SCOOPERMAN!

The sunny side of the classic world, with the VJMC’S Steve Cooper

T he huge appeal of classic Japanese motorcycles is that they are, by and large, pretty much fool proof. Not idiot proof mind, very little is, but they can normally be rebuilt quite easily given the requisite parts. Unless you manage to mismatch a pair of crankcase halves most Japanese machines from 1966 onwards can be successfully fettled by a reasonably competent spanner twirler. This is both their strength and, surprisingly, their weakness. Arguably if you want a machine that stands out in the crowd don’t buy a Kawasaki H2, a Honda CB750, a Suzuki Gixer or a Yamaha Powervalve that’s just as it was when it left Japan. Little is more dispiriting than rocking up at club night to find a similar bike parked there. Fancy paintwork can personalise a bike but it can also make it look damn hideous and potentially undesirable when it comes to moving it on. Your tastes might not be anyone else’s! And if you follow an established theme such as a Kenny Roberts paintjob on an LC, how many times before has that one been done? Each to their own, but if you fancy a challenge why not build a special? No, not some rip snorting, turbo’d, nitrousgulping, testosterone substitute; that way lies madness and financial ruin. Oh and if you don’t want to follow, sheep-like, the latest, so-called, trends you’d be advised to avoid the bobbers, brat bikes and the like that are created from perfectly decent classics, how about starting with the bare bones of an old bike that most would walk away from? Pick any 60s to 80s 250 and open your mind. How about a 2017 replica of the legendary Read Titan based around the CB250 K series? Or the hugely rare and stunningly gorgeous Yamaha Shadows that Sondel Sport used to produce? Every model from the AS3 to the last of air-cooled RD350S was covered so there’s plenty of scope. And perhaps best of all you’ll have little chance of some nit-picking twit telling you ‘oh… they never made them like that!’ There’s so much reproduction stuff out there now almost anything can be replicated and/or recreated. Some might venture, that, by building a Yamagamma, you are potentially desecrating two classics. The alternative view is that you’ve saved two machines that were, in all likelihood, going to be scrapped and created one cohesive special from the dregs everyone else passed on! And if it causes offence apologies, but the idea of a 350 or 400 Yamaha mill in a Benelli 2C chassis is appealing. Anyone got one they fancy being featured in a CMM road test? Tell Bertie and perhaps you could have four or five pages of fame! Go on, give it a go, we’d love to have you.