Day out - Middlewich Classic Car and Bike Show

I was feeling confident enough now to take a trip out to the Middlewich Show, just a half hour or so ride away on 16 - 17th July.

It was a lovely sunny weekend - perfect riding weather and I went up on the Sunday. Gloria rode beautifully on the way there, and I found that my work around for the weeping float valve worked well (apart from the time I forgot to turn the fuel back on and she started spluttering as she ran out!!)

There were some lovely bikes there from all eras and Gloria drew some admiring glances and sparked up some great conversation as always.

There were some great cars there as well - one that caught my eye was a Lada 1300, that I was amazed was still in existence, as they used to rot so badly. My sister had one that I took my test in and it used to break down with amazing regularity. It only just made it around my test route! This one hadn't been restored but had obviously been well sheltered for most of it's life.

And then there was a lovely display of old Minis of most variants. Who doesn't love an old Mini?

The journey home was equally as nice - one of those where you start to think whether there is a way to extend the route as you get towards home, so you can enjoy things for just a bit longer 😁. It was lovely to start to feel the confidence building in Gloria now, that she'll get me home from our adventures each time.

 

First camping trip

After the successful day trip to Hooton Show,  I'd been itching to venture a little bit further to build up a bit more confidence. An opportunity came up to grab a quick night away and I booked a campsite in North Wales at short notice. It was also a great opportunity to try out some new bike luggage and camping equipment that I had been gathering.

Nothing had been done to Gloria since the previous outing, so I was fully prepared to still be suffering from some rough running at low to medium revs but thought she'd probably be OK on open roads.

The bike luggage was an old Oxford tank bag that my son had re-donated back to me, after I had given it to him when I sold my last bike several years ago; an old work duffel bag for the tent etc and some old but unused Oxford panniers that I got off EBay, specifically because I thought they'd match the era and style of the bike.

All packed up and ready to go, I swung a leg over and jumped on the kick start - nothing! After lots of sweaty effort I pulled the spark plugs and unbelievably had another dead plug. Either the quality of NGK plugs is rubbish now (that's 2 duff ones I've had) or there is something happening that is killing them. However, all of the ignition side is new now so I'm fairly confident it's not the latter. Once a fresh plug was swapped in, she started first kick.

I subsequently read that it is not uncommon to get duff NGK plugs, which is not very helpful, so now make sure I have a spare with me.

I'd planned a route out to avoid the motorway like A55, so made my way through Chester and back out past the Airbus factory at Saltney and was soon onto the lovely roads up towards Llandegla. I crossed Llandegla Moors and then headed across the Nant-y-Garth pass towards Ruthin before taking a quiet road off towards my campsite for the night at Cefn Coch. I can highly recommend Clywdian Holidays site - just a small camping field for about 5 tents but amazingly good facilities, including a really well equipped camp kitchen if you are travelling light.

I quickly pitched my new tent - a Vaude Terratrio 2P which I had got as a retirement gift from my very generous ex-colleagues. A really versatile and easy to erect tent - only my second time after trying it out in the garden, but all was up and ready in less than 15 mins.

Gloria performed fine, apart from the rough low speed running I was expecting, and I am getting used to having interesting conversations with old bikers each time I stop! Most are very complimentary about Gloria's fine lines, which seem to be better appreciated now than when she was first around.

I had been intending to cook at the site, but was getting harrased by a bratty child (with an annoyingly unconcerned parent) from an adjoining tent, so I wandered up to the local pub half an hour or so away for fish and chips and a pint and then turned in after watching the sunset.

The weather was fine again the next morning and I got to try out more retirement / 60th birthday gifts - this time from my 2 sons. A jet boil stove system and ground coffee press meant that I had a fine cup of coffee and muesli for breakfast.

It warmed quickly in the sun, so everything was nice and dry as I packed up and reloaded the bike. Gloria's "loaded up" handling had been great on the journey out and was to get better and better today, as I got more used to riding her.

For the journey back, I mad my way onto one of my favourite bits of road; into Ruthin, then across to Denbigh before heading back across to Mold - beautiful flowing A roads through Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. I have ridden that route many times on much bigger bikes but never enjoyed the riding so much as on the 250. No pressure to perform or go at any great pace, so you could just focus on enjoying the journey.

The low speed fuelling didn't seem to be as big an issue today, but she is still not right so more work to be done there. 

From Mold, there was no simple way to avoid using the A55 so I sat back and cruised it at 55 and was soon back home. All told I had only done about 70 miles, but it was an important step in building up confidence - I had set out accepting that I may need recovering as a worst case, but actually I quickly felt that Gloria would get me home one way or another!

I've now got a bit of a list of further work to do to get her running really nice, but have gained some lovely happy memories of this first camping trip. 

A trip out to Hooton Park Show

I'd been provisionally booked in to display Gloria at a small local show, dependent on me getting her running OK to make it there and back, and I finally had her running reliably (fingers crossed!) the day before. 

Given the myriad of little gripes I've had to overcome to get to this stage, I half expected to try to kick her over in the morning and find that she wouldn't run, but she fired up first time and settled into a smooth steady idle 😀.

It was less than a 30 minute ride up to Hooton, but the sun was out and I was on quiet A roads all the way for a lovely ride in the Spring sun. All went well and I slowly got used to her individual character - things like getting to know the "sweet spots" and gear/speed combinations she doesn't much care for.

I pulled up and was parked up next to a beautiful old Vincent, so everyone ignored Gloria on the way past! There was a good mix of British, Japanese and American bikes there but it was fairly small - maybe 25 bikes and a similar amount of classic cars and buses.

Hooton Park itself is an important site and contains three remaining WW1 hangars on the former RAF airfield, which was subsequently built on by Vauxhall Motors. The three original, Belfast-trussed, hangars are Grade 2 listed and interesting to see this form of construction if you have had anything to do with construction, together with the historic aircraft collection inside.

Anyway, I stayed into the afternoon and then as things started to wind down, made my way back home with an equally uneventful return journey in the sun again. The whole thing was less than 30 miles, but these little first journeys are what helps to build up the trust for the longer ones. 

So Gloria is back under her cover now, waiting for our next adventure, and I am moving back onto the long term restoration project - my Royal Enfield Crusader 250.

Deep Service and first ride

And so, once the bling had been sorted, it was time to make sure that she was actually rideable!

This is how she was running when I first got her - not exactly the smoothest, most refined engine I've ever heard! I started worrying that maybe I had  suffered a severe dose of "looking through rose tinted glasses", remembering how my previous bike had been 40+ years ago.

Stripping down for some access, I found that the plugs indicated some pretty rich running. 

The throttle return cable is quite difficult to fit on these and so a previous owner had just zip-tied it out of the way!

The carburettors were just about clinging on to the manifold by their fingertips!

The air filters look like they haven't been changed this century - hmm not encouraging.

So, plenty of scope for improvement there then.

I adjusted the cam chain tensioner. There was no massive take up of slack, which was quite encouraging. 

Then I set the tappet clearances. One of the adjusters was broken and I had to order a new one - lots of spares are still available for these bikes from David Silver Spares and Wemoto. Many of the cycle parts are common to the iconic Honda 400 Four, which helps a bit. I learnt a useful tip doing this, that using an offset 10mm spammer helps to reach down to the locknut in a quite tight space.

The next job was to set the points gaps and the static timing. This is relatively complex on these bikes and needs to be spot on for them to run properly. I noticed that the condition of the wiring loom to the points was pretty iffy; too short so the connections are stressed and with what looks like some old petrol pipe instead of the proper heat shielding. I added a job to the list, to make a new loom.

I also took off the backplate and checked / lubricated the auto-advance mechanism. 

While the points backplate was removed, I took off the two sets of points to clean up the faces etc. The faces were quite pitted and ancient and I also noticed that one of the insulating washers was missing, which was probably not ideal!  

After a pretty unsuccessful attempt to get things running decently, I decided to replace all of the ignition "consumables", so ordered a new condensor and points, and made the new loom as well.

A tip I have found when setting the points is that there is a mark on the end of the camshaft that, when aligned with the "heel" on the respective set of points, will be at the point of maximum points gap. You have to remove the bolt and washer holding the auto-advance unit in place to see it.

At some point in all of this, I tried running her again. There was a petrol leak, only running on one cylinder and generally she was not happy with the world!

So I thought it would be a good idea to strip the carbs down. The previous owner told me there had been some work done on the carbs, including replacing the diaphragms, so I was hopeful that they would be pretty clean but this was not the case! Everything came apart nicely and at least one of the diaphragms looks new - I'm not convinced they both are, but neither appear to have a hole in it, which is the important thing.

When I was taking one of the fuel pipes off, I found this split in the pipe, which is probably what caused the leak! But I was glad to have been pushed into checking the carbs over really. I fitted new fuel pipes, which had been on the to-do list anyway, to make sure they could deal with the ethanol in modern fuel. 

Removing the carbs is a difficult job on this bike (on most bikes actually!) and that was why the paint on the frame rails was so scratched. The key for me is to remove the inlet stubs first, which is a bit fiddly but gives a lot more room to play with.

At this stage, the carbs had been cleaned and reinstalled; new fuel lines fitted; throttle return cable connected and next was to replace the air filters - these are getting quite rare now and not cheap, but definitely needed doing - look at the old and new filters below!

One feature of lots of older Hondas is that the oil filtration is all done within the engine - there is no external spin-on oil filter cartridge like you might have on a more modern vehicle. To clean the filter, you have to remove the right hand exhaust, kickstart and then the clutch/side engine cover. The camshaft runs in plain bearings in the cylinder head and is really susceptible to damage, if regular oil changes and filter cleaning aren't kept up. If the bearing face is damaged, then the whole head is scrap - not ideal. And because it's not simple to clean the oil filter, a lot of owners neglected this in the past, particularly when these bikes were used for day to day travel rather than as cherished classics.

I haven't opened up the head on Gloria yet, so fingers are still crossed that all is good there. But it was definitely sensible to do an oil change and clean out the filter etc before going any further.

With the oil drained and the engine cover off, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the engine cases were very clean. In the picture below, the round chamber with the circlip on is the centrifugal filter, which needs cleaning out.

And the small metal chamber with the pipe on the next photo is the oil pick up, which has a gauze mesh to filter out any particles etc - also needs a good clean.

With the circlip removed and the cover off, the centrifugal filter was completely clean - very pleased at that!

The pick up strainer had a few bits on it (possibly camchain guide rubber), but it's been doing it's job and I wasn't unduly worried. (My son's 3 year old Honda Grom looked not much better when that was done.)

Nice and clean ready to be reinstalled:

Overall, I was really very pleased (and relieved!) with the condition inside the engine.

While the engine cover was off, I took the chance to give it a quick rub down, prime and a coat of silver enamel - a huge improvement for an hour or so of work. Then the cover was refitted with a new gasket and stainless steel bolts and refilled with fresh oil.

Before I refitted the exhaust, I pulled the rear brake pedal mechanism apart and refurbished that. It looked like the bike had been gently dropped at some point and bent the pedal adjuster, so that the brake pedal sat about 2" above where it should be, which is not a very comfortable position at all! 

It was fairly simple to strip it and bend the adjuster back into place, then fit a new adjuster bolt and locknut. But it was very fiddly to reconnect the operating rod to the brake pedal. I'm sure there is a simple way, but I couldn't find it!

I've also done some other routine servicing stuff - stripped, cleaned and greased the front brake caliper holder, which has a habit of seizing up but was nice and free; replaced the brake fluid when I bled the brake after fitting the new master cylinder; adjusted the clutch; fitted a new horn and lubed/adjusted the rear chain. The general feel is that Gloria has been really nicely cared for over the years. I'm saying that with fingers crossed for when I ultimately remove the head and check the camshaft bearing!

A few electrical gremlins have come to light while I've been doing all this. The first one was the loom to the points that I've already shown above. That was causing one cylinder to cut out, as the connection between points and coils was so bad and also under tension with the result that it came apart slightly.

Then I lost all power when the ignition was switched on. That was traced to a poor repair to the main connector block serving the ignition switch. I ran a new power cable to give a little more length and then soldered in a new connector block.

The rear tail / brake light started playing up and that again was traced to a loose connection between the rear and main looms.

Finally, one of the rear indicators started playing up and I traced that back to a corroded joint on the earth cable inside the indicator. Five minutes with a soldering iron soon sorted that.

I've been all over the wiring trying to make sure all connections are tight, but I think it could really do with a thorough inspection and overhaul of the whole wiring system, probably when I take the engine out next winter. 

As a precaution, I also replaced the 3 fuses and cleaned up all of the fuse box connections to make sure they were secure. I had a thing on my original G5, where the main fuse would occasionally stop making contact in its holder and the bike would just die - it memorably happened twice in exactly the same spot in the Mersey Tunnel and once on a 400/4 that I later had (same fuse box arrangement) as I was riding through Handsworth in Birmingham about an hour before the "Handsworth Riots" broke out - lucky escapes all 3 of them!

I mention the electrics, as I have just finished installing the new points and retiming the ignition etc. I came to try and start the bike and it was completely devoid of any power! Following the principle of 2+2=5, I assumed that the aforementioned ignition switch connector block fix had failed, but all looked sound. I got the voltmeter out and found a completely dead battery 😧. It's an AGM battery and, when I did a bit of research, it seems they don't like irregular use / charging. I've ordered a new, traditional lead acid battery to replace it.

The new battery turned up and highlighted yet another electrical gremlin - a short circuit across the starter solenoid (which is probably what had drained the other battery!) I definitely need to have a deep dive on the electrics sooner rather than later. I sorted that out and also rerouted the electrics under the seat and around the battery box; I think probably to how they should be, as there is much less tension across connectors and no crossing wires to chafe against each other now. 

All sorted and - no spark on LH cylinder. This one was traced to a faulty spark plug. I had previously checked both for a spark but, hey, she's an old, temperamental lady! With  new spark plug fitted, she fired up lovely and I rebalanced the carbs. She is now running much sweeter and I managed to get 15 miles test riding in.

I'm not sure how well this video really shows the difference between when I first got her and now, but it seems immensely better to me! There is still some way to go on fine tuning the carburation I think, but we are definitely getting there 😁.

Hello from Gloria

"Gloria" is my 1974 Honda CB250G5. 

I bought her in November 2021 as a complete impulse purchase off EBay, after seeing the listing just 15 minutes before the end of the auction. Well, it wasn't quite a total impulse buy - there was some method behind the madness.

In early 2021, I'd decided to do another bike restoration, after having fully restored a rusty wreck of a Honda 400 Dream about 10 years earlier (she became "Doris" and you can see her story here). I really liked the idea of restoring a 250 or 360 Honda G5, as the 360 version had been the first proper sized bike I'd had when I passed my test (in 1979 😮). It subsequently "became" a 250 a year or so later after I replaced the broken 360 engine!

This is it in 1979.

I also had some unfinished business with the G5 range, as I had got quite a way down a restoration in the early 2000's, but ran out of money and time with a young family, so I sold it on. The "after" photo here flatters it.

The problem was that these bikes (well, any old bikes really!) had suddenly become desirable and even very rusty heaps were being sold for well over £2,000! 

I ended up going in a different direction and bought a 1962 Royal Enfield Crusader Sports 250, which has been off the road for 40 years, and that is undergoing a total restoration - see here.

Now roll forward 6 months to the aforementioned EBay auction. The bike was relatively local (20 miles away) and the current bid was significantly less than I thought it would go for. It looked in pretty good, mostly original condition and I thought, even if it turned out not quite that nice, it was probably worth about £2,000. I put a bid in at the last minute, not thinking for one second I would get it. Lo and behold, seconds later she was mine! 

My logic was that I could decide which to keep, once the Crusader restoration is complete and, in the meantime I could probably fairly easily get her up and running for Spring and Summer.

So as I got her, she was running roughly and needed a really good tune up but was in quite good original condition and carried her 47 years well. The chrome is generally good and would polish up nicely and the tank paintwork carries several rust spots, but is kind of too nice and original to lose that patina.

A deep service and very light restoration was decided on, with a view to having her back on the road for Spring 2022.

"Why Gloria" you may ask? I have no idea, but each of my "classics" has ended up with a name and they just kind of come to me, as I see their character emerge! The G is definitely from "G5". I have never known another Gloria, although I am quite partial to a song called Gloria by the very magnificent Trials of Cato, so maybe that influenced me?

Mini Adventure to Bristol

My confidence in Doris is increasing the more I ride her. I'd arranged to call down to see my good friends Clive and Sue in Bristol - not seen them for ages, so it was great to have the chance to catch up.

The original plan was to go down there on the Saturday, stay overnight, then come back via Stafford showground for the Classic Bike Show. When the weather forecast slowly started to improve through the week before, I started to think I might get a nice last weekend's riding in before Autumn bites hard? But I was a bit concerned about taking Doris - it's a 4.5 hour, 175 mile ride each way (avoiding motorways) and she is an old girl after all! I was all for taxing and MOTing the VFR for the journey - it was No 1 son Rob's blind faith that persuaded me to use Doris - he kindly pointed out that she'd never let us down in the Isle of Man, so would obviously be fine!

So I went with it and set off in lovely weather on Saturday morning. The plan was to take the A41 down through Cheshire, then onto the A49 to Hereford; A466 down to the Severn bridge and finally a little bit of the M4 to Clive & Sue's at Pucklechurch. I was in no rush and factored in 2 or 3 stops to give the old girl a rest :).

Well my need was the greater for the first (loo) stop! But it was a good place to pull in - at the Lockside Cafe at Grindley Brook locks on the Llangollen Canal. I have now visited the cafe by canal boat, walking, cycling and by motorbike!

Anyway, the journey was pretty uneventful but really, really nice. I stopped for lunch at Craven Arms in Shropshire and then continued south - the roads getting nicer as I got further into the journey. The A466 was particularly good.

As usual, Doris performed flawlessly. On the way, it occurred to me that this was not only my longest journey on Doris but my longest single motorbike journey ever as far as I can recall!

Clive and I have previously done a few visits to the Isle of Man for the TT but his Triumph Sprint has spent several years under a tarpaulin while he was converting his house and building his garage. It was nice to see that Doris has inspired him to recommission the Sprint and we spent a pleasant hour discussing what he'd need to do to return it to it's former glory (not a lot really - the pitted fork stanchions being the worst damage). He has been set a deadline of TT 2013!

Clive took Doris out for a spin up the road - the first time I have seen her being ridden!

The return journey on Sunday was more eventful. First of all I passed literally hundreds of Harleys coming in the opposite direction - not sure where they had been but obviously some big event. Then I tagged onto a gang of "bros" heading my way! It took me 10 minutes or so to pluck up the courage to overtake them - I thought they might hunt me down and tear my head off for disrespecting them, but they all peeled off into Tintern Abbey tea rooms shortly after, for afternoon tea and scones I assume!

The weather turned quite cold and misty as I got nearer home. I had upped the pace a bit, as I left later than planned, but was still only doing 55 - 60 most of the time (I'd given up the idea of heading to Stafford). For a short spell on the motorway, I had her up past 70 for the first time, which was a lot more relaxed than I'd assumed it would be.

As it turned to twilight, I noticed that the headlight was only on the sidelight. I pulled over, and the tail light was also out. I was only 10 miles or so from home and it was too gloomy to start repairing anything at the roadside, so I used main beam and angled the headlight down a bit, then wound up the stop light switch so it was permanently on and took it easy on the rest of the way home. 

She never missed a beat all the way, but a couple of issues have come to light that need looking at: 

• the horn stopped working - probably just a tweak of the adjuster.
• the start button has got progressively harder to use - needs pulling apart and cleaning. That may also be the problem with the headlight and taillight?
• most worryingly, the base gasket is still leaking. Not enough to be a huge problem but disappointing. I will pull the top end off again at some point and use some original Honda gaskets with sealant to try and cure that.

All in all though, a great journey. Loving riding her, particularly the sound pulling away through the gears around 2000 - 4500 rpm :),  and I'm so pleased that she did such a long journey without major drama. Probably not much use in store before Spring 2013 now :(.

Postscript: When I came to try and fix the bulbs, the battery was flat as a pancake and wouldn't respond to a charge. It looks like it boiled dry - classic symptoms of Regulator/Rectifier failure apparently - i.e. too much voltage going to everything. Maybe that long faster ride home over heated it? Anyway, I'll order a new one (and a new battery probably :( ) and see how we get on. I hope the battery is the "sacrifice" and damage hasn't spread to other components like the CDI.

Wednesday - last day (boo hoo)

The wind and rain really whipped up again over Tuesday night but, thankfully it was pretty clear by the morning, which really helped as Wednesday was our last day, so we had to pack the tent and all the gear away - so much easier if it's dry!

Soon we were all packed up and heading off for the, by now, customary breakfast at the swimming pool.

Two races on the programme today - firstly the 500cc Classic GP/Formula Classic, then the  Supertwin/Lightweight Manx GP. The plan was to head out to Ballacraine and watch the first race from there, then follow the back roads round to Bray Hill so that we were nice and handy for the ferry after the race finished.

So out to Ballacraine. I remembered watching TT Practice from there many years back and not being really very struck with it, but I really enjoyed it this time - I think it was the slower speeds of the older machines and the great sounds reverberating off the old pub walls as they headed off down the exit.

How good is this video?.......

(credit - Mr Rob S :))

Rob was very taken with this group of nicely restored sports mopeds. 

I think they were Austrian from memory and really hope they came over in a van!

So we then followed the back roads to Bray Hill. I have never spectated from there and thought it would be too fast to enjoy, but it was magnificent. A great view as the bikes hammered down that, oh so steep, hill then bottomed out in front of us and carried the momentum up towards Ago's leap. Truly spectacular. We saw some nasty weaves there. A rider had been killed just up the road in practice and I think that was the start of it for him :(

Rob at Bray Hill (hairdressers!)

This photo really doesn't begin to show how steep this hill is....

Exit heading off towards Ago's leap and then down to QuarterBridge. 

In case you're wondering, the barriers are moved before the race starts ;)

This gives a better impression of the hill and dip.

LOVED hearing those 2 strokes racing in earnest again :) and the Supertwin class is really good as well.

This turned out to be quite a sad day - In the first race of the day, Ryan Farqhuar (who Rob and I have both followed for quite a time) won the first race, the 500 Classic. Then in the second race, his team bikes were running first and second, when one crashed out. Nigel Moore went on to take the win for Ryan's KMR Kawasaki team. Sadly, it was announced after the race that the other rider (Trevor Ferguson) had received fatal injuries in his crash. Trevor was Ryan's uncle.....  Unsurprisingly, Ryan announced his retirement from road racing the following week. He has nothing left to prove after such a successful career.

Sadly, the journey was now over and we had to head for the ferry. Doris continued to perform flawlessly (apart from stalling on the way up the ramp - I'd forgotten to turn the petrol on..... (blush)), and before we knew it we were home again. A fantastic few days away and she came through with flying colours. Now Rob is as besotted as I am!!

So impressions of the Manx v TT? Well I probably preferred it I think. It's chalk and cheese really, but the slower pace and classic nature of the Manx swings it for me. Will we be back next year? Definitely! In fact we are seriously looking at going for longer next year and joining the marshalling teams for some of it. Watch this space.....

But I think we'll do a homestay next year - I'm getting too old for camping in the rain!!