classic motorcycle forum
The VintageBike Message Board => The Classic Biker Bar => Topic started by: catenaccio on July 07, 2007, 03:49:43 AM
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Greetings and salutations learned gents.
I'm 28, currently coming off the back of the demise of a long term relationship (59, 000 miles and two continents) and I'm skint.
I'm spending far more time rebuilding and servicing friends Il4 Japanese machines these days than I do riding around.
This clearly has to stop!
Therefore I seek your cumulative insight ..
What classic motorcycle, British or otherwise, suitable to carry a 12st bloke, his kit bag and a bed roll can I seek out for under £500?
Obviously, for that money it will be absolutely mullered cosmetically and probably have a few pressing issues that need attention.
However, I'm a serial monogamist when it comes to bikes, had my last one for 9 years (a 1992 ZZR1100 C3) and covered half the planet on it.
My only requirements are: reliability (I don't consider regular servicing and tweaking as detracting from that, I merely need to get home when its raining or when I'm far far away), four strokes (ideally), spongey suspension (for long distance comfort) and a steady cruising speed of not less than 65 mph.
Can it be done? I really do only have £500 to spend and altho I anticipate lavishing thousands on whatever I finally get in the end over the next few years, I can't afford it now.
Does anyone have any advice?
I have already looked and ruled out:
Enfield (too expensive)
Triumph (a good one is £1500 min.)
I am looking at a 1977 Jawa on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AAAQ%3AUK%3A1&viewitem=&item=250138267334&rd=1
Hopefully that will come in under £500. Fingers crossed!
Leaving me some cash left to tart it up and fix the inevitable pressing issue.
I'm also keeping my eyes peeled for an MZ. However I wanted something 'substanial' rather than a flyweight.
Does anyone on here recommend something specific, or indeed have something specific for sale?
Thanks in advance!
- Chris
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Under £500 and cruising speed of 65 mph. The answer is very simple. No You wil have to cruise at 40.
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Forgive me if I mistaken, but the Jawa will do 65mph all day long.
And they cost a lot less than £500. ???
In fact there's quite a lot of 250-350cc machines out there in this price range.
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Have you ever ridden/owned a Jawa before?
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Nope.
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If you do get to ride one then I don't think you'd want to try and ride it at 65 MPH for long.
A Jawa would not be my chioce.
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Can you qualify your statement; add some information, evidence, or qualitative insight in order to make it less generalized?
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The Jawa 350 was not a particularly enjoyable motorcycle to ride if I remember correctly, as they were rather poorly made and agricultural.
The (dynamo) lighting equipment, brakes, finish etc. not being very good.
40-45 MPH being the happiest cruising speed. I seem to remember it started to vibrate badly above that speed.
The Left side gearchange lever doubles up as the kickstart lever, which sounds like a good idea but is just a nuisance. The dual kick start/gear lever travel when in gear change mode was excessive.
Not a bike I'd be prepared to spend anywhere near £500 on personally.
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What would you spend £500 on then?
I mean that would get me more or less any semi modern or modern Jap bike.
GPZ 500 S
Honda CG 125
Honda CX 500
Suzuki GN 250
etc etc.
What by way of classic 70's, 80's and early 90's iron?
A big 4t single would be nice.
I looked at the possibility of a Guzzi but the small bore one's were notoriously unreliable and I didn't fancy rebuilding the uv-joint and/or stripping the block down prior to putting some miles on it.
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What would you spend £500 on then?
A bit of an awkward question for me to answer, as I doubt there is anything that I would particularly want to buy (or expect to pay) in that price range.
You mentioned MZs earlier, they seem to have a cult following of enthusiasts, and they would appear to be reasonably built and fairly reliable (-except for the odd main bearing failure!) and pleasant to ride for a reasonable distance apparently, (I've never ridden an MZ).
So if I needed a bike in that sort of price range then I might consider an MZ?
A Japanese bike wouldn't really be on my list at all, I would much rather find a cheap old seventies BMW twin.
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MZ's are ok, but they are too lightweight for moving around continents on. Good commuter bikes, but I wouldn't like to try and do 2, 000 miles on one.
That said, I would happily (and have!) do Spain on a Vespa.
Bizarre logic? Surely.
The only mitigating factor being I hand built the Vespa from crankcases up. So it was never in doubt.
Still ..
BMW's aren't my thing. They lack all vestige of soul or character. I'm a Valentino not a Schumacher sort of chap.
That and even 35 year old Beemers are being touted for more than I sold my trusty ZZR for last month ..
Arse over tit.
Maybe I should save up and buy a Triump and stop messing around eh?
Meh.
Guzzi G5 is my 'dream' bike. Cheapest example I could find was twice my budget tho ..
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MZ's are ok, but they are too lightweight for moving around continents on. Good commuter bikes, but I wouldn't like to try and do 2, 000 miles on one.
BMW's aren't my thing. They lack all vestige of soul or character. I'm a Valentino not a Schumacher sort of chap.
...Your requirements do appear to have changed somewhat from:
"My only requirements are: reliability (I don't consider regular servicing and tweaking as detracting from that, I merely need to get home when its raining or when I'm far far away), four strokes (ideally), spongey suspension (for long distance comfort) and a steady cruising speed of not less than 65 mph. "
-Which doesn't really tie-in with you being a "Valentino" type of person, -yet you were considering a Jawa...oh well!. No doubt Valentino would need to consider a compromise if he had £500 to spend?
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The 350 JAWA dis have one redeming feature in their day.... They could out handle and out accelerate the likes of the Honda CB550 and Kawa Z550.
This is due to the massive 38 Pounds per Foot torque then engine chucks out coupled with a wide ratio gearbox.
I had one, a 1977 model, that cruised happily at 75 MPH all day, had a top speed of 96 MPH once the engine restrictor was bypassed, and was comfortable.
However the stock brake shoes, back in 1987, were abismal and so at any speeds over 45 MPH the bike was in no hurry to stop.
I used to race a guy on a HOnda CB550 every morning down the bypass and and twisty roads. He never won despite more and more manic riding.
My bike had 31,000 miles in the clock at the time and was all black. It was a winter hack whilst my 1979 Aprillia 350 twin was being rebulit.
Forget all the ignorant bullshit from folks who are just repeating the rubish printed in the bike magaizines over the years. Remember that the journoes had already written the test before riding the bikes.
The fact is that a JAWA or CZ will last longer than any other Japanese 2 stroke. A friend has, so far, covered 114,000 miles on a TS 350 Type 632 model.
As a back up bike they're always handy.
The one I'm using at the moment has finally blown a big end out after 50,000 miles (rare on a JAWA engine) and did this aorund 2,000 miles ago. It is still running and still cruises at 70 MPH. However it now vibrates and ike a Harley!! It' has been a good hack for many years, so I'll probally treat it to another engine. It'll carry on like this for months.
They are built a lot stronger than any of the Japanese bikes I've ever owned of fixed.
The problem is that JAWAs go very well when serviced and set up properly. However, as with all bikes, it takes just one moron to fiddle and screw up the balance of an engine and a bike will go like shite.
Then someone has a go on the bike, who expects the bike to be bad, and things appear as expected.
The ignition is nearly always set up wrong and the exhaust system is always clogged.
The points should be set to fire at 2.8mm. BTDC. You'd be surprised how bad points settings affect any bike's performance.
Any JAWA 350 should be able to reach 40 MPH in 1st gear rapidly and want to cruise faster than 70 MPH. If not, it could either need a rebore (older than 20,000 miles) or have carb and point setting issues. Don't forget the exhausts either.
Always check JAWAs in top gear at maximum torque in top gear on a steep hill. It should trundle up any UK hill in top gear at 30 MPH due to the engine torque.
If the top gear tries to jump out, then the gearbox final drive sprocket bearing is shot and forcing the gearbox to ride the selector forks. This is a simple repair but involves spliting the engine. If you're not a spanner weilding type, walk away and leave it to thse that are.
Spares abailabilty is excellent with many 3rd party companies offering pattern parts.
There is an active owners club, here in the UK, and similar in most counties in the world. Only in Britain did JAWAs have a bad press, because they we'ren't made in Japan and lasted more than 15,000 miles. Elsewhere, in the world, they were well though of.
The saying goes that you'll either like a JAWA or you've never owned one.
Be warned... once you have one JAWA, CZ, MZ , etc. you have complete strangers coming up and offering you another one for free. So you take the free bike for spares and fiddle with it and it'll come back to life. So you tax and MOT it and now you have two. And the next day a complete starnger sees you on it and offer you a free dead JAWA or CZ....
It called "Eastern Block Motorcycle Aquisition Syndrome.
There are never any owners of commie bikes who own just one example because of this.
I've never paid more than £100 for a two stroke JAWA or CZ and I'd expect it to be MOT ready for that money.
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The 350 JAWA dis have one redeming feature in their day.... They could out handle and out accelerate the likes of the Honda CB550 and Kawa Z550.
One redeeming feature only? (and the one I rode I doubt would have out-accelerated a restricted 125
This is due to the massive 38 Pounds per Foot torque
That output would seem to be considerably at odds with what is quoted in both the owner's handbook and Jawa workshop manual figures for a 634?
Be warned... once you have one JAWA, CZ, MZ , etc. you have complete strangers coming up and offering you another one for free.
Unbelievable!
If they are so good why would people want to give them away??
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The people that usually give them away are older riders who aren't able to ride anymore or they've married and are not allowed to.
Some times they've inherretted the bike from a dead relative and don't ride motorcycles themselves.
The usual thing is a simple MOT failure and the owner just hasn't the skills to fix it up.
The fact that they will continue to run even with a ring gap of 4mm. (One I fixed this year for someone) and still make 65 MPH eventually.
My Type 632 outfit towing a Velorex 700 has a top speed of 89 MPH, though riding outfits at this speed is akin to flying a twin engined bomber on one engine.
It is more happy to cruise at 70 MPH on motorways and I set up the engine to do this.
The original JAWA 350 Type 634 had a small airbox and filter from the 1960's Californian model. This put out 22 BHP. Later ones churned out 28 BHP and had a better designed airbox system. These were the high torque models, as the earlier versions we'ren't up to the sidecar tug job.
I've had an early version, back in the early 1980's, and it made only 75 MPH top whack. However fitting a later carb and a K&N filter added another 20 or so MPH to this.
Like with all old bikes, they come in various conditions and states. However they should not go slow or be sluggish unless something is seriously wrong. If yours wouldn't out accellerate a 125 then it was seriously sick. In fine fettle a JAWA 350 will match speed with an aircooled RD 250 easily. Mine was better than my 22,000 mile Suzuki X7 on acceleration back then.
The workshop manual vary between models, as do technical specs. There were 7 different variants built over the years.
My only complaint with all the 1970's models I used was the abismal stock brakes. I forked out and replaced all the shoes with Ferrodo AM4 items. In the dry the brkae were as bad as 1970's Suzuki GT brakes in the wet!!
Yours sound like some of the bikes I've aquired that have clocked up a fair few miles and need a rebore. I've had both excelent, good and cronic plus a few terminal cases, but they all managed to run somehow, usually n defiance of the laws of motorcycle physics.
The best case was a 1973 CZ 250 a friend had turn up at his breaker's yard, which had last been on the road in 1975, according to the tax disc.
It was 1996 and in between this time it had laid on its side with a Privet hedge growing throughand around it.
It was unloaded from the van and a small audience gathered to watch John work some magic on it.
It was seized solid.
In went the Coke-Cola and I helped him rock it backwards and forwards in 1st gear to free up the piston. Meanwhile bet were being placed as to wether he could make it run.
The engine eventually managed a complete revolution.
Next in went the Duck Oil and the bike was rocked again backwards a forwards and then run around the yard, plugs out in gear.
Then some petrol was poured into the carb, some petrol was poured down the plug holes and the plugs fitted.
Then it was push started and it fired up on one cylinder, closely foloowed by the other cylinder within a minute. JIhn then rode it around the yard showing off.
The crowd of punters was gob smacked and John rode back to state his belief that, quote, "JAWAs and CZs never die, they just hybernate between owners!!"
It kick started afterwards as well.
Another CZ 250 was found at the bottom of an old flooded quarry back in the 1990's, by some divers. It was about 50 feet down, the female owner (one of the divers) told me.
Anyhow, the bike was recovered and it actually still ran OK so they MOTed it and it passed. Despite being underwater for a number of years, the enamel paintwork and chrome had survived as well.
OK now would any other make of bike survive like this??
Definately nothing Japanese.
I find it easier to fix old JAWAs and CZs to fixing the occasional Jap bike that comes my way. Jap bikes are always an up mountain struggle as they seem to have inbuilt self destruct systems built in to bypass and override. Czech bikes are a stroll in the park when compared and just seem to have some immunity to corrosion. I wish that my Suzuki GT 550 B had the same ability.
The fact is that they are made of better materials and quite well engineered with the intention of lasting a very long time and being infinately repairable.
The majority of surviving everyday use two stroke motocycles from the 1970's and 1980's are JAWAs, CZs and MZs. They just outlived the competition.
You need to have a go on a sorted out JAWA and see how they should go.
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My Type 632 outfit towing a Velorex 700 has a top speed of 89 MPH, though riding outfits at this speed is akin to flying a twin engined bomber on one engine.
I hope you are not quoting that from the speedo reading? As the speedo on the one I rode showed at least 20% fast.
The original JAWA 350 Type 634 had a small airbox and filter from the 1960's Californian model. This put out 22 BHP. Later ones churned out 28 BHP
Yes 28 BHP @ 5,250 RPM as stated in the owner's handbook and workshop manual.
Yet the handbook/manual quoted torque figure of 3.4 kgf/m @ 4,750 RPM for the 28 BHP model doesn't convert to anywhere near your quoted figure of "massive 38 pounds per foot torque" that you mentioned?
(3.4 kgf/m x 7.233 = 24.5922 lbf/ft .)
Or: http://www.gordonengland.co.uk/conversion/torque.htm
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The speedoes normally read 2 to 3 MPH slower than actual.
I received a ticket for 38 MPH from a following motorcycle cop (I'd seen him) when my speedo reckoned I was doing exactly 30 MPH in the 30 MPH limit.
It's probally because some are sprocketed down for sidecars. Changing the 18 tooth front sprocket fo a 15 or 16 tooth for a sidecar, on a gearbox driven speedo, will have a huge effect on the speedo. I've always had the ones with under reading clocks. I've had mates ride alongside on various Japanese bikes over the years and comment on the speedo underreading. The trip meter also always measures distances less than mates bikes on long trips, etc.
Which manual are you reading?? I've have two of the various workshop manuals they produced including the early version.
The Type 638 has a 29 - 30 Pounds per Foot torque reading, but this is a higher revving engine. The unrestricted 1986 version made 34 BHP and had a reline at 7,000 RPM. I've had two of these. A friend still has two in his garage. Later post 1988 version had restrictors fitted in the carb manifold, exhaust baffles (a large choker collar) and in the airbox, to comply with Dutch and Austrian 350cc motorcycle power limit rules.
These only make 23 - 25 BHP and do just 80 MPH grudgingly. I know someone who imported a Austrian RD 350 YPVS that was restricted in a similar was to 27 BHP. It took a lot of money to unrestrict it. We are so lucky here at the moment!!
The CZ 250 was rated at 28.5 Pounds per Foot, exactly the same as the GT380M, another bike I've had here.
As (Torque x RPM) / 5,252 = BHP (I've operated a proper torque measuring dynomometer!!), generally high revving engines will have lower torque rating than a lower revving engine of the same cubic capacity. It's a fact of engine physics.
The Japanese went for low torque high BHP engines and JAWA, CZ and a few others went for high torque low BHP engines. MZ and a few others went for the middle ground.
The old RD250 put out less than 20 Pounds per Foot torque.
As BHP, like Wattage, is a calculated resultant number from two measured figures, it can be totally meaningless when quoted out of context.
25 BHP on a 125 will feel totally different to 25 BHP on a 250, the 125 having less obviously less torque than the 250 in order to make 20 BHP.
Basically BHP is a calculated measure of crank innertia, which is what does the work. HP is calculated from Wattage created from a generator and works out at a higher figure than BHP. This is Watt's Horsepower.
Then there is Power Starken (PS) which works out to be about 1 PS = 0.86 BHP. So a bike quote at 100 PS is actually 0.86 BHP and 1 HP is about 0.94 BHP.
The Dynos that folks can go and have their bike tested on measure HP and not BHP, uless they can give a torque reading as well. If it is calculating through current produced only, then it will be measuring Wat's Horsepower only (HP).
It is the torque that accellerates a bike and it is this that the rider feels. High torque engines will always out accellerate high horsepower bikes of the same cubic capacity.
Having tuned strokers for drag racing and road for so long, I generally just ignore horsepower quotes and focus on how much torque I have to work with.
My old Suzuki GT 550 B drag bike used to shatter the cluctch basket on runs. I warunning Nitro Toluene diluted with petrol, but the torque still destroyed the transmission from time to time. That had frightening amounts of torque and delivery.
The world's current fastest accellerating production bike, the Feuling W3C, 2.5 Litre has 216 Pound per Foot torque and puts out 217 BHP at the rear wheel. Best top
speed, down an airstrip with the rider strapped on, was 228 MPH and still going.
The bike is a naked super cruiser, like a V-Rod done properly. Needless to say, being a fan of high torque for their size engines, I want one!!
Go type in Feuling W3C and see for yourself.... its fantastic.
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The point of the original posting has been missed here, anyway.
On the advice of friends who've owned and suffered these and myself also, usually having to try and mend them, avoid any of the following.:-
Voskhod 175.... No body has ever seen one running!! I know a friend who has one and it has never run in 15 years despite his and mine efforts. He see it as a challenge.
HONDA CB250N Superdream.... this was the slowest 250cc learner bike in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
Every magazine slagged them off. Bike magazine speed tested one and stated that it was 3 MPH slower than the CZ 250 and MZ 250,at 83 MPH, making it the slowest 250 on UK roads.
Chinese 125s will out accelerate it!!
It is so unbelievely heavy for a 250.
"They don't accelerate actually, they sort of gain momentum", is what a friend reckoned about it when he rode one.
Basically they're overweight slugs and have put many youngsters off motorcyling for life in their heyday.
Bike refered to them as the "Side Street Sleeper", everyone else called them "Wet Dreams"
Exhaust note is like a sick BMW.
Just don't even consider buying one.
Yamaha XS 250/400.... carb diaphrams, similar performance to a Superdream, mechanical auto advance rusts and seizes up. However they do sound good when they run.
Any Kawasaki with KH in front of it, unlessyou enjoy constant maintainance and fettling. These are for serious fanatics only. They were just as bad when new!!
A GT 380 makes a reasonable choice of classic bike.
It sounds good, spares support is good, easy to work on.
It isn't that fast, even when new they do only 101 MPH.
OK they handle poorly but aren't the worst 3 cylnder bike with handling hastles.
The engines are pretty easy to rebuild and the only bug with them is the wiring rotting with Verdegris, a problem with all old Suzukis.
They go and sound good.
They were generally stronger buit than the finnicky and fragile Yamaha and Kawasaki 2 strokes.
The Japs did manage to make the occasional reliable 2 stroke bike and the GT380 is one of them.
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Which manual are you reading?? I've have two of the various workshop manuals they produced including the early version.
= First edition (A).
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I've that one for the 1974 models in the garage somewhere.
I've also the late 1970's (B) and (C) Manuals. Also the Type 638 TS 350 (NOt KS 350 versions) dealer service manual (the glossy one), which I bought in Prague.
Over here it cost £38, over there it cost me £6.
A friend has the joe public service manual. It is the usual red covered recycled paper type one, just like the old Type 634 manuals.
My brother had the GT380M at the same time that I had the 1977 JAWA on the road in 1988 and he used to hate the fact that the JAWA peed all over the GT except on top speed. I'd hit f;at out at 96 MPH and see him gradually closing in the mirrors, then stagger past flat on the tank in a cloud of smoke.
Then I made the mistake of porting out and gas flowing the GT, fitting K&N filters, changing the needles and guid in the carbs for GT550M ones and fitting All Speed Formula 3 racing pipes (not the joe slow road ones).
He could now out accelerate the JAWA and also make 65 MPG instead of the stock 45 MPG. Another improvement was that the GT could cruise in top gear, something stock GT380s struggle to do as top is usually the downhill gear.
Top speed was about 115 MPH and the bike had 44,000 miles on the clock by then. He raced a Honda NS400 once and out paced it.
It was immaculate and still in the original black finish with perfect chrome. He sold it too a dick head who triked it. His new wife had made him promise to give up riding motorcycles.
A good GT380 can be had for under £500 with cosmetically pretty ones going for £1,000 or more.
They are a good all rounder, are surprisingly reliable and tough, for a Jap 2 stroke and are comfortable to ride on long distant rides. They also look just so different.
Avoid the Suzuki GT550 (I own one) as they have worst fuel consumption than an SUV (mine does 18 MPG cruising but it is tuned), handle like a drunk carthorse on roller blades and handle 10 times worst than a TL1000!!
No seriously, these bike put riders in hospital and you need to be extremely focused when riding one, because, just like a Welsh woman, they can go from nice to nasty for no apparent reason. I lost the front whilst lightly braking a GT550 on a hot summer's evening on a bone dry road at 30 MPH in a straight line.
I ended up in hospital.
The violent power delivery does make them eat a lot of internal parts and also contributes to the terrible handling problems.
Like all evil handling bikes, GT550s steer on the throttle. Any bike that steers on the throttle has handling issues. The GT550 totally steers on the throttle.
I let people ride mine and had them come back white as a sheet. A mate still jokes today about the YPVS owner who has so shaken up that he couldn't stop shaking or let go of the bars when he came back.
I've crashed mine at 20 MPH even when the bike sat up and decided that it wanted to go up a bank rather than around a corner after I shut the throttle off mid bend.
Oddly enough, the GT380 has none of these evils, apart from the flexy frame.
I recomend either the JAWA 350 or the Suzuki GT380 as they are both tough as nails, easy to maintain, easy to source parts and have dedicated owners club followings.
Both look so bizzare today too.
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I've that one for the 1974 models in the garage somewhere.
The 'A' handbook = 1976 (well that's what it says!) - same info.
Another improvement was that the GT could cruise in top gear, something stock GT380s struggle to do as top is usually the downhill gear.
As I own a standard GT380 I would have to disagree, my GT happily pulls sixth gear under normal conditions.
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The coments, in the used bike magazines of the 1980's and 1990's were usually on the lines of the GT380 could only pull 6th level. On owner joked that the bike would do 85 MPH in 5th and 65 MPH in 6th if there was the slightest headwind.
My yonuger brother's GT380M could still manage to put 106 MPH on the clock (about 101 MPH in reality) when prone on the tank. He passed his bike test on the thing with a Sidewinder attached. It was faster without it obviously.
On long bike rally journeys, it was confortable and he even rode with his mate "Heady Skid", so named as he fell off of the back of another friend's GPX 600 and discovered that unlike on TV and in the movies, he needed to do his helmet strap up. Yep, he had gravel rash on the back of his thick head which took months to heal up. However the nickname "Heady Skid" is with him for life.
The split middle exhaust is what slows he bike up. A friend's wife's brother fitted another right hand pipe to his, ala the KHs, and this improved performance.
We junked the centre stand and saved about 3 stone on weight!!
The only serious problem he had wth it was when a piston ring broken and scored the left hand cylinder. It was 1 day before a rally and so I had to arrange for a mate's bike shop to rebore the cylinder that morning, fit the new piston and rebore cylinder, then have my younger brother ride up and down the local bypass, that evening, until he'd put 100 miles on the clock to run it partially in.
At 4 AM, the following morning, we met up with the rest of the gang and set off on a 300 mile run to a rally. We travel fast, hence the running in of the new piston and rings.
On JAWA and CZ speesdo errors....
On my cousin's XS250, 70 MPH on his clock was 62 MPH on a CZ 250 clock riding alongside. That was actually the first time I was aware of the error being negative and not positive.
Every JAWA or CZ I've owned reckons that cars and trucks in the slow lane on motorways are doing 44 MPH when it is obvious that they are doing 47ish MPH (50 MPH on a car speedo allowing for the up to -10% error).
My outfit doing 89 MPH.... the following Kwack GT550 had me at 93 MPH!! I could only stick at this speed for about 3 miles as the drag form the sidecar is extremely heavy on the bars. The bike wants to veer left and I have to use muscle power to keep it straight. This becomes very tiring.
About 60 to 65 MPH cruising is the fastest the thing will go without arm ache for the rider. Speeding on outfits is for masochists only.
Having been called in to fix numerous 2 stroke triples over the years, I reckon that the GT380 was the only practical one of that era. I've ridden and fixed KHs, which were luckily someone else's problem, all of which were horrid.
The last KH I fixed was 3 years ago whilst up at a mate's place in Oxford. Someone he knew had bought animmaculate Y -Reg KH 250 B5 but none of the bike dealers in the area knew how to set points (true)!!
So I was roped in and spent an afternoon servicing the thing.
I was even nice enought to struggle to remove the biscuit tin airbox, dismantle it, remove the engine power intake restrictor pipe in the airbox and reset the carbs again.
It now went better and did more than the stock 88 MPH that the B4 and B5 versions were restricted to. I'd converted it to B3 spec.
The general rule with KHs is, unless totally insane, steer well clear of the things. They require constant fettling, even during rides, to keep going properly.
Given the choice between a GT380 and a KH400, I'd pick the GT380 ever time. They're just so nice to cruise around on.
Catenaccio, you can buy a sorted GT380 for under £500 at the moment. A GT380 will cruise at 70 MPH for hours on end, as my younger brother used to be able to match the cruising pace set by my 1977 JAWA 350 back in the 1980's.
We once rode from the M25 junctionof the M3 to the M27 non-stop at between 75 and 85 MPH coming home from one Essex bike rally in 1989. I was riding one of the 6 only 1980 rare unrestricted faired CZ350 Custom Sport Mk.III. bikes, which was the only stock CZ sold in the UK that could go faster than 100 MPH. Only six were built and I own one of them!! It is soooooo different than the stock CZ350 to ride.
You should look around for a sorted nice GT380 and you will find that it will fill your requirements just right.
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Thanks for all the help and advice guys!
I've PM'd a couple of you before reading the 2nd page of replies. D'uh.
So please disregard those ..