggested that for the first tank I put some oil in the tank. He didn't say what percentage but maybe 20:1 might not be too much to oil up the plugs. I need the check how much is in the oil tank as well...

We had quite a lot of rain over the weekend and into this week. It cleared away any lingering snow and although not that warm, people are able to get around. So I was hoping "Suzi" (name courtesy of Neill Devall) would be home. I am on school half term and with the milder, although normal for this time of year, temperatures I had hoped Baz at Specialised would have got the bike back to me this week. And then the phone rang.... Tomorrow about lunchtime and we will be reunited! 

Although I probably don't need it... Where have we heard that before?  Well, I remembered that the fuel cap gasket was a little aged and with the tank brimmed I had had a slight leak when on the sidestand. The remedy? Buy a new rubber for the filler cap. I toyed with the entire cap. But as it is out of sight under the flap I decided not to bother and just get the rubber. Another part from  https://www.suzytwo.co.uk/

Getting it back from Phil's once it has been finished is the next logistics problem to look at. Obviously once it is ready to leave the workshop, Phil will want it out of the way so that he can work on other jobs. And rightly so. Talking with fellow "Old SOC" member Stuart and he told me that when his bike came back from a restoration not that long ago, it came back with a professional courier used to moving bikes. I suggested this to Phil as we are currently in lockdown and not supposed to travel. I looked at the costs. Last year Stuart paid about £125 for the job to be done.  That seems a steep but when you consider the costs I incurred taking it to Phil's in August it's about spot on. I had the trailer hire @ £55.00 plus VAT.  The 450 plus mile round trip took us the best part of 12 hours and I that much fuel came out at about £70. On top of that it was all that time in the car and I had to have my brother to ride shotgun to load and unload the bike. Luckily he...

That hurdle has been overcome and Phil has the rust in the tank sorted with a mixture of acid and water.   When the tank has dried out it can go back on the bike and work can continue.  Down the hatch!

It runs -  https://projectkettlerenaissance.blogspot.com/2020/12/it-runs.html

Rebuilt by Barry Wilkes. He has even refitted the little black plastic cover on the choke lever!!! 😁

I have been asked this several times. Why? One reason is that I bought the bike in May 1984 and I want to get it running again.  Whilst it is a non-runner it is worth a bit in parts but not really that much.  As a runner with a newly rebuilt engine, especially, a new crank, it is worth way more.  As a 64yo rider I have maybe ten more years riding and less as a touring motorcyclist. So keeping one bike for less riding seems a good idea. I currently have the Rocket III as my main bike. But with a contracting scope for riding, it would make sense to keep the classic bike and let the modern bike go. To do that. I need the GT to be running. Reliable runner at that. One where I can go out to the garage and pull the bike out, switch on, press the button and to go anywhere I want, when I want. This is why this project got off the ground. If the bike looks okay. Then that's a plus.

Another part of the renaissance jigsaw arrived in the post today from Reiner in Germany. A master cylinder repair kit. It comes with the seals etc need to fix the leaking problem I currently have.  In fact. It has leaked and there is no fluid left in it all. Another job to add to the list that I will pass onto Philip Jones once the lockdown is over in the UK. I am hoping that will be sooner rather than later. When I am off for the summer from late July to early September would be a good time to get it up to Telford. Oh forgot about the three B8ES plugs I bought as well.

Back in 2001 I was invited to attend the event held at the Montlhéry circuit to the south of Paris. So one Friday we set off, Claire and me aboard the Kettle for the relatively short run to Paris, it's about 199 miles. We took the A26/A1 route from the Channel.  I chose a Campanile hotel at Porte de Bagnolet, although those in cities were called Campaville at the time.  This one was within easy access to the city on the metro.  Parking was a bit crap as it was a multi-storey building. The problem was getting in and out through the barrier and no marked bike spaces. Once checked in we set off for the city on the metro line a few hundred metres away.  It was also close to the Boulevard Périphérique. We had a good wander around the sights like the Eiffel Tower etc. Had a meal and then back to the hotel. After breakfast on Saturday we togged up and checked the maps to Montlhéry. A mere 35kms or so from the hotel.   It was an easy run on the Pér...

This run was slightly different to that of 1993. I was going to meet my friend and fellow SOC member Steve Hazlehurst. Steve had attended the Czech Invader Rally near Brno the weekend before. My plan was to get to Köln to meet the DB Autozug to Salzburg. I'd meet Steve there and we were booked into the YH. The bike was packed with my Swagman panniers and the Givi topbox. The ride to Köln was easy enough and I had lunch near the Dom before finding the station near the exhibition grounds. There were other bikes there going to Villach.  Mostly HD on their way to some treffen of their own in Slovenia I think. Just before the train was due to arrive there was a massive storm. The train was "lost" and we sheltered where we could.  As it thundered and the lightning crashed around us I tried to take a selfie.  Not as easy as you might think with an SLR in those long days before digital cameras were invented. SLR Selfie - uses self timer! Actually, I did have one with me.  Th...

Working from home should have given me some time to get out in the garage and clear away some of the junk so that I can get to the bike without climbing over crap. Some is destined for charity shops and others to the recycling centre. But due to the coronavirus lockdown both are shut. Helpful? Not very. My search for a "new" John Storrie to fix the bike stalked a bit.  John had said that if the engine was okay and the crankshaft oil seals were okay it would be a relatively simple job to do the carbs and a tidy up. Budget about £800. If it needed the engine out and the crank sorting, then look at £1500 to £2000. He would need to get another guy called Barry or Phil to do that as he wasn't strong enough any more. I haven't found Barry but I have found Philip through the GT750 Owners  Facebook page. Having been blackballed from the Kettle Club years ago I have been loathe to associate with other Kettle owners other than John. It's all old news anyway. I put a note on...

The World in Pictures - Day 1 I have been challenged by Neill Devall to post a picture, every day, for the next 10 days. The picture can be of anything you like but each picture must have been taken in a different country. You can tell us about the photo or not, as you wish but must at least specify the country. I'm not going to challenge anyone, but if friends want to take part so well and good! Austria (1993) http://www.hundertwasser.at/english/oeuvre/arch/arch_bad-fischau.php On the way from Zastavka u Brna where I lived at the time to Schloss Moosham to join up with the Wasserbueffel Club rally.

Well. After the old two-stroke down the barrels it's time to see if (after a few weeks leaving it to seep through) the bugger will turn the engine over. By hand or foot of course. Plugs out and oil in the bores. I have seen a few basket cases online going for decent money and that's what Mrs D would like to happen to mine! She doesn't understand the deep relationship a man has with his bike.  I had hoped to get it sorted for this year in time for the 35th anniversary of buying it. But I suppose 2022 is a target when it will be 45 years old.  By then I'll be retired and even less of a distance biker than I am now. So fingers crossed.

Late July 1993. Time to leave Zastávka and head for home. Tony and Heather were back with the kids. The plan to ride across to southern Germany for an overnight. I would continue north and they would split off and head south.  Outside the flat on Sportovní We headed west on the dálnice past Prague and into Germany.  The overnight stop was in a youth hostel in a castle in Bavaria near Ellwangen.  In those days in Bavaria anyone over 26yo couldn't stay in a YH unless they were part of a family group. We qualified and they had a family room and I got stuck in a dorm with three cyclists. After breakfast I rode all the way home tugging the trailer.  At the German border* In case of fuel problems I had two cans bungied to the rack on the trailer. In the end I didn't need to use either. This was the last long journey on the Kettle for a few years.  I started at University in Luton in late September. To earn a few quid I signed up with a local courier company.  Aft...

On the drive in Flitwick. In those days before phones had cameras and were able to make movies  In fact before phones were portable outside the house and carried more computing power than Apollo 11!

After years of neglect things are starting to move. I contacted a few bike restorers to see if I could get the bike to them to get it running. But not much came of that avenue.  I am not expecting showroom or concours condition. Just usable.  In the 80's. Me nearest camera. As it is over 40 years old it is now registered as a historic vehicle with the UK authorities.  As a result it is tax exempt and MoT exempt. It has to be roadworthy but doesn't have to undergo the test each year.  In the end my old friend John Storrie made some good suggestions.  The motor won't turn over and I suspect there is some corrosion in the cylinders. It wasn't a hot seize. Just standing too long.  Removing the plugs reveals no corrosion on the plug electrodes and there is a healthy whiff of petrol. Hopefully the 2-stroke poured into the bores will permeate and free up the rings.  There are a few other jobs to do and I have many of the parts required; carb rebuild kits, new...

A long weekend. Luckily it was the weekend at the end of the May half-term school holiday and so I was able to load up the bike and set off in good time to get across to Moosham. The route via the Mikulov/Drasenhofen border crossing and around Vienna and then west past the Red Bull Ring, although then it was called Zeltweg, would be about 250 miles.  Czech fuel was cheaper and I topped up before the border. With a range of only 130 miles to a tank fuel management is important. On arrival at Schloss Moosham I had nowhere to stay. I met up with Thomas Wahle who I had "known" for a few years exchanging letters about Kettles.  I had never met him before.  I was going to look at nearby Mauterndorf for a room or even a bed. Thomas and the Stuttgart area Büffel Herde had a large room and parking in the barn across the road. They also had a spare bed. As I was a poor "Czech" they wouldn't let me pay. The weekend was a great success. A couple of the Austrian members got ...

Who knows how long this blog will exist for! I don't have the foggiest idea. The Kettle in question is a Suzuki GT750A. First registered in April 1977.  Some background. Sit down. This might ramble on. I bought it in 1984 from the bike shop in Hanwell near Brentford in West London. It came with some paperwork that showed it had had some engine work done. Allegedly the crankshaft oil seals had been replaced etc. I had other bikes as well. For a while  around this time I had a "Plain Jane" GL1000, and a  GSX1000SZ Katana. So it was a complete surprise when riding home from work a couple of years later that the crankshaft oil seals went phut By then we were moving from Weybridge in Surrey to Newington in Kent. I obtained an exchange crank from Robinson's then in Broadstairs. A local guy in Gillingham was recommended to handle the engine rebuild.  At this stage the cylinder barrel to use in the rebuild was one that I had bought off a fellow member of the SOC committ...