Bike of the Month.

Guys it would be nice to keep this thread "on topic" but I think it's a clear demonstration of how little appetite there is for this feature given that only a handful of people have reacted to no "new material" this month !!
PS: Many thanks to those that have supported it (you know who you are )

Sorry for my  "off-topic`s", Guy!!!But i will repeat: It’s a real shame, Guy, that with so many members here, there’s *so* little interest in the bike showcases... As I’ve noticed before, most people here just don't seem to care about anything... It probably stems from the need to be active on so many social media platforms at once every day—just in case you might miss out on something trivial... Man oh man, "great times"...!

MFP-Joe wrote:

Sorry for my  "off-topic`s", Guy!!!But i will repeat: It’s a real shame, Guy, that with so many members here, there’s *so* little interest in the bike showcases... As I’ve noticed before, most people here just don't seem to care about anything... It probably stems from the need to be active on so many social media platforms at once every day—just in case you might miss out on something trivial... Man oh man, "great times"...!

It's been an on-going theme Joe, out of 32,000 users only 26 could be bothered to cast a vote for BOTY last year

THAT is exactly what I meant, and unfortunately what I’m seeing here too... It’s a shame—you always made this place look so good... And it’s a pity we won’t be seeing any more great bikes here... BUT: Yours is (hopefully) coming soon GO ON, Wookie ! ! !

I enjoy the Bike of the Month thread. I put 2 out of my 3 Kawasaki's up. Nobody probably cares about my 78' KL 250 that's not quite back from the dead yet. it's hard to believe only 26 people voted so far this year. 

I am happy to keep doing it if people provide the material. Four years ago when I suggested bringing it back I never expected it to be as hard as it has been. Whilst I am trying to finish my build there is a limit to how much time I can invest 

Personally, off-road bikes never really appealed to me—I’m strictly a street rider—but every machine has a story... and the base of your KL250 looks really good; it’s not all that beat-up, unlike so many others of its kind...?!
In any case, it’s an interesting design—it still has a bit of that 70s trials bike vibe...
You should definitely introduce it properly, Kelly!

Hi Guy, you do a fantastic job, both with the BOTM, and All of your contributions to help sooo many people. I personally really appreciate your hard work and really enjoy reading the various posts and the suggestions from many of the regular contributors. At the end of this day, we all want to keep our machines on the road.
To all of the contributors, Thank You.
Rich.

Big thank you to Pete (Moizeau) for stepping up at short notice. This feature is about the rides we cherish and this one is certainly cherished. Given the global nature of the forum few of us will have the chance to see each others bikes in pub carparks or at events so this is where we share. Over to Pete for the storyHad a Zeph11 when I was 24 and loved it, honeymooned on it round France and Spain (still lived in the UK then) and also did Moto Faro in '98. After my ST was on the road after nearly 20 years without a bike I hankered after another Zeph11. Just such beautiful lines.

Went 2 hours north to Tours to have a look at one. Jeez it was unloved, It leaked as much petrol as it used, the lacquer on all the ally was furry or lifting. It was a lady in her 20's that had it off her dad and said it was too heavy and she'd dropped it once stationary. Hence to broken mirror and bent handlebars. One crash bar and an exhaust had a dink but not a scrape so that tallied up. Only other problem was the 'go faster café racer' stripe. On the way home in my van I felt dizzy from the petrol fumes. Not a real surprise, I drained 5 1/2 litres of 'fluid' out of the engine. Very basic maintenance followed, oil, filters, petrol tap rebuild. Then the carbs, inlet, outlet rubbers, 4 Keihin float valves, vacuum synced. Something was still not right, fluffy from low revs in 3rd upwards and a pop/spit from no.2 carb. Doing my head in so decided to start a deep clean and come back to that. Wheels, forks, swing arm, engine cases off, sanded with wet and dry then polished. Like to say a big thanks to Mr Kwakman, great idea with the ally swing arm, primer it black then paint it silver.........It's now polished. The exhaust headers were rough and I couldn't take then apart due to headers being rusted to the silencers to the point I may break them if I tried so front wheel off and slid the whole lot out as one. Matt blacked the headers.

Got back to the pop. Carbs off again in case I missed something, still the same. IR gun said no.2 was cool, compression test said it was very low. Fired some air down the spark plug hole and it came out the exhaust. The exhaust valve was open. 5/8 valve clearances were small and no.2 ex was open. Sorted that on the 2nd attempt due to having to guess what shim to put in, went down 5 sizes and it was still out of spec. Once done the carb sync that was within 1cm Hg was way out.

This really was an unloved, unmaintained bike. Now it is both loved and maintained. Not really worthy of a BOTM having seen what's been showed before. Hopefully this encourages others to put their pride and joy forward, it doesn't need to be a special or a rivet counting restoration, just enjoyed.

Wookie58 wrote:

Guys it would be nice to keep this thread "on topic" but I think it's a clear demonstration of how little appetite there is for this feature given that only a handful of people have reacted to no "new material" this month !!
PS: Many thanks to those that have supported it (you know who you are )
 

I guess I can add my 2¢.  I more of a lurker and always have been on most forum sites.  I think the issue may be that users might assume that a BOTM needs to be finished and riding.  I have FIVE projects all in various states of completion.  My only rider is an ‘18 Z900RS.  I would gladly submit any of the five which I believe all builds have been documented on this site in one form or another.  I’m sure that the number of unfinished projects far outweigh the number of finished and riding bikes here.  I had a relatively long hiatus from this site so I’m not up on all the current builds in the last 4-5-6 years and which have been completed and eligible for BOTM.

Later, Doug

 

Nice job bringing your Zephyr 1100 back from the dead and into a solid rider. 

Hi Pete, Your bike philosophy—maintaining, using, riding, and having fun—aligns perfectly with mine, and your bike is absolutely worthy of being featured here as BotM! You’ve done a great job, and your bike looks fantastic! I wish you many happy kilometers on it!