The Zebra

Starting | Cone air filters | Rear shock | Other mods
Chad from the xrv.org.uk forum had come with me to see the knackered old RD04 motorbike for sale in Kent.

The rear shock absorber was gone, the fuel tank was rotten through and patched with fibreglass and the seat was torn, but there were spares of these things.

There were lots of little repairs needed too but everything major seemed OK. But we could not get it to start, despite trying to bump it and jump lead it. “I’ve never bought a bike that didn’t start,” said Chad, sagely.

So we walked away, only for a follow-up phone call offering the bike, all spares included, for £550. It proved too tempting.

Starting

Getting it started was the first challenge. Dad, the engineer, did lots of thinking while I hit everything with a hammer and pulled and pushed and scraped all the skin from my knuckles as we stripped the bike to its bare essentials.

The fuel hoses looked dodgy so I replaced them all. Then, using a length of the leftover hose, we rigged up an old Scotoiler bottle as a temporary fuel supply.

An old battery charger that had a setting for starting vehicles while plugged into the mains, meant we could  keep turning the bike over again and again. But still there was no sign of life.

Then an idea landed from a friend of dad’s to block the air intake so only fuel was getting through. A stolen T-towel was then rammed over the top of the carbs with dad pushing them down hard.

First we heard a cough, then another, then the coughing became more rasping until finally she fired into life.

We had spent £15 on fuel hoses and she was up and running, without the need for external power or aid.

Starting | Cone air filters | Rear shock | Other mods | back to top

Cone air filters

Honda, in its infinite wisdom, built a bike that would comfortably do 130,000 miles before the engine needed a rebuild and yet has ceased manufacturing parts for its older bikes. The box that connects the air filter to the carbs and the short connectors are just such parts.

So I fitted two small K&N conical air filters (link opens new window) from Wemoto (which longer seems to sell them, which is a worry) like these ones:

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Shock, horror

The Shock came next.

The simplest jobs always get buggered by one rusted nut and this was just such an example. The top of the shock is difficult to get at but came away no problem. The bottom, however, was rusted solid. It is meant to look like this:

Mine was rusted in. Even when I had cut the bolt clean through and belted it with a hammer, it would not move.

I had the bike laying down in its side to try to force the rusted bolt out

While the bike and I were on the floor I noticed a blow torch under the workbench. I took the good bike out of the garage, in case I blew the place up, lit the blow torch and heated up the affected area.

When it was glowing red, I got the hammer and drift again and belted it. This time it finally moved and I managed to get the bloody thing out.

The new shock was on and the bike was rideable. I have subsequently fitted a Hagon (link opens new window) fully adjustable shock, which raises the bike and allows for toughening the suspension when two-up and/or with luggage.

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Other mods

The final mods have all been minor (all links open new windows)

• Buano kevlar screen (super-strong piece of kit) from Italian ebay  – Rugged Roads are now the UK supplier
• LED tail light fitting from Nippy Norman’s
• Hepco & Becker luggage racks from Motobikes & Parts
• SW Motech crash bars from Wemoto
• Oxford heated grips wired off of a Nippy Norman’s fuse box on a relay from the ignition power supply, also powering a socket under the screen to power the mobile phone
• Exhaust heat guard from Rugged Roads
• Replaced the 5w standard fork oil with 10W, from Halfords
• Continental TKC80 tyres from Watling Tyres, Catford
• Garmin Zumo 550 on a Ram mount
• New ignition and key from Bitz for Bikes

Oh and there’s a power socket hidden in the old tool compartment too, direct from the battery, very kindly fitted by Stormforce (Jonathan from Rugged Roads), who tidied up the power supply for the Starcom system that switches from bike to bike via a magnetic tank bag

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