This Is Your Bike
A Honda VFR rescue story
John Newman
I met Dave (Sinnett) last year. I needed accommodation on the island of Anglesey in North Wales for the weekend of the Thundersprint - which had moved from it's long standing venue at Northwich in Cheshire to the Anglesey race track* - and Dave and his partner Jane offered a small self catering apartment in a very pretty scenic location on the coast www.facebook.com/holidayatynysgoch
Let's just say 'a project'
When I rumbled up on my Moto Guzzi you could see from the sparkle in his eye that he was greeting another motorcyclist, and the preliminaries were about exchanging that essential basic information when riders meet: unpacking the panniers could wait.
Over the couple of days of my stay we had several conversations about our (long) biking backgrounds; bikes preferred; bikes owned; bikes we'd like to own; riding and racing: and he opened his workshop to show me the Honda VFR rebuild project he'd taken on.
Fast forward almost a year and I receive an email from Dave with a link to a You Tube clip. Jane had filmed the beast being started for the first time in umpteen years. A cue for me to recruit him and the VFR to the 'This Is Your Bike' series.
A moment of suspense
Firing up an engine after a rebuild is always a moment of suspense...'have I left out that essential component that consigns months of work and expense to another engine strip down?"... Almost in this case. Dave played me the unedited clip, in which Jane's voice asks; with the bright innocence of someone who knows nothing of mechanical matters:
'What's that leak'? Fortunately just a clutch oil seal that was easily rectified.
Most of us can identify past bikes that we'd like to own or ride again. They might be linked to a specific time in our motorcycling lives. For example a bike whose characteristics chimed with our own riding preferences, or because it was a stand out model of its time. Dave recalled the sound, power and feel of a VFR he'd owned about twenty years ago and when he heard about a VFR in his local area that had been standing in the open for thirteen years, he made enquiries as to whether it might be available to buy as a restoration project. The owner said he could take it away, and it was transferred to his workshop on a trailer, with the help of several burly young uns wielding scaffold poles to lift it. Everything was seized solid.
A complex beast
A sports touring road bike such as the VFR is a complex beast. The V4 water cooled engine alone is a challenge to pull apart and rebuild. Fortunately Dave's background of having owned about thirty bikes over the years, and his professional experience as an electrical engineer provided the knowledge, skills and confidence to take this on.
Dave has a grand collection of motorcycling memorabilia going back to his teens, involving his Dad and brother too; who have shared his biking years and ridden with him. He and his brother John were introduced to riding through the acquisition of a 75cc BSA Beagle that was stuck in first gear. Dad fixed the gear box, and they used the bike to enter early schoolboy scrambles, before slotting a 175 Villiers engine into the frame. This was real utilitarian competition motorcycling, but it introduced Dave and John to scrambling/moto x, and they both raced with some success. Dave's first road bike was the fast-paced Yamaha RD250, and then he bought the even quicker RD 350. Just the bikes for his fifty mile round commute to his engineering apprentice employers at the grand old age of sixteen!
"I just like being in the workshop"
Back at the workshop the stricken VFR was strung up from the ceiling like a dead beast in a crude abattoir. Examining the extensive corrosion and rotted components would be a disheartening experience for many people, but for a determined enthusiast such as Dave whose raison d’etre was summed up by his statement:
'I just like being in the workshop'.
Once the dismantling process was under way he was able to send some of the components such as the engine casings, wheels and forks away for sand blasting and powder coating. He found a bike restoration company in Worcestershire, Classic and Modern Motorcycles, who he used for these processes
www.classicandmodernmotorcycles.com and as can be the case in the restoration enthusiast business he was able to call on their experience for advice at various stages of the build.
The poor and unusable condition of some parts and components prompted the purchase of another VFR to cannibalise for parts. It stands forlorn in the workshop now, an almost completely redundant piece of machinery that has given up its life to the emerging beauty on the bench above. It's been a slow process as many parts had to be immersed in oil for long periods before they could be worked with at all. A frustrating business if you are keen to get ahead with a build.
But there have been serendipitous moments too. Another motorcyclist holiday tenant who is also a bike restorer, offered to take away the carburettors and brake calipers, and return them gleaming and ready to attach – see the picture of a very smiley Dave holding his refurbished carbs. He also needed a valve spring compressor, and a mate told him of a race bike engineer living on Anglesey who would have just the tool. Having never met before Dave's new connection lent him the necessary tool. Networking was not invented by latter day management types.
During my visit Dave clambered onto the bench and then onto the bike: the first time he has sat on it. This may not sound like an occasion that merits comment except that a hip operation is imminent, and the 'leg over' process is not easily accomplished at the moment. The target is for the VFR to be ready for the road this summer and for Dave to be riding it.
*This years Thundersprint will be at the Darley Moor race circuit near Ashbourne in the Derbyshire Peak District on 10th/11th May www.thundersprint.com
If you want to view Dave's scramble/moto cross archive go to Facebook and enter Motocross enthusiasts 60's 70's and 80's
John Newman for Wemoto News
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