Well, it's a long story but it starts something like this... Back in March 1997 I saw an advert in Motorcycle News for Bat Motorcycles who were selling an SR 500 for £895. Over the next 6 weeks the price came down to £575. 'Brilliant!' I thought, I gave them a ring and asked for a brief description of the old thumper. The man's description was "manufactured in Jan 1983, registered in the UK on a Y plate, colour black, 12906KM, needs cosmetic work and we have had it running". I asked him what his bottom line was on the price and he said "Make me an offer, we need the space for new stock". So over the phone I offered £500 and he said "OK, see you Saturday".

In the meantime I spoke to my best mate, Bob Cannon, who has a lot of SR500 parts in his garage, and he said "go for it Shag, I'll come with you on Saturday". One problem - on the Friday night I went out on a stag night and my head was not with it. We got to Bat's and at the back of the shop was the SR500. First impressions? What happened to some of the parts! No side panels, no airbox, cut down seat, water pipe for handlebars, no right hand switchgear, Supertrapp exhaust system, a 1-inch hole in the downpipe, etc. Bob took off the seat and said "No-one's f***ed with the wiring Shag, that's a start" so we wheeled it out of the shop to fire it up - but no battery! Out comes the man from the shop with a car battery and jump leads, we connect the battery, turn the petrol tap to 'prime', push down the choke and kick and kick and kick about 20 times then suddenly BANG! She ran for 30 seconds then stopped in a cloud of black smoke. Bob and I had a fag and discussed the SR in great detail and, in the end, we thought it was worth a go; even if we couldn't make her into a reasonable motorcycle I could sell the parts and get my money back. Off into the shop I went to close the deal and to part with my £500. I wa now the proud owner of an SR500 with many cosmetic parts missing and an engine that smoked worse than any allotment bonfire you can imagine. After stripping down the SR and loading it into the back of the van, Bob and I saw a hire van from Yeovil turn up and we followed the driver into the shop as we went to wash our hands. On the way out we overheard the conversation the van driver was having with the man in the shop. He had come to buy the SR I had just bought but at the sum of £675, as per the advert two weeks before. As you can guess the man in the shop was very pissed off so we left very quickly. On the way home Bob and I had a good laugh about what had happened but the last laugh was on me, as you'll see when I describe what I had to do to make the son-of-a-bitch run.

At home in the garage

Bob and I unloaded my pride and joy and I started work on the basics, such as cleaning out the fuel tank, draining the carb, fitting a new plug, etc. I patched the hole in the downpipe, fitted a new battery and we were ready to go. I turned the ignition on and the neutral light worked, WOW! I pushed down the choke and kicked about five times then suddenly there was this tremendous bang followed by the K&N filter shooting out of the side of the frame, followed by fire! It sounds funny now but at the time I nearly lost my wedding tackle. After putting out my anatomy (nad the carb) I proceeded with the utmost caution.

After two weeks of doing everything I could think of to make her run all I'd managed to achieve was to start the engine (without setting light to me or the carb) and running her for about five minutes, filling the garage with black smoke. The engine was running red hot but I couldn't see why because the timing was correct. I was using a carb off a running SR, a standard airbox and filter were fitted and I had no air leaks. Incidentally the best way to check for air leaks on the inlet side is to spray WD40 on the manifold, etc. when the engine is idling, if the engine speed increases then you have an air leak. At this point I hadn't even ridden the bloody thing six feet and I was beginning to think 'Why did I buy the bloody thing?'.

The last resort was to take the engine out and pull it all down. At the same time I intended to re-paint the frame and to attend to all the cosmetics. With the engine pulled down I discovered why she was giving me so much trouble.

1. Non-standard camshaft (used for racing)
2. Non standard valve gear
3. Non-standard piston (10.5:1, I think, instead of 9:1)
4. The cylinder head had a 15 thou bow in it between the cam chain tunnel and the combustion chamber, hence all the black smoke.
5. The inlet and exhaust ports had been machined out.
6. About nine other minor mods to the engine.

But what was most interesting was that most of the components in the engine - including he rocker box, cylinder head and barrel - had a serial number engraved on them by hand. 'Was this a blue-printed engine?' I wondered. I know that a lot of people would give their right arm for an engine with these tuned parts fitted but I wanted a standard SR for touring, not for ripping the spokes out of the back wheel. I replaced all the parts with standard items. At work I have access to a large lapping and polishing machine so I lapped the cylinder head and the barrel flat. The finish was so good that when you placed the head on the barrel they would ring together and you could lift the barrel off the bench with the head. Better than anything Yamaha would do.

With the engine rebuilt, the frame painted and some of the cosmetics sorted it was time to bolt everything back together so off I went with spanners in hand. Three hours later we were ready and the moment of truth had arrived, will she start? After five kicks the answer was ‘YES!’, a bit smokey at first but she soon cleared and revved up smoothly. I was over the moon, all that hard work and expense had been worthwhile. I put my lid on and wheeled her out into the sunshine. I remember saying to myself ‘Today is going to be a great day’. How wrong I was! I pulled in the clutch, eased her into first, let the clutch out again slowly and we were off. The I changed into second gear - ‘OUCH!’ – there was a big problem with second gear, every few seconds it went ‘Crunch!’. I changed into third and that was no better, the gearbox was f***ed. That was all I needed, I took her back to the garage and removed the clutch cover and I found swarf in the engine, ‘Oh Shit!’ The gearbox sounded like two dustbin lids banging together in second and third gear. I had no choice but to remove the engine for a second time.

I suspect that that this old thumper had been raced or given a very hard life. I know she was a Japanese import and I have read that there is a lot of street racing on big singles in japan but the condition of this engine was bloody ridiculous considering how much work had been put into it. Basically the engine was scrap when I bought it but, after the work I had put into it, I wasn’t going to be beaten. I pulled down the engine and split the crankcases and I found the problem with the gearbox:

1. Second gear had two teeth missing on the mainshaft and three teeth damaged on the layshaft gear, the dogs were also damaged.
2. Mainshaft third gear pinion was damaged.
3. The selector fork on the third gear pinion was worn through.
4. The thrust washer/shim behind the clutch bearing had disintegrated which allowed the mainshaft to move side to side, which caused more damage.
5. All the spacing washers between the gears were badly worn and blue from excessive heat.

Altogether the gearbox was in a pretty bad state (that’s an understatement! – Graham). I wished that I’d checked it the first time that the engine was down but I’d found no play in the shafts so I’d assumed it was OK. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

After replacing all the damaged parts with very expensive new ones, the engine was reassembled and fitted back into the frame. She started third kick and, when I took her out on the first test ride, I kept everything crossed, and I mean everything. My heart was in my mouth when we set off from the garage and all manner of thoughts were racing through my mind: ‘Will the gearbox have all five gears? Did I tighten everything up?’. I’m sure that all of you reading this will know what I mean about taking a rebuilt bike out on the road for the first time or, in my case, the second time.

Up the road we went, everything seemed to be perfect this time, the gearbox was as smooth as silk and the sound of the rebuilt engine was like music to my ears. Only one thing puzzled me, the engine had no big thumper vibrations! When riding along at 60 - 70mph there was no vibration at all from the engine; you can even see what’s behind you in the mirrors! Perhaps, when my engine was tuned in Japan, someone fitted a dynamically balanced crankshaft? I don’t know but it makes the bike far more pleasant to ride on long runs. Although someone said to me ‘without vibration the bike has no character’ I don’t agree.

All the work took about six months (on and off) but at the end of it I had a totally rebuilt engine in superb condition. I know some of you will be asking ‘Why bother?’ and so did I at the time but, in the end, this bloody bike became a labour of love. No way was I going to be defeated by such a basic engine as the SR500 and I also remembered that famous saying ‘Anything built by man can be repaired by man’.

She has been on the road for over two years now and has covered over 7000 miles, in all winds and weathers. The restoration is on-going and I have made many modifications, including stainless Allen screws, dual oil line feed to the rocker box, oil cooler, twin discs, fork brace and wiring. There’s work still to be done, I have to re-spray the tank and side panels, buy and fit a new front mudguard and have both wheels rebuilt with stainless spokes.

The total cost to date is staggering:

Complete cable set - £84.58
M&P Accessories - £664.06
Wunderlich Germany - 418.31
Misc. costs - £250 (approx.)
Engine rebuild - £574.47,

All parts purchased from ‘Bike Business’ in Portsmouth, Tel. 01705 832575 – ask for Arthur. Their service was second to none and the majority of parts were in stock at discount prices. Parts that were not in stock I received in 3-4 days, from Holland.

Total cost to date is £1991.42, and she’s not finished yet!

So that’s my story. After 7000 miles she is proving reliable, she starts first or second kick from cold and she doesn’t burn any oil. I change the oil and filter every 1000 miles. The fuel consumption is good too, I get 50mpg local and 60-65mpg on a long run. She is no ‘pocket-rocket’ by any means but when she is parked up alongside more modern bikes she looks so different and often she gets a courteous smile from a passer-by and that makes it all worth while.

All the best to you thumper riders out there and keep that thumper flag flying high! I hope to meet some of you this year.

Colin Hilliard.