International Vintage Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet

Bike week is getting underway and that means it is time for the annual International Vintage Motorcycle Show and Swap meet in Eustis Florida.  Eustis sits in Lake County north of  Orlando.  The show is held the first weekend of bike week and is one of the nicest low key events of the year.  The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club hosted the meet and held it at the Lake County Fairgrounds, a large and clean venue.

I'll add comments and history as I sort through my notes and photos.  For now, enjoy the pictures.

Suzuki's water cooled GT 750 two stroke sometimes called the "Water Buffalo"

Suzuki's RE 5 rotary engine bike.  Displacement was about 500cc

These two mid-seventies Suzukis looked like could have just come from the showroom.  From the early seventies came another very good Suzuki two stroke, the T-500 Titan.  I owned one of these in this same orange and gold color scheme.  Put many carefree miles on it.

T-500 Titan

On the Honda side of things, we found this C110 with full factory race kit.  According to the owner it is 1 of 5 in the world.  The engine is 50cc.



 

Honda C110

Another Honda 50cc racer was this single cylinder dual overhead cam racer.  It is actually a 2004 AC15 that Honda produced to commemorate their early 60s racer.



Honda AC15

Zundapp with Steib sidecar

 

 

 

 

BSA

 

 

 

Harley Davidson 125 Hummer

Gilera 106

 

 

We had a Gilera 106 when I was young.  A relative gave it to my Dad.  I remember that it was delivered in a number of cardboard boxes.  Someone had taken it apart for a reason that was unknown to me.  We raced through the fields all year long on it, pulled each other on sleds with it in the winter and used it to ride the railroad tracks and pick asparagus in the spring.  I remember it as being nearly bullet proof.  I think both Sears and Wards sold this bike for a time.

Ducati 350

I nearly bought a 350 Ducati back in about 1970, but didn't.  I bought a Harley Davidson / Aermacchi 125 instead.  Wish I had both bikes now...

Rickman Metisse

I didn't catch up with the owner of this Rickman Metisse, but saw it cruising the grounds a couple of times.  The engine looks like a Triumph 650.

1928 Harley Davidson JD 

 

 

1963 Honda 300 Dream an early Japanese big bike.

Yamaha SR400 Review Update

The miles on the SR are slowly building.  Like many that own an SR, it is not my only bike, so it shares duties with others.  It has given us exactly what we had expected and it is a very good bike.

Some months back we did the 600 mile check on it and thought I'd pass on what we have learned.  Well, experienced maybe, I am slow to learn and it is too early to know if anything has stuck.

I have a copy of the Yamaha service manual and spent some time reading and studying.  The 600 mile check looked very straightforward and in fact it really was, after a fashion.  I thought the oil change would be a little messy and I had paper towels on hand and my oil catch pans in place.  There are a few more steps than I would have expected.  I warmed the engine but didn't get it hot.  I don't like hot oil running down my arms.  First the oil filter housing is drained, then you can remove and replace the filter.  The oil from the housing ran down the right side of the engine, dribbled on to the exhaust pipe and then dripped down to the floor not far from where the oil drain pan was placed.

Next I drained the engine sump.  The SR uses a dry sump, but there is still a bit of oil in the sump that must be drained.  The sump plug is on the bottom rear of the engine and it is easy to catch the oil.  The remote "oil tank" is actually the frame.  To drain the frame, a plug is removed from the from the front side of the down tube.  A catch pan had been placed under the down tube and the plug was easily removed.  It was at this point that my planning (or lack of it) let me down.  The front down tube is essentially a tall column and the plug is located at the bottom of the column.  There was more head pressure on the plug than I had planned.  (I had not planned on any)  So when I removed the plug, warm not quite hot, oil squirted forward onto the front tire.  In my rush to "plug the dike" I managed to get my hand against the hot exhaust pipe.  I still have a burn scar to help me remember to do it different next time.  So now I have a burned hand, an oiled tire, and a second oil puddle on the floor.  Once the head pressure dies to a dribble, the oil follows the front down tube and flows behind a small skidplate.  I cleaned and dried the area around the skidplate, but the oil managed to find its' way to the floor for a good day after the oil change. Of course I had removed the oil catch pan because I absolutely knew I had wiped up all the oil...   I replaced the oil with Mobile synthetic.  The shifts were always good, but now they are butter smooth.

A couple days later I checked, but did not need to adjust the cam chain.  I then set the valves.  Setting the valves is pretty easy. There is a little work to get down to the engine, although nothing like a full faired bike where you can lose half a day removing plastic.  First I removed the seat and the fuel tank.  I had run the tank nearly empty to make it as light as possible and followed the manual to empty the fuel lines.  By doing this, I did not have any fuel dribbles as the tank was removed.  There are a number of lines to remove as well as one electrical connection.  With these disconnected the tank lifts off easily.

Next I removed the spark plug so I could turn the engine over easily by hand.  The left engine side cover is removed so the TDC marks can be found.  I turned the engine over counter clockwise to TDC on the compression stroke.  I had expected the valves to be a little loose as I could hear some pecking.  Turned out the intake was spot on and the exhaust was a little tight.  Now there is a little more valve train noise than before, so that must be a normal noise for this engine.

Reassembly of the parts was easy except for one fuel hose that connects to the bottom of the tank.  A long 90 degree needle nose pliers are a big help for this chore.

After reassembling everything, the bike started right up and settled into a smooth idle.  As it has broken in, it is running freer and is noticeably quicker than when new.  It isn't quick, but it is quicker...

The fuel mileage has seen a low of 68 and the high tops 75, but I have noticed when we ride the SR and the TU250X (a well known standard of accuracy) together the SR manages to travel a little farther than the TU.  So the mileage could be a little optimistic.  I have measured the odometer using mile markers and in 10 miles the odometer will read 10.1, so that isn't really too far off.  The speedometer reads a couple miles per hour more than the TU at the same speeds.

The SR has been a blast to ride.  It is happy running down gravel roads and it is quick and lively on the curves.  We are having a great time with both the SR and the TU.  They attract attention where ever they are parked.  Both bikes will introduce you to people and new friends.  Both are great accomplices for exploring back roads.

Ride to the Overstreet Landing on the SR400 and TU250

The rainy season is upon us, as is the hot season.  We are in a period of weather where we have beautiful sunshine until mid afternoon, then the build-ups start and we have a nice rain to help cool things off.  The evenings are just great as the air cools and the towering cumulus fade away.

What the heat and the thunderstorms mean to bikers is that it is best to get a ride in early and have the bikes tucked away by mid afternoon.  We don't always follow this guide and do get wet now and again.

Today though, we had a fantastic ride and stayed dry.  It felt like a thumper kind of day and destination, so I kicked the SR to life while Kim tickled the start button on the TU.

This ride begins by taking the Canoe Creek road south from St. Cloud Florida.  The ride down Canoe Creek is a nice bike ride in itself, but today, we turned west on Joe Overstreet Road and thumped our way toward Lake Kissimmee.



A photo stop along Joe Overstreet Road

The bird life is fantastic along this stretch of road and we snapped a picture a dead tree that was full of cattle egrets and one lone ibis.

An Ibis among the Egrets

Turkey Vultures are a light bird that soar effortlessly on the slightest rising air, but we had gotten out early and we found the vultures sitting in the sun waiting for the first thermals to kick off.

Turkey Vultures waiting for the day's first thermals

Joe Overstreet road is about 5 and 1/2 miles long.  It meanders through cattle ranches and pasture land.  It looks like the road may have been partially paved at one time, but it is now mostly gravel and sand.  I have had the Vulcan down this section of road, but the TU and SR are perfectly suited for this type riding.

The morning air was ripe with smells.  The swamp land has a very distinct smell this time of year.  It is a combination of the new green growth that smells so nice and the smell of green growth that has been under water for a little too long.  Today, we had the added smell of cattle.  A nice mix that is so easily missed when we ride in a car or blast through in a hurry.

You can see the water standing in the pastures.

Pasture land

Just looking at these two pictures, you can almost smell the green grass and cattle.  The cattle seemed especially inquisitive today.  They stopped grazing and watched us as we eased by and seemed to pose for us when we stopped.

Heavy traffic on Joe Overstreet Road

Some how I managed to forget to take any pictures of the Overstreet Landing.  The Landing is a small county park that sits on the edge of Lake Kissimmee.  It has a boat ramp and an area to park your truck and trailer.  There is also a small fish camp located there that has the normal fishing supplies.  The fish camp is home to Kissimmee Swamp Tours.  The wildlife is so abundant in this area that the airboat ride should be a real treat.  We chatted with the friendly folks at the Kissimmee Swamp Tours and enjoyed the air conditioned air in the fish camp.

Confident that we had done our of share of meddling for the day, we stepped back out to the lake's edge.  We stood on a dock watching the agile flight of dragon flies as they fed on hatching midges.  We were so intent watching this ballet of life and death that we nearly missed the low flying bald eagle as he skimmed over our heads as he hunted the shoreline for a morning snack.

We fired up the bikes and squeegeed our way back down the gravel and wet sand road.  Once back to the Canoe Creek road, we poked north toward St. Cloud once again.

We stopped to fill the bikes with gas just before we reached home.  The SR managed to break 71 MPG while the miserly TU topped 93.



The Mileage Champ

We had the bikes washed and put away before the day got too hot.  The rains came a few hours afterward.  It turned out to be a nearly perfect day to spend on the bikes and to share with my best friend and riding buddy.