Newbie's Tale

Mart57 · Post by **Mart57** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:28 pm

Hi being a relatively recent convert to the virtues of Kawasaki Triples and a new club member I wanted to pass on my baptism of fire!(Read Kawasaki H2?s can seriously damage your wallet)!
I purchased Malc?s Static display blue H2 (via Rick who re-commissioned it) back in 2010 and whilst being pleasantly surprised by the way it looked, handled and ran like the proverbial scalded cat, I couldn?t believe the cacophony of noise coming from the sub 11k engine once it was hot. Rick had warned me that it was a rattler, but after running it for 100 miles or so I decided to investigate what was wrong. I lifted a cylinder head to find that the standard piston was so sloppy in the bore that it could be moved fore and aft as well as side to side! Having only worked on Yamaha RD350?s(air-cooled) I?d never seen such clearances, and felt that the engine must need a re-bore.

Fortunately for me, a pal of mine who?s into Suzuki kettles had recently met Paul Scanlan, who once told of my plight offered to look at the bike to help diagnose what was up. After listening to it run he couldn?t believe the noise either and suggested an engine strip was in order so as to eliminate various possibilities like loose rotor or clutch basket adding to the usual piston slap etc.

Having seen Paul?s own bikes and the quality of work that he carries out for customers I removed the engine and left it with him so that he could strip it and go through it with a fine tooth comb.

Well, to both our surprise the key reason for the shocking level of noise was that in the past someone had removed the standard barrels and replaced them with a shagged out set of first over size!!! It?s a wonder that the bike ran at all, and thank god I didn?t put too much mileage on it other- wise I could have caused a whole load of damage.

Paul and I agreed that whilst the engine was apart it would be worth having the crankcases, barrels and heads vapour blasted and New Wiseco pistons were fitted once the engineer that did the bore had determined what size we needed. In the end we had to go from standard to 1mm oversize as the worn 1st over bores were particularly worn in the middle of the stroke. Fortunately SEP checked the crank out and determined it was in surprising good condition and it was reused with fresh seals etc.

Now for my next problem! Paul(who I can highly recommend) returns a beautiful engine that looked so good it could take centre place in my front room, and I then realised how shabby the frame, and cycle parts looked in comparison.

So off we go with a full strip- down, and partial refurbishment as many components were in great nick in the first place. I haven?t gone for a full concourse look at this stage, as the funds in my wallet had become depleted by now, and decided to do just enough to have a smart looking usable bike.

Due to the usual commitments, work, family etc, plus keeping my old Yamaha?s on the road I didn?t get around to rebuilding/running the H2 again until this summer. Was it worth the wait? Well apart from the crap weather, a resounding yes is my answer, as I now have the bike that I?d always dreamt off but couldn?t afford as a teenager. Even my Wife and 14year old daughter think its a cool bike!

I would like to congratulate the club for such a brilliant forum, and I'm looking forward to attending a few rallies next year. I did manage to briefly attend the excellent Southern Triples Rally(Saturday morning) but had to skip the ride out due to other commitments.

If any of you live in Sussex and fancy a breakfast run out one bright Sunday morning before the winter road salt is deployed give me a shout.

Regards Martyn

malc87 · Post by **malc87** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:47 am

I've heard this torrid tale from Rick.
I bought the bike off Rick, it having been a static display in his museum.
On wheeling it into my museum I pulled in the clutch cable and it snapped!
Rick supplied me with a new cable FOC.
The only work I carried out to the bike was to fit the new cable.
At no time during my ownership did I remove or replace the barrels.
In the whole time I had the bike I never ran it or even started it.
I bought it because it looked nice and to complete my collection of having one model of each H2 on show.
Rick asked me if it was for sale a few years later and made me an offer.
The novelty of owning each H2 had worn off so I accepted it.
As far as I am aware Rick never ran it during his ownership before me?
The bike was not restored by Rick.
Sorry to hear about all your problems with it Martyn.

El Presidente · Post by **El Presidente** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:46 am

I bought the bike back in 1998 , it was a genuine low miles, One owner bike and I am 100% certain that it had never been apart, however, after sitting in my collection for a couple of years I realised it was looking a little jaded so I gave it to a pal to strip and freshen up, nothing was to be replaced, chromed or painted (other than the bodywork), the only logical explanation is that whilst it was undergoing it's facelift the wrong cylinders were refitted (my pal was doing a couple of other restos at the time), like everyone else in the chain I never started the bike on it's return and just pushed it back into the collection, where a year or so later, Malc bought it . . . at least now the bike is being used as it should ! :smt023

Mart57 · Post by **Mart57** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:03 am

Hi Malc and Rick no worries on my part, as we all know when buying any classic (40 year old) vehicle its buyer beware at the end of the day.

I've enjoyed getting to know the bike inside out, finding out where to source parts and info,making new contacts etc and even in the brief time that I've owned it its brought plenty of smiles to my face.

I was happy with the bike after my first ride apart from the excessive engine noise and now I'm really pleased to own it as it sounds like it should, and it shall remain in my collection as a bike to be ridden whenever possible until I'm too old to ride it!

regards Martyn

Olde Coney · Post by **Olde Coney** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:58 pm

Well it seems that there's a happy end to this Story Martyn and you now have the bike of your dreams

There's plaenty of good humour on here and also lots of superb advice

Get yourself along to a rally next season, and put some faces (ugly) to the names

Oh BTW welcome to the asylum

h2al · Post by **h2al** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:18 pm

And can we have some pics of your wonderful H2 please... :smt023 :smt023 :smt023

Nigel S · Post by **Nigel S** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:10 am

Welcome Martyn.

You have to agree that now the engine is sorted, you need to keep it going.

Ride em Don't hide em

GinaG · Post by **GinaG** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:19 pm

Nigel S wrote:Welcome Martyn.

You have to agree that now the engine is sorted, you need to keep it going.

Ride em Don't hide em

Ride it like you hate it :smt023

AndrewJKH400 · Post by **AndrewJKH400** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:17 pm

Hi Martyn,

I am in Locks heath in Hampshire so meet at Whiteways / portsdown hill / Loomies is good for me. There are a few others around too so we must get a meet sorted!

Cheers,

Andrew