Workshop

Never, ever, take a brake shoe lining for granted. Almost without exception Japanese shoes are fixed to their alloy carriers by adhesive alone; you rarely see rivets used. Eventually dampness, heat and time can and

1 Locking washers were used in the past to stop nuts and bolts from coming undone, but the modern approach is to use a chemical solution: threadlocker. Do be aware of a few things though.

Q: In a world of no centrestands do you measure chain tension on the sidestand when travelling? Anon A: The obvious answer here is that if the bike was sold when new with only a

Words/Pictures by Steve Cooper Once in a while there’s a need to tight a nut or bolt on something that’s small, fragile or mounted on a surface that’s easily damaged. If you’re not careful the

Q: I have a 1989 Honda CBR1000F-K and its looks are spoiled by a scuffed round right-hand engine cover. It appears not to have a part number that I can find anywhere, even my Haynes

In an earlier edition of Q&A Lee was asking how to restore the yellowing plastic of the petrol tank on his TY250. I had a similar issue with the expansion tank on my CX500 restoration.

Q: I have installed a racing exhaust on my W650, which is pretty much a set of empty pipes/silencers, but did not re-jet (I wasn’t interested in the supposedly four extra bhp it was said

Q: Hello! My son is living in the USA and he is in the middle of fixing up his 1984 ZX750 GPz  A12 American spec. He wants to know the torque setting for the bolts holding

Words/Pictures by Steve Cooper We’ve all been there; the painter or powdercoater forget to mask a thread. Taps and dies are good on smaller threads but what about larger ones? What if you’ve already fitted