Prepping Z50R's for show and racing at the Land of the Pines Norton Rallye.

A first year 1979 Z50R spruced up for the annual Land of the Pines Norton Owners Rallye. It came to the shop for some paint, an engine rebuild, new bars and shocks. In a super busy year, I have passed on most all of the other shows, big and small, but always try to make this one where there are a number of friends that usually attend. A friends bike here that was promised for this event, and delivered early with what was supposed to be a rattle-can job, but ended up with PPG color matched acrylic. Though the original Tahitian Red was a shade different from this Blaze Red, the fenders were already Blaze, so I went with it. The tank is an aftermarket HondaTB piece that came on the bike. Taller BBR bars and some heavier duty HondaTB shocks make it more adult friendly.

A 1984 Z50R with the yellow number plates came in for new tires and tubes, a heavy duty clutch, and an 88cc bore kit with a race head. Also belonging to a friend, I was edged out of first place in the minibike race at the rallye by this bike. Not the worst thing to be beat by the engine you just built.

Though I didn’t touch the wheels, pretty much everything else got the treatment, with a lot of correct zinc plated hardware replacing the mix of screws the bike came with. Someone patched this bike together, with a crankshaft from a later bike, and stator and flywheel from an earlier bike. The stator has a lighting coil that can support 6V lights.

The bike broken down for paint. I had the acrylic enamel on hand for another tank painted a while back.

The Blaze Red would be considered orange by most standards, but either way, the color-match is spot on between the 1984 in the foreground and the 1979.

The 1979 clutch basket was the worst I have ever seen, with the center oil slinger filled with a crunchy grunge and signs of burning. Usually I can salvage something from one of these units, but this one was useless. The signs of hammer whacks on the clutch basket tell some of the story, but not all. I was told the bike was started and taken around a track till it started making a screeching noise and was discovered to be completely dry in the crankcase! That does not however explain this level of destruction, with quite a long time necessary to get this level of damage. Oddly enough, the bike started easily and shifted fine, and I was asked to just go over it and make sure everything was okay. The plan was to do a new piston and rings with a cylinder hone, and change out the clutch plates, but when I saw this, I suspected the damage was done before the oil-free ride.

This is the oil pump drive shaft. On the right is a correct used one compared to the one in the engine with the teeth on the end of the shaft sheared off. They were broken off by a rust-frozen oil pump impeller.

The 1979 Z5R engine was completely broken down and rebuilt with some low-milage OEM pieces from the same era, and a new piston and rings. Because of the questionable condition of the parts, everything aside from the engine case, transmission, and stator/flywheel was replaced.

The 1979 is a transition year. The very first Z50R, but retaining some gear from the 1972-1978 early soft tails like the wheels and hubs, the rear brake pedal (painted black) and rod, and a similar muffler to the 72-78, leaving off the number plate on the right side that the later 1980-1987 Z50R models had. The muffler guard appears to be from a 1988-1999 model, but it is fine with the owner for now. The original seat would have had no logos on the sides, this one appears to be a repop. The bike took third place in the minibike category at the Land of the Pines rallye,

The Red Baron took second place,

and first place went to the 1971 Super 50 Cafe. This bike had not been run in a while and was brought back to good running shape.

One last thing, this 1969 Z50A left the shop with a new owner. The very first Z50 I ever bought, built, or revived. The bike came to me as just an engine and frame, without wheels, a tank, or seat. The engine was given a stock rebuild years ago and all the missing parts were located. A solid running and fairly complete bike looking to be a rider or taken to the next level by its new owner.

The 1957 Triumph Freebird returns from the Golden Bolt Motorcycle show.

The 1957 Triumph Freebird bike is back from The Golden Bolt Motorcycle show in Los Angeles. Although the bike did not win in this winner-take-all competition, it was well received and placed in the top ten despite missing out on the critical road test (due to a catastrophic oil leak that presented itself as soon as the bike was kicked over at the start of the ride.) A lot of good moments with friends old and new, and a chance to see some great bikes and their builders up close. The weather was awesome, everyone was cool, and the show was more intimate and chilled than most.

During set-up. I can tell it was a good week-end because I didn’t have time to take too many pictures.

The reason I didn’t make the road test portion of the competition was this hole blown out of the oil-feed block. During it’s previous life, this part had been buffed or sanded aggressively prior to being chrome plated and the solder holding the plug in place was gone. There was no indication of a leak in the test-riding I did prior to this event in 100 degree Texas heat, but shortly after kicking the bike over for the ride, a plume of oil was shooting several feet out from the side of the bike.

Here a brass plug was turned and press-fitted into the bore, and then silver-soldered to secure it. The copper tubes are lead-soldered in place and had to be re-done after the plug was put in. It does not leak and will stay in place till the next owner grinds it away.

One of the high lights of the show was getting a vintage style Bell helmet custom striped by Skratch of Skratch’s Garage. Skratch is a displaced Texan who has made a name for himself on the West coast building, painting and striping rad custom Hot Rods. A true old-school artist who has a love for early American hot-rodding, and produces killer modern builds that showcase his understanding and love for the style.

A subtle but huge change from the previous set-up for the Freebird. Since first re-assembling the bike, the tank position did not feel quite right, but with a couple looming deadlines on the horizon, it was left alone. After fixing the oil leak, I decided it was finally time to address it, and lowered the tank an inch in front. Really happy about how it changed the alignment.

The other side shows another addition to the bike since the show, a brass plug for the tranny. Test riding the bike prior to the show, one of the brass valve-cover caps fell off, so a new set was ordered, and aluminum ones substituted for the show. After returning from the show, the new cap was added, but the caps can only be bought in a set of four, leaving three spares. The tranny plug is the same size, so one cap was modified a little appearance-wise for the job.

A vintage license plate and mounting bracket was mounted. Still working on a light for it.

One of the beautiful things about leather is how signs of wear richen it. The Wade O. Wilson engraved checking on the levers is a detail often overlooked, but one of my favorites.

There are angles from the front and back where the levers are concealed by the bars, giving the bars a clean uncluttered look.

Detail under the seat.

Some of the future finishing for this bike will be packing the panniers with supplies, but for now, they look so beautiful the way Penny Goods Leather put them together.

More details on the rear of the bike.

A rare August rain in Texas made for a great day to shoot pictures.

I got a couple drops of motor oil on the seat, but they just add character. Some leather balm purchased at Wilkinson TX, a local leather artist store, has it looking and feeling supple.

Ready to ride!

Vintage Triumph, Norton, Indian and Honda riding and the Red Baron gets a new seat and pipe.

Riding our local roads around North Texas with a bunch of guys on vintage bikes, stopping for barbeque and some impromptu grass track racing, ending with an evening cool front blowing away the hot summer day…about as good as it gets. Adventure rider and writer Jon Beck was in town chronicling a road trip from LA to Texas with his longtime bud Jason Lee, and we met up for a ride. Jason was riding his 1948 Indian Scout, a bike that despite its age and restoration, gets ridden hard. Jon was riding Jason’s “Goldie,” the 1971 Triumph TR6C repaired in the last post, buddy Ben D’avanza was on his 1974 Norton Commando, John Green on his 1970 Honda CB750, Fabian Campos on a modern Honda XL650, and I was on the Jack Wilson 1967 Triumph Bonneville. Knobbies on Jason, Jon, and Fabian’s bikes, but the rest of us were rocking street tires and feeling the fresh-cut grass slide on the turns.

Getting ready to roll. There was no specific plan, but we found plenty to do.

Jason giving the ‘48 some hot laps on the grass. Even with knobbies, grass can be a little unpredictable.

John Green surveying the bikes after our ride.

Goldie. the ‘48 Indian, and the ‘74 Commando on the roadside in Argyle, Texas.

The Red Baron was back in the shop for a banana seat, sissy bar, and low pipe mods. I wanted to do the seat and sissy bar combo a while back, but it took a couple years for owner Ben D’avanza and I to coordinate a time to do it. The cocktail shaker muffler sounds great and flows well. The kickstart lever and brake pedal were slightly re-bent to clear the pipe.

The seat cover came from a discard custom seat another customer left with me, and I thought it was the right vibe for the build. Ben had the sissy bar, and it was modified to be part of the one-piece seat mount.

Mocking up the parts and photo-testing the profile. The seat pan was made from cold rolled 16 gauge steel sheet. The high pipe is still on at this point. The original 5/8” diameter exhaust was designed for a 50cc engine and is too restrictive for this 90cc engine. The new pipe is a 7/8” and makes for better top end power.

Ben found this LED powered Maltese cross tail light to finish off the look.

Still kind of awkward and fugly…just the way I like them.

The Wilwood brake calipers and rotors are in for the 1993 H-D FXR build. More on that in the next post.