Cars and Bikes
July 2007: Honda CB600 Hornet
The newest addition to my bike collection is a Honda CB600F Hornet, very nice bike too. I’d been thinking about getting something a little larger for commuting on for a while now and after taking a friends Fazer out for a spin thought I would look around the 600cc mark. After a bit of a web search on different 600’s it seemed there were three choices; the Suzuki Bandit, Yamaha Fazer and Honda Hornet,and depending on where you look theres not a great amount between them either. As I’d tried the Yamaha, was not that impressed by Suzuki and always found Honda to be very sound, I took a punt on the Hornet and I have not been dissapointed.
The rear wheel is the size of a small bus, the engine is a slight modification of the tried and tested CBR600 so will go for ever and the ride position feels really good. With a bit of a heavy hand, its also surprisingly quick. Its only downfall is the slightly smaller than useful petrol tank. I seem to be getting about 100 miles to the tank which is not great. Also the breaks aren’t as sharp as the Fazer. Perhaps a set of braided hoses will help.
This example has had a rear hugger fitted, LED indicators and break lights, twin headlamps and a stainless Scorpion exhaust.
August 2006: 1978 Saab 99 2.0L Turbo
[Plymouth-Banjul Challenge 2007]
WHAT A CAR and what an adventure. In December 2006/January 2007 myself and 2 friends from uni completed the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge, a 4000 mile banger rally from the UK to The Gambia to raise money for charity. The idea is to run a budget version of the infamous Paris-Dakar and get a load of rusty old beasts all the way to Africa. It was an amazing three weeks of driving with a great number of challenges!
Our vehicle of choice was a classic 1979 Saab 99 Turbo, one of only 900 manufactured and in a very poor state of repair. After some major work such as replacing the waterpump, cyclinder head and gaskets, radiator, clutch…. etc, we got the old girl purring like a kitten and drive it all the way there.
We produced a blog of our progress and managed to raise over £17,000 for charity aswell.
You can read all about that on our team website:
April 2006: Honda VF400FD x 2
Well they say good things come along in three’s. It seems good things also come along in pairs. After a bit of a wait to get a motorbike, I now have 2! What’s going on?
Anyway, I got a call of a friend I know through church who was moving house and needed to clear the garage. He had two Honda VF400FD’s he wanted rid of, so seeing as I can never say no to a bargain project, I bought both. Excellent!
One was half complete at best with a lot of bits missing, the other was ready to go but engine cam chain had gone - a common issue with the VF400 it appears.
I decided to use the two to make one complete usable bike and sold off the excess bits on eBay.
After a fair bit of work and a complete rebuild, this is the result. I am been impressed by the VF400 actually. It seems to have a surprising amount of kick for a little engine and is reasonably smooth. The Lazer exhaust offers an excellant tone and the front and rear discs are relatively sharp. All in all, not too bad a bike. Its only downfall in my opinion is that Honda must have been having some kind of competition amoungst the designers to see who could get everying into the smallest package possible. The result is a bike that is exscruciatingly difficult to work on. The carbs are totally inaccessible and a nightmare to remove. The rear downpipes for the exhaust are a joke to get to, its easier to take the whole engine out. Changing the plugs is painful without an appropriate tool. All in all, nice bike but not to work on.
August 2005: Kawasaki 440Ltd
Its been a while but I have finally got myself a working motorbike.
Its a Kawasaki 440LTD US import, which I bought off a friend who was moving abroad and needed to empty the garage. It was originally bought with a view for the boys to work on it as part of the Restoration Project but became my winter project.
I did a bit of work repairing the seat, generally cleaned things up and replacing a few bits and bobs and it is really a great bike. Now respayed to red, I think it looks great and is a great ride. It was even taken all the way down to Devon by a friend of mine who borrowed it for a bike meet.
Eventually sold the bike onto to a nice gent in North London who was looking for a reasonably sixed cruiser. I hope she serves you well. Nice bike.
October 2004: Ford Capri 2.0L Laser
“The Car You’ve; Always Promised Yourself”. And it really was. A beautifyl 1986 Ford Capri MkIII 2.0L Laser in diamond white - fluffy dice and all… CLASSIC!. This was a really great car. I bought it off a guy who owned it from new and really didn’t use it. Bought it with 40,000 on the clock and sold with 50,000. I did have to do a bit of work on her though. New front struts, front windscreen, radiator, wheel bearings etc but I really loved it. Very little rust and cornered like it was on rails. Anyways, good things must come to an end. Sold it for quite a profit which softened the blow but I was sorry to say goodbye.
May 2002: Kawasaki Z650
The Kawasaki Z650. Now I think this was a really nice bike. It had an up-rated Harris exhaust which could be heard for over 7 nautical miles. Had quite a lot of grunt and seemed reasonably stable. It also had the traditional kick start. Kicking over a 650 is like trying to stamp a melon into a wine bottle… not too easy, but it did always start first time. Excellent machine. Sadly, I wasn’t the only one who thought so and as a result it was nicked from outside a lovely(!) house I was living in in Hayes, West London.
So if you see a Kawi Z650C3, Light blue frame, dark blue tank and panels, 4-1 Harris exhaust, yellow HT leads, small punched ‘Somerset’ tag on the rear brake stay with the frame no: KZ650C-023035 and engine no: KZ650-BE092353 then call the police cos it’s mine!.
June 2000: Honda Superdream
The Honda Superdream…… what a pile of pants. Well maybe it wasn’t that bad but I suffered major carb problems with it for ages. I replaced them, cleaned them, balanced them, cleaned them, shook them, adjusted them, cleaned them… etc, couldn’t get them to work right. That aside, the bike was o.k. and did me a lot of miles back and forth around the back streets of Bristol whilst on a placement. I have been told the 400cc model is a load better and not quite so underpowered so if you get the option, go for one of those instead.
April 1997: Suzuki A50K Special
Next was onto bikes. This is my first motorbike, a Suzuki A50K special. Only a little 50cc (although I think this one was oversized to a mammoth 65cc). She was a groovy little thing named Myrtle by a friend of mine who previously owned it.
I sold her to a pal who actually had it stolen from him! They must have thought it was a rare classic. However, when they realised their error in judgement it was returned or dumped or something but he got it back and then sold it on to another friend. This bike has seen many a behind.
September 1996: VW Camper type 2
Although a sad tale, the first vehicle I owned was a 1972 Type 2 VW camper. I received it off a family member in a state of slight disrepair… in reality, as a rust bucket that was being used as a sort of mobile shed!. VW campers are not known for their ability to resist rust and this beast was no exception. They are however, cult classics and well worth the time and money spent restoring them.
Check out the state of the front panel. Looks like something you’d see in the Tate Modern. Anyway, we spent 3 years, there and abouts, restoring it to a level of impeccable beauty only for me to pile it into the back of a Land Rover whilst travelling the length of the country (check the Follow The Trip page for more details). We did a complete engine rebuild as a result of a cracked cylinder head, gutted and rebuilt the interior, had a new front lower panel, inner and outer sills and a number of other patches attached to fill in the holes. Then re-sprayed it to its original light blue and cream colour spec.
