Yamaha TZ700 Reborn in Holland
Back in the early ‘seventies, Yamaha decided it had to come up with a bike to be able to contest what was then the premier racing event in the world, the Daytona 200; 200 miles of pretty much flat strap racing. The development started in 1972, or there abouts and that bike, the 1973 TZ750A was the result.
may know that the Daytona circuit has some very specialized issues, one being the actual speed and another, the banking set at thirtyone degrees. Those A model 750s would hit around 300km/h so that wasn’t an issue, it was trying to get them through a 200 miler without grinding the exhaust chambers to pieces and/or frying rear tyres. You see, all four expansion chambers were underneath the bike. One trick was to limit the rear suspension travel to about two and a half inches. Also, poke the front forks through the triple clamps as far as possible to get more ground clearance, but the pipes still fell apart because they were flat sided and vibrated themselves to bits.
So, in 1974, I eventually managed to get one of these rockets on a contract with Victorian Yamaha distributor, Milledge Yamaha. To say the big TZ was a handful was an understatement. They understeered going into a corner and snapped into oversteer coming out. We all learned a new word, high-side. One got used to looking at the world upside down, disconnected from the motorcycle. People tried all manner of remedies. My late brother-in-law, Ross Barelli and I managed to get a close look at Pat Hennen’s 750 Daytona Suzuki triple at a Sandown meeting and the angle of the rear units struck us as an excellent compromise. They leaned forward at about 45 degrees, where the originals were almost vertical. This would give more wheel travel, if nothing else. A good friend, Rod Tingate, was the workshop manager at Milledges at the time and was promptly press-ganged to do the work. We lifted the rear slightly and searched for better shock units. The best we could find then was Koni. These proved to be an excellent choice. At the front we made small changes to damping valves and careful choice of oil viscosity and level. There was also fine tuning of the steering damper and its position. It all worked well and both Rosco and I won our fair share of races. There were some major engine mods as well, but that’s another story. We did get a very special set of pipes from Kevin Cameron in the States – a set of 4 into 2 chambers. Think about that with a four-cylinder two stroke. So, time went on and Milledges told me to get rid of that bike as a new D model was on its way over for
me. We sold the A to Mount Gambier sidecar racer, Alex Campbell, in 1976. The engine was removed for sidecar use and the rolling chassis disappeared. About three years ago I was up at Eastern Creek, at a Barry Sheene Festival of Speed meeting, when a fellow approached me to tell me that a friend of his had what he thought was my TZ750A and would he mind if he gave him my contact details. A short while later I received an email from Leo Kruijmer, who lives in Amsterdam, and yes, it was my old bike. No engine, but mostly everything else. It had been battered around a bit, so there was a lot of work to do. I sent Leo all the info I still had and all the photos I had and away he went. It turns out the story had another Australian connection, which has quite a twist to it. At some stage after the TZ was sold to
Alex Campbell, the rolling chassis somehow found
its way back to Melbourne and ended up at a wrecking yard that specialised in BMWs, run by Ron Scholes in Coburg. Around 15 years ago Scholes advertised a later TZ750 for sale and the wellknown Indian and Harley collector Peter Arundel made enquiries about it. Peter inspected the bike and had decided to purchase it, when he noticed another chassis lying in the corner of the workshop – my old bike. A deal was struck to take both bikes and off they went back to Peter’s place. He later sold the complete bike but hung onto the exMilledge chassis, without any definite plans to do anything with it. Eventually he decided to move it on and advertised it, and Leo noticed the ad and got in touch. So the bike was soon on its way to The Netherlands, and the beginnings of a new life.
The pictures you see here don’t really show what a fantastic job he did. He eventually finished the restoration, complete with an engine he bought from Germany, I think. I put him in touch with Kevin Cameron about the pipes, which Kevin still had the measurements and details of, and Leo built a set. He is a very handy man in the workshop. Leo kept sending me pictures of the restoration as it went on; it took over a year to complete the project. He even got hold of a set of the same type of Koni shocks that we had used back in 1976. Once it was completed, Leo rode it at several demo meetings and then contacted me to say “you need to come over and ride your bike”. Bloody hell, yes! So, Lynne and I, along with Mr and Mrs. Editor, planned a trip to Holland and Germany to do just that.
The venue was Gemert, about 120km south east of Amsterdam, (which since 2017 has been famous for having the world’s first 3-D printed concrete bridge!) where they have a sort of demonstration for race bikes around the very narrow streets of the town.
The lap distance was about 2.6km, a big rectangle with an ess-bend made with hay bales at the entry to the last corner. They had it set up pretty well, with corner marshals, a gantry at the start/finish line, commentators – even a bar. So civilized! It’s not a race but everybody goes like blazes, including Leo who was riding his ex-Jack Middelburg Nico Bakker-framed TZ750. Walking through the pits at Gemert looking for Leo was quite an experience. As soon as I saw that TZ I knew it was my old bike. It looks exactly as it did when I had it, even down to the sponsorship stickers. The time came to hop on and do what we came over for. Well, what a shock. Firstly, we were on the right track all those years ago as far as handling went. It steered well and was easy and accurate to place. No understeer going into corners and able to gas it hard coming out. Oh, did I mention wheel standing. That bike always was terribly prone to it. It still is. Every time I yanked that throttle open it was like an Otis elevator, up it went. Acceleration was just as I remember too; better be pointed where you want go, ‘cos it’s gonna go there real fast. The seating position on those A models had a big hump and it needed it. That model had the iron callipers and today they are a bit hard to get pads for. Enter brake fade. I went up an escape road trying to pull it up once the pads faded. Leo is getting better pads for future runs.
To say that I enjoyed myself would be a big understatement. I loved the day and loved having the opportunity to ride that bike again. Thank you, Leo, and what a fantastic job you’ve done. Everybody at Gemert made such a fuss of me being there and made me feel so welcome. We shared a pit with
Nico Bakker, the frame builder, and I got to talk with him quite a bit. At the end of the day trophies were awarded and I managed first place in my class. How good is that. What a blast.
My thanks again to Leo, his lovely wife, Tineke, and all their friends who offered us such warm hospitality during our visit, it was a fantastic experience.