‘Now I can’t wait to get out and ride’
Project bikes prepped for post-lockdown fun
‘The bike only cost £100 and was fun to do’ #R5K MEMBER SERA JAY
Mechanically savvy members of MCN’s #ride5000miles community have been putting their skills to the test by completing winter projects, ready to start piling on the miles once restrictions ease. Naturally lockdown has put the kibosh on big miles so far this year, so instead members have been getting away from it all in their garages and sheds. Finished builds include Sera Jay’s 1996 Kawasaki KLE500, which she purchased last year before getting busy with the spanners. “It’s been really nice being able to get out of the house to do little bits on the bike,” Sera told MCN. “It’s been a welcome distraction from everything that’s going on.” The £100 bike had been sat disassembled for the past 14 years and, once at its new home, Sera set about performing a complete engine rebuild, plus an overhaul of the suspension and brakes. For a little extra pep, there’s now a Kawasaki GPZ500 head and carbs. Next she plans to bolster her annual mileage total by using the KLE on green lanes.
“I’m really pleased with it. It’s come out exactly how I wanted. I’m over the moon,” she continued. “This was an ideal opportunity to get back into off-road riding and it was cheap enough for me to not worry about making everything original.” It’s not all been about complete rebuilds though and Welsh rider
Mark Davies has been sprucing up his trusty Yamaha FZS1000 Fazer – taking the front-end apart and giving it all a thorough clean ready for the new season. Mark said: “It started off with a fork seal and ended up with a full service on the forks, the brakes and every part I took off was treated to a full clean.
“A lot of people don’t do jobs like these because they are frightened to take parts off their bikes,” the 58-year-old continued. “The more you can make tidy and the more you strip it down, the more you understand it – and that’s what I really enjoy doing.”
With the Fazer now back together and looking good as new, Mark plans to spend the year exploring his local Welsh roads, plus a potential tour to the Scottish North Coast 500.
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